Month: March 2018
Tata motors have made changes in their top management cadre invoved in passenger cars business by mobilizing the best internal resources to improve their passenger car sales.
The persons who have been posted in the key positions from their existing positions are as follows.
1.Mr. Telang P.M. MD looks after the Indian Operations in Tata Motors
2.S. Krishnan Senior Vice President, International business Operations
3.Nitin Seth Senior GM, Cross company initiatives
4.V. Ramakrishnan VP (Commercial) looks after Passenger Cars business
5.Niraj Srivastava Regional manager Car Product Group
6.Rajesh Kaul Regional manager (West)
Tata Motors Spokesperson has confirmed these changes and said that this has been done to execute new responsibilities. Many people who had a long association with this company opine that this has been done to revitalize the business of cars and bring new talent. However since the truck business is already established these changes will hardly have any effect on the commercial business. Emission norms to Euro III standards become mandatory from October and many people are purchasing the new trucks to comply with this standard.
The pressure on the car sales is increasing day by day. Recently Tata plant at Gujarat has been commissioned thereby stabilizing Nano production. Because of the heavy competition from competing car manufacturers sales of cars Indigo, Indica, Sumo and Safari are subjected to lots of pressure. After Rajiv Dubes exit Tata motors did not appoint anybody as President of car business.
All kinds of businesses depend on their customers to gain profit. A business has to constantly satisfy or exceed customer expectations to keep its customers. With this in mind, quality management techniques are implemented to ensure that products and services are top notch. A business must also accept customer feedback for it to know the aspects it needs to improve on.
However, before a business gets its first customers, it must know how to promote its products and services. It must reach out to its target market. Marketing is considered a very important aspect of a business. A business implements marketing strategies to make its products and services more relevant to the target customers. In marketing, customer behavior is also studied. With this, a business will know know how to approach its customers.
Another important thing in a business is sales. There are many sales techniques used by businesses; it usually depends on the kind of product or service they are offering. For example, there are travelling salesmen who sell their products door-to-door. There are also instances when sales are made over the phone. With today’s technology, some are even made on the Internet.
It is often believed that the sales performance of a certain business relies a lot on the salespeople. They need to know how to properly approach their customers. There may also be times when they need to reach a certain quota. They need to promote the products directly to the customers. They need to use whatever resources they have at hand; some salespeople use wit and charm to convince customers to make a purchase. For optimum sales performance, it may be helpful for a business to get a sales coach for its sales staff.
Getting a professional sales coach for the sales team of a business can help improve the team’s performance. The coach can evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the salespeople and work from there. He can help the sales team reach their maximum potentials. He can help get rid of negative attitudes and reinforce positive ones. The sales coach may also determine what kind of technique will work for certain situations, employees, and customers.
The business world is competitive, so a company must always try to stay in the game. A sales professional’s work involves numbers and quotas that need to be met; there is also the pressure of time. With proper sales coaching, sales professionals can become more goal-oriented. In the long run, the performance of a business can improve.
There are many ways to make big money on the Internet. I personally have found direct sales to be one of the best ways to make money online and make alot of it. Why do I say that?
1. Higher commissions. Companies are willing to compensate you for your efforts at a higher commission rate than you can make in other ways.
For example, Primo Vacations is a big ticket direct sale opportunity. You earn $500 on every $697 sale you make. This works out to over a %70 commission rate.
Some companies will cut checks directly to you. In the Primo Vacations example you are your own business owner and the money is paid directly to you on a completed sale.
There are examples of high commission rates in other business models such as affiliate marketing. In many ways selling other people’s products as an affiliate marketer is a direct sales approach.
ClickBank is an example of an affiliate program where you can earn up to 75% commissions selling ebooks. The downside to this is these are not really big ticket items, so you have to make more sales to really make big money.
2. You are in control. People who want to have control over their income love direct sales opportunities.
When you go to work your boss tells you how much are going to make. Generally every Friday you get a paycheck and you know exactly what it is going to be.
In direct sales the more you sell the more you are going to earn. For people who are self-motivated this is an excellent way to make a lot of money.
