Why is Building a Brand Important?

 

The main aim of any small business or a corporate company is to build a brand. Building a brand is of prime importance than making money in the business. Of course, everybody in the business is here to take profit from the business. But before taking a profit one should build the brand for their products. Without building a brand, taking out the profits will surely sustain for short term.

If you want to be in the business for long term, first build the brand and get the confidence and loyalty of the customers. Coco Cola and Pepsi, when they entered the Indian Market, for the first five years they spent lot of money in building the brand image. They never broke even for the first five years. Think of a Company which invested lot of money in one company and they never get paid for the investments for the first five years.

It may look ridiculous initially, but they have built a brand image in every household in India. From urban population to rural population in India, everybody knows these two brands. Initially, they started with their core business of beverages. But after having built the brand name, they have started introducing other food products also.

They have slowly entered the snacks market in India. First they penetrated the urban market and they slowly penetrated rural market also. Now the traditional snacks in india is being replaced by these snacks. Such was their brand image, which could even change the way of life in one country.

What Coke and Pepsi did in India is brand building. They did for the first five years and now they are reaping the benefit of brand building. You too, if you are interested in starting business, build the brand first, and then make profit out of it.

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Gender Bias in Workspace

Gender bias is a problem faced mainly by the fairer sex in all countries. It is felt less in developed countries like north American Countries and European Countries. But this disparity is much felt in Asian and African countries. In Asian countries, mostly in Muslim countries it is being witnessed much more. This is because of religious and Political reasons. But as the years go by, this disparity is started shrinking in all asian countries.

It is particularly improved in India for the last one decade. The statistics released by the Government of India says it has steadily been improving for the past ten years. The two parameters for the development of Women, Gender development index and Gender Empowerment Measurement have been increasing for the past five years.

This increase in the index shows the improvement of Women in the fields of Politics, Health, literacy, decision making and standard of living. After the boom in IT and Telecom Industry in India, the women participation in this Industry has started increasing. This gives them an opportunity to get salaries as equal as their male counterpart.

Women have occupied some of the top most posts in some of the leading companies in India. The previous records of harassment and sexual violence against women have started declining. Though, it was not completely eradicated, but for sure it is in declining path.

Some of the top posts like president of India, Chairperson of the Lower House, Leader of the ruling Alliance are all occupied by women in India. Though China is little bit advanced in Economic Growth and Military Growth, women disparity has not declined as much as in India. In this area, India is much developed than China.

We hope this disparity would soon be completely disappearing in all Asian Countries.

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Why is Market cyclical in nature?

Many would know that all the free markets, like Stock Market, Commodities Market, Bond Market and etc, behave cyclically. ‘Cyclical’ here means the upside and downside movement of the Market rhythmically between a particular period. We have seen Gold markets move up during the time Stock Markets come down. This is one type of cycle in the Market when one comes down, one goes up. When Stock Markets move up, the interest rates would go up.

Why are these cycles occurring in the Markets? Let me explain the internal dynamics of these cycles. We all know that any Market exists because of the demand and supply for that asset. Let us start from a bear Market bottom of an asset. Let us assume here that the asset being Stocks. During the bottoms the demand for that particular asset would be less and the supply for the asset would be high. Since supply is more than demand, the stock price would continue its downtrend.

At one particular stage, the supply will be completely observed by the Market. Here, the stocks transfer from the people of weak hands to strong hands. Once again here is a small explanation for weak and strong hands. Those who are well informed about the company with strong financial strength can be termed as strong hand, because he wouldn’t sell the stock even if it comes down further. On the other hand, a weak hand is an Investor, who is not financially strong and not well informed about a company would sell his holdings if the prices decline further.

At this stage, stocks transfer from weak hands to strong hands. The floating stocks of a company would be held by strong hands. So slowly supply stops and demand picks up at a lower price. Now the price difference also plays a crucial role. Since the prices are low now, automatically demand picks up in that stock. At one stage, supply will be overwhelmed by the demand and the prices of the stocks start picking up. This process always takes a time to complete. That is why a cycle is created in the market. This may be of Intraday, or weekly or yearly or decades cycles.

The same process takes place during the bull market peak vice versa to create a cycle. Proper understanding of cycles is very essential for successful investing.

