MARKETING AND ITS IMPORTANCE

What exactly is marketing and why is it important to you as an entrepreneur? Simply stated, marketing is everything you do to place your product or service in the hands of potential customers.
It includes diverse disciplines like sales, public relations, pricing, packaging, and distribution. In order to distinguish marketing from other related professional services, S.H. Simmons, author and humorist, relates this anecdote.
"If a young man tells his date she's intelligent, looks lovely, and is a great conversationalist, he's saying the right things to the right person and that's marketing. If the young man tells his date how handsome, smart and successful he is -- that's advertising. If someone else tells the young woman how handsome, smart and successful her date is -- that's public relations."
You might think of marketing this way. If business is all about people and money and the art of persuading one to part from the other, then marketing is all about finding the right people to persuade.
Marketing is your strategy for allocating resources (time and money) in order to achieve your objectives (a fair profit for supplying a good product or service).
Yet the most brilliant strategy won't help you earn a profit or achieve your wildest dreams if it isn't built around your potential customers. A strategy that isn't based on customers is rather like a man who knows a thousand ways to make love to a woman, but doesn't know any women. Great in theory but unrewarding in practice.
If you fit the classic definition of an entrepreneur (someone with a great idea who's under-capitalized), you may think marketing is something you do later -- after the product is developed, manufactured, or ready to sell.
Though it may feel counter-intuitive, marketing doesn't begin with a great idea or a unique product. It begins with customers -- those people who want or need your product and will actually buy it.
Entrepreneurs are in love with their ideas, and they should be. After all, why would anyone commit their energy, life savings, and no small part of their sanity to anything less than a consuming passion. Because entrepreneurs are passionate about their idea, product, or service, they innocently assume other people will feel the same. Here's the bad news -- it just doesn't work that way!
People have their own unique perceptions of the world based on their belief system. The most innovative ideas, the greatest products, or a superior service succeed only when you market within the context of people's perceptions.
Context can be many things, singly or simultaneously. To name a few, you may market to your customers within the context of their wants, needs, problems solved, or situation improved. Entrepreneurs need to be aware of many other contexts, such as social and economic trends or governmental regulations, which we'll discuss another time.
People don't just "buy" a product. They "buy" the concept of what that product will do for them, or help them do for themselves. People who are overweight don't join a franchise diet center to eat pre-packaged micro-meals. They "buy" the concept of a new, thin, happy and successful self.
Before you become consumed with entrepreneurial zeal and invest your life savings in a new venture, become a smart marketer. Take time at the beginning to discover who your potential customers are, and how to effectively reach them.
Without a plan, your entrepreneurial dream is really wishful thinking. While a marketing plan can be a map for success, remember that the map is not the territory. A strategy that ignores the customer isn't an accurate reflection of the landscape.
A good marketing plan can help you focus your energy and resources. But a plan created in a vacuum, based solely on your perceptions, does not advance the agenda. That's why market research, however simple or sophisticated, is important.
Just keep in mind that research attempts to predict the future by studying the past. It reveals what people have done, and extrapolates what people might do -- not what people will do.
Planning is imperative, research is important, but there's no substitute for entrepreneurial insight. After all, as Mark Twain wrote, "You cannot depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus".

Hardware

Hardware is a general term for the physical artifacts of a technology. It may also mean the physical components of a computer system, in the form of computer hardware.

Hardware historically meant the metal parts and fittings that were used to make wooden products stronger, more functional, longer lasting and easier to fabricate or assemble.^{[citation needed]}

Modern hardware stores typically sell equipment such as keys, locks, hinges, latches, corners, handles, wire, chains, plumbing supplies, tools, utensils, cutlery and machine parts, especially when they are made of metal.^{[citation needed]}

In a more colloquial sense, hardware can refer to military equipment, such as tanks, aircraft, ships or munitions. In the case of vehicles, such may instead be referred to as armour.

In slang, the term can also refer to trophies and other physical representations of awards.

No war within Mumbai Police: Commissioner

Naming some of the seniors, Hasan had told The Week, "I told you there were a handful. For example, KL Prasad refused to come to the Trident and decided against hitting the roads. Devena Bharti, K Venkatesham and Parambhir Singh did not appear keen on responding to the situation as it kept dawning on us."