Unlike other business models such as network marketing, you are not relying on a downline to earn you money. This is why so many people fail in network marketing.
Unless you are in an MLM program that offers products that pay a high commission, many times people never make enough money to justify staying in business. Therefore they quit.
3. Easy to focus. This is one of my favorite things about direct sales.
Your focus is strictly on selling your product. You may need to do marketing on the Internet to drive traffic to your website.
You might need to follow up with people via phone or email to answer questions. However, your focus is on generating leads and selling your product.
You are not worried about blogging every day. You are not worried about adding new web pages. If you can get focused on selling direct sales is the way to go.
There is no doubt the direct sales is one of the best ways to make big money if you promote the right product. Look for big ticket items that will pay you commissions of $500 or more and you can make a lot of money.
Few states have a stronger hunting tradition than Pennsylvania.
As the firearms deer season approaches, for example, whole neighborhoods smell like Hoppes #9. Wives search vainly for husbands, who have quietly disappeared to get in a few hours of pre-hunt scouting. On Opening Day, schools close because so many students, not to mention teachers, are absent anyway. By nightfall, deer camps are full of bucks hanging from meat poles and every other pickup you see on the road has deer hooves or antlers sticking up over the tailgate.
At least thats the way it used to be.
But the number of hunters in Pennsylvania is dropping, as it is nationwide. In Pennsylvania, there has been a 28 percent decline in license sales between 1981 and 2006. There is a long list of reasonsurbanization, expense, lack of time, overly restrictive regulations, anti-hunting attitudes, etc.
Of these reasons, lack of time, might actually be one of the easier problems to solveby allowing citizens to hunt on Sunday.
Currently, all Pennsylvanians can hunt on Sunday is coyotes, foxes and crows, and it is one of just seven states with such a severe restriction. Arguments against Sunday hunting usually focus on supposed safety concerns, clashes with landowners, church disruption or the idea that hikers and horseback riders need one day a week they can be in the woods without worrying about hunters.
All of these arguments can be debated, but for the moment lets not even bother. They were the same arguments used in 43 other states where Sunday hunting was debatedbut reason prevailed and now it is allowed. None of the predicted calamities in those stateswhether regarding human safety, religious upheaval, landowner relations, privacy invasion or run-ins between hunters and hikershas occurred significantly. Not one of the states where lawmakers allowed Sunday hunting has seen any reason to change its policy due to any of those claims.
Whos Against It and Why?
Among the most vocal opponents of Sunday hunting in the state is the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau. Some of their stated positions include:
Farmers do not get weekends off. Sunday is the one day they tend to relax their schedule to spend time with the families.
Many farmers only get Sundays to use their own land for recreation.
Posted land does not mean hunters will obey the signs. Trespassing hunters can endanger others who are not expecting to see them.
Farmers need one day they can move about without getting between a hunter and the target.
For the record, farmers who let people hunt their property do a great service for hunters, and they deserve our thanks for it. Even farmers that dont let hunters in often enhance habitat to support various kinds of game. Whether you know it or not, NRA has a Hunters Code of Ethics, and its very first point is, I will consider myself an invited guest of the landowner, seeking his permission, and conduct myself so that I will be welcome in the future.
That said, its worth remembering that hunters perform a service for farmers, too, by controlling the number of deer and bears that would otherwise damage crops. A 1997 Penn State University study estimated crop damage by deer at $75 million. And farmers are not the only people who work long hours anymore. Thats why the average guy needs Sunday it may be his only day to hunt. Regardless, farmers who dont agree could always put up a NO SUNDAY HUNTING sign. Maybe there would be some trespassing and maybe there wouldnt be any at all.
What Are the Benefits?
Many of the benefits to Sunday hunting in Pennsylvania are economic. Studies show that if Sunday hunting were allowed during all seasons, it would:
Stimulate $629 million in additional spending
Create 5,300 new jobs
Generate $18 million in additional state sales and income taxes.
Plus, 38 percent of Pennsylvanias hunters (both lapsed and active) said they would hunt more or hunt again if Sunday hunting were allowed.