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Technorati Tags: Online,Investments,Bull Market,Bear Market,Market Cycles

Buy the Sell off, Sell the Rally

 

The Stock Mantra of prime importance is, you buy during big sell offs and you sell your securities during rallies. How many really do follow this simple logic in Stock Markets or Commodities Market is a question, even though it is the only way to make money in Stock Markets. Every body knows this logic, but nobody doesn’t follow it.

The Simple reason for that is, the logic is associated with emotions of investing person. During big sell offs, the Investor would go by his heart not by his mind. If you go by mind, then it will show you that this is the right time to invest. If you go by the heart, then the panic created by the big sell off would certainly eat you to make you sell the securities actually at a time when you should be buying it.

So investment decisions in any free Markets should be rational, not irrational. Rational Investors are very few in numbers and they are the winning Investors in the Market. Becoming a rational Investor is not as easy as it looks. You have to keep you emotions under the check during the big market moves and you have to think independently.

If you join the crowd, then you would be sucked into the crowd and you would be part of the crowd and your investing or trading decision would be taken irrationally or emotionally. Always await the crowd during time of taking Investment decisions.

One simple example is, those who have invested in the Stock Markets would have invested their money mostly in IT sectors in any part of the world from 1999 to 2003. Because, the popularity is such that any investor would have invested only in this sector. But this sector never saw a big bull market since then.

Had an investor acted in his own way and though investing in IT sector would not fetch good returns, simply based on the fact, that this Sector is already over Invested, certainly he would have avoided that sector.

So, be rational when it comes to investing.

Technorati Tags: Investments,Trading Tutorial,Investing Tutorials,Crowd behaviour

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Sentiments and Trend reversal in Markets.

We have seen that whenever a market is viewed by all participants as bullish, a trend reversal takes place and turns bearish. Likewise, whenever a market is expected to be bearish by all, it turns bullish against their view.

When Crude oil was trading around 145 USD in 2009, everybody is thinking it will go to 200 USD levels. The Media is bullishly covering Crude oil. Everybody is expecting the demand for the Crude to go up because of growing world Economy. Every Analyst has turned bullish on Crude, but it has turned otherwise. Crude fell from 145 USD to 30 USD within 6 months.

Why is this happening, when everybody is in one view but the Market turns otherwise? Let me explain the internal dynamics in it.

Market movement is influenced by demand and supply. There is always a demand or supply potential for a market. Demand is inversely proportional to Supply. If the participants in a market feel bullish about a particular market, they will start to accumulate the asset. Like this slowly, every participant acquires the asset. In initial stages, the demand potential will be high, but as the time progress and as more number of participants acquires the asset, the demand potential slowly recedes.

But the sentiment in the market will slowly turn bullish, as more number of peoples have already bought the asset. As this process continues, almost all of the Investors would have bought the asset and the sentiment would be highly bullish by this time.

Now the buying potential is already receded because the potential Investors have already bought the asset. Now a selling potential is created, as those who have bought it will sell it for a profit. As the buying potential recedes, a selling potential increases.

At some point of time, the demand potential and supply potential will be same. And after some time, demand potential will be overwhelmed by supply potential. But at this time, the bullish sentiment would grip the Investors.

At one point of time, everybody would have bought the asset and nobody is left, so everybody is highly bullish, but the selling potential would be at its highest and buying potential would be at its lowest in this point time.

This is the time, trend changes from bullish to bearish because of the change of balance of buying and selling potential in the market. That is why, even though the sentiment is bullish, the trend changes from bullish to bearish and vice versa.

Understanding the internal dynamics of the Market is essential for successful Investing.

Will BRIC Nations perform well in 2010?

Russia topped the table of Countries whose stock Indices performed well in 2009. It is followed by Brazil and it is followed by India and China respectively. Russian Stock Index, Russian Trading System(RTS) appreciated by 112 percent in 2009. Brazil’s Stock Index Bovespa, appreciated by 83 percent. The Indian Stock Index Bse Sensex appreciated by 81 percent followed by China’s Shanghai Index (SSEC) by 80 percent.