Prasad was then the joint commissioner of police (Law and Order) while Bharti was the additional commissioner of police (Crime). Venkatesham was the additional commissioner of police (South Region) and Singh was the additional commissioner of police (Anti-Terrorism Squad).

"Yes, there was dearth of eagerness on the part of a handful of senior officers to be on the ground during those days," Gafoor had said in reply to a question on whether he noticed a bit of unwillingness among the senior officers.

Asked how he felt when he was let down by his own men and if there was a bigger embarrassment, Gafoor said, "Yes there was, indeed. On November 28, I attended a meeting with the DGP and Home Minister. I was told to withdraw the NSG and instead use the Mumbai Police for the ongoing operations. The DGP told me that the entire world was watching us and so we should put an immediate end to the siege and help defuse the crisis. This sounded ridiculous, as the NSG is an elite force that can tackle such crisis situation. I said it was even preposterous to even think of taking off the NSG."

Gafoor is now the Director General of Police (Housing).

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Plan

The most popular ways to describe plans are by their breadth, time frame, and specificity; however, these planning classifications are not independent of one another. For instance, there is a close relationship between the short-and long-term categories and the strategic and operational categories.

It is common for less formal plans to be created as abstract ideas, and remain in that form as they are maintained and put to use. More formal plans as used for business and military purposes, while initially created with and as an abstract thought, are likely to be written down, drawn up or otherwise stored in a form that is accessible to multiple people across time and space. This allows more reliable collaboration in the execution of the plan

DIVIDENDS

Dividends are payments made by a corporation to its shareholder members. It is the portion of corporate profits paid out to stockholdersWhen a corporation earns a profit or surplus, that money can be put to two uses: it can either be re-invested in the business (called retained earnings, or it can be paid to the shareholders as a dividend. Many corporations retain a portion of their earnings and pay the remainder as a dividend.
For a joint stock company, a dividend is allocated as a fixed amount per share. Therefore, a shareholder receives a dividend in proportion to their shareholding. For the joint stock company, paying dividends is not an expense rather; it is the division of an asset among shareholders. Public companies usually pay dividends on a fixed schedule, but may declare a dividend at any time, sometimes called a special dividend to distinguish it from a regular one.
Cooperatives, on the other hand, allocate dividends according to members' activity, so their dividends are often considered to be a pre-tax expense.
Dividends are usually settled on a cash basis, as a payment from the company to the shareholder. They can take other forms, such as store credits (common among retail consumers' cooperatives) and shares in the company (either newly-created shares or existing shares bought in the market.) Further, many public companies offer dividend reinvestment plans which automatically use the cash dividend to purchase additional shares for the shareholder.

Bafna Pharma to launch hypertension drug in Sri Lanka

Bafna Pharmaceuticals today said it has received approval from Sri Lankan authorities to launch its anti-hypertention product.
The company will market the brand by early 2010, the Chennai-based drug maker said in a statement to the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).
Bafna Pharma also said it will sell its product directly through its own front end. This will increasingly supplement the company's revenue stream which has traditionally relied on the generics market.
"We will continue to expand our product range in the coming months by developing products where we are vertically integrated," Bafna Pharma Chairman and Managing Director Mahaveer Chand Bafna said.
Shares of Bafna Pharma today settled at Rs 31, up 2.31 per cent in on the BSE.

HomeShop18 raises Rs 109 cr for expansion

GS Home Shopping, post the investment, will hold a 15 per cent equity stake in HomeShop18. Network18 will remain the majority shareholder in HomeShop18 with a 51 per cent equity stake on a fully diluted basis.
The two companies have entered into a strategic co-operation agreement under which GS Home Shopping will lend its expertise in the areas of sourcing, merchandising, broadcasting and logistics to scale the HomeShop18 business in India. This will be facilitated by way of seconding key employees to HomeShop18 as well as training of HomeShop18 employees in Korea.

