Is H1B Visa new rules moving US towards Deglobalization?

De-globalization is a process of diminishing the interdependence and integration between two economic body basically the nations. This process is completely in contrast to globalization where there is a movement of goods, people and capital. for creating a better world benefiting both. As with the new rules which have been talked about in context of US Visa regime there will be some setback to the Indian firms. Impact of this new rule is considered to be very threateing for the country like India which has a big share in IT outsourcing activities. India post the IT bubble emerged as a significant player in the IT development. With respect to economic cycle of development India has taken a leap by booming in technology ahead of its manufacturing growth.

Provisions of the Durbin-Grassley bill would change existing law in the following ways:
1) Currently, the H-1B visa program is criticized for failing to protect American workers.
Under current law, only employers that employ H-1B visa holders as a large percentage of their U.S. workforce are required to pledge that they have attempted to find American workers before bringing in foreign workers. The Durbin-Grassley bill would require all employers seeking to hire an H-1B visa holder to pledge that they have made a good-faith effort to hire American workers first and that the H-1B visa holder will not displace an American worker.
2) The Durbin-Grassley bill would require that before an employer may submit an H-1B application, the employer must first advertise the job opening for 30 days on a Department of Labor (DOL) website. DOL would also be required to post summaries of all H-1B applications on its website.
3) The Durbin-Grassley bill would require that H-1B employers may not advertise a job as available only for H-1B visa holders or recruit only H-1B visa holders for a job.
4) The Durbin-Grassley bill would prohibit employers from hiring H-1B employees who are then outsourced to other companies. This is a method that some companies use to evade restrictions on hiring H-1Bs.
5) Currently, so-called “job shops” hire large numbers of foreign workers on H-1B visas for short time periods to train and then outsource these workers offshore.
6) The Durbin-Grassley bill would prohibit companies from hiring H-1B employees if they employ more than 50 people and more than 50% of their employees are H-1B visa holders.
7) Currently, the Department of Labor lacks sufficient oversight and investigative authority over the H-1B program.
8) The Durbin-Grassley bill would give DOL the ability to conduct random audits of any company that uses the H-1B program, and would require DOL to conduct annual audits of companies with more than 100 employees that have 15% or more of those workers on H-1B visas.
9) The Durbin-Grassley bill would give DOL authority to review employers’ H-1B applications for “clear indicators of fraud or misrepresentation of material fact.” Currently, DOL is only authorized to review applications for “completeness and obvious inaccuracies.” The Durbin-Grassley bill would give DOL 14 days to review H-1B applications, instead of the seven days currently permitted.
10) The Durbin-Grassley bill would give DOL more authority to conduct employer investigations and streamline the investigative process by, among other things, permitting DOL to initiate its own investigations and eliminating the requirement that the DOL Secretary personally authorize an investigation.
11) The Durbin-Grassley bill would require the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to share with DOL any information in H-1B visa applications indicating that an H-1B employer is not complying with program requirements.
12 ) The Durbin-Grassley bill would strengthen existing whistleblower protections for the H-1B program and establish whistleblower protections for the L-1 program.
13) The Durbin-Grassley bill would authorize the hiring of 200 additional DOL employees to administer, oversee, investigate and enforce the H-1B program.
14) Currently, the H-1B and L-1 visa programs are criticized for making it possible for companies to hire foreign workers at lower wages and with fewer rights than Americans, in turn creating incentives for companies to avoid hiring Americans.
The Durbin-Grassley bill would require H-1B and L-1 employers to pay employees the prevailing wage to ensure employers are not undercutting American workers by paying substandard wages to foreign workers.
15) The Durbin-Grassley bill would require the government to provide H-1B visa holders with information about their rights.
16) The Durbin-Grassley bill would require H-1B employers to provide an H-1B employee’s immigration documents to the employee upon request.

These rules will definitely tighten the screws for the companies who outsource job or the middle level managers in IT sector especially the younger lot. The one who are already working in well settled jobs in US will have to prove their worth for the right fit for talent. This is one perspective.

