ONLINE GD AT URPERCENTILE : MULTILEVEL MARKETING - THE GOOD, THE BAD ,THE UGLY
www.UrPercentile.com: Only Dr Shreyas Goswami (Shreyas) clear this GD.
www.UrPercentile.com: The topic of the GD is Multilevel Marketing . Multilevel Marketing - The good, the bad ,the Ugly.
vijay goel: I am Vijay goel , done BBA(cam), dont have any work ex, calls from ICFAI and all institutes from mat
ashish: hi everone,i m ashish frm surat n i m just started preparing 4 cat n not yet got ny calls,thanks
www.UrPercentile.com: ONE PARAGRAPH REPLY ..NO ONE LINERS
ashish: hi everone,i m ashish frm surat n i m just started preparing 4 cat, not yet got any calls,thanks
abhijit badgujar: hi all i m abhijit i m in 3rd year chemical engg at svnit surat right now i plan to give cat 2006
Dr Shreyas Goswami: hi everybody, myself dr shreyas from ahmedabad..have 1 yr work experience..
Mahesh Manu: hi all, this is mahesh, doin my B.E(E&C) in MSRIT,Bangalore, 3rd year
raja_incredible: hii everyone this is rajasekhar from hyd ,doin my B.E final year in ECE ,wrote CAT 2005 and got 98.7% and 1 IIM call from BANGALORE
www.UrPercentile.com: The topic of the GD is Multilevel Marketing . Multilevel Marketing - The good, the bad , the Ugly.
Dr Shreyas Goswami: first of all lets see whats multilevel marketing,...it can be defined as marketing policy in which the sales is done through a multiple levels..one step over other and so on...
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Dr Shreyas Goswami: we have some good examples of multilevel marketing...like say amway, modicare...etc..these companies basically ask the customers to form a chain or a network and then do the business...
vijay goel: Multilevel or "network" marketing plans are a way of selling goods or services through distributors. These plans typically promise that if you sign up as a distributor, you'll receive commissions - for your sales and those of the people you recruit to become distributors. These recruits sometimes are referred to as your "downline."
raja_incredible: Multi-level marketing is system of marketing which puts more emphasis upon the recruiting of distributors than on the selling of products
Dr Shreyas Goswami: one of the salient good points in these is that the person who acts as a downline gets his commission as per his own work and his network and thus has no chance of getting exploited as in other systems of business...
abhijit badgujar: we have also seen a company like swadeshi spring up in the past years which is based on the same idea also the main idea of that company is to give importance to indian produced goods
ashish: The Term "multilevel marketing " has a lot to do wid todays global market. MARKETING can be done through various levels,all r imp., at an international level in order to enhance the sale n influence of our product or service
Mahesh Manu: Multi-level marketing as the name suggests is markettin in steps and thru different ways...Well there are both advantages nd disadvantages of this.... Advantages are that... it can generate more employment...it reduces load on the company so that they can concentrate on their manufacturin
Dr Shreyas Goswami: so the amt of hard work we put in the business the same type of returns we get...
ashish: ya it is a effort - reward relationsip
vijay goel: but in this sytem some plans are legitimate. However, others are illegal pyramid schemes.commissions are based on the number of distributors recruited. Most of the product sales are made to these distributors - not to consumers in general
raja_incredible: i think mahesh what u told seems to be somewhata difficult process as it reduces ur profit margin
Dr Shreyas Goswami: yes, as knmahesh said, the workload is divided at different levels and thus, the company at the core level is more focussed on the quality and the type of products to be manufactured...that leads to better products in the market..
raja_incredible: bcz at eachlevel u have to give him some profit as no distributor provides u a service without any profit
Mahesh Manu: yes for sure multilevel marketin reduces profit margin as we go in for 3rd party to market our goods instead of marketin on our own
ashish: i think v all r going in a wrong direction 1st v should hav a leader which will guide us n then carry on ....m i right?
abhijit badgujar: one of the better point also is that a person starts his chain and he gets his rewards after working hard for some time.and later he gets inputs even if he does not work because the people beneath him are working to create their own ladder
Dr Shreyas Goswami: of course, thats true..but then here the sky is the limit..there is no restriction on how many customer base to be made..as u go up the ladder of the percentage commisiin..ur profit margin goes on increasing because then the network that u have built up also helps in building ur business and thus ur profits level...
vijay goel: but by giving profits at each level cost of the product will increases a lot which is 30 to 40% and which makes the product costlier and also it is very difficult to handle this long chain as we dont point out the mistake of anybody and we also dont know how a person represent our product and brand
ashish: hey shreya would u like to be a leader to guide our g.d. to run it in a good way
Dr Shreyas Goswami: another big advantage is that the person involved does not has to make any big investment...a biggest advantage..only a few thousand and u r a startup..
