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The article “Choosing Strategies that Matter Lessons for Indian Public Sector Banks” in the May-June 2004 issue fails to explore in detail the strategies that banks may follow for success. It’s a historical narrative of what is happening in the banking sector. The action plan for success is missing, and the steps described cannot be passed as strategy.
Either a change in the title as a historical narrative or a more detailed strategy would have done justice to the topic.
Vineet Sharma
2nd year MBA student

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Dr Ranjan Das and Raveendra C have analysed the state of General Insurance Industry in India perfectly. I totally agree with them that the players should endeavour to expand the market than to compete each other for market shares in the same market.
Chirantan Chatterjee & Devi Yesodharan vividly discuss branding of a nation. The examples of Japan and Malaysia are worth noting. The cover story also gives the perfect idea of pros and cons of celebrity endorsements as strategy. The analysis of Bharat Uday and India Shining campaign in Playing with Words by Sorab Mistry was very interesting to read and so were Tying the know with Buyers and The Balbir Pasha Story. Overall it may be said that Strategic Marketing is a must for those in management and marketing areas.
R M Hambarde
MSEB

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Mergers and acquisitions, if well thought through could revive a dead brand. Brand shakeouts also have a direct relationship to the foot soldiers - if reach and availability of the product is not there, then to the brand dies. Example: Dandi salt disappeared from the market due to this very reason. There was a demand from the market after the product was initially placed in the retail outlets. But no supply thereafter increased the competitor’s sale and later Dandia was washed away.
Vijay Narayanan
Jyothy Laboratories Ltd

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I was an irregular reader of SM, but the May-June 2004 issue compelled me to go for yearly subscription. My conceptual knowledge has increased and using this knowledge in my job will definitely help me perform much better.
Ravi Karnani
Asahi India Glass Ltd

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I read with interest the case study of Scorpio. I appreciate your efforts in publishing such an informative stories. I would highly recommend it to all of our budding entrepreneurs.
Abhay
Via email

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Multinationals are generally in a hurry to report to headquarters that their new brand has been established. Now, it may be that the brand is in its introduction stage or the brand has been purchased through a merger/acquisition route. I remember the example when a powerful brand like Sunlight was being phased out by HLL, because the soap category was no more the cash cow for the company.
It was replaced by a detergent variant Wah. Test marketing was carried out at Chandigarh and Pune and since the off-take did not happen immediately, it was dropped. It would have been far more beneficial to extend the brand name Sunlight to yellow powder and stick to the plan for at least five years to decide on its future potential.
But brand managers of yester years would not hear of brand extensions across category for the mantra was brand equity dilution. I also remember the powerful brand 501 which HLL acquired from purchase of TOMCO. It was connected with Indian ethos, a powerful name across Rural Kerala, Andhra, Maharashtra, West Bengal. The Brand has been virtually wiped out due to negligence of HLL brand managers. As you have rightly brought up the case of Geep brand - it had no synergy with the Gillette range. A high-end product with long shelf life being bracketed with rural product was always a recipe for disaster.
Vijay Mohan
Via email

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I read the article “Maintaining brand loyalty when crisis strikes” by Kiran Khalap. It’s a great article.
Neeraj Gulati
MICA

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The article “Choosing Strategies that Matter: Lessons for Indian Public Sector Banks” is a very well written article. It is in-depth, informative and very clear about the topic it discusses. I agree with the authors that computerisation of branches, networking, creation of ATM’s etc may not be enough for the public sector banks to take on the competition as these can be easily replicated. They definitely need to build and maintain inimitable resources.
Amit Joshi
Via email

Varun Mishra
Senior Executive [Service Development]
Drishtee Dotcom Ltd.
Noida-20101

Put your thoughts in Black & White...
We encourage readers to send in their ideas, comments and criticisms. You can even send in appendages to published articles. The best entries will be published in one of the subsequent issues with appropriate credits. You may send in your feedback to
Manoj Khatri, Research and Coordination Editor, Strategic Marketing, Response Edit, 2nd Floor, The Times of India Building, Dr D N Road, Mumbai-400001, Email: manoj@columnist.com