Now – User Generated Shop Merchandize and Inventories!

I read this article in today’s newspaper on Shop Dropping – apparently the reverse of Shop Lifting. This is basically about people (‘unauthorized’) placing merchandize on shop shelves – the reasons could be many – To propagate some incendiary messages (very often political/ religious); to promote some self created artifact/ book; to create mischief.. ..what have you; but, in essence, this is one form of the whole user controlled phenomenon undertaking society.
This opens up very interesting possibilities – its just like the ‘show of your choice’ that many TV channels now play – imagine a shop filled with merchandize of your choice – so, voters/ shoppers get to choose what inventories there are in the store ---
Similarly, imagine the outcome of a cricket (or baseball, or football) game where the outcome of a good ball/ shot/ throw/ kick – is in the hands of the watchers --- so, the batsman may well be out, but the audience decides that he/ she is Not…or, a clear penalty shootcout, is declared an offside by watchers – brilliant, is this not?
I really think the day is not far away – lets wait and watch!

Experiential Retailing: Now taking over all sectors

On my way back from office today I saw a hoarding by a bank, that said “Loan Lounge” – I thought this was an extremely evocative brand assigned to what, essentially, is pretty much a non differentiated offering in the financial services sector.

This actually led me to think about the evolution of retailing – I am sorely tempted to say in India – but I think this is equally true of all countries at various times in the life cycle of turning from unorganized to organized retailing – from behind the counter mom and pop style; to self service supermarkets; to indulgent departmental stores; to a mix of the two – Sephora style; to “theatre” in retail – to now – completely experiential retailing..

Interestingly, this style is not restricted to the services sector alone – though there (be it financial services; or airlines; or hotel/ hospitality – witness how most upscale bars are now called “lounge” bars, and most upscale restaurants “boutique restaurants”) it is much easier and more natural – this is true of all kinds of products at well – the Malls were the first stab at experiential retailing; the café bookstores followed; shopping while flying is an example of it. “Experience” while retailing could be in the ambience/ the combination of product ideas/ the engagement strategy between store and shopper/ the partnerships seen/ the convergence of categories/ in the way education and interaction with the product categories is built into the store…in a variety of ways!

Bose with their Theatre stores were early pioneers of the idea – but now many electronics manufacturers have taken over – Samsung does this well (their Samsung Experience store in NYC, the m-zone in Seoul); Sony does a good job of interactive education
Gaming/ entertainment as fast growing categories drive experiential retailing as well – Nintendo world and Sony Style stores have some really cool displays and arrangements for customers to interact with the merchandize.

This is really a competitive and evolving space, and the sky is the limit

Top Three Parameters that will influence Indian organizations that are Outsourced entities in the knowledge space in 2008

1. The depreciating dollar (and forecasts of a weak U.S. economy):
Will straightaway impact the bottom line. In addition, has a waterfall effect of leading to lower increases in compensation in the industry – a factor, that, in India, saw considerable inflation in 2006 and 2007 – to the tune of 15 – 20% every half year – in fact, EmPower Research’s benchmarking showed that in some cases, organizations saw salary increases on a quarterly basis! This trend had a further effect of the high attrition rates seen in the industry (stated averages of any where between 25 – 40%. EmPower Research, incidentally, is comparatively in a good position with a rate of 6%)
The flip side of the coin, though, is the fact that U.S. organizations will be under pressure to squeeze costs, and one of the possible ways of doing this is through outsourcing more and more non - core competence work
What this will also result in is a diversification of markets – Europe is already a large playing field for many outsourced organizations, the percentage contribution may go up, and Asia-Pacific may be a new market of interest
2.Consolidation in the Indian market:
2007 was an active year in this space. Many BPOs looking to build scale, and/ or move up the value chain with “knowledge arms” merged with/ acquired other organizations. It is a hot market – many investor eyes are focused on it – all evidence is that this is a short cycle, but 2008 is likely to see more action in this field
3. New Media/ Emerging Technology:
While the year 2007 was actually called the year of the blog (and blogger); 2008 will just expand in this space – from use of all forms of new media in analysis/ product feedback/ knowledge sharing to content writing; it’s all happening here. There are many forms of new media/ and many players in various facets of the space.
Technology will also increasing impact the way knowledge organizations will introduce efficiencies and scale into their businesses – the industry is at the growth phase, and at this phase, it has to really “sweat its assets”.

Think BIG – Reliance in Retailing

Being a follower of the retail industry, I typically keep abreast when time permits of news on this. However, I have to confess, the speed and scope of Reliance’s initiatives in retailing have completely taken me by surprise. I first saw Reliance “fresh” stores mushrooming all over Bangalore – the long/ traffic stopping queues bore testimony to their popularity – we heard of the “sabzi mandi” (wholesale fresh produce markets) vendors cribbing because they were suffering big time losses. Within no time, we saw the Reliance Footprint store springing up at strategic locations, the Reliance Wellness format (with tie ups for eye care), as well as the Jewelry store. All this happened within the space of a month in Bangalore.

But, on reflection, I am not surprised. The large Indian companies (whether it be Reliance, Tata Steel, Infosys/ Wipro or ICICI) have learnt to think and act scale – in fact, they seem to be following Jack Welch’s principles avidly – get into a business only if you want to/ and can, become a leader there. Look at what Reliance states on its Web-Site - “The retail initiative of Reliance will be without a parallel in size and spread and make India proud….Through multiple formats and a wide range of categories, Reliance is aiming to touch almost every Indian customer and supplier.”

