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| The Right Fit - Franchise Culture |
| It sounds cliched, but leadership really does begin at the top. It's the attitudes and behavior of the CEOs, VPs, and other executives who set the tone for how well the franchise brand operates and grows. What's modeled at the top trickles down to all other areas of the brand. Optimism, integrity, teamwork, and recognition are all characteristics of strong leadership. Amazingly, leadership and a culture of healthy productivity are not that difficult to create. As you review franchise brands - talking to both franchise executives and franchisees - keep an eye out for the following signs. |
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| Coimbatore-An emerging Business destination |
Coimbatore popularly known as Manchester of South India, is situated in the western part of the state of Tamil Nadu.
Coimbatore is the second largest and fastest developing city in Tamil Nadu after Chennai with a corporation area of 105.6 sq km and a population of 1.1 million as of 2008 according to the census findings.
The city is strategically located between Chennai, Bangalore and Kochi and is well connected by rail, road and air.
With three universities, five other deemed universities, 25 engineering colleges, 14 polytechnics, more than 65 arts and science colleges, 44 MBA institutions, medical, nursing, law and other colleges, the city boasts of an excellent talent pool that drives the growth of diversified industry verticals.
Apart from Technology Up gradation Fund Scheme (TUFS) for textile industry during 2008, Tamil Nadu government has come up with lucrative incentives for IT and BPO sectors that has evinced increased interest among local as well as national developers to set up IT parks and IT SEZs.
A strong entrepreneurial spirit of the population has resulted in a humongous availability of capital amongst the local landlords of Coimbatore.
Coimbatore city is all set to witness high quality housing with both the local as well as the national developers gearing to innovate in all the precincts of the city.
With 1.57 million sq ft of office space as of end-2008, the Coimbatore commercial office market is likely to quadruple in the next 3-4 years.
The city has joined the transformation towards organized retail market that India is going through with about 1 million sq ft of retail mall space expected to come up by 2011.
Hospitality sector in Coimbatore is dynamic due to the business climate prevailing. The rapid IT development and the growth in the textile and automobile industry, will drive the business demand in the years to come.
The entry of IT majors like Tata Consultancy Services, Cognizant, Spheris, Perot Systems and Bosch etc., have resulted in increased occupancy rates in hotels.
Apart from the Tamil Nadu government initiatives to promote Coimbatore as a business friendly city, a lot of foreign investors have invested on various residential, commercial, retail and hotel projects across various precincts of the city.
With a high literacy rate and sheer number of students graduating out of many renowned colleges, Coimbatore is all set to scale new heights as a preferred destination for corporates to expand their business presence.
While the repercussions of the economic crisis are only a short term challenge for all the stake holders of real estate industry, the city is likely to emerge as a favourable destination for real estate investment in the long run.
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| Trader Vic's partners with Gourmet Gulf, JSM |
Trader Vic’s, a global restaurant company, has signed an agreement with its franchise partners, Gourmet Gulf Company, an UAE-based food and beverage retail company and JSM Corporation, to open outlets in India.
JSM has obtained exclusive development rights to three Trader Vic’s concepts, Trader Vic’s, Mai Tai Lounge & Island Bar & Grill and will open outlets throughout India and Sri Lanka, said a company statement.
Trader Vic’s president and CEO, Peter Seely, said, “JSM is a highly successful and enthusiastic company with whom we are thrilled to be in partnership with; India is one of the fastest growing and most exciting locations in the world today and we feel confident that our brand is in very capable hands.”
JSM co-founders Sanjay Mahtani and Jay Singh said, “We are thrilled with this new association and are excited at the prospect of rolling out Trader Vic’s across India and then at a later stage the Mai Tai Lounge and Island Bar and Grill concepts. With this addition we are fortunate to add another iconic brand to our existing portfolio.”
Famous for its rich tradition of fabulous food, exotic drinks and transcendent atmosphere, Trader Vic’s continues to expand across the globe with over 30 locations worldwide, statement said.
Trader Vic’s is the home of the original Mai Tai Cocktail, invented by The “Trader” Vic Bergeron and customers can also choose from a tempting array of over 200 signature cocktails, it added.-TradeArabia News Servicestrong position.” |
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| US to invest in Indian Tier II cities |
Washington, Jul 1: Develpoment for India’s Tier II cities are not so far! American manufactures plans to focus on investment in the Indian cities like Kochi, Coimbatore, Indore, Jaipur etc.
The new initiative is planned by the US-India Business Council (USIBC) and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).
The new move will bring Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) into India’s global value chain and also introduce US companies to opportunities in Indian Tier II and Tier III cities.
"The growth in emerging metropolitan sectors initiative will support opportunities for trade and investment especially for small and medium-sized businesses," said Frank Sanchez, US Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade.
The introduction of American investment in Indian Tier II and Tier III cities will dicrease the pressures on primary urban centres in India. This will result in the inclusive growth for both India and American companies.
"The next phase of growth in India-US bilateral economic relations will come from the Small and Medium Enterprise sector. This platform will provide the much needed impetus," said Kiran Pasricha, Deputy Director General, CII.
There are 3.7 million manufacturers operating in the United States today. So far, only 27 percent of these manufacturers benefit from exports. The goal is to integrate more such American companies into India’s global value chain, and vice versa, leveraging the US-India commercial link , already surpassing $40 billion in two-way trade. |
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| Foreign retailers increase India focus |
The positive sentiment in the domestic retail market is driving foreign retailers to increase their focus on the Indian shores. After lying low for nearly two years, retailers are firming up plans to increase their presence in the sub-continent not just through retail expansion but also price cuts to find a foot here.
