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Markets
and Marketing for Entrepreneurs - V Today we will
talk of price, the second of our four P's. Price is just one part
of our marketing mix, but often marketers and business people forget
that aspect. Would be entrepreneurs beware. Price is not everything.
So, in your planning, give it due recognition and no more. Keep
asking what's in a price. The resulting answers may prompt you to
be innovative in seeking solutions in the rest of the 4Ps - product,
place and promotion. Often trying
to compete, countries, industries and businesses alike tend to compete
on price. Is that desirable? I do not believe so. Take Sri Lanka
for example. Most export sectors we depend on today offer no scope
and no hope, says Ratna Sivaratnam, Chairman of the Sri Lanka Export
Development Board. "Soon we will be pushed with our backs against
a wall with our low productivity levels and high costs of production."
Soon, that is if we are already not there. According to Sivaratnam,
we are competing to a great degree on price. When we are
stuck with high costs and a market price that you find hard to meet,
what is the solution? Branding and value addition are two obvious
answers. On the long run we can also go in for improved productivity.
Answers are many. Start thinking. Be different. Branding means
promotion. It requires greater effort and innovation to position
yourself in a place where you can demand a premium price. Value
addition means changing your product. It may mean tweaking it here
and there or making radical changes in your product or service.
This too requires hard work and insight into how customers think.
Improved productivity may require looking at your current costs
and understanding how you do what you do - your processes. It may
mean changing technology. The changes will be manifested in your
product, channels or delivery systems (place) and in promotional
activities. You might even ask why have this product at all. Can
it be something else? The results will be reflected in costs and
therefore in pricing. The Commercial
Bank claims proudly of having the lowest operational costs vis-a-vis
other commercial banks. They achieved this by relying on information
technology. Ceylinco group provides an e-channelling service. Instead
of languishing away in queues at hospitals to channel a specialist,
you can now do it from home or office via the Internet. The result
is a new channel or way of providing a service. How much money are
you ready to pay to avoid the traffic jams, lost time and long queues?
Early in my
writing career, the Chief Editor of Athwela Nihal Dissanayake used
to tell me, "if you feel like using a particular word, use
something else". He extrapolates this advice to life too. If
you feel like doing something strongly, do something else. Believe
me, this does lead to a lot of innovation. You could think like
this if you feel you are stuck with a price. Have another price;
not necessarily a lower one. Think different. Leave the lazy and
the unimaginative to lament on prices. Next week too
we will talk of price, this important element in our marketing mix.
That sentence was just to appease all marketers and sales people.
Do please send in your responses to my initial question of: What's
in a price? Share your thoughts so the entrepreneurs can benefit
from it. Send your comments to btimes@wijeya.lk
or call 074-304100. The writer is a Chartered Management Accountant by profession with a Masters in Business Administration from the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow. She is the Managing Editor of Athwela Vyaparika Sangarawa (Athwela Business Journal). Tilak takes
over as CCC chief Indian High
Commissioner Gopalkrishna Gandhi will be the chief guest and will
address members on Indo-Lanka relations. Jayaratne, managing director at Eagle Insurance, served two terms as the CCC chairman and is well known for pressing the government to undertake urgently-needed reforms in labour, education and the economy. Industrial fair
in Trinco The focus of
the trade fair is to showcase Sri Lanka as one of the best industrial
locations in the region, Minister of Industries Rohitha Bogollagama
told reporters last week. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe will
open the exhibition which would coincide with the ruling United
National Party's annual convocation in the eastern town. The minister
said the country's industrial sector has seen reasonable progress
since independence with the two decades showing significant returns
with the introduction of the economic liberalisation model in 1977.
Sri Lanka over
the past 25 years has positioned itself as a destination for investment
and also sought to protect and support its industry, he said. Also participating
at the exhibition are trade chambers from Japan, the US, Malaysia,
India, Singapore and Lanka Bell launches
data network services A feature that
distinguishes the service from solutions provided by other telecommunications
operators and Internet Service Providers (ISP) is the flexibility
of tailoring the bandwidths at the press of the button, said a company
official. According to the official the other operators would have
to carry out physical infrastructure changes such as routers, wiring,
etc. to decrease or enhance bandwidth. This means that BellBurst
will be able to support flexible bandwidth requirements ranging
from 64kbps to 2Mbps based according to client requirements at different
periods through a central point of control. A further advantage
of BellBurst is its capability to ensure high-speed last mile access
to clients because of the wireless technology it uses. The equipment
for these services have been supplied by Harris Corporation, USA,
a company that specialises in microwave communications, television
and broadcast transmitters, ground-to-air communications and secure
military communications solutions. Scott Crosbee of Harris Corporation
speaking at a media briefing said that Harris has been present in
Sri Lanka in other fields, and that this was the first data communication
installation for the company. Joey Mendoza,
Managing Director of Lanka Bell said that with the launch of BellBurst,
business customers will now have access to leased lines, high-speed
Internet access, prioritised data services, etc. He also added that
the company will shortly commence ISP services. Lanka Bell since its launch of telecommunications service in 1996 in the Greater Colombo area has invested over $150 million. The company has now extended its reach to locations such as Kandy, Kurunegala, Matara and Biyagama. Lanka Bell recently established three locations in the Jaffna peninsula to provide telecommunications service through its satellite based solution "BellSat". Faster clearance
of imports "This
is a positive step to facilitate trade and will give importers more
time to clear their cargoes without incurring demurrage," ACFA
chairman M.S.M. Niyas said. The Ceylon Association of Ship's Agents has advised their members to issue import delivery orders two days before the arrival of vessels, he said in a statement. Niche business
in "Care Services" for elderly It has asked
the government to propose a new service category called "Care
Services" to cover elderly care as part of Sri Lanka's "requests"
to be made under the next round talks of the World Trade Organisation
on the General Agreement on Trading in Services. "With
an ageing population and enhanced life expectancy, the western world
would have a significant market seeking "Care Services"
for the elderly," the chamber said in a statement. Among the
care services that would be required are nursing care, medical and
hospitalisation services, massage, acupuncture, cosmetic and beauty
treatment, weight control, meditation, spiritual services, companionship,
and sports and recreation. The government should leverage on Sri
Lanka's culture and value systems that have an in-built bias towards
"caring", and other advantages such as warm tropical weather,
meditation and hill stations, the chamber said. It could also
make use of the growing demand for alternatives to Western medicines
based on chemicals such as Ayurveda and herbal treatment, it said.