It is however, unfortunate (maybe even inevitable) that this scale/ ramp up almost invariably is less than perfect – call it teething troubles/ call it inadequate planning – or maybe its just smart business – jump first/ over engineer the financing/ fill the gaps and misses only later – whether it is ICICI bank ATMs’ reported less-than-adequate back up; or the bugs in the RelianceOne Membership card as well as its pricing, apparently the secret to the success of the big companies’ scale plans is the fact that they (much like Microsoft) work on a ‘version’ philosophy – i.e., launch first, tweak later.

Meanwhile, there is no getting away from the fact, that only today’s news said that Mukesh Ambani is India’s “Billionaire of the Year”. Size, DOES matter, eh?

Social Media – The Use For The Common Man

So, a whole generation is being raised on the joys and attendant fears of Myspace, Orkut, Facebook and other social networking sites. Metrics of success and failure of emerging technology/ media companies are now very deeply embedded in how well they can cross-link to these sites.

The concept is so simple, yet so effective – For those of you who have read the “Three Investigators” series popular in my youth (where Alfred Hitchcock featured as the expert), it is reminiscent of the “ghost to ghost hook up” that the three friends used as an investigating technique – that, according to me, many years ago, laid down the very backbone of ‘viral’ networking.

However, the one website that really makes the grade in their niche is, according to me, LinkedIn. I was pushed into it, reluctantly so, but in a short time, have come to realize the enormous help this can be to me, and my company.

We have used this across all functions in EmPower Research – by our HR Department for Recruitment (since prospects have come to us via LinkedIn); by our Research Department as a market research tool to get expert opinion on a diverse range of issues; by our BD teams to build sales lists; by a few experts in our industry who wanted to interview us for thought leadership; we even got some unsolicited business via LinkedIn – our first Asia Client!

Their algorithm is powerful, they have cool analytics, they have very good search engine optimization (whenever I type my company’s name (EmPower Research) on Google, I get a few LinkedIn profiles on the first page!), they seem to be fairly secure, they are expanding really fast, and seem to have very widespread adoption….

Did you know that 14 million professionals are LinkedIn? That executives from 498
Fortune 500 companies use the network? That 65,000 new Professionals are added every week? That it generates over 100 million ad impressions per month?
Fantastic, eh? Are you LinkedIn?

About Lifecasting And ‘Peep Shows’

Talk about the Web 2.0 – did you know that many people are now broadcasting their daily activities ALL the time – I saw this item on the paper yesterday about Jody Gnant, who has chosen to share all moments of her life with “friends around the world” and has not switched off her Webcam since July – even when she sleeps! Per this news item, early pioneers of “Lifecasting” included the “conceptual” artist Jennifer Ringley, who called her contribution “Jennicam”, and posted it on the net from the late 1990s to 2003.

Apparently, there are now 10,000 such “lifecasters” who display almost every aspect of their lives via cameras fixed to hats, laptops, bedroom doors, steering wheels.

A true example of user generated content – and the ultimate truth of the prediction ‘Big Brother is Watching You!’

The Flip Side…Reality Shows - User Generated Voting, Or Marketer’s Myth?

So now there’s this big hullabaloo about the sms (text) voting for preferred candidates on reality talent shows in India --- more examples of people power controlling the world – my 7 year old has already depleted the household coffers a bit by impassioned voting for her favorite “awesome” contender on a singing show…there were recently very unseemly incidents because one state’s contender did not win a show, and a rival state’s contender did…Telecom operators (I am assuming so also the channel/ TV program producers – because they MUST be sharing, right?) are raking in the moolah due to frenzied smses sent in by supporters for their favorites…

The question really is – are we, in a bid to offer people ‘control’, at some point in time, effecting a compromise that is undermining “true” talent? Is this even about giving control to the people, or just about clever marketing harnessing people’s myth of control? (The director of one of these talent shows recently said at the ouster of a talented youngster from a singing program – “even though I am the one who devised this format of selection of the final winner, I am now deeply repenting it!”)

In answer to this dilemma, let’s not forget that the 12 members of a jury in the U.S. are completely drawn from the general public – every citizen of the U.S. can be called upon for jury duty ..now that’s an old existing form of consumer controlled decision making for you!

Well, it’s a delicate balancing act, isn’t it? Web 2.0 (or, in this case, Mobile 2.0), vs. an ‘expert’ deciding a person’s destiny? Which side are you on?

User Generated Media – Taken To A New Frontier…

With all the buzz about Web 2.0, and the consumer taking over ultimate control of all content on the net; with the rise to iconic status of “my” space, “(h)e” bay, and “you” tube, and all the other offshoots of this phenomena jostling to grab a share of the pie (Facebook, Joost, Revver – see more posts later); with Second Life/ Virtual World becoming a fully traded parallel economy via Linden Dollars (see more posts on this later); with ads now being renamed avatarsement – the new consumer/ user generated media phenomenon is slowly but surely pervading every aspect of our lives.

But I think the ultimate representation of this phenomenon was to me a small news blurb that said that the famed British band Radiohead is letting fans decide what to pay for a new release online. "It's up to you," reads a message on the Web page where fans can pre-order the band's highly anticipated seventh album and pay whatever they choose, including nothing! How do they make money? By having a “deluxe” edition of the album “In Rainbows” that has some bells and whistles (read extra songs and some merchandize) added that they sell – and they sell it for a lot!!!