ISLAMIC FINANCE

‘Islamic Finance:

Challenges and Opportunities’
A Special Issue of the Journal of Financial Services
Marketing
The Islamic financing system was introduced commercially in the 1970s with the goal
of providing social justice and ethical financing options. The basic principle of
Islamic financing is the prohibition on the payment and collection of interest.
Therefore, unlike conventional banks, Islamic banks invest in the assets on behalf of
the clients for a return on the investment based on arrangements such as profit and
loss sharing. The launch of Islamic financing was seen as an attempt by the
Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC) to commercialise a system that had been
successfully practiced by traders in ancient Arabia long before the advent of Islam.

Since its launch, Islamic financing has grown at a annual rate of 10-15 % in both .Muslim and non-Muslim countries and it is estimated that today the assets of Islamic
banks are worth more than $300 billion. The Islamic financial system offers
opportunities for entrepreneurs: the prohibition on fixed interest repayments means
that the banks share the risk of the business venture’s failure with the entrepreneur,
thereby creating a more equitable relationship. But a limited range of interest-free
financial products and a limited market size are some of the challenges that Islamic
banks face.



In view of the current global financial crisis, where many are questioning the lending
practices of conventional banks, Islamic financing has the opportunity to strengthen
its position as a legitimate financing alternative and increase its global market share.

PepsiCo India: Youngistaan in cyberspace

Pepsi still has superstars from cricket and filmdom on its rolls, but it is no more banking on them alone to make its voice heard in Youngistaan — the world of its target audience. It is going all the way to reach its young audience in their preferred haunts, be it in cyberspace or real life. Its ‘MyCan, MyWay’ campaign was kick-started by a commercial featuring Indian cricketers and a group of boys, reminiscent of today’s teens with attitude, in Kerala. Since then it has spread out through non-mass media such as the Internet and radio, asking the youth ‘What’s Your Way’. The whackiest answer to a dicey dilemma would earn the user a whole lot of goodies from Pepsi.
The brand has come a long way from its online presence on the Yahoo! portal, known as ‘pepsizone’. Pepsi’s online Youngistaan is where all the action now is. Not only does it have tricky situations enacted by its youngest crop of brand ambassadors — Deepika Padukone, Ranbir Kapoor and MS Dhoni — but also those co-created by users for others to solve.

Tatas trim holdings in group cos

The uptick in stock prices has helped several promoters monetise a portion of their holdings in the July-September quarter. In the process, some vanguards of desi businesses, including Tatas, have trimmed holdings in portfolio companies. The Bombay House-based conglomerate has cropped its shareholding in companies like TCS, Tata Motors, Tata Steel and Tata Power during the July-September quarter. According to regulatory filings, Tatas' stake in Tata Steel is down 2.77% this quarter. In Tata Power, the group's holding has fallen by 2.11%, while in TCS and Tata Motors it has dipped 0.76% each. The scenario was quite different a year ago following Lehman crash. For instance, the Tata group was compelled to subscribe to the balance portion of Tata Motors' rights issue, as there were few takers for the instrument due to the global financial crisis. Consequently, group's holding in the auto company went up to over 40% from 33%. However, during the September quarter, the drop in group's stake was on account of sale of shares and conversion of convertible preference shares into equity shares. Compared to other family-owned companies, Tata group's holding in its firms have been relatively low. Legend has it that at one point of time, Tatas held a tiny 2% stake in flagship Tisco (now known as Tata Steel). Birlas were the largest shareholders of the steel company. However, despite the Tatas low holding, control was not an issue then because of the cordial relationships between the two groups. The corporate

Sudha Murty sells Rs 430cr Infy shares

Sudha N Murty, wife of Infosys Technologies chairman and chief mentor, N R Narayana Murthy, on Thursday sold 20 lakh Infosys shares worth Rs 430 crore. The money will be used as corpus for the venture capital fund ‘Catamaran Investment', that is being set up in Bangalore by the couple to promote entrepreneurship among young Indians with brilliant ideas.Incidentally, Infosys CEO Kris Gopalakrishnan on Thursday bought four lakh Infosys shares from the open market for a total consideration of Rs 86.6 crore. Narayana Murthy, late last month, had sold 8 lakh Infosys shares worth Rs 170-crore to fund Catamaran. This means that the corpus of Catamaran will now be Rs 600 crore or about $130 million. Murthy, who will step down from Infosys in 2011, when he turns 65, is preparing for an active-post-Infosys career if his VC move is any indication. Infosys on Thursday said that Murthy had informed the company that the couple do not have plans "for raising further capital for the fund, at present." Sudha Murty, who is the chairperson of the Infosys Foundation, is one of the largest individual shareholders of Infosys and the biggest from among the Murthy family. Before Thursday's sale she held 93 lakh shares in the company her husband co-founded almost three decades ago. Her stake as on October 10 stood at 1.62%. Total promoter holding in the company before the sale was 16.48%. Infosys scrip closed at Rs 2,223, down by 0.74% over Wednesday's close.

