The Hindu Business Line : Spirituality for success

The first part of this article, published last week, spoke about how spirituality for marketers, especially frontline salespersons, can help them cultivate a balanced temperament that will enable them to attain and sustain success. In the concluding part of the article, the writers focus on spirituality at the organisational level and talk about how organisations and marketers can deal with uncertainty and ambiguity in the marketplace.

Spirituality at the organisational level

It is also interesting to find examples (though not from the Indian context) of how organisations that have worked without expecting specific results have gained in the long run. This does not mean that organisations do not have to set goals for themselves; it only means that the learning experience that is involved in customer orientation practised by some organisations provides positive benefits in an unplanned manner in the long run. The genuine process and efforts employed lead to results that are far beyond those that can be achieved with a short-term orientation.

Sony is known for its research as well as its ability to launch customer-centric products, which provide value through better features and benefits. The company may have failed a few times, but has always kept up the pressure on its competitors in several categories through its sustained and relentless efforts in research with a strong customer benefit orientation. The interesting example of its new product development with regard to 3.5-inchfloppies provides substantial evidence for this tenet. Sony pioneered the 3.5-inchfloppy disk, making it the world standard displacing the 5.25-inch floppy that existed during those times. It used this mechanism in its laptop computer `Produce' which did not do well in the market. The company then used the mechanism in its `Mavica' camera, which too failed to elicit the expected market response. The company then signed a contract with the videogame company Nintendo to make use of the technology.

After a few years, Nintendo announced that it would not make use of the technology. Undaunted by these failures, Sony made use of the learning in the design of its PlayStation videogame. Sony commands about 70 per cent of the videogame market and this contributes significantly to the profitability of the company.

Message

Customer oriented organisations that strive with genuine passion without unduly worrying about returns will reap benefits in the long run through the learning to which they are exposed.

Uncertainty and ambiguity

The planning process provides good insights into several aspects of marketing, but marketers are always concerned with uncertainty and ambiguity and there is always an impending feeling of suspense and intrigue. The human mind is something that does not spare people based on riches or education and a marketing mind is perhaps more restless than any other mind, given the speed at which marketing strategies can change. As the salesperson discussed in the first part of this article matures into a swashbuckling strategist, discomfort of a different kind seems to plague the mind. Thoughts about the consequences of an advertising campaign or a product failing start to haunt marketers. The fear of not being able to deliver the right mix of services gives nightmares to service providers. Cutthroat prices, mega strategies of established Goliaths who can survive losses and the departure of personnel to competing firms are some of the worst scenarios that can be visualised by senior marketing professionals. Marketers aim to create experiential marketing through the sense organs of consumers, but the inner turbulence caused by the side effects of success (the obsession to succeed) require a subscription that can only be derived from spirituality professed by texts such as the Bhagavad Gita. The need to transcend the sensory experiences through meditation enables the marketing mind to get refreshed and take on the warfare with renewed vigour and wisdom. Clarity of thought, consumer insights missed out by competitors, swiftness of action and the wisdom born out of experience are the prerequisites for any fast track senior marketing professional who delves on strategic perspectives. The stillness of meditation, paradoxically, provides the power to recharge the tired marketing mind.

Message

Stillness of the mind or meditation can recharge minds fatigued by thinking about ways to win the consumer.

If these points are considered, one finds that they are simple and practicable aspects, but the discipline and structure of spirituality reinforces the power of simplicity. We are sure marketing professionals can derive more `hidden messages' from the spectrum of spiritual texts.

(S. Ramesh Kumar is Professor of Marketing at IIM-B and D. V. R. Seshadri is Visiting Professor, Marketing Area, IIM-B.)

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