The other perspective says that US is going through a phase which has change in leadership. Donald Trump is of the view that because of the foreigners who are working in US the US citizen is suffering there is a high unemployment rate which is not been accounted for. and hence there is a need to protect them. Fed on the other hand thinks that US growth is going optimum and has thus reduced the interest rate by 2.5. It says that the US economy will overheat. It needs to slow down. The innovative growth which drives the nation by new technologies is getting a push by the Indian IT support. There is a need of skilled people who should be able to adopt the technology there plays a crucial role where Indian comes into play.

Rest time will tell how the story will unfold and what impact it will actually bring in to the global economy, especially in times when India is facing a economic slowdown because of the currency measures.

Review of Vodafone Self Defense M-pesa advertisement

Vodafone has come up with an initiative of self defense umbrella roping in the m-pesa service. Ogilvy has designed the strategic campaign connecting money with protection. The concept of educating the self defense using an umbrella to women whose husband lives at far places to earn their living is good. However how effective it will be is a bit questionable.

Self defense is an art which cannot be taught by means of an umbrella, it basically depends on the temperament of the lady how effectively can she handle the emergency situation. An umbrella can be very easily knocked down by the attacker keeping in lieu his physical capacity compared to woman. Also these women have their own comfortable ways to protect themselves with the attacker be it pepper spray or anything else. Temperament of the woman is what makes her less susceptible to crimes. Take the case of women from punjab or haryana region they are more laborious than any other ordinary women and they have the potential to drag away the nuisance. Take the case of north east there women have a big say in the family the society there is maternal and they are like the head of the family who are potential to take care of their children and home when their husbands are away. One very subtle message from the umbrella will be loud and clear that this woman receives money from mpesa and her husband is away because she got it from there. Now the woman will be more susceptible to be attacked or mobbed for money. If instead of making umbrella showing all the pictures of self defense, they can make people understand the ways of self defense by continuous training camps in their village. Not only those women whose husbands are not there but to the girls of the village. Village is a place where everybody knows each individual personally so the physical trainers for women can come under one umbrella to take their class for may be once in a fortnight. slowly and steadily we can win the race. It will not only educate the needy but also prepare others before time.

The connection of money and self defense umbrella is good which provokes further thoughts to ponder upon and handle the situation effectively.

Have a look at the advertisement.

Century Ply "Hamesha Tyaar" ad review

Century ply has this time come up with a brilliant advertising done by Mudra which truly demonstrates the brand key points in a wonderful manner.

Century ply has always focussed on the strength of the plywood by means of its strength of absorbing any amount of force. earlier it has come up with advertisement which had humor involved in showing the perseverance against the odds it faces be it difficult weather condition, or the thrust. The two earlier ads were quite different from this one in context of the emotional angle which was absent earlier. Have a look at the earlier advertisement.

This ad shows the strength against all unexpected footfalls but still remains undefeated. The mood of the setting is a funny one.

The other one has used the humor of husband wife relation in which the husband forgets the anniversary and the most safe place is the closet made of century plywood.

The mood in this one is funnier than the other one. It also compares the strength with the cement and brings out the hilarious angle. This ad may overshadow the brand point of vies vis a vis the humor, as humor will be most memorable. The earlier ad brings out the brand point of view in a more forceful manner in which the brand shre of screen is even more.

After these two good advertising the brand has again come up with the recent "Hamesha Tyaar" ad campaign. This ad strongly focuses on the rough handling of the chest contrasts it with the adversities which are compared to that of the soldier whose life is at risk and faces tough challenge everyday. Out of these three ad this time the brand has chosen an entirely different approach which is more robust.

One more important point to ponder a thought the actual customer and consumer in this case can be different. In the first ad discussed it is targeting the consumer to make them aware about the strength of their brand, in the second one more directed towards the consumer and in the third one brand recall for the consumer for its toughness. 

An overview of Happily Unmarried journey in marketing

E-commerce is paving way for innumerable entrepreneurs to enter the retail sector and make it more competitive. There are so many sales or offers or special day discounts or deals which are keeping everybody in this business on their toes. The tricks like increasing the price first and then be pretentious about the prices has made the e-commerce player paid price in their own terms like negative word of mouth from people. Small small business have flourished in every nook and corner which has become the livelihood of many people. One such inspiring group of people who thought of something innovative and experimented way ahead of time in the time around 2003 when no flipkart also existed were the founders of "Happily Unmarried", Rajat Tuli and Rahul Anand.