But we dont really need a study to tell us that Sunday hunting would give people more time to hunt. Nonresidents would obviously be more willing to hunt Pennsylvania given the extra days. Kids who cant hunt on Saturday because of school functions, football or jobs would at least have one weekend day to get out. And parents and kids would get an additional opportunity to hunt together.
And all of this connects to the most important point made at the outsetthat license sales have dropped 28 percent in a state with a powerful hunting tradition. Giving people more time to hunt is one of the easiest ways to start turning that trend around and breathing new life into that tradition.
Voice Your Opinion
Pennsylvania Rep. Edward Staback, chairman of the House Game and Fisheries Committtee, has introduced House Bill 779, which would allow the Pennsylvania Game Commission to regulate Sunday hunting, instead of the General Assembly. Visit: http://www.pahouse.com/staback and click on “Sunday Hunting Still Under the Cross Fire” to voice your opinion.
If you are an entrepreneur with a small food or beverage company looking to take it to the next level, this article should be of particular interest to you. Your natural inclination may be to seek venture capital or private equity to fund your growth, but that might not be the best path for you to take. We have created a hybrid M&A model designed to bring the appropriate capital resources to you entrepreneurs. It allows the entrepreneur to bring in smart money and to maintain control.
We have taken the experiences of a beverage industry veteran, a food industry veteran and an investment banker and crafted a model that both large industry players and the small business owners are embracing.
I recently connected with two old college mates from the Wharton Business School. We are in what we like to call, the early autumn of our careers after pursuing quite different paths initially. John Blackington is a partner in Growth Partners, a consulting firm that advises food and beverage companies in all aspects of product introduction and market growth. You might say that it has been his life’s work with his initial introduction to the industry as a Coke Route driver during his college summer breaks.
After graduation, Coke hired John as a management trainee in the sales and marketing discipline. John grew his career at Coke and over the next 25 years held various positions in sales, marketing, and business development. John’s entrepreneurial spirit prevailed and he left Coke to consult with early stage food and beverage companies on new product introductions and strategic partnerships.
Steve Hasselbeck is now a food industry consultant after spending 27 years with the various companies that were rolled up into ConAgra. His experience was in managing products and channels. Steve is familiar with almost every functional area within a large food company. He has seen the introduction and the failed introduction of many food industry products.
John’s experience at Coke and Steve’s experience at ConAgra led them to the conclusion that new product introductions were most efficiently and cost effectively the purview of the smaller, nimble, low overhead company and not the food and beverage giants.
Dave Kauppi is now the president of MidMarket Capital, a M&A firm specializing in smaller technology based companies. Dave got the high tech bug early in his business life and pursued a career in high tech sales and marketing. Dave sold or managed in computer services, hardware, software, datacom, computer leasing and of course, a Dot Com. After several experiences of rapid accent followed by an even more rapid decent as technologies and markets changed, Dave decided to pursue an investment banking practice to help technology companies.
Dave, John, and Steve stayed in touch over the years and would share business ideas. In a recent discussion, John was describing the dynamics he saw with new product introductions in the food and beverage industry. He observed that most of the blockbuster products were the result of an entrepreneurial effort from an early stage company bootstrapping its growth in a very cost conscious lean environment.
The big companies, with all their seeming advantages experienced a high failure rate in new product introductions and the losses resulting from this art of capturing the fickle consumer were substantial. When we contacted Steve, he confirmed that this was also his experience. Don’t get us wrong. There were hundreds of failures from the start-ups as well. However, the failure for the edgy little start-up resulted in losses in the $1 – $5 million range. The same result from an industry giant was often in the $100 million to $250 million range.
For every Hansen Natural or Red Bull, there are literally hundreds of companies that either flame out or never reach a critical mass beyond a loyal local market. It seems like the mentality of these smaller business owners is, using the example of the popular TV show, Deal or No Deal, to hold out for the $1 million briefcase. What about that logical contestant that objectively weighs the facts and the odds and cashes out for $280,000?
