IIPM NEW-DELHI: January 2009

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Myths and problems...

.In 2006, when Second Life was on its upward media popularity

curve, many companies jumped onto the bandwagon of establishing their ‘presence’ on Second Life. This amounted to little more than just a nice-looking static 3D space, very much resembling an extension of themes and concepts used in the companies’ existing 2D websites. The expectation was ‘if we build it… people will come’, completely ignoring the basic fact that a user needs a compelling reason to visit a virtual location just as he does to visit a company’s website. This saw many major companies like American Apparel, Wells Fargo, Armani, Dell, et al launch huge campaigns and see them fail.

It led many prominent advertising agencies to believe that virtual worlds like Second Life were not meant for marketing purposes and led to a backlash in the media. The failure, however, was not of the medium as much as of the message. Virtual worlds offer the great chance to engage your target audience in an interactive and immersive brand experience. They allow you as a marketer to create a narrative and ask your customers to participate in it. Such an experience is not possible in any other online digital medium to this extent. Instead of leveraging the huge interaction and narration capabilities of the medium most of the failed campaigns tried instead to create ‘pretty places’ and sell their products blandly using the kind of video and banner based marketing popular on the 2D web and this expectedly backfired.

Brands like Coca-Cola, L’Oreal, Orange, Pontiac and Starwood Hotels succeeded wildly in their Second Life campaigns because they chose to take an event based and community based approach to the medium. They provided an experience or utility which people demanded in virtual worlds while blending it with the brand message. Indeed Coca-Cola has launched a new campaign in Second Life for its Nestea brand by sponsoring a concert in Second Life.

To conclude, the future of Virtual marketing or V-marketing (as we might call it) is bright, but only as long as marketers realise how to use the medium and its strengths instead of blaming it on the real-life non-existence of the medium.

For Complete I I P M Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

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Thursday, January 22, 2009

“Many cosmetics contain animal by-products”

Estella Lau of The Body Shop talks about how the beauty industry has seen a shift, with consumers wanting more natural products. By Savreen Gadhoke

Do you think that perception of the consumer toward natural products has changed since The Body Shop was launched three decades ago?
The Body Shop has a belief that nature’s way is the way to be

beautiful. Natural ingredients used in our products are sourced from all corners of the earth to bring our customers the very best to enhance their natural beauty. The beauty industry has seen a shift, with consumers wanting more naturals in their skin care and make-up products. As knowledge & information becomes more accessible, consumers are more aware of the benefits of natural ingredients. They have also become more conscious of their health and have become more selective of the type of cosmetics and skin care products.

With so many beauty products floating around in the marketplace, how does The Body Shop maintain its base of customers?
The Body Shop recognises that the stresses of everyday modern living have taken a toll on customers’ lifestyles. This has led to the development of our new ‘Wellbeing’ range, which was recently launched. Each range contains active natural ingredients based on traditional herbal remedies providing top-rate performance formulations. Every product in the range contains of at least one Community Trade ingredient, so wellbeing needs are taken care of while a community benefits in the process.

After The Body Shop was sold to L’Oréal, was there any shift in the perception of the consumer toward it continuing to use natural ingredients? What efforts did The Body Shop take to sustain its brand image with the consumers?
L’Oréal has been committed to The Body Shop sitting as a separate entity within L’Oréal and has made it clear that we are to keep our existing identity and values. Because of this, our customers have been as supportive as ever of our business.

When you market your products, what attributes besides being natural, do you focus on?
When customers buy from The Body Shop, not only do they walk away with a quality product, customers also know that they are buying from a company that is working to have a positive impact in the world.

What about rumours that your products are not 100% natural?
The Body Shop is a global retailer of naturally inspired, ethically produced beauty & cosmetics products. Wherever possible, we source our natural ingredients such as plants, herbs, fruits, nuts and so forth from sustainable sources. We use naturally-based ingredients as constituents in our products, selected for their natural skin caring and moisturising properties and used in appropriate levels. As consumer safety is paramount, our formulations contain various levels of synthetics, preservatives & emulsifiers, which are needed to protect the products and consumers against bacteria, yeasts and moulds.

