tially a $199 device dressed up in a sleek design and seductive logo. The 7-inch Fire received near-universal ac­claim as a fun and versatile, easy-to-use tablet

that links seamlessly with Ama-zon‘s impressive collection of digi­tal music, video, magazine, and book services. In Decem-

ber, Amazon once again got under the skin of brick-and-mortar merchants by offering discounts to us­ers who took its

Price Check app into stores to comparison shop. The deal was that in-store shoppers could earn a 5-percent discount (up to $5) by scan­ning the barcode of an in-store product and then buying it from Amazon.

Apple – Despite Amazon‘s steady march of progress throughout 2011, Apple, true to form, managed to out-dazzle the world‘s biggest online re-tailer every step of the way. The company continued to lure consumers and business users

away from desktop computers to the more manageable envi-ronment of iOS devices such as the iPad, hastening the day when general-purpose com-puters are the province of soft-ware engineers and tech enthu-siasts. The year began with an effort to broaden the iPhone

market beyond a single carrier by terminating Apple‘s exclu-sive partnership with AT&T and announcing that the iPhone 4 would be available through Verizon. Cont…..on Page 4

the past four years, from $14 million in 2007 to $34 million in 2010, and show little sign of slowing down. In the past year, Amazon introduced no fewer

than four potentially game-changing products: i) Amazon

Cloud, ii)Amazon Local, iii)

Kindle Fire , iv)The Price

Check smartphone app. Amazon Web Services set the pace for the year in March with an aggressive rollout of cloud

products that included Elastic

Beanstalk, Cloud Forma-

t i on , Ama z o n Cl o u d

Player and Amazon Cloud

Drive. Users can store music and other digital content in the cloud and play cloud-hosted music tracks via players for the

Web and on An­droid. Al-though AWS represents just a sliver of Amazon‘s total busi-ness, UBS Investment Research analysts Brian Pitz and Brian Fitzgerald predict it could cap-ture as much as $2.5 billion by 2014. In June, Amazon Local

launched, and the daily deals service with region-specific deals delivered by Living So-cial quickly became the sixth most-visited website in the U.S., according to comScore. It racked up 97.1 million unique U.S. - based visitors in July alone. In September, Amazon

rolled out its new line of Kin­dle readers, and the Kindle Fire tablet. The latter was pointedly positioned as a direct rebuke to the iPad 2 and its hefty price tag, as if to suggest that Steve Jobs‘ parting gift was essen-

This year highlights as to how very different retail is today from just a few years ago. Amazon has turned bricks-and-mortar retail on its ear to

the same extent that Apple gutted the retail music industry. Social media remains a huge influence, even as it remains a moving target that retailers are trying desperately to figure out. There is a new air of optimism in retail, and we can see

hints in multichannel and m-commerce initiatives, which have been talked about for years, are actually starting to happen in meaningful numbers. There has been a lot of fear and uncertainty in retail these past few years, and more than

enough "sky is falling" blog posts about how everything is changed and nothing will ever be the same, retail is dead, the kids these days only buy things online, yadda yadda yadda. Those kinds of articles cer-tainly get a lot of page views –

which of course is the point – but they don‘t really add any-thing meaningful to the conver-sation. Present hers is this Top 5 trends that are shaping the retail industry. Amazon - For those who re-member Amazon as a really

cool online bookstore, the view from 2012 shows just how far the re­tailer and the world has come. What once seemed a promising fad is now an ac-cepted way of life. Amazon‘s revenues more than doubled in

Retail Reality : Top 5 Trends in Retail , 2012.

Inside this issue:

Corporate Speak 2

Cloud of Slowdown. 3

Quote for the Month. . 4

MAY 2012

Volume 1, Issue 11 Mi`bytes

BUSINESS LETTER Masters of International Business

Centre for management Studies

Jamia Millia Islamia University

Dola Mukherjee

Senior Manager (HR)

Syngene International (A Biocon Company)

Q1.What is the business of Syngene International? A. Syngene is an internationally reputed contract research and manufacturing organization with multidisciplinary

skills in chemistry and biology services. From early stage discovery and process development through to cGMP

manufacturing, we provide customized services to pharmaceutical and biotechnology majors, on a strong platform

of confidentiality and intellectual property protection.

Q2.What is a CRO?