Options for the elderly in Western countries could include living
in Sri Lanka or extended visits to the island during the winter
months in the West, it said. Strengthoning
euro could boost exports One of the
benefits of a stronger euro could be an increase in exports from
developing countries such as Sri Lanka, he said in an interview.
"We could
expect more business from the EU," he said. "The euro
has gained strength and is getting very close to the dollar. It
is forecast to be on par with the dollar by year's end." With a stronger
euro, it would be cheaper for the European Union to import than
to produce locally, Lyman said. "It is likely that exports
from developing countries like Sri Lanka would increase." The euro was
gaining ground on the dollar since EU economies were recovering,
inflation was lower, and the transition to a single currency from
12 different ones had been smoother than expected. There was less
confidence in the US economy given the shocks to the system such
as the Enron scandal, with the result that investments there, and
demand for dollars, had fallen. Businesses
were already enjoying the benefits of a single currency in the EU,
with savings on exchange rates, lower costs, streamlining of business
and price transparency, Lyman said. Earlier, Sri
Lankan exporters who had to store a large number of products in
one country and distribute them to the rest of Europe had to go
through customs several times and pay duties at various locations,
or have small quantities in all markets. Now, they can access the
common market from one location. Furthermore,
exporters are finding it easier to do business and have cut down
costs here since they now maintain only one euro account whereas
previously they had to keep converting different currencies. However, there
could be some difficulties as well if the uniformity in the laws
governing imports into the EU meant higher standards with which
exporters would have to comply in order to gain market access, Lyman
said. "With the EU laws being more uniform than before it is easier for exporters to know what the qualifying criteria are," he said. "But it might mean higher standards - to protect EU consumers - so Sri Lankan exporters might have to upgrade quality and standards." Record
daily volume at Colombo port "We have
enhanced efficiency and unveiled a special discount scheme at the
Jaya Container Terminal (JCT). As a result, lines are looking more
closely at Colombo, and JCT in particular," he said. The port handled
a record 8,231 twenty-foot containers on Monday, July 15, the highest
ever done on a single day, he said. It normally handles around 5,000
boxes a day. Dissanayake
attributed the reason for the record volume to the sudden diversion
to Colombo of a container ship that developed engine trouble, which
came on top of a revival in container throughput. Volumes at the
JCT were up by 12 percent in June compared with the average handled
in the first five months of this year, he said. Container volumes
at Colombo plunged after the terrorist attack on the Katunayake
airport last July and the subsequent imposition of war-risk insurance
surcharges that forced many lines to avoid the port. Overall, the
port had gained 8.4 percent in the second quarter of this year compared
with the first quarter despite the global recession and the slow
recovery. Dissanayake quoted a letter sent by Maersk-Sealand, the world's biggest container line, praising the improved efficiency at Colombo after a call by the vessel, Gosport Maersk on July 11 at JCT 2 in which the terminal achieved 82 moves an hour using three gantry cranes. Spiderman at
KFC To keep in
tune with the movie KFC will be running its own special promotion
for the entire duration of the screening in Colombo. KFC aims to
entertain the kids by providing miniature Spiderman action figures
with each Chicky meal, a KFC statement said. Kids will also
be able to take part in exciting games such as face painting and
colouring contests at the KFC outlets everyday. KFC - the world's largest chain of chicken restaurants is available in more than 9,400 cities worldwide. KFC entered the Sri Lankan market in 1994 and the franchise is operated by Cargills (Ceylon) Ltd. Indian
Prof at TMC A TMC statement
said the club launched in February this year is expanding its reach
with the setting up of its first extension at the Mount Lavinia
Hotel. The Mt Lavinia TMC will commence operations by end- September for members in the south of Dehiwela. Earthwatch scholarships
for CTC employees Fernando returned
to the country last month after two weeks in Costa Rica and said
her experience in Costa Rica was "life changing". "I
learned to appreciate nature in all its wondrous forms. Costa Rica
is a beautiful country which has five percent of the world's bio
diversity. Our project was studying the Guanacaste Santa Rosa Dry
Forest to learn about life in this ecosystem." Gunasekera
who will leave for Brazil in September says he is looking forward
to the programme and hopes to bring back a lot of experience that
could be shared with fellow Sri Lankans. British American Tobacco (of which CTC is a member) has supported Earthwatch for the past 10 years in its valuable work on global environmental issues. |
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