The Body Shop is also extremely committed to animal protection and we believe that no animal needs to be harmed to produce cosmetics. In 2007, we announced that all of The Body Shop products were ‘suitable for vegetarians,’ which means that our products are free of any ingredients resulting from animal slaughter, such as gelatin or animal hair. It may sound strange but many cosmetics do contain these animal by-products. Customers with strong vegetarian principles seek products that they can use without compromising their ethics, and we are keen to meet their needs.

For Complete I I P M Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Am I an islamophobe?

Some of my favourite people in the world are Muslim. In my early teens, as an aspiring cricketer, my greates The Sunday Indian

t source of inspiration was the fiery power of Imran Khan. In those days, I did not begrudge Pakistan its victories over India, as long as my hero had done well. There were times I wished I were Muslim, in the hope that a shared faith might result in shared ability. Since then, I’ve sought and found both warmth and love amongst Muslims, some of whom I count amongst my dearest friends. And yet...

It was a rare day this autumn in New York. Bright sunshine and Bach accompanied me to Journal Square, where I boarded a train for what is still called ‘The World Trade Center’. I was distressed. The Jolie-Pitts were shooting for ‘A Mighty Heart’ in Pune, and I was too far away to honour whatever press invitations might’ve come my way (and you better believe there were some). More disturbingly, I had stayed up all of the previous night watching a documentary about the abduction and murder of Daniel Pearl, and some of the footage was so distressing that I couldn’t sleep. I’ve always taken pride in being a liberal pacifist, and yet, the collage of bearded faces creased with hate, the rising crescendo of “Allahu Akbar,” praise of the Lord demonised into a war chant, churned deep dark thoughts. In that bigoted moment, it was so easy to believe that every Muslim was a fire-breathing kafir slayer and so difficult to imagine any of them as loving fathers, doting husbands, dutiful sons or remotely human beings. I tossed and turned in my sleep, struggling with the images and my convictions to the contrary.

The train started moving, and away from the darkness, in the buzz and bustle of the world’s busiest city, the thoughts seemed to fade away. But soon there was to be a test – a test I was to fail. At the next station, a young Arab entered the car. He had a heavy satchel across his shoulder and a book with Arabic inscriptions in his hand. Pairs of hitherto drowsy eyes watched, some with curiosity, others with disdain, even loathing, and I with interest that changed imperceptibly into apprehension, fear and worse. Thoughts of the previous night came screaming back. Memories of 9/11, 7/7 and the the man’s religious fervour, all seemed to suggest to my fevered brain that the man might’ve anointed us all for mass martyrdom. I got up, admonishing little voices in my head that tried to remind me that I was committing the very sins I’d condemned, and got off the train at the very next stop.

“Better be guilty and safe than sorry and dead,” I told the voices but they grew louder still, driving me to shame and admiration. Shame, because I could not bear the thought of having betrayed my own beliefs and in many ways, the faith of my friends. And admiration for the millions of peaceful Muslims in the world, who repeatedly forgive the rest of the world for chaining them to the crimes of a deviant few, without compromising on their values as Muslims, and more significantly, as human beings. I owe that unknown Arab, and every such Muslim, an apology, as I do to Pakistani New Yorkers like Tariq, who’ve welcomed me into their hearts, blind to the momentary prejudice that had wrought havoc with my beliefs. Students and friends, apologies, for having forsaken, albeit for a moment, all that I’d preached. Steadfast faith in the divine essence of every faith can truly make angels, if not gods, of human beings, for it cultivates forgiveness. Like in the grieving Amish, who forgave the very man who killed their daughters, by including the killer and his family in their prayers. To hate is not human, but to forgive surely divine; and may whatever powers that be give us the courage to forgive and douse the fire of hate in an ocean of unconditional forgiveness. Christ said it, Gandhi repeated it; and for the sake of ourselves, let’s live it.