This REALLY puts the control in the user’s hand – I remember back in my youth being very impressed with the Ayn Rand play “The Night of January 16th” which had a dual possible ending – the audience was supposed to decide which way the play would end….that to me is one of the fore runners of User Generated Content – but to enable fans to decide pricing is really the ultimate in that direction. Some people would say its just cool/ innovative positioning – i.e., instead of saying – we are offering it for free – these folks have used a clever hook – “pay what you want” – but the fact remains, it’s a great sign of the times that such a stunt is even possible….Ralph Nader would be happy - More power to the Consumer!

My Experience With ‘Time Management’

“Yesterday is a cancelled cheque, Tomorrow is a promissory note, Today is ready cash. Use it." –Proverb

Everybody at sometime in their life (at least in their professional life) has made the universal comment: “I wish I had more time!” I also did, and I stand guilty as anybody else when it comes to managing my time. Time always has been a constraint to me right from my college days.

However, all I saw was despite all my machinations, the day had only 24 hours, and the week only seven days. Where was I going to find the time to do all the things I wanted? I was literally like the pup, which chases its own tail. The more I hurried the more tasks were at hand.

Then I came across the time management matrix featured in Stephen Covey's ‘Seven Habits Of Highly Effective People.’
Read my article: Time Management – A New Paradigm

A paradigm shift occurred in my understanding of time management. It wasn’t a question of trying to squeeze in 75 minutes an hour, and 30 such hours a day, it became a matter of putting first things first. It was apparent that I needed to manage energy not time and I needed to drive and not just react. I understood the dynamic interplay between the urgent and the important. Things really became clearer when I realized as Covey says that. I was a perennial inhabitant as of ‘Quadrant of Crisis’ and trying to shuttle to ‘Quadrant of Deception’. I was spending very little time in ‘Quadrant of Quality’.

I realized that if I needed to my time effectively as per this grid then by default it needed to be more in ‘Quadrant of Quality’, and my time management efforts will have a more firm foundation than trying to do the maximum tasks in the minimum possible time. I have made a conscious decision to shift to ‘Quadrant of Quality’. which entails:

-Review my mission: to connect with what is important in my life as a whole.
-Identify my roles: make a list of all the roles that they fulfill in my life.
-Create my goals: once I have defined my roles then I needed to focus on what are my goals.
-Schedule my goals: the key here was not just to prioritize the schedule but to schedule my priorities.
- Adapt my schedule: the daily task is to focus on priorities while facing unexpected opportunities and challenges that may arise. This involves responding wisely to unanticipated events, relationships, and experiences.
- Evaluate my progress: needed me to turn the week into a continuous means of learning and living through a process of reflection and review.

I think I am close to mastering the art of time management. I now leave for home early everyday night………….. By 9.30 PM!!! But I am getting there.

G Ravi

Drug Safety Surfaces Again

Is the FDA adopting a more proactive stance on drug safety issues? Following the withdrawal of Vioxx and the more recent furor over Avandia, the agency has been at the receiving end over drug safety concerns.

Avandia received a black box warning, which still says that the link to cardiovascular risks is not conclusive and advises consulting a doctor regarding continuing treatment with the drug. Sanofi’s Acomplia did not receive FDA approval as it was linked to an increased risk of suicide.

The latest drug to draw attention is the anti-smoking pill Chantix and the FDA is reviewing adverse event reports submitted by the manufacturer Pfizer about the drug. A preliminary assessment found cases where patients experienced "depressed mood, suicidal ideation, and changes in emotion and behavior within days to weeks of initiating treatment".

The agency said the role of Chantix was "not clear" in suicidal cases, because stopping smoking can exacerbate existing psychiatric symptoms, and create nicotine withdrawal symptoms. However, it said doctors should monitor patients taking Chantix for behavior or mood shifts, and patients should contact their doctors if they notice any changes

Chantix is the first drug of its kind to reduce the intensity of nicotine cravings while also making smoking less pleasant. The drug affects dopamine, a chemical in the brain involved in controlling mood and behavior. As dopamine triggers a positive mood response, regulating its levels can remove some of the pleasure derived from smoking.

The FDA is currently analyzing all material submitted by Pfizer and expects to communicate its conclusions and recommendations once its analysis is complete.

James Kelly, analyst at Goldman Sachs, said: "It will be key to watch physician behavior in the wake of this public disclosure, as well as the FDA's future communications, based on additional data and analysis provided by Pfizer."

- D R Sudhakar

Stem Cell Research: Obstacles On The Way

Though many researchers have put their heart and soul to work on stem cell research, they have to face very large obstacles like the ethical and religion issues.

In South Korea, when Hwang Woo Suk, a scientist reported creating human embryonic stem cells through cloning, he did not apologize for offending religious taboos. He justified cloning by citing his Buddhist belief in recycling life through reincarnation.

Cynthia Fox, the author of “Cell of Cells,” a book about the global race among stem-cell researchers said, “Biotechnology has been considered as playing God.”

Cloning human embryos for research has been legally supported in England and several other countries, but it is banned in more than a dozen others, including France and Germany.

Of course, many critics of biotechnology do not explicitly use religious beliefs to justify their opposition. Countries like the United States, are supposed to be guided by secular constitutions, not sectarian creeds. So opponents of genetically modified foods focus on the possible dangers to ecosystems and human health, and committees of scientists try to resolve the debate by conducting risk analyses.

The prospect of cloning children is much more distant, even when researchers are becoming optimistic about obtaining stem cells without using embryos. For now, scientists throughout the world say they do not even want to contemplate reproductive cloning because of the risks to the child. And public-opinion polls do not show much support for it anywhere.

Even if human cloning becomes safe, there may never be much demand for it, because most people will prefer having children the old-fashioned way.

- Roopa S

Anemia Drugs: What Next

It looks like the problems for this group of drugs is unending.

