Friday, December 16, 2011

“Hard to categorise India”

After successfully weathering the initial storm, Manish is now focusing on making Panasonic the ‘people’s’ brand in India

He has had a prolific career of around 15 years already in the consumer durables industry and has served global giants like LG, Samsung & Haier before being inducted into Panasonic India. It is therefore logical to expect nothing less than a thorough understanding of the consumer durables market in India from Manish Sharma, Director, Marketing, Panasonic India.

He joined Japan-based Panasonic in August 2008 as product head for the Viera range of televisions and was promoted as director of marketing in 2010. Sharma, who studied electrical engineering form Madhya Pradesh, considers himself lucky due to the fact that he has always been at the right place at the right time. He often recalls the way he happened to join different brands when they were going through their most challenging times. “When I started my career, I joined Korea-based LG, which entered India as a joint venture and was finding it difficult to make its own place or stand in the market. A few years later when I shifted to Samsung, the brand was repositioning itself at that time, introducing new product lines and betting high on research and development,” he says. When he joined Haier, it presented a different kind of challenge as the company was not a known brand in the Indian market. Then when he decided to join Panasonic in 2008, the company was similarly making a brave attempt to establish itself in the domestic market. Now, after much hard work under his leadership, Panasonic is regaining its glory and market share.

Sharma says that for the Japanese head office of the company, India is one of the most important and strategic markets in the world. The company has recently shifted its focus completely towards India by scaling up investment plans and also launching many new products, which are especially ‘custom-made’ for Indians consumers. The group has recently invested in an R&D plant in Harayana and other infrastructure initiatives also. Panasonic has also delved deep into celebrity associations under his leadershiop apart from the endorsement of sporting events. With his understanding of the industry and the India market, he has helped Panasonic make it big by adding a generous local flavour to its brand appeal and at the same time, making a strong youth connect.

After the success and acceptance of star kid Ranbir Kapoor’s association with the Viera brand, Sharma also introduced another actor Katrina Kaif to be the face of the home appliances range of the firm. And to mark the firm’s foray into the sports world, Panasonic has become the official partner of IPL’s Delhi Daredevils team and is also sponsoring the national football team.


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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2011.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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