A.A contract research organization, also called a clinical research organization, (CRO) is a service organization

that provides support to the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries in the form of outsourced pharmaceutical

research services (for both drugs and medical devices). The CRO industry emerged mostly in the late 1990s when

pharmaceutical R&D efforts became more complex and competition in rapidly-growing therapeutic areas in-

creased. In order to realize profit margins and be competitive, pharmaceutical companies began outsourcing activi-

ties to other organizations (CROs).

Q3.Can you explain significance of IP in this sector?

A. Intellectual property (IP) rights are extremely important for the pharmaceutical industry to maintain sanctity of

protecting information about clients we work with. CROs are given very secretive information by the clients,

which they need to protect because of aggressive competition in the market. The contracts with the clients are such

that even if the contract ends after a few years, the company is asked to keep the information with itself for very

long period of time. The clients can go to the extent of even closing down the company if they are able to prove

that the information has been leaked out.

Q4.What is cGMP?

A. Current Good Manufacturing Practice regulations (GMPs) are used by pharmaceutical, medical device and food

manufacturers as they produce and test products that people use. Drug GMPs also apply to the veterinary drugs. It

ensures that the products produced meet specific requirements for identity, strength, quality, and purity.

Q5.What are broadly the areas HR deals in?

A. o Talent Acquisition & Recruitment

o Learning and development

o Performance management system

o Employee engagement and HR operations

o Compensation and rewards

o Organisation Effectiveness.

Q6.What have been the recent trends in HR practices?

A. Given the steep growth plans at Syngene and Clinigene, HR is

•Constantly focusing on attracting right talent for the organisation, Developing them on the basis of the desired

competencies, creating a high performance driven culture and rewarding talent for performance to ensure ongoing

business success. The policies of many companies have become people centric, traditionally the policies mainly

focus on the achievement of organizational goals showing negligence towards the human resource.

• Attracting and retaining of human resource has become difficult as loyalty factor is losing its shine, today HR

personnel have to motivate and design healthy career road map to make them stay in the company.

• Human Resource Outsourcing is the new name in the industry to replace the redundant traditional HR depart-

ment. Many HR outsourcing companies in India are already established and some are coming up to support in-

creasing demand of corporate India.

• With the increase of global job mobility, recruiting competent people is also increasingly becoming difficult,

especially in India. Therefore organizations are also required to work out a retention strategy for the existing

skilled manpower. HR managers today are focusing on policies (trust, openness & equality), Motivation, Relations.

Due to new trends in HR the manager should treat people as resources, reward them equitably and integrate their

goals with that of the organizational goals through suitable HR policies.

Q7.Can you explain about organizational effectiveness and its relevance in a firm?

A. Organizational effectiveness is about bringing organizational change strategies in human resource processes

through high-impact people interventions aiming to enhance productivity and profitability for the organization, as

well as effectiveness of each employee within the organization. The way in which an organization is made to per-

form better. All the functions of HR department aim at enhancing the potential of human resource for the com-

pany. The gaps in the organization are identified and steps are taken to make each function of the HR department

more effective. Organizational effectiveness is the way for a company to evolve.

Q8.You have worked across different industries. How are the HR practices different in different industries?

A. The function of HR department in different in different industries are vastly different from each other and this is

largely because of the complexity that each organisation deals with reference to the employment brand positioning,

talent pool availability, the focus and priorities of business leadership on performance metrics, focus on learning

and development of talent, putting reward and reward processes etc and of course external market competitiveness

including war for talent is different because of the variation in skill sets. The need for recruiting the right kind of

candidate is completely dependent on the need of a particular organization; this is true for the learning and devel-

opment process as well.

CORPORATE SPEAK

“Attracting and retaining of

human resource has become

difficult as loyalty factor is

losing its shine, today HR

personnel have to motivate and

design healthy career road map

to make them stay in the

company.”

Mi`bytes Page 2

Pharma-o-fact.

-The Pharmaceutical indus-

try in India is the world's third-

largest in terms of volume and

stands 14th in terms of value.

-Indian Pharmaceutical Indus-

try is expected to grow at 9.5%

till December 2011.

-India tops the world in export-

ing generic medicines worth

US$ 11 Billion.

-100% FDI is allowed under the

automatic route in the drugs &

pharmaceutical sector.