The approach of finding fun and ability to generate a wow factor associated with their products is unique. We all laugh and giggle when we watch something humorous be it a tv series or a humorous commercial, if that was not the case Chandler Bing of Friends or Barney Stinson of HIMYM fame would not have been the some of the most memorable characters of our time. Appreciating fun in small small things around us is not an easy task. It requires a third eye vision which only a handful of us can think of. Happily Unmarried is not an unknown name for the times at present. They have never come up with any TVC or any print media but still they are able to create a buzz online. Their products are getting popular and youth once in a while definitely experiments with their products. Their success has inspired so many other entrepreneurs like Chumbak, stupid-intelligent, quirkbox etc. Their humorous posts are awesome which makes people appreciate things around them. (http://www.happilyunmarried.com/blog/). Their messages are straight forward they speak loud and clear and to the point. They dont hesitate to make fun of our celebrities too but in a subtle manner. Its not like a going viral because of inappropriate content just like what AIB did and it became the matter of debate. There is always a thin line between humor and making fun to get people laugh. People laugh aloud when they see Satires but they dont learn to appreciate the things in a positive manner when they are looking at humor.

The kind of marketing strategy Happily Unmarried is following is really incredible, gaining grounds and becoming popular amongst masses. It is a perfect blend of knowing what ingredients works best for my brand. Itsnot always the root of traditional media which help you to make your brand but it the right strategy at the right time what matters the most. 

Wonders without penny spent

With the advent of the new era of online shopping, some brands are banging aloud with their wonderful Sales revenue. The traditional media for them seems to be a good old day story starting as " once upon a time....". When there is a roar of Asian tiger for "Make in India" the Chinese Dragon is sending the fire by targeting India's potentially untapped telecommunication market. The brand sending jitters to Apple and the other smartphone players is doing great business in India.

Some people call it phenomenal and some call it a theft, but at present the brand is hatching golden eggs. The most amazing part is this brand has followed an exceptional growth chart without spending money for the big launch. Despite shipping few defective sets too, it managed to sail through by working on its quick replacement of defective sets. What strategy worked out for it is really important to think about.

Collaborating with the important online player Flipkart, has done wonders for both of them. While other online players like Snapdeal and Amazon can only manage to sell their screen guard or their flip covers, Flipkart gave it a buzz with prior registration and limited stock availability.

Chinese products are anyways a hit among Indian masses. So the buyers had a doubt about the quality of the product as they are famous for cheap price with no assurance of the warranty of the product. Targeting mobile phones worked out as people love to experiment with new devices and flaunt about them. The commodity with a small life cycle and with the cheap price attracted the potential buyers. The name China's Apple gave it a positive leap in the mind of the consumer as Apple is always a sought after brand with epitome of perfection.

There is a very interesting thing to be noted about this brand, it was selling itself at a higher price than it was being offered on Flipkart on other sites which primarily sell the second hand stuff among the target market. I think this is only such case in existence. The brand riding on the shoulders of others like Flipkart and now Bharti Airtel is playing safe saving its penny to be spent on the marketing front.

Making the brand a prized possession for those who own it in a flash sale is creating lots of buzz and paving way to strong word of mouth for publicity for others. Other players in this segment will have to really put in great effort to overcome this Chinese dragon otherwise they will burn their hands in its spells of fire.

Journey of Dowry System in Modern era

Dowry system has always been prevalent in the society in India. Quite interestingly the journey of dowry has also transformed its form with the passage of time. We say that women upliftment has taken place in the society and they now stand shoulder to shoulder with their men counterparts so has the elevation of dowry.

Origin of dowry was through the times when a girl used to get married and has to go to the other house. Her parents used to give her all the things associated with the basic amenities (we will discuss about the gold/jewellery part later on). She used to be the homemaker and take care of the house, doing usual stuff to make the life of their counterparts as comfortable as possible. The basic purpose was as a new member used to add on in the family she used to bring with herself the supporting things to lead a comfortable life. Now as the liberalization of women took place the face of dowry also started changing. Now the things which once used to be the basic amenities increased gradually not from the bride side but the groom wants more things to make “THEIR” life comfortable. Slowly and slowly it started to become a burden on the bride side. Crime cases in dowry took a leap. Parents of the girl child started to feel girl as a burden. Now the empowerment of women through education came to the forefront. A greater section of the society wanted their girl child to be educated.

