New Year Hues

The rise of the middle and upper middle class and the growing income this sector of the society enjoys definitely have increased consumeriism. In the Nepali context, not only these factors have been contributing to the growing level of consumption of both FMCGs (Fast Moving Consumer Goods) and durables. The increasing remittance from migrant workers potentially goes for consumption too. Consumption is naturally the top priority for the families of the migrant workers with a humble economic background. However, it is important to note that these consumers are not considered to be brand conscious. Urban dwellers and, especially, the youths are the ones concerned and lured by the flashy brand names. 

Various well known global brands have their presence in Nepal in different product categories. The festive seasons are the moments when there is an opportunity for these brands to potentially increase sales, more than in “normal days.” Consumers also want to make festivals a special occasion by shopping new goods. The New Year 2070 seems to be the perfect occasion: customers buy more and sellers try to sell more as well. To make this happen, business get involved in aggressive marketing strategies. This is an attempt to create a win-win situation for both. 

- Sangam Khadka, Baneshwor

Extend the Value Chain

I find New Business Age magazine loaded with relevant content. I believe that the reading habit of today’s youth is oriented towards byte sized articles. Additionally, articles could be more attractive and easier to comprehend with the use of graphics. Enlivening the contents in such a manner would be a challenge for contributory guest articles, but if the magazine could offer a way to do it and the approval from the author, the suggested improvements could be achieved. 

I think that the core readers of this magazine are young executives and management students. What they really crave for is information - latest trends, developments, concepts, models… etc. I wonder, is it possible to feature an exec-summary with every issue that touches 5 to 10 important points under various categories For example, these could be latest concepts in H.R., governance, CSR, marketing, branding orleadership. Each point could be a 3-4 liner as in intro. The reader can do research by him or herself if the subject is relevant. 

I believe that any educational forum or magazine (like this one) has a dual role to play: pass on domain knowledge and also imbibe certain values and attributes that make humans better. After all, the quality of a human being defines the way he or she operates in a value-challenged environment. Could your magazines carry a regular feature that helps the reader to understand the difference between pursuing success and excellence? Is the publication group into creating experiential platforms that bring alive the various theories propounded in these magazines? Such activities would extend the value chain and would go a long way to create domain leadership. 

- Manosh R. Sengupta, Brand-Parent, Nurturer, Mentor, brand-@itude

Airlines Merger

As TR Manandhar, Director General of CAAN, said (New Business Age, April 2013) the number of airlines is higher than what the market can sustain. In a condition where tourism is not yet at a peak, the domestic market for aviation in Nepal is still untapped and some rural destinations can be developed that can be reached more conveniently by air than by land. Airlines have been facing problems in generating profits because of the high operational cost and inadequate capital base. In the current situation, as Manandhar suggests, it would be wise to merge airline companies. That would increase the fleet size, the capital base and the reach. The merger of companies would also help them operate by being one robust company. 

 -Binita Sharma, Pokhara

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