Great Indian success story is under grim situation. An economy which was a role model for developing countries now is in deep trouble , a steadily down GDP growth , roller costar ride of stock market, the tum-bling of rupee to a record low,core sectors conditions like non performing asset and continuous decline of margin of profit. Assurance from finance minister is not working and beside that a hammer of S&P rating. Every step government is taking to improve the economic situation is not working, though they are denying

the POLICY PARALYSIS. Soaring fiscal and current account deficit are other factors of concern and subsidies cutting their pocket. All of sudden investors are lost their interest in INDIAN market. The negative outlook is on account of the rising fiscal deficit, diminishing growth prospects and slow pro-gress on fiscal reforms. While the rating agency has maintained its ‗BBB-‘ long term and ‗A-3‘ short-term sovereign credit ratings on India, it also cut the outlook on several Indian companies and financial institu-tions, including SBI and ICICI, to ―negative‖. There was fresh evidence of a slowdown in the manufactur-ing sector, which accounts for nearly 15 per cent of the economy, on as India's top automaker Maruti Su-

zuki said its car sales in May fell 5.9 per cent, dragged down by high fuel costs and an excise tax hike. The government has been criticised for its piecemeal approach to the economic crisis so far. Economists were sceptical about the impact of austerity measures announce by government that included some curbs on government spending. In the three years before the global financial crisis, India was roaring with growth above 9 per cent and ambitions to challenge China as the world's top emerging economy. But main aspects when we compare these two economies are their different approach and political condition. Standard & Poor's cut India's credit rating outlook in April to negative from stable, worried by its fiscal and current account deficits. The decision jeopardises India's long-term rating of BBB minus, the lowest investment

grade rating. Slip sliding away, the sum of all the fears is equal to 5.3 per cent GDP growth for the quarter ended March 31, 2012. This confirms the worst suspicion and something that the policy mavens have refused to confront - India's economy is rapidly decelerating. The full-year GDP for 2011-12 has dropped to 6.5 per cent, down from a healthy 8.4 per cent in the previous year, with manufacturing contracting acutely to minus 0.3 per cent in the fourth quarter. The nine-year low number in GDP is a result of high interest rates choking con-sumer demand and dampening investor sentiment, while the paralysis in the government has held back big

projects in the infrastructure sector. More than that the absence of a pragmatic policy, a response to the Indian economy's structural inadequacies remains absent leaving the soft underbelly woefully exposed. A combination of internal ineptitude and extraneous factors has eroded the steel frame, leaving a wasteland in its wake. The rupee has tumbled to record depths, markets have tanked and investors are pulling out capital. Industry and manufacturing are also hurting owing to the tight monetary conditions as well as bur-geoning fiscal and trade deficits. All the danger signs are on the radar. But beleaguered and embattled, the economy now looks to its manag-ers and skywards towards the rain gods (praying for a normal monsoon) for resuscitation and deliver. The

delay in the government's decision-making is holding up large projects in the mining sector, which has clocked a negative growth rate for three consecutive quarters and ended the year with a 0.9 per cent con-traction. This has had a cascading effect and grounded investments in big power projects since fuel supplies are not coming through. A spate of corruption scandals has weakened the government and it has been un-able to push through vital economic reforms that could have brought in much-needed FDI and technology to rev up the economy and prevent the slide in the rupee which has touched an all time low of 56.50 to a dollar.

ASSOCHAM president Rajkumar Dhoot says: "The investment environment should be improved and this may even call for some review of tax proposals and further relaxation of FDI norms." CII Director General Chandrajit Banerjee goes a step ahead, observing: "A comprehensive economic revival package has to be announced at the earliest." Demanding bold action from the government and the RBI exclusively aimed at salvaging the economy, the business chamber expresses hope that the political leadership - across party lines - would converge and their actions would be swift and decisive. Apex business chamber FICCI feels the global situation remains fragile and there is an urgent need to take steps on the domestic front..

Behind all aspects related to the declining of INDIAN economy every expert view is pointing towards slowdown and policy paralysis. The main factor which is important for revival is the reconstruction of busi-ness environment of the country and achieving political stability. This is the right time to take some bold

and aggressive step that can refuel the economy and give a positive response to investors.

