Nokia--Dabbawallahs--Yashraj Films

What's common in them?

I happened to attend lectures from representatives of these companies talking about their business. And there are beautiful insights gained. Here is the most important takeaways from the lectures.

Nokia, Electronics
World is changing in fundamental ways and the way people buy stuff. Electronics are following fashion product life cycles that is really short cycles. Understanding consumers can help to create business opportunities. Say, Consumers in india are totally different than those in America. Brand is one of the most successful ways to make money and creating a well recognized brand is the way to go. Innovation and reengineering are ways to create an edge in technology industry.

And last but not the least:
YOU CAN NOT PASS COST TO CUSTOMERS.


Yashraj Films
Marketing films doesn't have to be the cost center. You can do marketing by creating a low cost content which media would be willing to buy rights, and thus it will make money its own and its gonna promote movie better than just promotions. Various low cost content could be music albums, comics, short series of soaps, cartoon series etc.

Movies are content and their marketing can be profit making rather than money consuming.



Dabbawallahs
Their single most strength of business: Local train service of Mumbai.
They are low cost because they are using the existing infrastructure to carry dabbas. It is not possible to have their own transporting infrastructure.
Quality is the key characterstic of a service business and it is measured by accuracy of delivery and on time delivery.