Now the race for education began for the girl child. However it did not percolate through all sections of the society, it was handful of middle class and upper middle class section of society. In the place where crime for girls is always on the rise especially from the safety point of view it was a difficult task for parents to teach a girl in comparison to the boy. But still girls started making their mark on the society. Parents started upbringing their girls in the same manner as a boy. Now the equation for marriage became a bit difficult educated girl means an educated boy. Does educated boy means elevated dowry? Rates are being set for the boy as per their education. Is this the justice to the education of a girl?

In India number of dowry cases is on the rise. According to the newspaper Telegraph “Women is killed every hour in India over dowry”. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/india/10280802/Woman-killed-over-dowry-every-hour-in-India.html

If a girl is working and well educated that becomes a big bonus so in these type of cases the dowry takes a different form. Usually the other side does no demand money or kind for themselves but in order to glorify themselves wants this glitter to be shown to their relatives. This has been very well portrayed in our daily soaps on various channels. The best narration which I could find was this one from a soap called " Jee Le Zara" on SET. the conversation between the elders for finalizing the marriage is worth watching. This is just one case which is shown.

The big question is when will this end?  All girls, whether educated or uneducated, whether financially independent or dependent, remain untouched with this dragon of dowry. This is extremely ridiculous for the society and the future of women in India.

Impact of Illusive Advertisement

Marketing is defined as an organization function and a set of processes for creating, communicating and delivering value to the customers and for managing customer relationships in ways that benefit the organization and its stakeholders.  Earlier when the brands catering to the needs of the customer were limited there was less of the competition but as the brands increased so did the competition. The rules of the market were simple and everybody was enjoying their share. With the due course of time communication became one of the top priorities. The important mediums constituted print, television, radio, fliers, billboards, mail, telephone, posters, CDs. Audiotapes and internet. Brands wanted to grow by increasing the size of the markets but slowly and slowly with the increasing coverage snatching away of the market share from the competitors became important to survive. Some ground rules were laid down by advertising council of India so that competition may not turn into a hostile war. 

Recently Colgate and Pepsodent two oral health care brands are caught up in defaming case against other. The campaign was so noticeable that even though somebody missed it by chance on television the news covered it up. Earlier also so many similarly themed advertisement talking about brushing the teeth, cavities, germi check have appeared on television. But this one did its task very well meaning to say covering a big chunk of the target audience. Though the case is still going on in the court Pepsodent was able to come in news.

Does the brand appreciate the fact that it has come in the limelight by whatsoever means?

Taking another example of the print ad which was created for fun in the year 2002 and had no implications for the brand communication became viral few days back.

The ad says that the earlier the kids start drinking Cola better it will be for their future. However the person who has made this advertisement says it has no implications for promoting the brand.

Now let us try to understand what does this type of advertisement says at subliminal level. Earlier advertisements used to provide the apt information and people could trust on that while making decision making. But now when the information provided in the advertisement is objectionable. Where does the responsibility of media lies? In the earlier example of Colgate vs Pepsodent  there have been charges that no such laboratory test actually existed which has been shown in the commercial.

The vintage advertisement of Cola shows the name of the “The soda pop board of America” which is nothing. Also the claims done in the advertisement are just baseless. What harm does this misleading advertisement do? These type of advertisements because of their unique claims catches the attention of the audience and then works at the subliminal level. Since not every viewer will cross check or verify the facts and figures they at their subconscious level make an acceptable premise. In future that information which gets stored gives an optimistic purview. Even though a person can straight away negate the claims (as done in the cola ad), but somewhere down the line if somebody supports that idea the response would be positive. This is how advertisements take the people away from realty at a very minute level of consciousness. In case of advertisement of Pepsodent and Colgate though Colgate is the market leader, Pepsodent will be successful in this attempt if its distribution becomes equally strong as of Colgate and it increases its visibility too by 130 percent. The prime advantage which it can bang upon is top of the mind recall because of the free publicity it has earned. Now if that is in sync with the supply chain it can be a successful moment for the brand.

Ethically speaking this type of advertisement claims should be strictly banned and be discouraged. A strict action should be taken for their course of action so that there should not be any misleading effect. The whole purpose of communications gets defeated and it will cost dearly in the future.