What we have to take note is, China’ Index has been trading well below its all time high of 6124 and it is currently trading around 3300 level. India’s Sensex is trading around 17500, well below it all time high of 21000. Brazil Bovespa is trading around 68000, well below its all time high of 74000. Likewise, Russia’s RTS is trading around 1400, well below its high below 2400.
It is clearly visible that all these Indices are trading well below their 2008 highs indicating, that they haven’t actually grown. What they have done is, they have pared some losses. Our expectation is, will these countries stock Indices perform well in 2010 also. If so, will they cross their all time highs.


Fundamentally speaking, the companies in these countries have performed better in 2009 than 2008. But they have not performed as much as they performed for the last three years which indicates, the growth in these Stock Indices are unlikely in 2010. And also, the PE ratios of these indices are in higher side when compared to 2008.


Technically speaking, no bear market would bottom out in one year. It will take more than two years to bottom out. So, 2010 would be year of downtrends in all markets. So, 2010 would be as good as 2009 for the BRIC nations. If markets come in this year, then these nations could perform negatively this year.

Don’t be complacent in holding Investments in these countries.

Mutual Funds or Stocks?

Many Investors have doubts about whether to invest in stocks directly or in Mutual funds. If we can analyze the performance of the Mutual during the Bull Markets and Bear Markets, it would give a clear answer about it.

The present bull market started around 2003 and ended in 2008. The Mutual funds performed well during that period but still their performance lagged behind the performance of Stock Indices. In India, Bombay Stock Exchange Index Sensex appreciated by seven times. But no fund appreciated by seven times in this time. If we take into consideration some well performed sectors like, Reality, Power and Infra, the performance of the funds is far more less, which clearly indicates, Mutual funds have not performed extraordinarily. They have performed as an ordinary investors do.


Had an Investor invested directly in stocks, he would have multiplied his money manifold. So, Mutual fund Managers are not smarter than us. I prefer investing in Stocks directly instead of Mutual funds.


But investing directly in stocks do have some risks. Had anyone invested in Hindustan Unilever in Bse or General Motors in USA, he would have not seen his investment appreciate far the last five years. So, picking the right sector and right stock is more important in investing. Any secular bull market will sustain for five years to ten years. Always hold your investments till the bull market is over. Don’t shuffle your stocks in your portfolio frequently.

If one can follow the rules propounded here, then one can prefer stocks over Mutual funds.

Which one do you prefer?

Can we see revival of American Economy during Obama’s Presidency?

Ever Since, Mr.Obama took over the presidency of USA, the US Stock Markets saw a deep correction followed by sharp rally. But it is well below the highs of 2007. The US Stock Market Index Dow Jones Index made a high around 15000, in 2007. But it is trading around 10,500 now.

The Economy is gauged by the stock Market Indices in any country. So, if we want to know the future state of the Economy, study of Stock Indices would reveal the real picture. So, if Stock Indices behave well during his Presidency, than the Economy is going to perform well.

The Dow Jones made a high of 15000 in 2007. If the US economy performs well in his tenure, then Dow is going to move above 15000. Is it possible for Dow to move above this level? If so, then he will be recorded as one of the best performed President in USA history.

Let me examine the possibility in detail. Stock Markets behave in cycles. If you see a five rally then it will be followed by some period of correction. Normally, bearish periods are more in time than bullish periods, which means, Dow Jones has to remain in bearish mode for another 5 years.

Since Obama’s term will end in another 3 years, the chances are less for the Dow Jones to move above 15000 which in turn unlikely for the US economy to grow in the next three years.

If this happens and if Obama doesn’t get a second term, then he may go down in the history as an unpopular President of USA.

Fundamental performance of companies for the past five years

The fundamental performance of any company is the performance of their sales, net profit and etc. If it grows year by year then we can say it is growing. It can be stagnant or it can show negative growth. Some companies may show loss also.

So a company can grow positively, or it can grow negatively. Likewise, it can remain stagnant or it may show loss. The financial health of any company can be gauged by the financial performance of that company over these years.

Technical performance of the stock price may not really reflect the fundamentals. Let me discuss the fundamental performance of all the companies in the year 2008-2009. Though Stock Markets have rise all over the world in the year 2009, does it really reflect in the fundamental performance of the companies?

