"Marketing can be more socially responsible"

Prof. Sudas Roy of Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Calcutta, lectures on Marketing and has been frequently coming to Nepal since 1994 as a Visiting Professor in Kathmandu University School of Management (KUSOM). During his recent such visit, he talked to New Business Age focusing on the recent trends in corporate management in India and on how marketing profession can be better utilized for social objectives. Excerpts:

What are the recent trends in management of Indian companies?

Basically what’s happening is that our traditionally protected companies are now exposed to international competition. So the major thrust of today’s Indian management is in how to become internationally competitive. So, the large-scale companies in India, the major ones, are investing lots of money in improving efficiency. Total Quality Management is a very important thing right now. And many companies are looking at what they are very good in doing and what they should not get involved into. In the process, there has been a lot of rationalization of their operation. These companies are hiring consultants, often international, to advise them on how to identify the core competencies. Of late, I think, their major threat is from Chinese imports than from European or American imports. Indian industries are extremely worried whether they can compete with Chinese products in terms of costs. There is plea going on for some sort of protection to Indian industry. Overall, the government is going to withdraw itself gradually from economic scene remaining only as a regulator. So, sooner the Indian industry can stand on its own feet, the better. That I think is very difficult.

So you think India is going for privatization more rapidly?

Yes, but about the pace, there can be differences of opinion. Some may think it is very slow, other many think it is too fast. Overall, I think, privatization is the coming thing.

What about adopting new technologies?

One advantage that India has is the strong information technology base. Though most of the IT industry is dependent on software exports, Indian economy itself will become a major user of IT. That is already happening to some extent. I would say, telecommunications, IT, software are already at the point of convergence. That is going to take place in a big way in India. I guess, this is going to be a major growth area for the next four or five years.

What is the situation of skilled manpower?

We have a large population - now over 100 million. But it is the problem of finding right person for the right job. We have a fairly good shortage of, for example, persons for managerial jobs and IT professionals. Companies have a problem of how to retain the talents. So, compensation packages for right talents have gone very high. On the other hand, there is also a massive unemployment. So, I think one of the major challenges for India is to train or retrain the people to develop the type of skill that the market demands. I don’t think we’ve done enough on that.

So, do you think that in the coming days the gap in terms of income is going to widen further?

I think that is normal in the transitional phase. In the long run, I’m quite hopeful that our education system will be able to pick up the challenge. I think we’ll be able to tackle the unemployment problem within next five-six years.

What other challenges do you the see?

One point I would like to add here is that the government has a role in this. For example, there is a lot of controversy and debate going on about the labor law reform. We’ve done the first phase of the reform, but the second phase is not yet started, though the Finance Minister has initiated some of the things in the last budget. If a company is to employ 1000 people, it can open or close down the unit without taking government’s permission. So, few things have just started coming out, which initially may appear to be anti-labor. I don’t think the labor to be in a position to accept that unless we create a social safety net. That is another challenge that we have to face.

How changed is the attitude of trade unions?

Now that WTO regime is coming up, India is opening and competition is mounting. The trade unions also realize that they can’t stop these. I think, they are becoming less militant. Still they may create some problems. As someone rightly says, it is not the fault of the worker that one fine morning he finds the factory become obsolete. It is actually the fault of the management. For that fault why should the worker lose his job? That question also seems to be quite relevant.

What notable marketing trends are emerging in India?

One thing, I would say, is that marketing is becoming far more professionalized. For that, we can take part of the credit because we have trained the people and they are now occupying important positions. But most of the professional skills are being spent on selling products to the rich, and on selling products like soft drinks and soaps. But I think marketing can play much more socially important role, for example, in healthcare industry. Hospitals in Calcutta are in terrible shape. If we can use marketing professionals in those places, people will benefit tremendously. These are so far neglected areas.

Don’t you think that it is correlated with the economic development of the country?

That is why I was saying that when your government policy is in the right line (for example, instead of increasing the gap between the rich and the poor if it reduces the gap by uplifting the poor), then marketing can play its role. So, population control, land reforms etc. are important. Thanks to the IT, now the communication is not that much of a problem to reach even the remotest part of the country.

You have been frequently coming here since 1994. What is your impression about the managerial situation here?

I am not pretty sure, but I feel that things don’t move very quickly here. For that matter they don’t move in India either. The government sector does not perform very well. I also feel that both India and Nepal have so many resources which can be exploited far better than what has been done so far. So the steps like bringing in trained manpower are, I think, the first and the most important steps.

As a professor of marketing management, what do you suggest to the Nepali managers?

I have a theory that what is more important is to create the market first, and in this the role of the government becomes very important even today. For example, in case of India, if the agricultural growth is not high, almost one third of the total market is not developed. When the farmers have money in their pockets, demand for everything grows. I can’t afford to allow slow growth rate in agriculture sector, though I know agriculture is now becoming less important than service or industry. This is even more true for Nepal. So if we say that 40% of the population have only 20 % of the income, and if I can’t make more income go to the pockets of this 40 %, how can I build up a market. I can’t keep on sustaining my industry by selling only to upper classes. I think this is very important and in India things are moving towards that direction, though a bit slowly.

Send your feedback to the editor: bizline@mos.com.np 1999 © Mercantile Communications Pvt. Ltd. P.O. Box 876, Durbar Marg, Kathmandu, NEPAL. Tel : 977 1 220 773, 243 566 . Fax: 977 1 225 407. Reproduction in any form is prohibited without prior permission. No part of the articles which appear in the internet version on BUSINESSAGE may be reproduced without the permission of Mercantile Communications Pvt. Ltd. For reprinting rights, please write to us. Send us your feedback:contact us . This site is best viewed at : 800 X 600 resolution

Back to the top