Mr. Sayed A Asim Chief Operating Officer

India , Middle-East , Africa

Dion Global Solutions 1.Finance industry is around 3 percent of complete business sector. What growth aspects do you see in this sector? Ans. Financial industry may not be the largest category in terms of revenue or num-ber of employees but constitutes the largest group of companies in the world in terms of earnings and equity market capitalization. It is the most critical sector for a country’s economic growth. Banking systems and stock markets enhance growth of an economy, the main factor in poverty reduction according to the World Bank. There is immense growth potential in this sector across the globe. With financial inclusion gaining due importance in India and other developing nations, the market share of this sector will definitely see a good growth curve in coming years.

Finally the door for FDI is open in India with a big bang; the govern-ment is getting appreciated from the industry and analysts as it is something positive for Indian economy. This big step taken by gov-ernment can assure and also woo the investors. The rise in price of diesel and quota in LPG has led to great criticism for the government, but accepting of the FDI has led to the revival of the policies on the positive note. After pondering on the most debatable topic of Indian politics, gov-ernment has finally allowed the foreign investors to explore the INDI-AN market and setup their roots here. Still a debatable topic in INDI-AN political clan, the ghost of FDI is out of the box and converted into reality. But do we really need FDI in retail? Result is visible through a big jump in BSE, just the next day. Inves-tors are optimistic and overt jump in price of retail share can give them reason to. But what are the possibilities and what is the future of FDI in different sectors of Indian economy? Are we really ready to stand against the giants of Retail sector, do we really have the infra-structure to support us and is our social structure and kirana store holders ready to compete with these giants?

Gone are the days where advertisements meant only to inform the consumers about the product. Today they not only inform but educate and motivate a con-sumer to buy the product. Not just this, they also tell you how their product is much more superior to that of their counterparts or how the competitor is inferior. Welcome to the world of comparative advertising. There is this virtual world war going among various brands all the time, so much that today advertising has reached 18-19 minutes on the radio and 14-15 minutes per hour on the television. It has been in place from generation before ours; we see it and it will continue till the world will last. According to KalleLasn, an international critic of advertising, “it is the most prevalent and toxic form of mental pollutants. From the moment your radio alarm sounds in the morning to the wee hours of TV, micro-jolts of commercial pollution flood into your brain every day.”

IN THIS ISSUE: DO WE NEED ???? …………….………...1

THE BATTLE OF THE BRANDS……....…..……1

CORPORATE SPEAK ……………………..1

QUOTE FOR THE MONTH…………………. 4

Volume 1 , Issue 14 | October 2012

Masters of International Business , Centre for management Studies , JAMIA MILLIA ISLAMIA

CORPORATE SPEAK THE BATTLE OF THE BRANDS.

Cont….on Page 4

Cont….on Page 2 Cont….on Page 3

THE WORLD’S BEST BANKS………………. . 2

DO WE NEED????

Comparative advertising is defined as, ‘when advertising, a com-pany directly or indirectly compares its brand or product with one or more brands and claim advantage.’ Comparative advertising has developed into one of the major weapons of marketing which involves the use of an identical logo and trademark, clever deploy-ment of words, research claims etc. According to an estimate published by the American Marketing Association, comparative advertising formats account for approxi-mately 30 percent of all advertisements and approximately 80 percent of all TV commercials. These significant statistics would seem to be a clear justification of comparative advertising as a viable marketing tool for brands hoping to gain an edge over their closest competition. But today the way this powerful marketing tool is being employed has converted the virtual world into a foul game of malicious mockery incapable of swaying the informed consumer. However it does give a second to laugh to the one who views it. Let’s look at some of the promi-nent Ad wars: PEPSI vs COKE The ad war between these two soft drink giants is one of the oldest and meanest ad wars in the virtual world. It started in the 1980s when Pepsi launched an ad showing consumers preferring Pepsi over Coca Cola in a blind taste test. A major comparison came with an ad featuring an innocent looking kid walking up to a vending machine, getting two cokes first , setting them on the ground standing on top of it and getting a Pepsi from the machine. It didn’t end here, the boy walks away drinking his Pepsi ignoring the two coke cans on the ground. Pepsi tried to show how it is not only superior to coke but unique in itself. The taste is so enchanting the consumer doesn’t even care about the other cold drinks. Coke has been equally creative and malicious in retaliating back. This war has continued with spoofs on Mountain Dew, Sprite and Thumbs Up. I AM THE STRONGEST:- HORLICKS vs COMPLAN The war between these two health drinks which started back in the 1960s has evolved into the meanest battle out there. Horlicks re-leased an advertisement showing how it was a better and cheaper drink providing more nutrition than Complan at the same market value. As a result Heinz, the parent company of Complan dragged GSK’s Horlicks into court in 2008. The battle for mobile superiority: Samsung vs. Apple Samsung challenged Apple in the smartphones market with its Galaxy S2 smartphone, launching GS2 as “Next Big Thing” which became viral on facebook and youtube and flooded the