As we discussed the dynamics of this market, we were drawn to a merger and acquisition model commonly used in the technology industry that we felt could also be applied to the food and beverage industry. Cisco Systems, the giant networking company, is a serial acquirer of companies. They do a tremendous amount of R&D and organic product development. They recognize, however, that they cannot possibly capture all the new developments in this rapidly changing field through internal development alone.
Cisco seeks out investments in promising, small, technology companies and this approach has been a key element in their market dominance. They bring what we refer to as smart money to the high tech entrepreneur. They purchase a minority stake in the early stage company with a call option on acquiring the remainder at a later date with an agreed-upon valuation multiple. This structure is a brilliantly elegant method to dramatically enhance the risk reward profile of new product introduction. Here is why:
For the Entrepreneur: (Just substitute in your food or beverage industry giant’s name that is in your category for Cisco below)
1.The involvement of Cisco – resources, market presence, brand, distribution capability is a self fulfilling prophecy to your product’s success.
2.For the same level of dilution that an entrepreneur would get from a VC, angel investor or private equity group, the entrepreneur gets the performance leverage of smart money. See #1.
3.The entrepreneur gets to grow his business with Cisco’s support at a far more rapid pace than he could alone. He is more likely to establish the critical mass needed for market leadership within his industry’s brief window of opportunity.
4.He gets an exit strategy with an established valuation metric while the buyer helps him make his exit much more lucrative.
5.As an old Wharton professor used to ask, What would you rather have, all of a grape or part of a watermelon? That sums it up pretty well. The involvement of Cisco gives the product a much better probability of growing significantly. The entrepreneur will own a meaningful portion of a far bigger asset.
For the Large Company Investor:
1.Create access to a large funnel of developing technology and products.
2.Creates a very nimble, market sensitive, product development or R&D arm.
3.Minor resource allocation to the autonomous operator during his skunk works market proving development stage.
4.Diversify their product development portfolio – because this approach provides for a relatively small investment in a greater number of opportunities fueled by the entrepreneurial spirit, they greatly improve the probability of creating a winner.
5.By investing early and getting an equity position in a small company and favorable valuation metrics on the call option, they pay a fraction of the market price to what they would have to pay if they acquired the company once the product had proven successful.
Dean Foods utilized this model successfully with their investment in White Wave, the producer of the market leading Silk Brand of organic Soy milk products. Dean Foods acquired a 25% equity stake in White Wave in 1999 for $4 million. While allowing this entrepreneurial firm to operate autonomously, they backed them with leverage and a modest level of capital resources. Sales exploded and Dean exercised their call option on the remaining 75% equity in White Way in 2004 for $224 million. Sales for White Way were projected to hit $420 million in 2005.
Given today’s valuation metrics for a company with White Way’s growth rate and profitability, their market cap is about $1.26 Billion, or 3 times trailing 12 months revenue. Dean invested $5million initially, gave them access to their leverage, and exercised their call option for $224 million. Their effective acquisition price totaling $229 million represents an 82% discount to White Wave’s 2005 market cap.
Dean Foods is reaping additional benefits. This acquisition was the catalyst for several additional investments in the specialty/gourmet end of the milk industry. These acquisitions have transformed Dean Foods from a low margin milk producer into a Wall Street standout with a growing stable of high margin, high growth brands.
Dean’s profits have tripled in four years and the stock price has doubled since 2000, far outpacing the food industry average. This success has triggered the aggressive introduction of new products and new channels of distribution. Not bad for a $5 million bet on a new product in 1999. Wait, let’s not forget about our entrepreneur. His total proceeds of $229 million are a fantastic 5- year result for a little company with 1999 sales of under $20 million.
MidMarket Capital has created this model combining the food and beverage industry experience with the investment banking experience to structure these successful transactions. MMC can either represent the small entrepreneurial firm looking for the smart money investment with the appropriate growth partner or the large industry player looking to enhance their new product strategy with this creative approach.
This model has successfully served the technology industry through periods of outstanding growth and market value creation. Many of the same dynamics are present in the food and beverage industry and these same transaction stru7ctures can be similarly employed to create value.