Airtel was launched in Sri Lanka today (12th Jan 2008). The launch was delayed due to various reasons. The Indian company will have to deliver their best in order to capture the Sri Lankan market and also to maintain their share of the Indian market.
If we look at their entrance to the Sri Lankan market, it seems like they are going to some marketing strategies to win the Sri Lnkan consumer. As the first step they have to attract both the new and users of other netwrks.

1. Lower rates for outside networks - In Sri Lanka, normally we experience the lowest rates within the same network. But at the start up the number of Airtel users are almost zero. So the stretgy is to give the lowest rates for both Airtel and non Airtel numbers and attract the customers.
   
2. Allowing the customer to choose their own number - Many people like to have an easy to remember or else a "taxi service" kind of a phone number (ex : 07xx 248 248). So it prompt the customer to use the new connectioin. Also they can choose a number that is matching with the existing number they use (ex : 07++ 137512 and 07** 137512). So provided lowest call rates, the customer is encouraged to switch to the new connection.
   
3. Building a good brand image by providing a good quality service - If the rates are similar, the companies are going to be tested based on their quality of service. Currently, it is said that some mobile service providers do not provide a quality service with regard to billing, data connections and customer services. So if Airtel can provide a better quality service, they have a good chance.

Of course these are according to my point of view. Airtel's view may be different from this.(There may be plenty to come as well:) ). Airtel is challenged not only in Sri Lanka, but also in India. With the entrance of the Japanese giant NTTDocomo to the Indian market, Indian mobile industry has become highly competitive.
As consumers what we can do is just wait and see. Finally we are the ones who's going to be benefited from the competitiveness. The mobile service providers will have to deliver the best, to be in the race.
Otherwise!!!?

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(An interview with Dian Gomas)

Dian Gomas is the CEO of MAS Holding and the President of Sri Lanka Ameteur Boxing Association and Vice President of National Olympic Committee.

Tell us about your educational background with regard to business.

I am a Fellow Member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (FCMA) UK.

I also received my Executive Education at the Harvard and Wharton Business Schools.

What made you to join a textile company following on your education of being Chartered (CIMA) Management Accountant?

I started my career as a management trainee at KPMG Ford Rhodes in the early 1980’s.

By 22 I was a Financial Controller at a British Interior Company based in Sri Lanka.

I was appointed Finance Director by 26 and moved on to the Fortune 100 Company May Corporation Inc. as the General Manager in Sri Lanka.

My foray into apparel industry was by chance on meeting with Deshamanya Mahesh Amalean, a visionary who would go on to shape the Sri Lankan apparel industry in the years to come. It was due to Mahesh’s influence that I joined MAS Holdings in 1990.

He had vision and passion to put Sri Lanka on the world map in the apparel industry. He was my inspiration to enter the industry, which led to make the transformation from being a master of numbers to a leader of men.

What are the attributes of a successful business person?

To be successful, you need to be passionate in what you do. This applies to business as much as it does to life in general. In business you have to face incessant ups and downs and you have to learn from them. You need to be strong when you are encountered with adversity and trust your intuition.

Honesty, integrity and credibility are the key to success in the long run. These are the factors that will differentiate the boys from the men. Successful businessmen are aggressive and ambitious. They are the ‘go getters’. It’s important that you play hard, play smart and play fair!

How do you balance personal life and work?

I can manage to switch gears from one role to another very easily. Today I head one of the largest intimate apparel companies in the region as Chief Executive of 14,000 employees. I also serve as the President of Sri Lankan Boxing, Vice President of the National Olympic Committee & an Ex-Co Member of Sri Lanka Cricket.

I also run my own art store, Gandhara a retail business specializing in Crafts and Artifacts. Despite my busy schedule I still find time to conduct lectures and motivational speeches every month at various forums sharing my learning and life experiences with the youth. Playing different roles is not easy, but is something which has a high value.

Did you take part in any sport at School?

Yes. Boxing has been a lifelong passion for me since my schooldays at Royal College, Colombo, where I was the reigning junior national fly weight champion for four consecutive years.

How do you motivate your employees?