Following FDA scrutiny a revised statement about potential risks of anemia drugs in CKD patients has been approved.

The FDA said the label changes for Aranesp, Epogen and Procrit also include a statement that symptoms of anemia, fatigue and quality of life have not been shown to improve in patients with cancer who take these drugs.

In case of cancer patients, the new boxed warnings stress that ESAs caused tumor growth and shortened survival in patients with advanced breast, head and neck, lymphoid and non-small cell lung cancer, when they received doses exceeding the prescribed levels.

The FDA also stated that the drugs have been used in patients who apparently had hemoglobin levels of 12 grams per deciliter or higher. However these drugs are to be used to maintain hemoglobin levels of 10 to 12 grams per deciliter for safety reasons.

Smaller doses of the drugs are recommended. There have already been a lot of controversies around the overuse of these drugs.

On another front the anemia drugs face a challenge from Roche’s Mircera that has received FDA approval to treat anemia in kidney failure patients. However, the drug awaits resolution of a patent infringement case before it can be launched.

The launch of Mircera means a significant milestone for Roche while it could turn out to be a nightmare for Amgen, as it threatens to break Amgen’s monopoly.

Roche is considering appealing the decision, while Amgen seeks to obtain an official injunction to stop the sale of Mircera in the U.S. With an injunction in place, Roche probably will not have a chance to sell the product in the U.S. until at least 2012, when the first patents on Amgen's anemia drugs expire. Analysts are certain that Amgen will prevail in the court battle.


- Roopa S

Avandia...? The Uncertainty Continues.

From the very day that Dr. Nissen’s meta-analysis was published on the NEJM associating Avandia to cardiovascular risks, one thing has remained unchanged till date. The issue was uncertain then and even today the uncertainty continues.

While the drug already has a black box warning for heart failure, as does its competitor Actos, and the FDA has asked that a warning about myocardial infarction be added to the existing warning on the label.

This warning however does not say anything categorically and reads thus:

"A meta-analysis of 42 clinical studies (mean duration six months; 14,237 total patients), most of which compared Avandia to placebo, showed Avandia to be associated with an increased risk of myocardial ischemic events such as angina or myocardial infarction," it said. "Three other studies (mean duration 41 months; 14,067 patients), comparing Avandia to some other approved oral antidiabetic agents or placebo, have not confirmed or excluded this risk. In their entirety, the available data on the risk of myocardial ischemia are inconclusive."

Janet Woodcock, M.D., FDA's deputy commissioner for scientific and medical programs, chief medical officer, and acting director of the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, said the FDA is also asking that all oral antidiabetes drugs add this language to the drug labels: "To date, no oral antidiabetes drug has been conclusively shown to reduce cardiovascular risk."

Dr. Nissen, co-author of the meta-analysis that will be inscribed on the rosiglitazone label, said he was satisfied that the FDA added a new black box for ischemic heart disease, but he said the warning was "weakly worded and ambiguous."

There are a lot of questions with no answers and it might be a long time before someone eventually comes up with something conclusive. But till then diabetics around the world and the doctors treating them will remain in the dark.

Dr. Gregory Dehmer, professor of internal medicine at Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine and director of the cardiology division at Scott & White Hospital in Temple summed it up wonderfully, "For the average clinician in the street, there's a substantial amount of uncertainty, and this is magnified for patients."

- D R Sudhakar

Vioxx – The Last Chapter?

The $4.8 billion settlement of Vioxx claims brings what will perhaps be the final steps towards Merck’s putting this issue to rest. This step has been welcomed by the market and plaintiffs’ lawyers and the company is moving cautiously following lessons from the past with a rigorous process for evaluating lawsuits.

Vioxx was pulled from the market in September 2004, after studies linked its long-term use to increased risk for heart attacks. What followed was a flood of lawsuits and it appeared that they would never end.

The risks associated with Vioxx meant that other drugs in the same class – Cox-2 inhibitors - were also subject to intense scrutiny and in April 2005, Bextra was withdrawn because of similar fears. Presently, Celebrex is the only Cox-2 inhibitor to be sold in the United States, and its label carries a black-box warning detailing potential heart risks.

From the time Vioxx was withdrawn from the market, Merck was determined to fight each of the lawsuits. This got the company some key victories which sent a signal to plaintiffs that the odds were against them.

The agreement being worked out by Merck and plaintiffs lawyers aims to resolve the most serious cases, those that resulted in heart attack or ischemic stroke.

However, a lot of questions remain, particularly on how the payments will be shared among the plaintiffs, their lawyers and insurers.

The settlement plan would work thus: Plaintiffs will have to show that Vioxx was taken for at least 30 days. The individual must have suffered a heart attack or ischemic stroke within 14 days of using the drug. The compensation will be lower if the person had cardiovascular risk factors prior to being treated with the drug. Plaintiffs' lawyers can only participate if they recommend the program to all their clients.

Merck will set up two funds, a $4 billion one for heart-attack claims and an $850 million one for stroke claims. The deal will go ahead provided 85% of eligible claims are enrolled.

Merck’s decision has triggered a positive among analysts and Barbara Ryan of Deutsche Bank commented that the company's "aggressive and successful defense strategy has given it a heavy hand in the bargaining process and produced a favorable outcome in the Vioxx settlement, at a cost that is clearly at the low end of general expectations."

Morgan Stanley analysts stated that the deal is "well below initial Street estimates that ranged from $20 billion to $30 billion. We see today's news as a clear positive for Merck as it removes management distraction and ongoing Vioxx-related legal costs."