Major retailers Walmart, The Body Shop and Artsana Inc. are putting expansions back on their strategies. Most companies had put a brake on expansions into India after the economic recession put their plans in a limbo.
Scouting for locations
Bharti Walmart, the 50:50 joint venture between Bharti Enterprises and the US-based Walmart Inc, said it is also looking to foray into southern and western parts of India within the next 18-24 months. “Within 12-18 months we should be able to be in the southern markets. We are focusing on all four southern states. And, probably after that, within two years, we will be in west India,” Mr Raj Jain, Managing Director and CEO, Chief Executive Officer, said. Bharti Walmart had set up its first venture last year. “We see India as a mega place for our worldwide sourcing. Indian products can be exported to other Asian countries, Europe and even the US,” Mr Scott Price, Wal-Mart Asia President and CEO, said.
Similarly, cosmetic retailer The Body Shop is taking its store presence to 35 stores across 16 cities in India. The company said its expansion will include shop-in-shops as well as standalone stores.
“We have a tie with Future Group's Central Mall and Debenhams. We are also looking to forge a similar alliance with Shopper's Stop.
In India, the company also has a franchising arrangement with Planet Retail Group where the former focuses on product development and training while the latter takes care of expansion into new territory.
Italian conglomerate Artsana, a €1.4-billion company, engaged in the business of babycare and healthcare, has entered India through single-brand retailing.
The company operates in 120 countries with over 21 subsidiaries globally. The group opened its maiden flagship ‘Chicco' store in Delhi, said it will be opening a slew of stores in major metros.
“We will be opening at least 8-10 stores in the next couple of months. This will help us not just in brand building but also give a keen insight into consumers' buying behaviour and price positioning for the Indian market,” he said, adding the company is keeping its pricing competitive in India.
Positive signals
The London-based property development and property search company Casa Forma said the sentiment in the real estate sector is positive. “We are seeing a turnaround in India and to step up our presence here we have hired a team,” Mr Fazia Seth, CEO, said. The company is exploring possibilities to design properties for individual and institutional clients. |
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| SMARTKiDZ forays into south India |
SMARTKiDZ, a Hyderabad based chain of play-school has recently launched six branches in Karnataka and one in Tamil Nadu. Presently, the company supports more than 28 branches of SMARTKiDZ in Andhra Pradesh.
SMARTKiDZ, known for its unique method of teaching aims to appoint franchisees all over India starting from Gujarat to Maharashtra by the end of this year. The company provides all the necessary support to its franchisees.
SMARTKiDZ is one of the fastest growing unique chains of play-schools that offer age appropriate learning activities for children and prepares them thoroughly for their next stage of schooling. The company ensures value-based education to the children and renders practical and judicious combination of academic excellence, extracurricular activities, and character building through a playful method. |
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| Is Africa the next frontier for Indian business? |
Is Africa the next frontier for Indian business?
Source : CNBC-TV18I
Today let’s talk about Africa, not just because the continent contributed six teams to the FIFA contest and one of them, Ghana, came to the quarter-finals, this time for Africa also because the continent appears to be emerging as the next big destination for business.
African growth remained below average world GDP (gross domestic product) up to the year 2000. In the current decade, it has consistently been 1-2% points above average world GDP.
Is Africa the next frontier for Indian business? To discuss this we have two men who clearly are best placed on Africa. Our first guest is B Muthuraman, Vice Chairman, Tata Steel. The Tatas have been in Africa since 1977 and today they make revenues of over USD 600 million from Africa and hope to reach one billion in two years.
Below is a verbatim transcript of the exclusive interview on CNBC-TV18.
Q: Since you have seen Africa both in the 1970s and 1980s and now in the new millennium, what kind of an increase in opportunity do you see? Would you sense that Africa is on that cusp of a quantum leap in terms of development?
Muthuraman: Africa is definitely on the threshold of many major developments. If you see the GDP growth in the last seven-eight years, all the African countries together, it has averaged to 4.9% per annum. This is almost double of what one has seen in 80s and 90s.
The reasons are three-fold. One is there is definitely a much better political stability in many countries in last decade compared to earlier. There has definitely been a better microeconomic conditions in terms of containment of inflation, in terms of government deficits, in terms of government debt as a percentage of GDP, all that has become better in the last decade.
Thirdly, I think there is definitely a much better business climate, opening up of the economy, lot of private entrepreneurs going, so definitely Africa is on the threshold of a very major growth.
Q: What has been your sense, for the past three months probably several times you have studied economic geography of Africa several times and now having visited 20 countries, what is the sense you are getting? Is Africa as big an opportunity to say that the next decade or two belong to that continent?
Kohli: It is so apparent when you go down to Africa that this prediction will come true. After the revolutions led by China as a big 1 billion country then India as a 1 billion country, I think next economic revolution has started in Africa.
In last two years, we have reviewed Africa very closely because we will have significant investments there, not only now, but in the next five-ten years. One, the population is about a billion and in the next 30-40 years, India may go to 1.6 billion, China will go to 1.4, Africa will actually go to 2 billion. That is a big one for us.
Within the same population, urbanisation is great. Today, 40% urbanisation is going to 50% urbanization, which is higher than India. The labour market availability is bigger than China, middle class is bigger than India in terms of savings per capita PPP ratios, youth population is 25% of the world, median age is about 17-18%.
As Mr Muthuraman said, economic growth is picking up very well, 27 out of 30 top countries in Africa have grown very fast in last two-three years. Raw materials for the first time are fully being utilised. Oil is being found in many countries like Nigeria, Ghana, Angola and they are utilising that oil money for the economic growth. So I think next couple of decades will belong to Africa’s economic growth driving global economic growth. |
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