Monday, 10th August ’20
Good morning, welcome to a brand new The Morning Tea. A lot has changed since we first introduced TMT. We have stayed true to our commitment to keeping you at the top of your game.
We humbly release a few new offerings for our readers
- TMT Mind Monk: Our readers are leaders. A few words of inspiration, new techniques towards a healthy lifestyle and an agile mindset, and tools to stay fresh and running. TMT Mindset will give you the necessary fuel every day.
- TMT Upskill Varsity: Short series of tutorials on varied topics. Post-COVID requires upskilling and what better way than to learn by just devoting a few minutes every morning.
- TMT Business Lounge: Here you tour the world of business with us as we walk you through a new business story/case study every morning. Whether you are a manager or an entrepreneur, there are takeaways to analyze and implement.
Please share TMT among your friends so that we can continue to create more awesome content for you.
🎖 MIND MONK
The 4 Ds of effective time management, help increase your effectiveness and productivity. These 4Ds make you take charge of your day and your life in the long run.
- Defer: Defer the tasks that do not form your top priority according to the 80/20 rule.
- Delegate: Effective Delegation helps you complete a task quicker. Outsourcing has time and again been mentioned as one of the best time management hacks.
- Do: Put action to your tasks. Action will help you move forward
- Delete: Remove those items from your To-Do lists that do not yield results.
Let’s apply these 4Ds in our life and become more effective.
💰 MARKETS
Markets: The market remained volatile in the last week. Gold continues to reach new peaks. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh announced import of 101 military items to be banned in the push for ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’. Zomato looks to raise $100 million from Tiger Global. The second round of stimulus packages can be announced in the US as the Corona cases continue to rise. Saudi Aramco’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Amin H. Nasser said the oil major is still working on a deal to invest in Reliance Industries Limited (RIL).
📱 TECHNOLOGY & INNOVATION
- Google is looking to acquire a minority stake in SoftBank-backed insurance platform Policybazaar as part of its $10 billion investment plan in India. Google may end up acquiring about 10% of Policybazaar and could invest about $150 million with SoftBank taking a partial exit.
- American brands from Nike to KFC, Starbucks, and Amazon use WeChat’s embedded ‘mini-app’ programs to facilitate transactions and engage consumers in China. Trump’s ban on transactions with WeChat and TikTok owners will affect these American companies’ business in China as a consequence.
- Evernote founder launches a video presentation software called “mmhmm”. Users can elevate their on-screen virtual presentations from ahead in a box to a PIP window, change the size of themselves on screen, add interesting filters and effects and do it all on the fly.
🇮🇳 WHAT ELSE IS COOKING
- Defense ministry puts 101 defense items under import embargo: In a bid to push Atmanirbhar Bharat, the defense ministry has brought out a list of 101 items that will be placed under import embargo so as to boost indigenous manufacture of military hardware. The embargo list includes not just simple parts but also some high technology weapon systems like artillery guns, assault rifles, corvettes, sonar systems, LCHs (light combat helicopters) transport aircraft, radars and is planned to be progressively implemented between 2020 to 2024.
- Renault India expands footprint with 14 new dealerships: Renault India Pvt Ltd – a subsidiary of French carmaker Groupe Renault – on Sunday announced the opening of 14 new dealerships and three workshops across the country, as part of the company’s plans to expand its footprint in smaller cities and rural markets to boost sales in the coming years. The new facilities are located in Himachal Pradesh (4 facilities), Telangana (3 facilities), Rajasthan (2 facilities), Uttar Pradesh (2 facilities), Delhi, Punjab, Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra.
- Rural areas to get 600 million LED bulbs at ₹10/piece without govt subsidy: India’s Energy Efficiency Services Ltd plans to offer 600 million LED bulbs in rural areas at ₹10 per piece, without any government support or subsidy. The lowest globally priced LED bulb to be offered by EESL will come as a boost for Make in India and will also give India’s climate change strategy a shot in the arm under the proposed Gram UJALA (Unnat Jyoti by Affordable Lighting for All) scheme.
🕴BUSINESS LOUNGE
The Coffee Experience
With over 30,000 cafes across the globe, Starbucks accounts for more than 57% of the global café market. It has a valuation of over $80 billion and a clear market monopoly in its offerings.
The Beginning:
IN 1973, 3 college friends decided to start a coffee company under the mentorship of Alfred Peet a “coffee expert”. In the first 10 years, they opened 5 stores in the US. They couldn’t really sell that well as the coffee culture in the 70s was still quite nascent. The main focus of the business was to get high-quality coffee beans to the customers.
The entry of Howard Schultz
Howard Schultz was hired as the head of marketing and sales. Schultz went to Italy to discover that it is a better idea to turn bean stores into cafes. Schultz was 34 when he gathered investors and bought Starbucks for $3.8 million.
That was the era of the aggressive expansion of Starbucks. IN 1992, when they got public they owned 165 stores. By 1996, they owned over 1000 stores along with international stores in Japan and Singapore. In 2000, Schultz switched from CEO to executive chairman.
By 2007, they owned around 15,000 stores as the sales rose to $9.4 billion.
But then the 2007 financial crisis hit all major firms including Starbucks.
Return of Schultz as CEO:
Schultz was brought back as the CEO, as the stocks shot up 9% at just the news of it. He made a series of reforms.
- Reminding customers what they loved about the stores through great customer experience.
- Re-training of the baristas on how to make its signature expresso.
- Downsizing and re-aligning goals.
- Addressing profit cannibalization (one Starbuck’s store eating up the profits of another Starbuck’s store)
The sales jumped back on the wagon and so did the market cap. Howard Schultz and Starbucks have become the epitome of customer experience throughout the service world.
TMT VARSITY
Internet of Things
IoT is an advanced automation and analytics system that uses networking, sensing, big data, artificial intelligence technology to create a complete product or service. With IoT, this interconnection of various devices via the internet enables them to send and receive data.
Key Features
- AI: This makes the system smart for interaction.
- Connectivity: IoT establishes networks between the small devices
- Sensors: sensors enable IoT devices for real-world integration
- Active Engagement: The data transmitted through sensors is continuously updated and hence leads to active engagement with the AI tools
- Small Devices: Devices have become smaller and cheaper over time. IoT uses these purpose-driven small devices for precision and scalability.
IoT Advantages
- Improved Customer engagement: IoT enables a much healthier avenue for customer engagement due to the various data points.
- Technology Optimization: We could put the machines for best uses as well as better monitor our current resources.
- Reduced Waste: Data collected can be much more channeled hence also helping prevent data spillage.
- Enhanced Data Collection: With the multiple devices in use for IoT, the collection of data becomes much easier and at a much larger scale.
IOT disadvantages
- Security: Data is prone to attacks due to the various connection points. Hence all data must be encrypted.
- Privacy: Personal user data can be exploited for commercial gains.
- Complexity: Complexity of the system increases with increased devices and data.
- Compliance issues
Written by Kumar Sourav Mohanty, Akansh Bhatt, and Shashank Dobhal
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