Financial sector of world is struggling and its not a best time for banker. Litigation expenses are rising, and regulators are rolling out a raft of costly new rules and restrictions in the wake of the global financial crisis and the ongoing turbulence of the sovereign debt crises in Europe. Low interest rates in many countries as a result of central bank easing are making lending less profitable. Some of the most successful global banks have cut back in Europe to focus on faster-growing emerging markets. Global Finance has identified the best banks in 136 countries and eight regions, as well as the best banks globally in 12 key bank-ing categories. In selecting this year’s winners, Global Finance’s editorial team considered factors that range from the objective to the informed subjective. The objective criteria included growth in assets, profitability, geographic reach, strate-gic relationships, new business development and product innovation. Subjective criteria included the opinions of equity and credit-rating analysts, banking consult-ants and others in the industry, as well as corporate and financial executives.

Source: Global Fnance October 2012 (http://www.gfmag.com/)

the television. Samsung’s commercial was a blow to Apple’s iPhone where it showed how the iPhone obsessives wait for countless hours to receive its new offerings. Also the inferior specs and insufficient battery life were tar-geted. Not only the smart phone market but the Samsung galaxy tab is also a threat to Apple’s iPad. It again created a controversy and a million dollar court case with the patent war between apple and Samsung related to iPad. Micromax vs. Samsung Apple and Samsung may be having their own war in the international market but back home here Samsung has another competitor for compar-ative advertising- MICROMAX Samsung launched its Galaxy Y series in the Indian market to target those consumers who desired an android phone that was cheap but also had the features of a smartphone. Micromax recently launched its “why y” campaign targeting Galaxy Y. The campaign focused on the demerits of Galaxy Y, as to how it was

slow, had a smaller screen, was compar-atively expensive and had a poor pro-cessor. Moreover Micromax made sure that its ads were aired right after Sam-sung Galaxy Y’s ads were aired. Battle of the detergents:- Tide vs. Rin The Indian consumers got a real taste of comparative advertisement when the Rin ad not only showed Tide as against white packing usually used for compar-ative advertisement, but also named it as inferior and said “Rin de Tide se behtar safedi” And just like what happened to Horlicks vs. Complan this brawl ended up in court. Healthy competition is always appreci-ated; similarly competitive advertise-ments are good if done in a better way. Taking cheap potshots at the other brand or converting their competition to a filthy brawl is not the real solution. Besides do such comparisons actually

help in making better more informed choices? I don’t think so. The con-sumers are well aware these days. They have their own so called favorite brands to which they remain loyal despite such cheap stunts. A house-wife will buy Rin or Tide or whichever product matches her require-ment. Thus if a brand or a particular product is good, it will be successful irre-spective of its ad campaign. And if bad then no matter how much the company tries to bring a fabulous ad of the product in the market, it will fail. Consumers will not ask for the same product again. Comparative advertisements of this kind hardly affect the sales of the product it just makes them laugh.

By-Yashika Mishra

1st Year MIB , JMI.

Page 2

THE BATTLE OF THE BRANDS.

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THE WORLD’S BEST BANKS.

