Name: Vibhav Agarwal

Designation: Senior Executive Strategic Planning, Mirc Electronics, Onida

Sun Sign: Pisces, 3 March, 1976

Educational Experience
I have done my schooling from different places. Medicine and Engineering were the only choices available to me then, so I enrolled for Engineering based on my inclination towards maths and science. I graduated in 1998 from Regional Engineering College Warangal in Electrical & Electronics stream.

I was selected by Kirloskar Electronic in campus placement. My first job exposed me to different aspect of business and I developed a good blend of technology and business acumen in a short span of 2 years. Thanks to my superiors who showed great confidence in me and gave me some challenging assignments. Very soon I realise that I need to further hone my business skills and so I decided to take a break from work and go for management education.

Getting admission in NITIE was a lovely break in my career and I decided to pursue my post graduation.

Professional Experience
Having come from a business family background, my inclination towards numbers was quite natural. It was a well thought move to start my career in brick and mortar industry. My stint at Kirloskar Electric as a Business Development Executive and later as a Marketing Executive at ABB has introduced me to different dimensions of business such as Projects and Marketing.

My second spell has started with ONIDA immediately after my post graduation as Sr Executive - Strategic Planning. I have always been in the developmental role which I find more creative & challenging.

Job Profile
Job profile includes exploring new business opportunity for the organisation. It spans from making a business plan for new products or new business line to actualising an opportunity to address a new geography and new cluster of people with existing line of business. Its very exciting and promising which requires a lot of understanding of market dynamics.

Strategic Planning as a career choice
When we speak about strategy, we envision generals and armies preparing to wage battle against one another. The more common (and less harmful to human life) reality of the application of strategy is in relation to the process of modern organisations. The term "strategy" derives from the Greek "strategos", which literally means "general of the army". Strategists can be traced back to the battle of Marathon (490 BC), where strategoi advised the political rulers on strategic alternatives for winning wars as opposed to just concentrating on battles. From these military roots, the application and theory of strategy has evolved but the focus as always remained on the "big picture". In the early 1920?s, Harvard Business School developed the Harvard Policy model, one of the first organisational strategy methodologies for private business. This model defined "strategy" as a pattern of purpose and policies defining the organisation and its business. A strategy can therefore be viewed as the underlying logic, which holds the organisation together. The strategies adopted by an organisation will determine its future structure and its scope for improved economic performance. What can be more exciting than this ?

Current Marketing and Advertising scenario
There are no predefined rules in marketing. As long as logic works everything is right. Every successful move becomes a benchmark but repetition of the same does not guarantee the same fruits.

With the advent of foreign players into India and their quest for spanning their aura with aggressive marketing has awakened up many Indian giants. New definitions of marketing are evolving. Competition is certainly sending one message across; that "either become world class or you will not find the trace of your footsteps".

There is still a lot of scope to create win-win situation for both organisations and consumers by competition among the players. But fierce competition on just pricing a product aggressively does not ensure the sustainability of bigger pie of market share in long run. Which results in a life time award of Fly-By-Night operator.

Right and wrong about current marketing scenario
Thanks to the cable TV boom of early 90s, which has opened up a plethora of avenues for advertising industry to address more than 80 million TV homes. But we certainly need some discipline to do so in a more professional way.

I keenly follow the development on CAS implementation as I foresee a big opportunity for my organisation to introduce one more product in it's existing portfolio.

Instead of bringing in more transparency and discipline, so far CAS has brought more confusion in the television domain. There are no concrete plans to implement CAS except a plain announcement by the government. The issue will continue to be in a state of flux unless we provide a regulatory mechanism in the lines of TRAI.

About the current Television scenario
I usually watch news or infotainment channels. I like the current mix of entertainment, business and current news. Though I don't watch the soaps, I find them a turn off, but I am not complaining. I have the remote.

Five years from now
I am looking forward to enrich myself by exploring newer horizons in my present job profile and discover a path breaking business plan for my organisation.

Hobbies
I like listening to music, debating, reading & cooking. I am very fond of cooking, especially food of my choice.

Idea of enjoyment
Spending few moments with nature.