Epilogue: I was brought up to believe that terrorists aim to terrorise, but over the last few months I’ve grown to realise that the current brand of terrorism in our country only aims to polarise. I wrote the above column two years ago, believing that the world could only get better… But it has been a protracted illness. Our hate and fear has only grown. As for my own, I confess, they return every time I see a person I’m glad I didn’t know being carried like a sack on the streets, his/her innards disembowelled by a faceless bomb, in the name of an orphaned and disowned (by the very people the bomb claims to represent) faith.

But amidst the din of bombs and bullets, political rhetoric from both sides of the border, saffron bigotry and Antulayan antics,even if for some moments, an act of violence forces me to react like a Hindu because it pigeonholes and reduces me to being only that – a Hindu, I always try and remind my self that my religion is only about my relationship with God, not my relationship with man, be he Hindu, Muslim or Jewish. And I remind myself that my destiny, just like yours, is intertwined, across communities and borders, for cleaved halves we may be, but we are one whole, waiting to unite through all that divides us. And this isn’t misty eyed sentimentality speaking… just look back on the last few centuries and you’ll know…

For Complete I I P M Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

Monday, January 19, 2009

Purist movement & some food for thought

The Tablighi Jama'at has a global reach. But its simplistic approach finds quite as many followers as critics. Educated Indian Muslims, in particular, say it seems dated that Muslims should be urged to go around preaching, even when this is at the cost of their jobs and education. Mohammad Saleem Hayat on how he resisted the Jama'at's counsel that he give up his university life to stay 'pure'

It was near the ramparts of a South Delhi mosque that I first learnt about how Tablighi Jama'at had achieved its global reach. Soon after namaz was over one day, I found an elderly Arab expounding on the virtues of self-abnegation and complete devotion to Allah.

From the body language of the small assembly it looked like the

sermon had received a favourable reception. Only, I was not convinced. And, perhaps noticing my uneasiness, the Arab approached me and launched forth in colloquial Arabic that I could barely comprehend. And it was no loss either – for his ideas interested me not one bit.

He asked me what I did. When I told him I was in the process of completing my studies, he urged, "Da anka kulla zalik wakhruj fi sabilillah". (Just give it up and devote yourself to the path of Allah). He then proceeded to warn me about the evils of the university system in which none, according to him, could stay virtuous. Did I not know that a good apple inside a basket full of rotten fruits too would soon get affected?

So, what precisely did he want me to do? Become virtuous, of course! And that, he said, was possible only through tazki-e-nafs (soul purification); by going out with fellow Muslims and educating them in the virtues of Islam. "Exhort them to perform the namaz daily," he said. "This is the only way Muslims can become spiritually strong."

This last bit impressed me even less. For which true Muslim needs to be told this? Had this Arab travelled here all the way from Saudi Arabia simply to re-state the obvious? And did Indian Muslims need to be taught Islam by an Arab?

But the Tablighi Jama'at – with centres in nearly 80 countries across the world – believes that Muslims do need to be re-taught these basics. It's all there in the slogan of its founder, Maulana Mohammad Ilyas Kandhalwi: Ai musalmano musalman ho jao (Oh you Muslims, become true Muslims). His central message is so deceptively simple that it can be easily missed by anyone who performs the namaz five times daily. Yes – for this message is basically for those who do not do so. And it is they whom the Tablighi Jama'at principally addresses: to Muslims who fall short of being true Musalmans.

Barbara Metcalf, a University of California scholar of South Asian Islam, has called Tablighi Jama'at an "apolitical, quietist movement of internal grassroots missionary renewal". And one former CIA official and author of "Future Of Islam", Graham E Fuller, too has characterised the Tablighi Jama'at as a peaceful, apolitical movement.

Thus, what Tablighi Jama'at aims at is to revitalise those Muslims whom it believes to be in danger of losing their Muslim identity. However, as prominent Islamic scholar Maulana Waheeduddin Khan told TSI: "It is a fact that the Tablighis seek to familiarise common Muslims with the simple teachings of Islam. This is good work. It is just that the methods the followers of the Tablighi movement adopt are not geared to generating modern awareness among Muslims."