All this certainly means good going for Merck. Hopefully this should mean that the nightmare that was Vioxx will be a thing of the past and the company can go on into the future without this burden.

- Roopa S.

Beyond Torcetrapib - A Ray of Hope…

The data on torcetrapib presented at the American Heart Association’s (AHA) Annual Scientific Meeting last week at Orlando suggests that while adverse events with all CETP inhibitors cannot be ruled out, other drugs in the same class still warrant further investigation.

Torcetrapib failed a large Phase 3 trial almost a year ago after it was found to actually increase the risk of death. With its leading brand Lipitor already facing competition from generics and its patents due to expire in 2010, torcetrapib was intrinsic to Pfizer’s plans for the cholesterol market and was also expected to provide an extended lease of life to Lipitor.

The aftermath saw billions of dollars being wiped off Pfizer’s value and the industry was left wondering whether the problem was restricted to torcetrapib or it extended across all CETP inhibitors. Merck and Roche halted research on their own CETP inhibitors, till more information was known on why the drug failed.

Data that was eagerly awaited by the medical fraternity and the pharma industry was first discussed at the Annual Session of the American College of Cardiology in March this year.

Commenting on the findings Dr. Steve Nissen said, “Something ‘strange’ is going on with the novel cholesteryl-ester-transfer-protein (CETP) inhibitor. In all three studies, there were dramatic increases in HDL cholesterol and significant reductions in LDL cholesterol, but this improvement in lipid parameters was offset by significant increases in blood pressure.”

He added, "The addition of torcetrapib to statin therapy has no benefit at all on atherosclerosis progression, but it remains to be investigated whether this is a consequence of the molecule torcetrapib or whether the concept of CETP inhibition is a flawed hypothesis. Additional data from the ILLUMINATE study later this year will hopefully shed more light on this issue.”

Merck reiterated that no adverse effect on blood pressure was seen in early studies of its CETP inhibitor, MK-0859 and Roche said it continued to investigate its experimental drug R-1658, and expected to submit it for regulatory approval after 2010.

The Illuminate study findings presented at the AHA meet this month did not show torcetrapib in very good light. While investigators found apparent pointers towards the drug’s impact on blood chemistry, there is still some uncertainty whether the adverse effects were typical of torcetrapib alone or were a class effect.

The initial results from the Illustrate trial showed that although torcetrapib markedly increased good cholesterol levels, it also substantially raised blood pressure and failed to significantly slow the buildup of plaque.

Torcetrapib also produced unexpected "off-target" toxicity on the adrenal gland, which was instrumental in leading to damage of artery walls and increase blood pressure. This off-target effect might hold the answer to why torcetrapib did not work as well as expected and also its toxicity.

This could rejuvenate interest in this class of drugs and comes as a ray of hope to companies like Merck and Roche that had halted development on their own CETP inhibitors till more details were available on the torcetrapib failure.

Presenting data from a new study at the Drugs Affecting Lipid Metabolism Symposium, Merck said its experimental CETP drug anacetrapib (MK-0859) more than doubled levels of HDL cholesterol and did not raise blood pressure or affect the adrenal gland.

Yale Mitchell, director of cardiovascular disease at Merck Research Laboratories said that the company will decide whether to go ahead with their experimental work on receiving and considering the results of further investigations.

Speaking at the Reuters Health Summit in New York, Roche Chief Executive Franz Humer said that they expect to decide in the coming weeks whether to go ahead with a late-stage trial of R1658. He said, "We've looked at the molecule and are very encouraged there is a way forward. We are certainly thinking about an (annual sales) potential of beyond $3 billion to $4 billion" if the drug succeeds in trials and is approved.

Finding compounds that raise HDL cholesterol has been a priority of drug developers as many patients on drugs that lower LDL cholesterol still experience heart attacks, stroke or sudden cardiac death.

Researchers at the AHA meeting said, "Our study neither validates nor invalidates the hypothesis that raising levels of HDL cholesterol by the inhibition of CETP may be cardioprotective. Thus, the possibility that the inhibition of CETP may be beneficial will remain hypothetical until it is put to the test in a trial with a CETP inhibitor that does not share the off-target pharmacologic effects of torcetrapib."

One year from the torcetrapib failure there is still some hope for the CETP inhibitors and they have not been written off altogether.

- D R Sudhakar

Indian Retailing – Some new growth sectors

A few years ago, I read a report by a consultancy firm about sectors in India that are amenable to organized retailing.

I think there were some ‘Ready to Go’ sectors like Grocery and Men’s Apparel; Some ‘Shape and Adapt’ sectors like women’s apparel, books etc, and then some ‘Wait and Watch’ sectors. Pharmacies were in the wait and watch category.
But I think, if one were to look at the retail scene in India today, two (for me) surprising sectors that are showing great activity on the organized retailing front are: Pharmacies and …Flowers!