The performance of the companies started showing good growth since 2003 and it peaked in 2007-2008 year. In 2008-2009 period it showed negative growth in many sectors except few sectors. In 2009-2010, it has improved but not at the pace that we have seen in the last five years. To put it simple, the present growth is not as good as it seen in the past five years.
But Stock indices have rallied to 2008 levels which show that the present rally is not supported by the fundamentals. So, it is purely a technical rally in the Bear Market. One need to wait and watch for few more quarters of financial resulss before deciding about the future fundamental performance of the companies.

Cutting losses is the toughest decision to make!!!!!!!!!!

Ask any trader or an investor in the stock market or commodities market, he will say, the toughest decision he has to take is when he plans to cut his losses, if his positions goes against his way. The art of decision making is an important department in human’s life. Though decision making is the most important factor in trading, but it is been given the least importance.

For a trader to be successful, he has to be prompt and wise in taking decisions to cut his loss. If he makes a mistake in taking a decision in booking a profit, it will not affect him financially. But, if he makes a mistake in taking a decision in cutting a loss, then his capital would be wiped out partly or completely.

For a trader to take a wise decision during cutting his loss, he should plan his trade before he enters it. If he enters the trade with proper planning, then he will surely know, when to enter and when to exit.

Entry and exit are the important decisions, but, exit is the more important of these two. Even if you make a wrong entry, you will be saved by correct exit. Suppose you make a correct entry but you fails to make correct exit, then you will end up loss.

Traders who have mastered this art are the ones who are making consistent profits in speculative markets. This type of traders will be only a five percent of the total traders. The other nifty five percent traders are losers.

You decide in which type of traders you belong to.

How should be your investment portfolio?

The short term trader is meant to the people you who trades in the Derivatives Market (Futures and Options Market) in Stock Markets or Commodities Market. A trader takes a position in the market in futures or options and holds it for few days. Normally, we can see one month, two month or three months contract in the derivatives market, but we have contracts ranging from months to years.

The trader holds the positions until he makes a profit or until he cuts his losses. Not all trades end up in profits. If the trade goes against his position then he has to close it before he makes a substantial loss. Anyway, he has to close the position with profit or loss or at cost. If he feels, the underlying security move as per his expectation for the next month also, then he can carry forward the contract to next month also. Likewise, he can carry forward the position to unlimited number of months.

So a person trading in this time frame is called a short term trader. In a futures positions, he has to pay a margin to hold a futures position (whether it is short or long). In case, if the position he holding is loss, then he needs to pay the extra margin to make up the loss and also to continue to hold the position. So, there is always a risk of holding these type of positions. Unlike, holding a delivery share, holding a futures position would anytime invite margin call. If we are not prepared for that, then we have to close the position in loss, if it goes our way in the near futures.

Trading for the short term is always risky. But the profits we make in the short term is substantial. You no need to hold it for a long time. Your money will not be blocked for a long time. You can quickly use your funds.

But in the long term investments, your money will be blocked for a long time. There may a time when your money would remain idle without appreciating for years. But it is less riskier than short term positions.

I prefer any investor to invest more than seventy percent of their investments in long term and trade only twenty five percent of your investments in short term trading.

Don’t be married to a stock!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In investments, don’t marry a stock. Don’t stick to a stock all the time. Not all the stocks perform all the time. Various groups and various sectors perform at different times. Sticking to stock just because you love that stock is a waste of time in Investment.

Let me take the example of Hindustan Unilever from the Indian Stock Market and General Motors from the American Stock Markets. Hindustan Unilever is in Fast Moving Consumer Goods sector. It is a Multinational Company and excellent performing company fundamentally, till now.

The high price of Hindustan Unilever was 325 during 2000. The 2000 bull market was followed by a bear market till 2003 in all world stock markets. From there a bull market started in all world stock Markets. The Indian Bombay Stock Exchange Index , Sensex soared from 2600 to 21000 in another five years where as Hindustan Unilever traded in between 100 and 300 till 2008 and it is still now trading between this range.

If had been a fan of Hindustan unilever for it s performance and its fundamentals, then you would have invested a major portion of your investment in that stock. But for the past 9 years I would not have given a return on your investments.

Had you invested your money in Infrastructure and Reality stocks, it would have appreciated by more than 100 times in these 5 years. So don’t get married to a stock. Always every bull market is supported by a new set of Sectors. Identify it to for successful investing.