Mahesh Manu: inspite of the decrease in the profits multilevel markettin enhances the production in the company...this inturn compensetates the decrease in the profits
raja_incredible: company always emphasis on the product lifecycle which starts from origin to decline of the product stage ,so looking at the perfomance of the product in the market the company has to choose its marketing level and it can even slash the number of intermediaries
Dr Shreyas Goswami: yes sure..thanks..lets first discuss the good points about the topic..
ashish: i think we should give equal chance to all ,, v should give nos. to each other
raja_incredible: ashu thats quite right
vijay goel: IT IS RIGHT THAT THE INVESTMENT IS NOT HUGE BUT WHAT WILL WE DO WIHT THE COMPANY WHICH DO NOT HAVE ANY BRAND IMAGE OR GOODWILL IN THE MARKET AS EVERYBODY IS REPRESENTING ON HIS OWN AS HE OR SHE WISHES WHICH MANY A TIMES HAMPER THE IMAGE OF COMPANY
Dr Shreyas Goswami: yes my friend coolfrnds,,, but then as we have to build the chain we also have to guide them on how to show the business plans to the potential customers and also on the presentation.. thats how the business is built up..
ashish: shreya ... u r 1st , raja 2nd , myself 3rd , mahesh 4th
raja_incredible: go ahead shreya
ashish: v can go like this , each would hav some limit to speak , do u all agree?
raja_incredible: yeps , i agree
abhijit badgujar: ok
abhijit badgujar: i m 5th i assume
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Dr Shreyas Goswami: so in that way,, we can help the new entrants in creating the right atmosphere for the business...and ..hey friends,, no one liners please..
vijay goel: BUT AS WE CAN SEE WHAT HAPPENS WIHT THE ORIFLAME AND AMWAY THE COMPNIES ARE NOT ABLE TO GIVE PROPER GUIDENCE TO THERE DISTRIBUTORS BECAUSE OF INCRESING COST AND AGAIN WHICH WILL HAMPER COMPANIES IMAGE
ashish: start shreya ashish: i m the head n i will guide u all when to speak,, okay everybody ashish: start shreya
Dr Shreyas Goswami: ok..so thats why the meetings are arranged frequently to guide the new partners in the business in how to present the products and step by step the business model works ahead..
ashish: shreya v r here to talk on adv. n dis adv. dont waste time come to point n start
Dr Shreyas Goswami: but as u said if the guidance is not proper then the image goes down.. and then its difficult to regain the confidence of customers..
ashish: mahesh u start
vijay goel: BUT THESE MEETINGS WORK ......... I DONT THINK SOO AND IF I CAN BELIEVE YOU ALSO SOO WHAT ABOUT THE COST WE ARE MAKING DISTRIBUTORS TO CUT COST BUT IN ARRAGING MEETINGS WE HAVE AGAIN PUT SOME MONEY SO WHAT IS THE POINT IN THIS
Mahesh Manu: suppose consider a tree type multilevel markettin...where the products from the production unit is been first marketed by quite some wholesalers.... then its been marketed by the medium scale whole salers and then by the retalers...here the overall profit is been distributed by many guyz in each step...
Even thou this process involves sharing of the profits among all..it might be disadvantage for the Owner of the production unit but surely it helps in the overall development of the society as it increases the economy
ashish: abhi u
vijay goel: NOWDAYS YOU CAN SEE THIS MARKETING MODEL DOESNOT WORKING, AS THE CUSTMER ALWAYS WANT CHEAPER PRODUCT BUT THESE COMPANIES CANNOT PROVIDE CHEAPER PRODUCT BECAUSE OF THER HIGHER (40%) DISTRIBUTION COST. TODAY WE HAVE WALMART, PANTOLOON AS RETAIL TYCOONS WHY.....