Pharmacies actually started getting organized a while ago – the RPG owned ‘Health and Glow’ were amongst the first – Primarily into personal care and beauty, most outlets had a small pharmacy section with the traditional white coated assistant.
Now, I see many of these organized pharmacy chains – in Bangalore, Trust, the Apollo Pharmacy (which has the benefit of having a large name attached to it), and Lifeken are a few names. These outlets offer the usual ‘organized retail’ advantage of a common ambience, a pleasant shopping experience, sometimes qualified (atleast apparently so) personnel dispensing drugs as well as advice. I also, much to my surprise, saw some interesting ‘marketing’ related activities – my corner Lifeken has nice printed bags and banners. I do think the big disadvantage they have is location – there just aren’t enough of these around – so, sustainability of the concept may be an issue. However, a larger worry to me is – what is their value proposition? The big one that I can see is 24*7 service – this is huge, it differentiates, and may even negate to a certain extent the location disadvantage, especially at night. However, what is it in their operations that is making the better ambience/ more qualified people/ 24*7 operations viable financially? (Is there a supply chain play here? I am assuming not – unlike fresh grocery, where disintermediation has given rise to huge savings in the supply chain, most medicines get manufactured by large organized pharma companies). Maybe its in the product mix – ie, keep a larger supply of the unorganized sector products – cotton wool/ bandages etc…not sure, though

Similarly, Flowers is an area that I am suddenly seeing some organized activity around – there are many of these outlets called – “Tilia” (for a meaning of the word, go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tilia) These are slowly replacing those corner flower shops that we saw at virtually every corner. Again, as value proposition, not sure what they offer – I suspect better service/ fresher flowers/ fancier designs…infact, when it comes to flowers, I personally would much rather take the “flower girls” a la Eliza Doolittle any day over the (to me) artificial chains – but I am sure, given the fact that this was a white space, atleast the prime movers here will do well.

Blog Analysis: A dynamic, exciting field

The world is abuzz with the Web 2.0 phenomenon, and there is a lot of effort at corporate and agency levels going into thought leadership around using the blogosphere and other new media in various ways.

EmPower Research, for the past few years, has been tracking and analyzing this space. EmPower uses several metrics and indicators to demystify the blogosphere for its clients.

We use many search engines, some proprietary software and finally what we like to call a “software aided human process” to gather all content and some preliminary metrics.

A tangential thought that struck me as I was reading a blog post the other day was to see how popular the various hosting platforms were. Sheer serendipity – I basically checked in 4 search engines for 3 diverse categories. Google blogs and Blogpulse showed me easily the urls of the blogs – so I could carry out an analysis, but technorati and ice rocket did not, though they had trend graphs that I could compare.

The categories/ search words I used were: “Telecom Services”, “Beer”, and “Nursery Education” (examples from three currently ongoing projects that we are working on). The results were interesting to me








A few points that leapt to the eye were:
• Google blogs does not seem to cover myspace blogs
• Strangely, Google blog search does not necessarily favor blogs written on blogspot (blogger) – this could be a) because blogspot is universally acknowledged as popular, and so finds fairly high salience across search engines, or, b) because google is in any case not into self promotion of their own properties
• Google blogs has a much higher ratio of individual/ other blogs
• Blogpulse, on the other hand, has a more diverse ‘key’ platform source





The results, ofcourse, differed by category a bit:
• For Google Blogs, Nursery Education had the most international (read primarily EMEA, infact, mainly the U.K.) blogs – I guess mainly because of the key word used
• Also, for both the platforms, blogspot usage rose from telecom to beer to nursery education – not quite sure why/ what it signifies, though.
• Not surprisingly, very much in keeping with the user profile, Beer scored high for Myspace users – it’s a matching demographic, one would think!

Incidentally, both Technorati and Ice Rocket do give you hits by day – again, interestingly enough, both had different figures, though the trends matched more or less.

Blog posts mentioning telecom services per day for the past 30 days.





Blog posts mentioning beer per day for the past 30 days.





Blog posts mentioning nursery education per day for the past 30 days.

The Power of Naming – Creativity in Corporate Designations

They say, “a Rose, by any other name, would smell as sweet”. That clearly, is NOT what current corporates believe in when handing out fancy titles to their employees.
I think there are a few interesting reasons for why they do it:

a) The corporate environment today IS very different from what it used to be in the baby boomer’s times – there are new practices/ departments/ industries that have evolved, with their unique set of problems, and yes, the need for unique designations – so, the whole 24X7 culture that the wave of outsourcing has given rise to, requires its set of designations that address the night shift generation and its requirements. Environment friendliness is another corporate requirement, and has spawned many interesting departments and designations.

b) I think as companies grow, they also want to be creative about rewarding people – so, not for everyone is a vertical rise to the top – that’s just not possible – hence, a lateral move, with an interesting designation tacked on, may help motivate people further. (It’s the classical answer to how does an organization deal with Peter’s Incompetence Principle)

c) Finally, I think it is just good marketing – interesting names for departments are an effective PR tool – you get written about, and you achieve branding!

Some interesting designations that come to mind are the following (EmPower colleagues, please feel free to add on more that you know of):

• Diversity Marketing Manager – Wendy’s International
• Vice President of Environmental Innovation – The Home Depot
• Manager of Natural Resource Use – Ben and Jerry’s
• Chief Sustainability Officer – DuPont
• Chief Culture Officer – Google (they do a “happiness survey”!), Kanbay etc
• Chief Hacking Officer – eEye Digital Security
• Chief Ethics Officer – Dell
• Chief Demonstration Officer – Cisco
• Chief Competitive Officer - Sun Microsystems
• Chief Privacy Officer – IBM
• Chief People Officer – Extreme Logic

Ofcourse, names and naming are fairly serious business in the corporate world. Do read what an EmPower Managing Partner wrote some time ago on brand names.
http://www.blonnet.com/catalyst/2002/08/15/stories/2002081500050100.htm
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/catalyst/2002/08/22/stories/2002082200100200.htm

India Awakening…!

During the course of my work while tracking pharma industry in US, I was struck by the fact that outsourcing and off shoring work are emerging as strategic levers for the US’ pharmaceutical industry to face new challenges.

While it certainly is a challenge to the US economy, I was reminded of Thomas. Friedman’s book ‘The World Is Flat’, wherein; he examines businesses and competition in a technology-fueled global environment. He calls for call action by governments, businesses and individuals who must stay ahead of these trends in order to remain competitive. He discusses ‘10 flatteners’ that, he says, have leveled the global playing field. In that, outsourcing comes as the fifth. This has allowed companies to split service and manufacturing activities into components, with each component performed in the most efficient, cost-effective way.

Outsourced R&D activities to India provide competitive advantages in the form of access to well-developed and specialized skills, as well as a continuous stream of work from both countries. With all these features I really wonder is there anything else more that I can tell about India. I think Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore penned it better:

“Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high;
Where knowledge is free;
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls;
Where words come out from the depth of truth;
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection;
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit;
Where the mind is led forward by Thee to ever-widening thought and action -Into that heaven of freedom, my father, let my country awake.”

And my country is waking up!

G Ravi

Outdoors Overhead Media: Medium is part of the Message

In recent times, I have seen some very interesting variations of non – traditional media usage. One of course by our own Company – EmPower Research, but this is an approach that we now see taken by virtually every large organization that is into building brand – I am talking about the ubiquitous T-Shirt/ Jacket, and/ or the snazzy one liners you see on company vehicles. A few that stand out are: “Have you heard of (Company ABC?)”; or, “Your friend is here, why are you not?” EmPower’s own cabs say “Cool Analysts on Board”



I also saw on a rainy day some traffic cops roaming around in two wheelers with bright yellow rain slickers bearing a local radio station’s logos – they certainly caught my eye – talk about “mobile advertising”!
A few other really interesting examples of use of outdoors media that I saw/ heard of recently are in the fast food arena:
One by 7-Eleven, a clever “guerilla” marketing idea: 7-Eleven has entered into an agreement with the Chicago White Sox on a three-year marketing deal that will move evening start times at US Cellular Field to 7:11 from 7:07. As someone remarked “Besides the publicity it is giving 7-Eleven now, what better way to get in the hands of people than having 7:11 listed on the hundreds of thousands of pocket schedules throughout the city”
Similarly, McDonald’s Corp.’s latest effort to promote its health-conscious menu items takes advantage of the saying that the “medium is the message”. Green lettuce has been planted to form the words “fresh salads” on a billboard in Wrigleyville near the intersection of Addison and Clark streets to promote its four premium salads. Cool, isn’t it?For more comments on this medium, read what EmPower’s Managing Partner had to say in an article a while ago: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/catalyst/2004/03/04/stories/2004030400050200.htm

A Question of Lateral Thinking

There are six eggs in the basket. Six people each take one of the eggs. How can it be that one egg is left in the basket?

Try it; let’s see if u can answer this question. You would if you were familiar with Edward de Bono’s Lateral Thinking methods. His new book How to Have Creative Ideas: 62 exercises to develop the mind (Paperback) is a tool book for such exercises.

This is certainly not for the faint hearted. It focuses on the use of a technique of lateral thinking: the random word. Its premise is that the mind sometimes needs a random input to stimulate a productive train of thought. One picks a word at random and then juxtaposes it to the task. The random word generates new ideas that would have been unlikely in the normal course. In this, there’s is no story. It’s a toolbox for thinking to face life in the real world.

The whole book comprises of 62 games designed to help you learn to make connections where none appear on the surface.

de Bono, a psychologist and physician, has written 70 books with extensive translations. His instruction on thinking have been sought by many organizations: Boeing, BT, Nokia , Sanofi, Rolex, Siemens, 3M, Ericsson, GM, Nestle, Bosch, Goldman Sachs, Ernst & Young and many others.

He writes prolifically about lateral thinking - a concept he pioneered. He defines lateral thinking as methods of changing concepts and perception, wherein innovation and creativity can be improved by using his methods. de Bono is a master of this game and given us tools to develop our minds, to learn, to grow and to live.

Now the answer to the question above: The last person took the basket with the last egg still inside.

G Ravi

I want……(Blogs for product feedback)

Blogs are best used by corporates to either get early product feedback, or to track chatter on their products/ services. This use of blogs as proxy for market research has really tickled the fancy of the corporate world.
EmPower Research specializes in different levels and kinds of analysis of blogs and other forms of new media.
I thought this was a good opportunity to actually use our corporate blog for feedback for various companies on their products and services. I would request my colleagues at EmPower to also input their thoughts here.
To kick start, I will put in my contributions :
a)One thing that I really want is a “track changes” functionality on Microsoft Powerpoint (just like word)…any time I see feedback on a deck (often in the proverbial editor’s blue ink) by my colleagues, I think about how easy it would be to just “track changes”. Hey, are you listening, Mr. Gates?
b)Another one that I really need is a tab on the soda and beer cans that do not break while opening the can! (I have often had to resort to a sharp instrument to then poke it open!)How about it, Mr. Mallya?
Well, that’s it for now. Will post more later.

Grandma's secret...Garlic

For long, our good old grandmas have been staunch believers of garlic's inherent anti-bacterial and anti-fungal properties.

Their stand has now been vindicated now by researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham in the United States saying that they have found out precisely why garlic makes such a valuable health tonic. Garlic enhances the body’s own production of a compound that relaxes blood vessels, increases blood flow, and prevents blood clots and oxidative damage.

Much of the research into the pharmacological benefits of garlic has focused on the organic polysulphides that the clove is rich in, the best known of which is allicin.

But the new research suggests that allicin and similar biologically active compounds are only a part of the positive effects of garlic and that it is the chemical messenger that is produced when these compounds are metabolised that is important.