Sensex up 152 pts after a day of lows and highs

A sudden spurt of buying towards the fag end of trading, sparked by the government's decision today to divest 10% in all listed companies, pushed the benchmark Sensex up by more than 150 points to regain the 16,000-level after three days. Markets turned bearish in early trade after yesterday's rebound rally on weak cues from Asia and plunged to 15,564 points. Sentiment, however, turned bullish within minutes of Home Minister P Chidambaram announcing the Cabinet decision to divest 10% stake in all listed companies. Government also decided to list all profit-making public sector firms with a positive networth. After a roller-coaster ride, which saw the Sensex swinging over 500 points, the 30-share index finally closed the day at 16,063.90, netting a rise of 151.77 points or 0.95% over its previous close.

SBI may withdraw 8% home, car loan offers

As RBI has signalled an end of soft interest rate regime, the State Bank of India is considering to withdraw its special home and car loan schemes, carrying an interest rate of 8% for the first year of repayment period of loan. SBI's current special scheme will expire on November 7. A senior SBI official said the bank will take a final view within this week. Other PSU banks are also considering to withdraw special schemes, announced to revive the demand for houses and cars in Q1 of 2009, when the country was facing one of the worst economic slowdown in the last five years. To counter slowdown, RBI had also announced a number of measures to infuse liquidity, leading to fall in interest rates. The measures helped in putting the economy back on revival path. Since inflationary pressure is also mounting, RBI governor D Subbarao, while unveiling review of monetary policy, said central bank's main focus will be on checking inflation and for this monetary policy could be tightened. But this gave a signal to bankers that interest rates are likely to go up, prompting them to consider to withdraw offering loans at lower rates under special schemes. The apprehension is RBI may increase CRR — the proportion of deposits that banks need to keep with central bank —by half a percentage points to 5.5%, sooner or later, to mop up excess liquidity from system.

China accuses Dalai Lama of damaging ties with India

The Chinese foreign ministry on Tuesday accused the Dalai Lama of damaging its relationship with India by his plans to visit a disputed border region. China was referring to 90,000 sq km (55,900 square miles) of Arunachal Pradesh along the border, which it regards as own territory. The exiled Tibetan spiritual leader has riled Beijing by arranging a trip next week to Arunachal Pradesh, parts of which China claims as its own. The Chinese government has condemned the trip several times and asked Delhi to stop it going ahead. But with ties between the two Asian giants strained by a flare-up of disputes over their shared boundary, Beijing apparently hopes to keep its ire over the trip, due to start November 8, from inflaming diplomatic tensions. Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu repeated earlier criticism of the Dalai Lama for "separatist" activities, but did not condemn Delhi for allowing the trip to go ahead, and underlined the importance Beijing places on Sino-Indian ties. "The Dalai Lama often lies and often engages in acts to sabotage China's relations with other countries," Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said at a regular news briefing. "I am confident that his scheme to wreck China's relations with the relevant country will come to nothing." "I am confident that his scheme to wreck China's relations with the relevant country will come to nothing." China claims about 90,000 sq km (55,900 square miles) of Arunachal Pradesh along the border as part of its territory, that it sees as "southern" Tibet.

Definitions of twitter

Definitions of twitter on the Web:
• chitter: make high-pitched sounds, as of birds
• chirrup: a series of chirps
• Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that enables its users to send and read other users' updates known as tweets. ...
• a succession of chirps as uttered by birds; to utter a succession of bird's chirps; (of a person) to talk in an excited or nervous manner; to
• twittery - that twitte
• Twittering - twitters fundamental question is “what are you doing?” This is can be in its most simplistic for a one or two word answer, but when developed this is a tool that lends itself to developing understanding and potential starting collaboration.