Ilyas founded the Tablighi Jama'at in the late 1920s in the erstwhile princely state of Mewat, India. Ilyas was a prominent member of the Deobandi movement, and throughout the Jama'at's history the two movements have collaborated at certain elementary levels.

At the Tabligh's international headquarters – the Markaz in Nizamuddin, New Delhi – preachers are organised in groups called Jama'at, each consisting of 10 to 12 Muslims who fund themselves.

Tabligh in Arabic means to convey (the message of God). So, when an individual goes out in a Jama'at, he strives to imbibe six qualities: Firm belief in the Kalimah (There is no God but Allah, and the Prophet Mohammad is His Messenger); concentration and devotion in salaat (namaz); Ilm and Dhikr (the thirst for knowledge and remembrance of Allah); Ikrame Muslim (the treatment of fellow humans with honour and deference); Ikhlas-i-Niyyat (doing everything for the sake of Allah; and Dawat-o-Tabligh (spreading the Prophet's message).

Tablighi Jama'at sets guidelines for local mosques, where Muslims come for their daily prayers, and the preachers make two weekly visits to Muslims (one in areas surrounding the local mosque and the other to one nearby). There are also two daily taleems (discourse) that send out the faithful along the path of Allah three days a month, 40 days a year, and four months in a lifetime; and a daily mashura (council) discusses ways of stepping up Tablighi activity in various Muslim localities.

The Tablighis hardly ever concern themselves with political affairs; they hold that there is no scope for politics in Islam. This overemphasis on devotion to Allah brings them nearer to Sufism – but for all that the Tablighis are generally found to lack a complete understanding of Islam. And they do not lay quite enough emphasis on the Quran and the Hadith.

What's more, many of their practices are so ritualistic that, to some, they amount to deviating from the path of the Prophet and his companions. Their biggest drawback, though, is that the Tablighis are hardly bothered about educating their flock.

What nonetheless makes them distinct from other Muslim groups is their simplicity of manner and endless humility; and they approach all Muslims, poor and affluent alike, with identical zeal. They make no distinction when inviting people to dine with them: the poor are just as welcome as the moneyed. And, most importantly, they donate liberally in cash and kind – which could be the reason why such a large number of Muslims are attracted toward them.

The Tablighis are least bothered about international political rights or wrongs, believing that all oppressors will, in the fullness of time, be brought to book by Allah and exposed before all humanity. It is perhaps this deep faith in God that preserves them in the face of the most hideous adversities. But most Muslim scholars denounce this overemphasis on preaching. "It is simply not fair to urge Muslims to go around preaching, even if this is at the cost of their official duties and educational pursuits. Islam does not favour this," says Maulana Wahiduddin Khan.

And how right he is! For consider: had I heeded that elderly Arab's counsel, would I have been able to file this story on the Tablighi Jama'at today?

For Complete I I P M Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

Saturday, January 17, 2009

Bhatkal: Islam’s dual face?

This quaint port-town is home to an ancient peace-loving Muslim community, but now jehadis are using it too, worries Satish Chapparike

If a historian, a linguist, a theologian and an architect want to go together on a vacation this tourist season, where do they go? Well, unless they want to completely stay away from work, and if they are willing to mix work and pleasure, there’s no place like the picturesque port-town of Bhatkal, on the National Highway 17, between Mangalore and Karwar. Home to an amazing community of Muslims, the Navayaths, it offers a startling mix of religions and cultures that is perhaps seen only there.

Bhatkal is a strange amalgamation of Hindu, Jain and Muslim cultures, languages and religions. Within a two square kilometer area in old Bhatkal town, there are more than 50 mosques, temples and basadis. Around 1,500 years ago, this natural port was a small village dominated by Jains and Hindus. During the reign of Vijaynagar dynasty’s ‘Pepper Queen’ Ambakka, an ascription given by the Portuguese whom she had defeated, Bhatkal became the main trade centre, and Persian-Arab traders started descending in hordes, bringing their horses and taking away the most valuable spices from these foothills of the Western Ghats.