Allicin stimulates the release of hydrogen sulfide from red blood cells. Though this compound is lethal in large doses, in minute doses it relaxes the blood vessels and promotes smooth flow of blood, the researchers said.

So the next time, your mom or grandma dish out their secrets, don't wrinkle your nose, but heed to their advice. You never know, research could back up their claim at a later date.

Fave Rants and Raves in Advertising

Fellow employees of EmPower Research!
This is the place to list down your favorite commercials, as well as the ones you hate most - with, ofcourse the reasons why.
I will kick start with my picks:
Fave Rave: Not quite advertising, but I just LOVE the 'fillers' on Radio City (Waddey fun!) - specially Appukuttan Ungle, Miss Lingoleela, and Babbar Sher - I think for sheer brilliance of content and execution, as well as the right amount of humor - these deserve high marks. Both my driver and I look forward to these with great interest!
Fave Rant: One I heard this morning - on the Chevrolet Spark - says NOTHING - obviously making a point about its compact size, but, they have to remember - this is India! Here, the car penetration concept started with the Maruti! Every second car on the road - maybe more - is a small compact Maruti...doesn't do anything for me!

They Say "Customer is King" - I would say "Clients will be Clients, and as human as you or me"

OK, So this thread is intended to document some of the more interesting "quirks" of our clients - EmPower Research as everyone knows is a KPO (Knowledge Process Outsourcing) firm, and by very definition, serves a client base in the U.S.
Part of our Mission/ Vision/ Values statement says "We hold clients needs above all else" (http://www.empowerresearch.com/EmPowerValues.html). In the three years of our existence, we have I think really lived this tenet well. But along the way, we have also seen many funny, heartening, sometimes even frustrating incidents, arising mainly out of the cultural differences between the geography of our clients and that of our delivery centre.
I would encourage my colleagues at EmPower to share here all these instances - the intention is not to hurt anyone - just maybe agree with Thomas Friedman when he says - the world is really 'flat'!
My favorite one to start off this thread is the one where the head of one of our practices, a very correct gentleman, called one of our clients "Ma'am", and got the response from this (presumedly youngish) client - "Pleeeeease do not call me ma'am - it makes me feel like a grandmother!"

The Indian Retail Scenario – The Charm of Novelty battles it out with the Charm of Simplicity

So now our metros are definitely getting overcrowded with new retail formats. If all of India has a 3-4% organized retail percentage figure – in metros, its probably close to 30-40% (or more).

Grocery, Apparel, Books & Music, now even Medicines, are now all seeing huge sales via the spanking new “stores” (they used to be called “shops” when they were mom and pop – now you can’t call them anything but “stores” J ). But I think the phenomenon that has overwhelmed us Indians is the ‘mallification’ of our metros.

In the beginning, it was hugely exciting – I think the average metro citizen found his/ her ideal ‘hang-out’ joint – these were nice Air-Conditioned places, with escalators to take free rides on, bright showrooms – where you didn’t need to buy anything – you could just ogle, entertainment centers – where you could play a few video games, good and not-too-expensive selection of food in the food courts, clean loos (aah, what a relief!) and, best of all, some or the other promotional event with a lot of audience participation going on all the while. Most malls also offer a multiplex/ cinema theatre – so, footfalls get increased manifold

In fact, when Crossroads, one of the very first malls in Mumbai, India; was opened, the crowds became so unmanageable that they had to restrict entry --- only people with cell phones (in those days, mobile penetration was much lower than it is now) were allowed in!

I actually love these malls – I like to window shop as much as the next person, I think the lesser crowded malls make for nice weekend jaunts for the kids where you combine your necessity shopping with fun and food.

However, I was reminded of simpler/ older times the other day when I – after a long time – visited my neighborhood market. I first saw a wagon-cart vendor of bangles and hairclips – and my two daughters pretty much cleaned her out of all finery (all at a price that I would have paid for ONE pair of bangles at the malls). I then picked up two dresses for them - for the ridiculous price of 40/- (1 USD) each – that, incidentally, is less than the price I would pay at the parking lot of the malls – I bought vegetables that actually SMELT of fresh earth (hmmmm….I had forgotten that such a smell exists!) – I bought some plastic pots and pans – again, 5 for the price of one….made the lives of many vendors that evening that much happier, and came home with 3 bags full of goodies……

On thinking back, I realized that mallification was all right in its own place, but the bulk of the Indian consumer actually shops at moms and pops – and very happily/ cheaply too! Makes you think, doesn’t it?

Captain Kirk's Log...

Today we 'celebrated' a few significant events

• Four people completed one year at EmPower Research - we had the usual speeches ("we are thankful" etc..), some 'mithai' (yummm - as usual, the people caught enjoying these goodies most were the two Managing Partners :)), and a lot of clapping and cheering. Way to go, Arpita, Rajiv, Jo and Nash!
• Mixed with the general bonhomie was a bit of sadness - we also announced a farewell to Dipraj. His speech, true to type, was a lovely song - we will certainly miss his melodious voice. All the best, Dipraj!
• Our scribes were busy today - apart from the usual 50 plus reports we send out, 3 people contributed super articles - I certainly learnt a lot reading them - hope you do too! The articles can be found at http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/viewArticle.asp?articleID=39684, http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/viewArticle.asp?articleID=39064, http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/viewArticle.asp?articleID=39375. Good going, Guru, Sharada, Prashanthi!
• In the middle of the day, there was some 'extra curricular' excitement - some of the personal drivers were found involved in a brawl - it all got sorted out thanks to Prashanth's usual cool handling of the situation

Well, all in a day's work, right? Watch this space!