Catagory: Business & Economics

Modern business has changed forever, becoming more customer-centric, and we need clear road-maps to navigate this world. Customer experience-or CX-is every interaction a customer has with your business. It’s neither the product nor the service-it’s a combination of both.

Murali Balaraman has over twenty-five years of experience in multiple roles, as a banker, as part of the IT industry
and as a management consultant and adviser, interacting with global leadership across five continents. Customer to
Human weaves together the learnings he has drawn from the industry, ranging from Fortune 500 companies to tiny neighbourhood businesses. In this anecdotal account of successes and failures in CX, it becomes clear that
customers are the most important part of any business structure.

With over 150 individual, easy-to-read and diverse case studies, it presents a revolutionary approach to CX and
the individual customer journey. The book provides a practitioner’s point of view, with actionable suggestions
and pragmatic concepts that will come in handy no matter what part of the business you work in.

Do systems have souls? This book, based on a popular elective at IIM Ahmedabad, looks for answers in the hard trade-offs inherent in the design of operating systems and business models. It encourages business leaders to ask two different sets of existential questions: Does the organization that I am managing have a soul, and if so, what are the strategic choices that enable its synthesis (external orientation)? And, do I have a soul, and if so, who am I (internal orientation)? In the process, it uncovers a beauty inherent in patterns of strategic choices that enables an organizational soul to emerge, and an appreciation of the diversity of such souls.

‘Desperate times call for desperate measures.’ The outbreak of COVID-19 aptly justifies this expression as the world faces an unprecedented situation. But what is so unusual about the coronavirus, especially since viral attacks-H1N1, Ebola and Nipah-have taken place earlier as well? How has it affected India and the world? What are the socio-economic implications for India? How has India’s response been to the coronavirus? What is more important-life or livelihood? How can India recover from the sudden economic shock caused by the pandemic?
This book is an attempt to answer these and many more such questions.
The coronavirus hit the world in December 2019 like a hurricane. What started as a medical emergency soon turned into an economic one. No global financial crisis has ever hit humanity as hard as COVID-19. The world, therefore, was caught ill prepared when the pandemic struck. The situation, to say the least, is worse than a war. The situation in India is no different: In terms of the number of cases reported, it is second only to the United States.
This book highlights the enormity of the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on India. It critically examines the government’s efforts to control the disease and mitigate its adverse effects on Indian economy and society. Making a compelling argument that an economy is not like a rubber ball, which, if dropped on a hard surface, will bounce back to its original position, the author provides incisive reasons to why economic recovery will be slow and not ‘V-shaped’. He, however, cogently suggests that good governance, a robust public-health system, and clean and representative politics are key to bringing India’s economy back on track.

Nine Timeless Nuggets is a knowledge accelerator for young marketers and an absorbing update for experienced ones. It provides a 2020 perspective on timeless marketing ideas. Arranged in three sections-‘How to Think of People’, ‘How to Craft Your Brand’ and ‘How to Go to Market’-the book casts new light on eternal marketing fundamentals and makes us rethink some basic questions. Who are we talking to? Why do they buy? Where do brands come from? Where are brands going? How can marketers talk to people? How can they create strong customer connections? How can they build thriving customer relationships? The answers are all here.

In Nine Timeless Nuggets, Bharat Bambawale proposes new models for customer motivation, customer relationship and twenty-first-century brand building. Together, these models can provide a strong foundation to any brand’s marketing strategy. Through his career, Bharat has helped shape the fortunes of many national, regional and global brands. This gave him a vantage point to observe and experience the underlying principles that drive customers, no matter where they live and which languages they speak. Nine Timeless Nuggets is a distillation of these ideas and concepts.

In What the Customer Wants You to Know, Ram Charan explains how the crisis of a broken selling system can be tackled. According to the author, today selling has become a war of prices. Conducting a business transaction is no longer fun since most customers feel cheated by their respective vendors. Charan says that the easiest way to avoid the hassle is to understand the customer’s point of view. Instead of feeling cheated, the consumer should look to the seller for assistance in today’s cost-effective times. The author brings in a new aspect of selling, which he calls value creation selling.