They are my strength and my inspiration! I treat them as my own children. They too look up to me as a father who extends support and guidance. They know that I will never compromise on them so they appreciate very much and maintain their loyalty and faithfulness towards their boss and the company.

What motivates you to work?

I am motivated in making a difference in the lives of those who work under me and other people as well. My job provides me the opportunity to help the under privileged in the country.

I think I am very successful in making that happen. I have sent many youth through school and university, groomed budding sportsperson to be world beaters. I have seen how they strive to make ends meet. I consider it as a responsibility to provide these people with the best opportunity to succeed in life. This is my inspiration and motivation.

If there’s a dispute or a conflict among your workers, how are you going to solve it?

My approach to resolving conflict is quite similar to the approach that I would take at home because I treat my staffers as my own children. I deal with it directly as unhurtful and as possible.

Sometimes I am brutally forthright and harsh with them, especially the senior management. I am not a dictator and try to deal with emotional conflicts in a moderate and humane manner.

Don’t you experience stress when the work is piled up?

I have always performed better under pressure. I am in my element in times of crisis and change. It is said that ‘when the going gets tough, the tough get going’ and this is an adage that I stand by. I always put people through challenges to see how they cope with them. Anyone can be a ‘good weather manager’ but only the best has what it takes to whither the storm and come through winning.

Do you think experience alone will be sufficient to excel in the business field without paper qualifications?

You need both. Solid educational background is the foundation of success in corporate life.

However it is important to note that paper qualifications are only the entry ticket to the race.

How far you go and how successful you will be depend on experience, exposure and the correct attitude.

What is the best age for a young person to start his own business?

In today’s society, budding young entrepreneurs have sufficient business exposure before embark on their own business venture. The relevant knowledge and experience acquired through working will hold individuals in good stead as they take on the challenge of running their own business later. You can be financially secured when you serve 5-6 years in the commercial sector. It is difficult to give a number but in general,but , early 30’s would be ideal.

If GSP+ is not granted, how would it affect textile export to the Europe?

With the fluctuation of the US economy, the EU is fast emerging as the most lucrative market for Sri Lankan apparel exports.

The GSP+ benefit has been a critical factor which helped tilt the balance in favour of Sri Lankan exports to this region over the past few years. If Sri Lanka were to lose GSP+, I foresee a structural breakdown in the local apparel sector as it will be a challenge to sustain the business with increasing cost base and intensified regional competition.

What will be the fate of the Sri Lankan apparel and textile industry in years to come?

Sri Lanka has all the right ingredients to be a strategic hub for apparel manufacture. Today we have a number of local manufacturers who function as strategic vendors to the leading fashion brands in the world. We have the skill base, the infrastructure and the expertise to sustain the industry in the long run.

Other factors working in favour of Sri Lanka is the brand positioning of our country for our ethical manufacturing standards, labour conditions and social responsibility. We have been proactive in focusing on the entire value chain and now have the capability to deliver the entire design to delivery solution to our customers.

However the biggest challenge is on the cost front. It is difficult to sustain the business with ever increasing local cost base. Prices of energy, fuel and other necessities are making us non competitive against global competitors like China and India who possess massive economies of scale. This provides the biggest threat to our industry and how well we manage to mitigate this challenge will determine our success as an industry over the next 5-10 years.

source : www.sundayobserver.lk

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( An interview with Kishu Gomes CEO/MD of Chevron Lubricants Lanka Ltd. and Chevron Ceylon Ltd )

By Panchamee Hewavissenti

Kishu Gomes,Country Chairman, CEO/MD of Chevron Lubricants Lanka Ltd. and Chevron Ceylon Ltd.

Q: Down memory lane, can you explain how you became what you’re today?

A: I started my career as a ‘sales person’. Because I wanted to excel in marketing field. I was impressed by prominent and key personalities in society who were leading lives of affluence. I too wanted to be admired by society and to be a kind of a hero.

I joined Coca Cola company and became an executive within 2 years. I was then 21 years old. I had to shoulder many responsibilities than a boy of my age.

My job was to handle special events. It was more entertaining. I got an opportunity to mingle with high profile people such as business and political leaders, top sports people, singers and actors. During eleven years of working at Coca Cola, I engaged in sales and marketing.

After that I joined Caltex on 31st December, 1996 as a trainee manager. I was privileged to be the first manager at Caltex multinational company. From national sales manager, due to my hard work I became the ‘head of sales and marketing’ within 3 years. Within a short period I was promoted as the CEO of the Caltex company and I’m still holding that responsible position.

Q: From starting a career as a sales person at Coca Cola to being the CEO/MD of the Caltex multinational company, you might have not probably walked on a rosy path. Explain how you are confronted with challenges?

A: I faced challenges right throughout both personal and career wise. I grabbed every opportunity to enhance my performance without being demoralised by them. I also enjoyed taking risks.

Q: When you became the CEO/MD of Caltex multinational company, did you stick to the methods used by your predecessors?

A: No. I always looked for new things. I never followed any previous Director or a Manager but gathered experience from their past performance and failures. I never followed norm or tradition of the company. I wanted to innovate new strategies and ways.

Q: Explain about the formula you implemented for your success?

A: You should not look at you as a product. You should be able to market yourself, managing yourself as a person with knowledge and experience. In this world, business competitions are everywhere.

There’s a competition among individuals as well. This is analogous to, for instance, in order to receive more attention from customers, a commodity should a popular brand name, the product should also maintain high quality standards. Likewise an individual too should have a value for himself. An individual should be able to be more qualified than others and should be able to grab the attention over others.

He should not be confined only to his job. He should explore many paths, should be exposed to various fields to acquire knowledge. You should have brand attributes and should nurture them constantly to enhance performance. You should be able to see progress within yourself on a daily basis.

Q: How did you apply that formula of success for your career development?

A: I don’t limit myself to the core job. The profile I have built is wider and more diversified than that of a traditional CEO. I’m into various other things apart from my core job.

I want people to look upto me as a different person. My scope is wider. Though I’m the CEO of the company,I am also a model. I have acted in commercials. I sing, play guitar, do sports to keep myself fit. Also conduct personality development and Youth Performance Enhancing lectures.

This type of a diversified profile should hardly be found in a typical CEO who is only confined to his job. This helps me to enhance my performance and maintain a sound mental health which is the key to personal development.

Q: You mean to say that confining yourself only to the job is more stressful?

A: Yes of course. When the job becomes a person’s life, he is unable to think out of that frame. Everything becomes his job. While you are immersed in the job, you can use your creativity and abilities which help to lessen the burden or displeasure caused by the job, which also enhance your marketability.

You shouldn’t let work takeover your life. Establishing outside interests will help you to keep you fresh and creative. If your scope is only within your job. When you’re confronted with trouble and there’s no way to get away with them.

Q: Do you agree with the fact that most business personalties hardly possess such diversified profiles?

A: Yes. That’s because Sri Lankans are bearers and followers of traditional way of doing things. That’s a very unproductive attitude. I can take for example the late American president Ronald Reagan. He was an actor too. People should eliminate that wrong attitude in them. So that you can utilise all you competency to get maximum value out of you.

There’s a sinhalese saying ‘Loven Ekek Ek Deyakate Vei Samatha’ (one person will excel in one craft). I disagree with that as a person has various talents. As long as a person puts a little effort to find out what his hidden talents are and try to enhance them and utilise them he can increase his marketability.

Q: What are ‘career pyramids’?

A: Higher the level in the pyramid lower the number of job opportunities.

The logic here is that higher the level of job, lower the number of opportunities (jobs) available, hence greater the competition for employees. For example, 200 staff grade jobs, 100 junior executives, 10 senior executive positions, 4 functional leadership positions and only one CEO.

While at the lower levels differentiation comes largely on technical competencies or core competencies, as you move up in the pyramid the soft skills of the employees play a bigger role ( team work, coordination and collaboration with others, creativity, new ideas, winning together attitudes towards work, relationship skills, etc.)

Whereas at the senior levels, with the technical knowledge and experience, one needs to have the highest level of foresight, strategic thinking, execution, leadership, communication and people management skills to win.

Another key aspect in today’s environment is that to win at higher levels, employees need to build an individual profile that naturally attracts attention from all stakeholders. This is an emerging art all budding leaders have to learn. Personal branding is the way forward to win in an ever increasing competitive job market. A personal brand comprises two sets of attributes.

One - the rational attributes that make you qualify for the job in terms of professional background and relevant experience and Two - the emotional attributes that positions you well relative to others who aspire to achieve the same level you desire. It is about amplifying your image to be on top of mind to be the preferred choice.

Q: How Sri Lankans widen their horizon?

A: Global thinking is very important. It’s not sufficient to compete only in Sri Lanka. You should determine what makes you win in the global arena. You should empower yourself with the global requirements. It’s advisable to do a self audit, assess yourself and work hard to identify and fill those gaps.

When you seek to compete globally, you should be able to work with different people and different cultures, perform under different circumstances and in different industries. Because you might not know which field you’ll excel in. Therefore knowledge in different industries is a good thing for your future prospects. Because when you find an opportunity you can grab it at once.

Q: What are your educational qualifications?

A: I did A/L in mathematics stream. I didn’t want to pursue my higher studies, because as I said I had a passion to join one of the Forces. Although in the latter part of my schooling I was really inspired by my uncle who was a psychologist and became really interested in studying psychology. I used to spend most of my time in my uncle’s library reading books on various subjects. Thus I gathered a vast spectrum of knowledge.

I joined Coca Cola right after my A/Ls and did my CIM and then read a MBA from Lester College UK, while working at Coca Cola. I think along with experience, we should have a sound educational background as well, in order to have an edge over others.

Q: Don’t you experience stress when the work is piled up?

A: Not really. If I confine myself only the position of CEO, I would probably have undergone stress. Since I enjoy a diversified schedule, and do things that I love, I hardly experience stress. I lead a simple and natural way of life. Since I have a proper time management. I don’t have problem in piling up of work.

Q: Your sports background?

A: After I dropped out from the school (Prince of Wales - Moratuwa). I planned to join one of the Forces. Because I possessed a sound sports background. I was a ruggerite and an athlete. My pet even was hurdles. I was a National Schools Hurdles Champion, 100 metres Colombo District Champion and played rugby as a wing three quarter. When I was schooling, I spent more time in the ground than in class room.

That’s, I think the reason behind why I was determined to join one of the forces. Another inspiration for me was that there was a big demand to join the forces and many of my friends got an opportunity to join the forces.

Q: What’s your notion on “serve the country before yourself?”

A: I have to disagree with it. Because how can you serve the country, if you are unable to serve yourself. This traditional way of thinking has been passed onto today’s youth through many generations.

First you should be able to stand on your feet. You should be independent. When you are able to serve yourself, then you can serve your family, then your village and then the country. That should be the sequence. Not at one step, the country. For example, a new born child cannot get up and walk at first. It takes time, to turn to side, crawl, creep and turn stand up and then walk.

Though the youth are often taught to ‘serve the country first’ they don’t know how. The youth should be taught to serve themselves first in order to serve the country. The youth should be educated, exposed to various types of experience and knowledge. When your are able to be independent you can extend your service to the country. How can a person who is unable to stand on his feet helps to develop the country.

source : www.sundayobserver.lk

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Big companies understand the importance of brands. Today, in the Age of the Individual, you have to be your own brand. Here's what it takes to be the CEO of Me Inc.

It's a new brand world. You're branded, branded, branded, and branded.

It's time for me -- and you -- to take a lesson from the big brands, a lesson that's true for anyone who's interested in what it takes to stand out and prosper in the new world of work.

Regardless of age, regardless of position, regardless of the business we happen to be in, all of us need to understand the importance of branding. We are CEOs of our own companies: Me Inc. To be in business today, our most important job is to be head marketer for the brand called You.

Let’s take a look at this: How do you know which sites are worth visiting, which sites to bookmark, which sites are worth going to more than once? The answer: branding. The sites you go back to are the sites you trust. They're the sites where the brand name tells you that the visit will be worth your time -- again and again. The brand is a promise of the value you'll receive.