By-Mohammad Furquan, 1st Year MIB, JMI

ASSOCHAM president Rajkumar

Dhoot says: "The investment

environment should be improved

and this may even call for some

review of tax proposals and

further relaxation of FDI norms."

CLOUD OF SLOWDOWN .

Volume 1, Issue 11 Page 3

Cont...from page 1

January also saw the launch of the Mac App Store, Apple‘s effort to remake its Mac OS ecosystem in the image of iOS, and thus collect a 30 percent

cut of Mac app revenue in the process. In February Apple became the first computer maker to introduce Intel‘s Light Peak data transfer technology under the name Thunderbolt. The iPad 2 came out in March even as competitors were strug-

gling to deliver an answer to the original. In October Apple announced a breakthrough set of free cloud services that keep stored data up to date across all devices, including PCs. The company sold 72 million iPhones (nearly double the total

for 2010), 32 million iPads, 17 million Macs and 42.6 million iPods, generating $108 billion in revenue in 2011 — up 66 percent from fiscal 2010. Multichannel Integration - It no longer matters, really, whether the customer is always

right. The customer is in charge. He decides ―when, where, and how he will interact with the retail landscape through whatever channel, device, or touchpoint he wants‖. Such an environment has made multichannel, by

default, the new standard oper-ating model for retail. While it can be argued that mobile de-vices and multichannel com-merce have made it easier than ever for retailers to reach cus-tomers, they have also made it easier to lose them. Retailers

will need to use a combination of channels to attract and con­vert consumers going forward, says e-commerce and mul-tichannel. Customers no longer

interact with companies from a channel perspective. Customers now interact through touch-points that in­clude not only channels such as ―stores, branches, call centers and web-sites, but also emerging interac-tions, including apps, social

media, mobile sites, SMS mes-sages and interactive advertis-ing across smartphones, tablets, cars and even appliances.―It is time for organizations to leave their channel-oriented ways behind and enter the era of agile commerce‖.

Mobile Coupons – An increase in mobile payment systems, better targeting technologies, and budget-friendly marketing techniques, Juniper Research analysts believe mobile cou-pons will be key to driving in-

store purchasing with potential for exponential growth that could result in a market worth $46 billion by 2016. According to a survey commissioned by AT&T, 66 percent of respon-dents agree that mobile bar-codes will drive new mobile marketing campaign concepts

in the next year. The majority of executives surveyed believe mobile barcodes represent the greatest area of potential for

innovation in 2012.

Zappos - Seeking to drive home the point that Zappos offers ―more than shoes‖ the online retailer last summer

Retail Reality : Top 5 Trends in Retail , 2012.

E-mail: 2006.samik@gmail.com,

mohammadfurquan1985@gmail.com

Phone: 8860223083, 9716926240

CMS, MIB

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF:

Prof. SAYED WAJID ALI

STUDENT EDITORS:

MOHAMMAD FURQUAN.

NAMITA DHAMANI.

SAMIK SARKAR.

INTERVIEW BY:

RUCHIKA PARMAR.

For Previous Editions Pleases Visit http://www.slideshare.net/

mibytes/documents

Quote For the Month

“Chase the vision, not the money, the

money will end up following you.” -Tony Hsieh Co-founder, Zappos.

launched a uniquely inter­active print ad campaign that invited consumers to dress naked models using QR codes. The ads depicted na-

ked models (mostly women) doing outdoor activities, such as jogging or riding a scooter through Manhattan locations, with strategically placed censor bars emblazoned with the campaign‘s tagline. The QR codes lead the user to a

website where a video shows how the sce­nario depicted in the ad plays out. Consumers can then choose an outfit for the model and go to Zappos to buy it. Nathalie Binda, marketing vice president for women‘s active wear manu-

facturer of Lolë,, called the campaign ―gutsy‖ and ―very

Zapposesque‖.

Today's Consumer rely on

Smartphone, tablets and other Wi-Fi enabled devices for wide array or personal and commercial applications. The whole experience with which consumer interacts with a Retailer is undergoing a Paradigm Shift. Today's

retailer needs to be proactive instead of being reactive for it to be ahead of the Con-sumer expectation curve. Technology has empowered the consumer with informa-tion and they would call the shots henceforth. Innovate or Perish!!!!! That's the call to

retailers, Hope they are lis-tening.

By– Ruchika Parmar

1st Year MIB , JMI.