2.What strategy do you follow while serving international market? How does it differ from serving Indi-an market? Ans. We are a global company, headquartered in India. Each region has its own working style and nuanc-es. No two financial markets run on the same workflow structure. This is why we have distribution centers setup in various regions with local specialists who understand the needs of that region. These specialists work with our central product strategy group and customize our products according to the needs of that market. 3.What opportunities do you see in middle-east for your software? Do you think middle-east is a grow-ing market for financial software? Ans: Market is of two types: a) Market in Developed nations b) Market in developing nations The impact of Financial Crisis in the developed nations has affected growth in those regions. Market is ascertained on the basis of per capita income, and purchasing power of the country. Even though India and China are the growing markets, Middle-East being rich in resources has a high per capita income, thereby making a suitable market to look for growth opportunities. Capital Markets in Middle-East is a fast grow-ing segment which makes it best suited market for our software. We see good growth opportunities in the region. 4.How do you manage piracy of your software and how do you reduce hacking? Ans: Software designed by Dion Global is very niche and customized, further secured by strict licensing policies. Within capital markets, each broker has their own workflows and processes and thus our software is tailored for the needs of individual broker. We do not have generic codes. Because of this customiza-tion, we provide strong client specific technical assistant to the users. Our software supports a very busi-ness critical aspect for a broker – trading! A broker could face the challenge of losing considerable busi-ness if his system is not functioning properly. Our technical support team can fix any issue quickly as they are well trained on the system and have complete knowledge of customer’s processes. For someone to hack our software, the will also need to replicate our technical support expertise to be able to sell the solu-tion in the market. Apart from these, regular software upgrades are launched and the broker would not be able to reap benefits of the system unless they use the authentic version. In India, financial system is run under strict regulations and thus the software security protocols have to be abided as per the regulations of government authorities. Running unauthorized software will lead to severe breach issues for a broker. 5.How far your software helps in the field of wealth management, custodians/depositories? Ans: We recently acquired a company in UK, who specialize in wealth management solution. Their prod-uct, Invantage, recently won an award in London as the best Wealth Management product in the country. Our product strategy team is working with their technical team to understand how we could take this prod-uct to new geographies. We expect to launch that product in India sometime in near future. 6.What makes “Dion Global Solutions” different from its competitors? Ans: Dion is a global company that has complete focus on financial sector. A financial sector is a vast industry that is further divided into various segments like trading, wealth management, portfolio, deriva-tives, etc. While our competitors focus on individual segments, our vision is to become a complete master for all these segments. We want to become a single point technology partner for financial houses, instead of being a vendor for one of their products. We have local competitors in individual regions with who we compete on different segments. On a global level, there are very few competitors who cater to all the segments of the financial sector. Our growth curve over the last several years has been incredible, which is a testimony of our rapidly grow-ing popularity and the faith of our customers in our systems and capabilities. We have a strong leadership team comprising of several well-known names of the industry globally. We have a central product strategy team and a strong talent pool of local market experts across 18 countries. Serving the financial sector is not just our choice, but is our passion and we envision being a complete technology partner. We also partner with the best in the industry to ensure we bring the very best in tech-nology to our customers. 7.Dion has recently signed a memorandum of understanding with Mahindra Satyam. How is that going to benefit Dion? Ans: We recently signed partnership deal with Mahindra Satyam in January 2012. MSat has acquired nearly 16%stakes in our company. Mahindra Satyam has a very strong presence as a services industry and we are among global leaders in software products for the financial sector. We have been working closely with Mahindra Satyam to create complete solution for the financial industry that combines our domain expertise and products and their strengths as service providers. Recently, we have built a joint solution with Mahindra Satyam that enables banks in Europe to be compli-ant with a recent regulation passed by US – FATCA (Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act). According to this act, US citizens earning salaries in countries outside US are also required to pay their taxes to the US government. This act not only levies the responsibility on the citizen but also on the banks where these citizens have an account. Banks are required to give complete details of such accounts to the IRS in US. This solution will help ease the burden on such banks across Europe. 8.It has been a long journey from being a fresher to becoming a COO of such a well reputed company. How has the experience been? Ans:It has been a learning experience throughout. With work and responsibilities we get maturity and with time and maturity we learn to implement the knowledge at the right place.Knowledge can be gained easily but what is needed is its implementation in practical scenarios.Experience also teaches one a lot. The more experienced you are, the better you learn to implement knowledge. Life is not a straight road and no one knows what lies at the next turn, so accepting things as they come and putting in your hard work all through is very important. 9.What are your expectations from the Fresh Talent who are going to join the corporate world? Ans: We want fresh graduates to be what they are and to put in their best in terms of hard work and ef-forts. If they are ready to work hard and are self-motivated, no one can stop them from further growth. Honesty towards life, work and career is the key to success. Passion for what you do is also very im-portant. Fresh graduates should also have the patience to grow at a constant steady pace instead of an over-night victory! 10.Your Message or Advice for MIBians. Ans: MIB is just a platform that helps you gain knowledge. What you become in future depends on the efforts you make and your positive attitude towards life and work. It’s what you are that will make you what you want to be. Also I would like to advice the students not to come under and be affected by peer pressure. What others in the batch do, or how they do should not affect your motives. Every person is an individual in himself and has his own capabilities and strengths. Do not get influenced by what others do and have faith in you.

About Dion Global Solutions

* Dion Global Solutions

provides market leading

software solutions to finan-

cial institutions across Asia

Pacific, Europe, India South

Asia, Americas and the

Middle East and Africa.

Employing over 600 highly

experienced and knowledge-

able staff within the Finance

and IT industries, Dion pro-

vides portfolio of cutting-

edge solutions and services

for the international finan-

cial markets.

* Dion’s solutions cover

portfolio management, trad-

ing, settlement, risk man-

agement, compliance, ana-

lytics, messaging & work-

flow and research services and information products.

* Dion works With more

than 650 clients in 88 coun-

tries, Dion’s deep domain

expertise and considered

approach to their clients’

businesses make Dion a

trusted partner.