Over time, Some Persian-Arab traders decided to settle here and that sect got the name ‘Navayaths’, or newcomers. Their roots were firmly anchored in the Arab world. But now Bhatkal and Navayath are synonymous and this community of around one lakh is distinct from other Muslim communities of the country. There were many theories about their actual place of origin and the process of settlement.

In the “History of Mysore, Vol I”, Colonel Wilkes says, “This sect belongs to the house of Hashem. During the early part of the 8th century AD, Iraq was under Caliph Abd-al-Malik Marwan and Hajaj bin Yusuf was the Governor. During the period of his notorious rule of Yusuf many people fled from the Iraq and followed the Arab traders and settled in the different part of the west coast of India.”

But the unique character of the Navayaths and their concentration only in and around Bhatkal refutes this theory. In his 1955 book “Navayaths of Kanara”, Victor D’Souza rejects the ‘single ancestor’ idea. One theory says Navayaths originated in Iran and another says they are from Yemen. "The Arab sailors and traders who came to India have generated Muslim communities in different parts of India. Among them, at least three different communities are known by the generic name of ‘Navayath’. It has been found that Navayaths are scattered in Pakistan, Srilanka, Hyderabad, Tamilnadu, Nellore, Arcot, Kolar, Hassan, Goa and Ratnagiri. These Navayaths, unlike the Navayaths of Bhatkal, have totally adopted the local culture,” says D’Souza.

Some believe that during the early days, some Arab traders who settled in Bhatkal also married local Jain women and the present generation is their descendent. There are many historical evidence of Jain influence in Bhatkal. The ruins of Jettappa Nayakana Chandranathesvara Basadi in the centre of old Bhatkal town tell numerous stories about Jain dominance. But Jain women spoke Kananada, and had this theory been correct, then their offspring would have spoken Kannad instead of Navayathi.

One spectacular aspect of the Navayath culture is their series of traditional houses on the side of old Bhatkal’s siens (streets). The cluster makes the ‘Navayath Keri’, and each house is an antique splendour. With around 20 feet frontage and 100 to 120 feet depth, the wooden houses are a treat to the eyes. Male guests are allowed only to the first room, called ‘vasro’. Beyond that the entire house belongs to family members. The origin of Navayathi language is also an interesting evolution. “Some say nine languages like Persian, Arabian, Urdu, Konkani, Kannada, Malayalam and others make up the language,” says Moulana Abdul Alim Qasimi, the Editor of Naqshe-E-Navayath, oldest Navayathi fortnightly news paper.

“From the last two decades, the entire sect has started giving importance to education. Before that, trade and services were our bread and butter,” says Parvez Kashimiji. No doubt about that. Anjuman Hami-e-Muslimeen, the educational society that actually changed the face of Bhatkal and the Navayaths is a landmark in coastal Karnataka. “A few years ago, all the Navayath parents wanted their sons to go to the Gulf and send money back every month. Whereas now, most of them want their children to have good education and then go for job hunting,” says Kashimiji. “But recent developments are a little bit worrying,” he admits.

There is reason behind that worry. Once a famous and historic Arab trade centre, then the house of Navayat’s, Bhatkal is nowadays known as an epicenter of Jihadi movement in India.

Though Bhatkal is one of the communally sensitive areas in Karnataka and has been so for the last few decades, what is happening here now is unprecedented. The shocking Judicial Commission Report on the 1993 riots (by Justise K Jaganaath Shetty) reveals the other face of this lovely town. Investigations into the recent blasts and the latest attack of terror in Mumbai show that Jehadis are using this area frequently.

But the people are hopeful, yet. “May be there will be a few anti-national elements within us. Those are exceptions. Our community is living here for more than 1,500 years and we are Indians. We respect our nation and we are ready to protect it. People say we were born in the wombs of Jain mothers. We believe in peace like the Jains, and Bhatkal Navayaths are committed to this nation and this motherland,” says Moulana Abdul Alim Qasimi. Much reassuring words during the highly disturbed period!

For Complete I I P M Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative