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AI's CapEx Driven Endgame - A Shareholder Crash, Not an Economic Crisis

AI's CapEx Driven Endgame - A Shareholder Crash, Not an Economic Crisis Ian Harnett (Chief Investment Advisor of Absolute Strategy Rese...

Thursday, August 12, 2021

Telecoms - IT Strategy, Managed Services and Implementation View

 

Telecom Verticals - IT Strategy, Managed Services, and Implementation View on 1Page.

(source: Gartner)






Hype Cycle for the CSPs Network Infrastructure 



Wednesday, August 11, 2021

Post COVID - FY22 Australian Economy Update

 


Export to China primarily iron ore is bringing Revenue 3 times what was estimated in the budget (from USD $55/tonne to $200/tonne). 

Once Brazil overcomes labor supply and Chinese mines open for business in Africa, Australia will see the impact.  



While household debt and savings are rising. Frequent and strict lockdown in major cities of Australia means less spending by people.

Australia is still behind other OECD countries when it comes to green energy.




Australian Vaccine rollout is abysmal compared to US, UK, Canada and EZ. This means a conservative approach of the elongated lockdown applied, threatening its economy in a globally connected world.    


Frequent and elongated lockdown in major cities of Australia, primarily Sydney and Melbourne threatening FY22 Q1 and Q2 (likely) with downward growth.


Source: CBA

Friday, August 06, 2021

Weekend Reading

 

Vodafone will get a lifeline from Retrospective Tax Withdrawl

Key Players in the Indian Telecom Industry


 

Vodafone Tax Issue Timeline

   

 Indian Govt Decision on Retrospective Tax 

   


Key Issues and Arguments
  • Vodafone acquired Hutchinson/Idea/Max in 2007 - 67% share by $ 11Bn
  • Hutchinson Vamco, based out of HKG sold 67% of shares driven by assets in India
  • Indian Tax Department called out that Vodafone has to pay Capital gains Tax (calculated as Rs 7K Crore in 2007, today it's Rs 20K Crore liability)
  • Vodafone said the transaction was made by 2 foreign entities (Hutch/Vodafone) in a tax haven country
  • When challenged by the Tax department, Vodafone went to the Supreme Court  (SC) and won the case by saying that assets transferred in a foreign country can be taxed
  • FM Pranab Mukherjee was hurt (probably ego) by this SC ruling, and hence he applied his power in the government and legislation to circumvent the SC ruling and prevent the tax from being backdated retrospectively
Removal of Retrospective Tax by the Indian Govt. will give a lifeline to Vodafone India, which is struggling financially in a JV with Hutch/Idea. The tax was ill-conceived by FM Paranb Mukjherjee, even though it was opposed at the time by PM Manmohan Singh and his cabinet colleagues like P Chidambaram and Kapil Sibal (law minister) in 2007. The tax was imposed from the backdate (can claim nearly 60 years) after Vodafone won the case in the Supreme Court (as described by Shekhar Gupta from ThePrint). By rolling out the retrospective tax, FM exercised typical abuse of power, intimidation, and legislative superiority to ensure Vodafone fell in line.


Why Vodafone is Indispensable

 
India has a few major players in the Telecom sector. The failure of any key player is detrimental to Telecom and is key to India's IT-driven Service Sector. Besides this, it will cause twin balance sheet issues for the financial sector as Indian Banks will lose their invested capital.

For Vodafone India, on the verge of bankruptcy in FY 22, Rs 20K crore liability will give a lifeline and infuse cash to survive in a capital-intensive industry during these challenging times, when the demand profile has changed.


In short, this decision by the government is late, but sometimes politics can weaken strong leaders resolute to reform. As Shekhar Gupta (from ThePrint) called out correctly, if a mistake goes long, it does more damage, but it needs to be welcomed if it's corrected.

Credit: Shekhar Gupta from The Print, ET, The Hindu, WSJ.


Update on Liability for Vodafone India is around 60K crore, (share price is around - Rs7).  
India's telecom sector is mismanaged by bureaucrats and is destroyed by some of the ludicrous policies on taxation, like AGR for spectrum. The amount of money owed to the government and banks by 3 telco companies (VI, Airtel) is around 1Lakh crore. The government needs to assist this sector, which has laid the pathways for the future. Time is running out before it's too late. 

   






Wednesday, August 04, 2021

Brief Context and Background on Sales

 

Sales 

Origin 

Word sale came from the old English word sala - "a sale, act of selling", which originated from a Scandinavian source such as Old Norse sala, which originated from Proto-Germanic source "salo". The use of this word first appeared in texts around 1866, and by 1910 word Sales Representative was defined. 

Definition 

A sale is an activity between two or more parties in which the buyer receives tangible or intangible commodities, services, or assets in exchange for money. It is a commitment between the buyer and the seller to be exchanged for monetary consideration. When this activity is repeated multiple times for goods, it is defined as a Sale. Sale is a successful transaction between a buyer and a seller reaching a zone of potential agreement (ZOPA). The interaction between the two individuals or parties underpins the success of this transaction. If two individuals are comfortable interacting with each other, they will transact or do business. In other words, relationships play an essential role in closing a sales transaction. 

Sales Today 

Today, a sale can be executed in multiple ways through a direct, indirect, electronic, agency, B2B, B2C and other channels. With the rise in technology adoption underpinned by digital enablement, sales in B2B and B2C segment is becoming more technology-enabled and less human-centric. However, buyers in the B2B domain still prefer human interactions for complex and large deals. In the context of business, sales are the lifeline of any business, and to succeed in B2B sales or convincing others, one must learn how to navigate other people's mind. 

Beyond Sales 

Today selling has become an integral part of our daily life because we sell every day to others. How to influence and win over others is a skill that is fundamental to success in life and every task we undertake. Selling is everyone's business, and this is something that is not taught in any school. To succeed, the art of sales needs to be learned and practiced from early childhood. 




Friday, July 30, 2021

Australian Fibre Roll Out - Cost Envelope

Australian Fibre roll out for digital enablement across the country (continent) is going to cost $57Billion AUD.

 


Wednesday, July 28, 2021

Difference Between Fire and Water Type Seller

Fire Seller 

Fire signifies charisma & brilliance it removes the darkness by brightening our surroundings. Similarly, #sellers with charisma & brilliance attract others & enlighten them with their brilliance & action. They are persuasive & convince others easily with their thoughts and vision. These #Sellers love to have an audience, like how Fire brings people together during the evenings in winter. They attract buyers with their charisma and energy. They prefer to use an audience to position their offering #Sales #salestips #B2B #product #marketing 

Water Seller

Water has depth, like an ocean or a silent river. When water starts flowing from the mountain top, it has purity, crystal clear visibility, and is drinkable. The sound of flowing water mesmerises everyone, which implies that these #sellers are honest and pure at heart. Besides, watery #sellers think at a very deep and philosophical level, pay attention to detail, and have a sweet voice that captures other people's attention. Among the five elements, Water is the least mobile after Earth because it prefers a horizontal position. Therefore, these #sellers like to lie down on the couch or bed, speak and walk slowly, and take a lot of time to act. They are best described as a turtle in action (slow-moving). #B2B #Sales #salestips #product #marketing

More sales tips from my upcoming book can be found here.

Australia Future Outlook - FY2022

 


Sunday, July 18, 2021

How to Identify Buyers Persona and to Sell Them

My upcoming book - Sellers from Mars and Buyers from Venus - Elements of Nature Meet B2B Sales outlines a unique way of identifying Buyer and Sellers Persona, and how to apply them in various scenarios across Buyers Map.  

Excerpt from the book

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Persona Mapping with Elements - Buyer and Seller 

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In the world of business to business (B2B) sales, the buyer and seller relationship plays a significant role in winning or losing a transaction. Creating and nurturing these relationships across multiple stakeholders is a challenging, lengthy, and time-consuming process. 

One of the critical activities and constituents of a sales plan is to build the buyer's stakeholder persona that will assist in the relationship-building process. Mapping of these stakeholder personas reveals the type of levers that can be used to develop and nurture long term relationships with the intent of winning and expanding the sales pipeline. Without the intelligence of the buyer's persona, the sales execution effort will be challenging and profoundly inefficient and ineffective. 

Besides, it addresses the risk of losing a sales representative because by capturing and documenting the buyers' persona, you can ensure that gathered intelligence and levers applied in building relationships and influencing negotiations are not lost with a change in guard at the sellers' end.    

The framework for creating and destroying five elements is applied to overcome the challenging task of mapping and building the persona. The inherent attributes of each element are used to map and develop the personality of each stakeholder at the buyers and sellers end in different scenarios.


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