Dr Shreyas Goswami: if we look at the disadvantage..then ...1. in this multi-level marketing, the hidden costs are the main issue of concern.. as cool frndds said.. 2. there is always a chance of not following the system and the persons involved can go by their own methods to sell the companies products..for example, in some such companies its not allowed to sell ur product in a authorised retail outlets which are meant only for other business models,,but such a person may violate and sell it in outlets without permission..
abhijit badgujar: i think this way of marketting is good but also very complicated. on one hand it reduces the normal marketting problems but other problems like distributing the wealth properly and keep the game moving as all the levels in the tree are not directly connected and all seem to be working for themselves Dr Shreyas Goswami: that leads to violation of the laws...
raja_incredible: mahesh practically speaking it is diff to calculate the profit margin of teh firm if u have so many intermediaries
ashish: plz dont interfer everone will get a chance start
raja... no interference plz
raja_incredible: guys plz specify everyones turn , so that we can type vijay goel: AS THEY ARE PROVIDING US CHEAP PRODUCT BY CUTTING THE COST OF DISTRIBUTORS AND FORWARD AND BACKWARD LINKAGES THERE IS ONLY SOME INITIAL INVESTMENT WHICH IS QUIT HIGH BUT AGAIN WE CAN PAY OFF THAT LONG TERM DEBTS BY THE REVENUE GENERATING BY OUR STORES
Dr Shreyas Goswami: 3. i would like to differ with raj..because the margins are calculated at a central level and there is always a smooth system.. every one knows whats his margin at the end of the month..
Mahesh Manu: since it helps in the development of economy of the country...i tell multi level markettin is good for the entire society... going towards the the difficulty faced by the company in terms of the profit margins... they can easily make up this loss if they open their own retail outlets as done by the say Pantaloons or some other company....
ashish: shreya dont speak in middle, ur turn is gone let raja speak
Dr Shreyas Goswami: dear raja and ashu..put forward ur views please..on the disadvantages of the topic..
abhijit badgujar: one of the disadvantage is that As this type of marketting is related on the personal level of each member so the main idea is to always have the members motivated to do good job.
raja_incredible: too many intermediaries will create a confusion initially which will gradually lead to channel conflicts examples to quote are NIKE'S channel conflict aroused when NIKE introduced its sale of products online . Multi-level marketing is a business model which utilizes a combination of direct marketing and franchising,i think we can use this level of marketing only upto a particular limit as at eachlevel u have to give him some profit as no distributor provides u a service without any profit and the company's primary motto is to see that product prevails in the market
abhijit badgujar: the main scheme should in itself be powerfull enough so that it is possible to get in new members
Dr Shreyas Goswami: as far as the ugliest part is concerned...in this system..in order to increase the margins ...people go for unethical means and alll sort of false promises..that leads to scams and the image of the multilevel marketing totally gets disrupted...
www.UrPercentile.com: Ok thanks everyone would request ashish and raja to conclude the topic
vijay goel: MULTILEVEL MARKETING IS BUSINESS MODEL WHICH IS POPULAR SOME TIME BACK BUT DUE TO ITS COST IT IS VANISH FROM THE MARKET AND NOW THE MODEL OF CHEAPER PRODUCT AT AN EFFECTIVE COST IS GIVENM
Dr Shreyas Goswami: there have been many news about various such corrupted companies doing their business and then running away with the people's money who have invested in the business...so in that way MLM is very much prone to get misused..
ashish: i think multilevel marketing is a branch which helps to grow the tree of market in a systematic way. it helps in increasing the production, distribution of the product or service . according to the view point of economics, it is inevitable 4 supply n demand of a commodity... ADVANTAGES: 1} HELPS TO INCREASE PRODUCTION, 2} MAINTAINS A HEALTHY COMPETITION 3} SALE N PROFIT MARGIN INCREASE.4} INCREASE NATIONAL INCOME 5} PROTECTION OF VARIOUS LEVELS OF MARKET..TO CONCLUDE V COME HERE THAT EVERY COIN HAS 2 SIDES . SO AS MULTILEVEL MARKETING
ashish: IT HAS DIS ADV . TOO ashish: T REDUCES EMPLOYMENT OPPORUNITIES E.G IN INDIAN BANKS AS COMPUTERS HAV TAKEN
www.UrPercentile.com: Only Dr Shreyas Goswami (Shreyas) clear this GD.
www.UrPercentile.com: Thanks everyone. Vijay Goel also did well.
www.UrPercentile.com: Some comments : Don't be self styled leader . leadership is to be gained and not forced upon others
abhijit badgujar: what do you have to say about shreyas talking when he was not asked to talk
ashish: YA IT WAS BCOZ OF HER THAT THE G.D WAS DISTURBED
www.UrPercentile.com: Unless the moderator assigns a leader or asks for it, no one should assign a leader be it other person or self.
vijay goel: THANKS URPERCENTILE FOR UR EFFORT vijay goel: GOOD SHREYA ashish: I M SORRY 4 IT
www.UrPercentile.com: Take it as a learning process
Dr Shreyas Goswami: ok..thanks a lot..to all..i think the topic was a bit new for all...
ashish: thanks
www.UrPercentile.com: Don't ask others to follow rules set by you unless you have been assigned as a leader by the evaluator / moderator