The same holds true for that other killer app of the Net -- email. When everybody has email and anybody can send you email, how do you decide whose messages you're going to read and respond to first -- and whose you're going to send to the trash unread? The answer: personal branding. The name of the email sender is every bit as important a brand -- is a brand -- as the name of the Web site you visit. It's a promise of the value you'll receive for the time you spend reading the message.

What makes You different?

Start right now: as of this moment you're going to think of yourself differently! You're not an "employee" of General Motors. Starting today you are a brand. You're every bit as much a brand as Nike, Coke, Pepsi, or the Body Shop. To start thinking like your own favorite brand manager, ask yourself the same question the brand managers at Nike, Coke, Pepsi ask themselves: What is it that my product or service does that makes it different? Give yourself the traditional 15-words-or-less contest challenge. Take the time to write down your answer. And then take the time to read it. Several times.

If your answer wouldn't light up the eyes of a prospective client or command a vote of confidence from a satisfied past client, or -- worst of all -- if it doesn't grab you, then you've got a big problem. It's time to give some serious thought and even more serious effort to imagining and developing yourself as a brand.

Start by identifying the qualities or characteristics that make you distinctive from your competitors -- or your colleagues. What have you done lately -- this week -- to make yourself stand out? What would your colleagues or your customers say is your greatest and clearest strength? Your most noteworthy (as in, worthy of note) personal trait?

Personnel Branding Campaign

The key to any personal branding campaign is "word-of-mouth marketing." Your network of friends, colleagues, clients, and customers is the most important marketing vehicle you've got; what they say about you and your contributions is what the market will ultimately gauge as the value of your brand. So the big trick to building your brand is to find ways to nurture your network of colleagues -- consciously.

What's the real power of You?

If you want to grow your brand, you've got to come to terms with power -- your own. In fact, power for the most part is a badly misunderstood term and a badly misused capability. I'm talking about a different kind of power than we usually refer to. It's not ladder power, as in who's best at climbing. It's influence power.

It's being known for making the most significant contribution in your particular area. It's reputational power. If you were a scholar, you'd measure it by the number of times your publications get cited by other people. If you were a consultant, you'd measure it by the number of CEOs who've got your business card in their Rolodexes. (And better yet, the number who know your beeper number by heart.)

Getting and using power -- intelligently, responsibly, and yes, powerfully -- are essential skills for growing your brand. One of the things that attracts us to certain brands is the power they project.

What's loyalty to You?

Today loyalty is the only thing that matters. But it isn't blind loyalty to the company. It's loyalty to your colleagues, loyalty to your team, loyalty to your project, loyalty to your customers, and loyalty to yourself.

I know this may sound like selfishness. But being CEO of Me Inc. requires you to act selfishly -- to grow yourself, to promote yourself, to get the market to reward yourself. Of course, the other side of the selfish coin is that any company you work for ought to applaud every single one of the efforts you make to develop yourself. After all, everything you do to grow Me Inc. is gravy for them: the projects you lead, the networks you develop, the customers you delight, the braggables you create generate credit for the firm. As long as you're learning, growing, building relationships, and delivering great results, it's good for you and it's great for the company.

What's the future of You?

It's over. No more vertical. No more ladder. That's not the way careers work anymore. Linearity is out. A career is now a checkerboard. Or even a maze. It's full of moves that go sideways, forward, slide on the diagonal, even go backward when that makes sense. (It often does.) A career is a portfolio of projects that teach you new skills, gain you new expertise, develop new capabilities, grow your colleague set, and constantly reinvent you as a brand.

No matter what you're doing today, there are four things you've got to measure yourself against. First, you've got to be a great teammate and a supportive colleague. Second, you've got to be an exceptional expert at something that has real value. Third, you've got to be a broad-gauged visionary -- a leader, a teacher, a farsighted "imagineer." Fourth, you've got to be a businessperson -- you've got to be obsessed with pragmatic outcomes.

It's this simple: You are a brand. You are in charge of your brand. There is no single path to success. And there is no one right way to create the brand called You. Except this: Start today. Or else....

(Taken from http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine)

(To read the full article click here )

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