Introduction to Branding Concepts- Brand Advertising and Brand Promotion

A brand is a term used to identify its products; while branding is the practice of identifying a product or line of products by a special name or symbol. Its use goes back to the middle ages for promoting sales. It is said that Egyptians were using some or other identification to market their pottery. The continued use of brands to the present times in business has been largely due to: Growth in competition. Growth of national and local advertising. Growth of packaging and The development of consumer brand consciousness. Such sales promotion devices are intended: To gain recognition for their products. To bring about a certain amount of consumers preference and To so firmly fix the product in the mind of the buyer that he will believe that it is the only one which will satisfy his wants and as a result will refuse to accept a substitute. Definition Continue reading

The Transition From the Transactional Marketing to Relationship Marketing

The approach to marketing between the 1950s and 1980s changed drastically through various theories and practices, which changed the way organisations viewed marketing as a whole. The 1950s saw the influence of the marketing mix, including the 4Ps model of marketing. This model consists of; product, price, place and promotion. The idea is to help organisations understand how to satisfy their target market. A product can be seen as tangible or intangible, as it can be in the form of services or goods. For a product to create revenue there has to be a need and demand for it. Therefore, organisations must carry out research into the market, so that they have a true understanding of the product life cycle they could potentially go through. It is vital that organisations reinvent their product or service, if or when it reaches a point in time where the sales have started to Continue reading

Junk Bonds in India

Sharp movements in the Indian equity market may be par for the course. But when it comes to the market for corporate bonds, it’s constantly stagnant. The reason is, we don’t have a corporate bond market. But this is overwhelmingly dominated by government securities (about 80% of the total). Of the remaining, close to 80% again comprises privately placed debt of public financial institutions. An efficient bond market helps corporate reduce their financing costs. It enables companies to borrow directly from investors, bypassing the major intermediary role of a commercial bank. One of the important instruments in corporate market is Junk Bonds which could be great source of financing for countries like India where markets are not much regulated. A speculative bond rated BB or below, “Junk bonds” are generally issued by corporations of questionable financial strength or without proven track records. They tend to be more volatile and higher Continue reading

Financial Derivative Types: Swaps

Swap is yet another exciting trading instrument. In fact, it is a combination of forwards by two counter-parties. It is arranged to reap the benefits arising from the fluctuation in the market — either currency market or interest rate market or any other market for that matter. Features of Swap The following are the important features of swap: Basically a forward: A swap is nothing but a combination of forwards. So, it has all the properties of a forward contract discussed above. Double coincidence of wants: Swap requires that two parties with equal and opposite needs must come into contact with each other. As stated earlier, it is a combination of forwards by two counterparties with opposite but matching needs. For instance, the rate of interest differs from market to market and within the market itself. It varies from borrowers to borrowers due to the relative credit worthiness of borrowers. Continue reading

Asset Swaps

Unlike interest rate swaps and basis rate swaps discussed earlier,   in which cash flows of debt obligation were changed, asset swaps are used to change the characteristics of an asset. For example, an investor with a ten year fixed Japanese yen bond may decide to enter into a currency swap to change his investment income into US dollar. The investor may feel that the Japanese yen will lose its value against the US dollar and would like to change his income into US dollar. Assume the current five year swap rate for US$ versus Japanese Yen to be 6.45-6.50%. The coupon rate of the investor’s bond is 7.00% and the bond has five years remaining. The investor can exchange his 50 bps Japanese Yen payments at the spot market as an extra income above LIBOR or have the dealer manage that risk as well. At the maturity date, the Continue reading

Harrod-Domar Models of Economic Growth

The Harrod-Domar models of economic growth are based on the experience of advanced economies. They are primarily addressed to an advanced capitalist economy and attempt to analyze the requirements of steady growth in such economy. Both Harrod and Domar are interested in discovering the rate of income growth necessary for smooth and uninterrupted working of the economy. Though their models differ in details, yet they arrive at similar conclusions. Harrod and Domar assign a key role to investment in the process of economic growth. But they lay emphasis on the dual character of investment. Fist, it creates income, and secondly, it augments the productive capacity of the economy by increasing its capital stock. The former may be regarded as the ‘demand effect’ and the later the ‘supply effect’ of investment. Hence so long as net investment is taking place, real income and output will continue to expand. However, for maintaining Continue reading