———————

Volume 1 , Issue 14 Cont…..from Page 1

A taint of policy paralysis, a constant downgrade of number of institutions and inflation can give any government sleepless nights. Some big reform is needed and the government is trying to bring the same. While justifying himself in a statement the prime minister said that the big decision taken by them is to make Indian economy more robust and economically stable, represents that government is imperative for these reform. The ministry of commerce and industry took its campaign to promote FDI (Foreign Di-rect Investment) in retail to literate population of India. It c l a i m s t h a t s u c h d i -rect investment will bring huge benefits not only to the farmers but also to the society at large and that it will generate over 10 million new jobs and much more. The ministry calls this as “another revolutionary leap” for the Indian economy. Amid all the uproar some peo-ple are really optimistic about the stand government has taken. Opening of FDI will not only lead to a greater variety of the product for sale and increased consumer choice, but also pene-trate deep hinterland of Indian economic activity and also improve the country infrastruc-ture and logistic. The arrival of foreign retail chains has twofold impact. First, these foreign companies set up supply chains and logisti-cal capabilities, spurring signif-icant improvements in the infra-structure needed to source, ship, store and deliver products. Se-cond, their entry and expansion induce domestic competitors to invest in infrastructure and logistics, as well as greatly speed up the emergence of product standards (especially in perishables and personal con-sumables), and begin the pro-cess of bypassing the monopoly of buyers and traders that domi-nate procurement in many prod-

“If there is any one secret of success, it lies in

the ability to get the other person's point of view

and see things from that person's angle as well

as from your own.” - Henry Ford Founder , Ford Motor Company

CMS , MIB

E-mail: 2006.samik@gmail.com, mohammadfurquan1985@gmail.com

Phone: 8285707738, 9716926240

For Previous Editions Pleases Visit http://www.slideshare.net/mibytes/

documents

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF:

MS.SUNAYNA KUMAR

Assistant Professor.

STUDENT EDITORS:

MOHAMMAD FURQUAN.

NAMITA DHAMANI.

SAMIK SARKAR.

INTERVIEW BY:

BUSHRA ANEES.

MOHAMMAD FURQUAN.

NAMITA DHAMANI.

CONCEPT & DESIGN:

SAMIK SARKAR.

-uct categories today. The big-box retailers, when they venture into developing markets, do not use the same business model as they do in the developed nations, as IN-DIA has different social struc-ture and consumers do not have any peculiar expectations from the sellers. Walmart- the most iconic of these companies and the one most often cited as a threat to Indian mom-and-pop stores- is by no means the low-est-price retailer in China. Walmart U.S. is based on "everyday low prices." The firm has an activity system that is meant to help Walmart compete as a cost leader. The company began by locating in rural areas and then moved to suburban and semi-urban areas in the U.S. In INDIA the rural areas and semi-urban areas are not where the money is. Consumers in INDIA unlike their American counterparts living in suburbia - do not drive miles and do bulk purchasing, nor do they have massive storage facilities at home. In India, China, Brazil, Indonesia, Thailand and Mexi-co, the vast majority of educat-ed middle and upper classes live in the cities (and not in semi-urban and rural areas) where real estate is very expen-sive and population density is high. So the structure of rural area is not going to affect the retailers and also would not benefit much from the low prices. These firms' real competition will be the domestic multi-brand retailers. The CII-Boston Consulting Group study found that an Indian tomato farmer earns about 30% or even less of the final price paid by the con-sumer (in developed countries, that percentage can be as much as 70%). So it will directly help farmers they would get more profit and there would be no middleman. The foreign retail chains will have a more significant impact on traders that dominate pro-

perishables, including grains and cereals. It is not surprising that these traders are the most virulent oppo-nents of FDI in retail. Very often these traders dominate geographies and account for nearly all procurement in their geographies. These are the economic fields that they dominate and exploit. When the Carrefours, Walmarts and Tescos set up direct procurement mecha-nisms with sophisticated procurement systems it becomes more difficult for the middlemen to dominate local geographies and re-strict competition. The emergence of these supply chains that drive transparen-cy of information will bring significantly more competi-tion in sourcing. The CII conducted a survey during December 2011-January 2012 on the impact of FDI on SMEs which was based on a large sample size of 250 companies covering different categories of SMEs according to sales turnover. The SME Industry, accord-ing to the survey, is in fa-vour of the government’s decision to allow 51% For-eign Direct Investment (FDI) in multi-brand retail and 100% in single brand retail. On the question of how the SME industry considers entry of MNC to retailers, as a threat or opportunity, majority of respondents (66.7%) see it as an oppor-tunity for their sector. On the aspect of the possible impact on the size of the industry,

By— Md. Furquan

2nd Year MIB , JMI.

DO WE NEED????

Cont…..from Page 1

Quote For The Month