India receives Commonwealth Games baton from the Queen

The formal countdown to next year's Delhi Commonwealth Games began on Thursday with the ceremonial Queen's Baton relay, which saw Queen Elizabeth II handing over the glittering baton to President Pratibha Patil in London.Before the Queen placed her message in the handcrafted baton and passed it on to mark the beginning of a year-long relay, a cultural show in sync with India's rich tradition was organised at the majestic Buckingham Palace. The message was engraved onto a miniature 18-carat gold leaf that is symbolic of the ancient Indian palm leaf patras.

It is for the first time that the Head of a State attended the traditional ceremony and received the baton from the Queen. Commonwealth Games Federation Michael Fennell presented the baton to the Queen. President Patil passed on the baton to Indian Sports Minister MS Gill, who handed it over to Organising Committee Chairman Suresh Kalmadi. From Kalmadi baton reached the hands of first baton bearer Abhinav Bindra, India's only Olympic Gold medallist. With Indian music playing in the background air rifle shooter Bindra began the relay-run and handed over the baton to legendary middle-distance runner Lord Sebastian Coe, waiting just outside the gates of Palace. Coe is also Chairman of the Organising Committee of the 2012 London Olympics.

Dalits enter TN temple first time in 100 yrs

For the first time in a hundred years, dalits of Chettipulam village stepped inside the local Shiva temple on Tuesday, in a historic moment brought about by government and political intervention. Escorted by revenue and police officers, nearly 70 dalits of the village situated near Vedaranyam in Nagapattinam district entered the century-old Kamatchi Amman Sametha Ekambareswarar Temple at around 11 am and offered prayers for 25 minutes. Dressed in their best, women had brought flowers and other offerings. A group of non-dalits, including panchayat president V Manimaran, also accompanied the dalits. District collector C Munianathan himself distributed prasadam' to the dalits after the prayers.
"It is a historic day for us. For decades, we were barred from entering the temple. All we could do for generations was to stand 10 feet away from the temple entrance and offer prayers," said Nandan alias N Natarajan, a dalit labourer. He and other dalits were greeted by non-dalits inside the temple. The dalits here had earlier made three attempts to enter the temple. On September 30, they found it locked. The next day they were arrested when they tried to break the lock. On October 14, when Nagapattinam revenue divisional officer Rajendran led the dalits towards the temple, violence broke out as non-dalits started pelting stones. Police fired warning shots in the air and resorted to a lathicharge. The CPI(M), spearheading the agitation, had warned of another attempt on November 2 if the government failed to ensure entry of the dalits into the temple by October 30. A tripartite meeting involving non-dalits, dalits and government officials was held on Monday. It was decided there that the dalits would be taken into the temple on Tuesday.

India is funding Taliban fighters, claims Pakistan

Interior minister Rehman Malik has once again claimed that India is fomenting unrest within Pakistan through steps such as funding Taliban fighters based along the border with Afghanistan. Malik said he was "convinced" India is among "certain hostile agencies" that are backing the Taliban to create instability in Pakistan. Asked during an interview to a TV news channel as to who was backing the Taliban, he said: "There are certain hostile elements against Pakistan and there are certain hostile agencies which do not want Pakistan to be (stabilised)." In response to a question on whether India is among the hostile agencies, Malik said, "Yes, of course, I am convinced. I have no doubt about it. I was very open. I have giventhe full details. "If the interior minister of India or anyone else wants to confront me, I will be very happy to confront them because I know what I am saying," he added. Malik had said last week that Pakistan has "solid evidence" of India's alleged involvement in fomenting unrest in Balochistan province and this can be shared with Indian ministers or representatives at any forum of their choice.

RBI leaves key rates unchanged

The Reserve Bank today raised statutory liquidity ratio (SLR), the portion of deposits that banks are required to keep in government
securities, by 100 basis points to 25 per cent. The RBI, however, kept other key rates and ratios like repo, reverse repo and cash reserve ratio unchanged.
The decision to raise SLR, in the second quarterly review of the credit policy, is aimed at reducing liquidity and fighting the inflationary expectations, which has started building up, especially in the case of food items.