Management and Marketing in politics

Things which can be learned about Management and Marketing from politics. 

Quest for the formation of 15^th Lok Sabha at the centre in India

 The political parties are the Players (Competition) in the Indian Economy. It is a type of two way fight between the two National parties, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Indian National Congress (INC) [Dominant Players]. These two, along with the other regional parties (Niche Players e.g. Shiv Sena, AIADMK, BJD among others) are the Products in the market and the Services they provide differentiate them from others. 

The hundred crore plus Indian population is the target market for all the political parties who intend to ascend the throne at the centre i.e. have their government at the centre.

The target market cannot be more heterogeneous and fragmented and clustered than it is in this case.

This type of a fragmented market (consisting of poor farmers, small businessmen, students, big businessmen, young working class i.e. the Real economy, the Main street and the financial markets i.e. the Virtual economy, Dalal Street) having valid demands and sometimes capricious is difficult to convince by bringing them on a common set of ideas

The two dominant parties cannot on there own, get the majority in parliament (high market share) and they need the help or regional players. Thus they have to forge alliances. The alliance is United Progressive Alliance (UPA) in case of INC and National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in case of the BJP. This alliance though has to be formed based ideology of each party (in terms of marketing, Strength, Weakness and Core competency derived from the Services offered). There has to be no cultural mis-match and the service delivered as an alliance has to be more than what can be delivered individually i.e. Synergy has to be achieved

Considering the present election results, the question being asked is whether UPA won or the NDA lost? Is it a vote for stability?

About the UPA:

The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) and the Farm loan Waiver were the USP of the government in its last term. The turnaround story of the Railways by the railway minister is taught in management schools. The nuclear deal with the US was also a success.

The failures were National Security and the accusation that the government is being soft on terror. The ‘creative tension’ (quoted by former RBI Governor Dr. YV Reddy) with the RBI on some Monetary policy issues. Some issues with the Left parties (Communists) were also problematic.

Let us look at some of the considerations in this election:

1. No USP for the services offered by neither alliance, UPA or NDA:

This was an election without a single core issue. It means that both the alliances did not have an Augmented Service for the market. The catch was that any alliance which bought up an issue would have won. But unfortunately, neither alliance did this.

Thus it isn’t understood whether UPA won or the NDA lost

2. Positioning:

For the first time in around 2 decades, the INC announced the PM candidature in the form of incumbent Dr. Manmohan Singh (MMS) in its manifesto. The NDA had LK Advani (LKA) as their Prime Ministerial Candidate. The NDA tried to make it a presidential type election in the US where the elections are fought on the basis of candidates. They tried to make it a man-to-man type of an election.

This was preceded by an onslaught by the opposition where they infamously called Dr. Manmohan Singh as the ‘weakest’ Indian PM.

The error which the NDA did was, trying to project Mr. Narendra Modi (NM) as the future Prime Ministerial Candidate mid-way through the elections. This was a crisis of identity for the party and even the electorate. They did not know the clear leader. Plus both of these personalities are poles apart.

LKA symbolized Babri Masjid demolition and a Hindu fundamentalist (the word may seem a bit harsh for some people) whereas NM is a pro-business and for economic development of the region. He is chiefly instrumental in Gujarat being the place of which has got maximum FDI and even major Indian Industries. This can be proved by the swift handling of the bureaucratic hurdles in bringing Tata Nano to Gujarat after its exit from Singur, West Bengal. Although NM has been accused in the Godhra Riots of 2002, it is yet to be proved and chances are that he will be exonerated for lack of evidence by the Supreme Court. Yet his pro-business stance is more hailed than his shortcomings or failures. This is a classic example of great PR machinery at work.

So it begs the question as to whether it was a vote for stability which the UPA seems to have and the NDA doe not

3. Knowing your strengths and working with your allies:

 The UPA had a fixed set of allies in the form of regional parties. Only the Left parties had some problems with them. The NDA on the other hand was having talks with all parties who were anti-congress. It is good to exploit the competitors’ weakness but without you having some strength, it isn’t going to be enough.

 By going alone in UP and Bihar, what the INC showed was that it was prepared to take risks. It leveraged on the brand name ‘Gandhi’ through Rahul Gandhi (RG). He was projected as the ‘Heir Apparent’ which he is since INC is a family driven party

 4. Promotion:

 UPA was quick to take advantage of the Oscar winning song ‘Jai ho’ and made a video on it highlighting its success stories.

 NDA released a spoof video of it names ‘bhay ho’ highlighting the failure of UPA. This was a good way of exploiting the weakness but it suggested to the electorate that NDA was telling them to vote in their favour, not on NDA’s Strengths or its manifesto but on the failures of UPA. It indirectly sent a message that since you do not have an option, you should vote for NDA.

 The UPA had a well-oiled PR machinery at hand where it made sure that the failures were not highlighted. The tensions simmering between the PM and the Left parties was never allowed to get out of proportion.

 Advertising is to inform or persuade or remind or reinforce about the product/ service. But this Ad did none of the 4 things. It did not say anything about NDA, about the plans it has for the country or the way NDA is going to govern them.

 Thus again the question, whether UPA won or the NDA lost

 5. Youth Leader:

 The UPA had RG as the ‘Youth leader’. He galvanized the cadre in states of UP, Bihar and the cow belt. He also campaigned in other parts of the country. Other youth in the UPA were Sachin Pilot, Milind Deora, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Navin Jindal. Kanimozi Karunanidhi etc.

The NDA on the other hand did not have any youth leader in their campaign. Arun Jaitley was probably the youngest among them all. Varun Gandhi though is a young leader but he does not have a charisma. He portrayed himself too early in the election as a Hindu fundamentalist but giving that hate speech against the minorities in Pilibhit.

 6. Confused Ideology:

 BJP, which is the prime constituent of the NDA, was a pro-hindu party. It was accused of being a communal party as by the opposition. This was partly true due to the demolition of the Babri masjid and the accusation of LKA and Murli Manohar Joshi being involved in it. The BJP has tried to change its image towards a pro-reform party and this change has helped it much more in the eyes of the educated Indian middle class who are pro-BJP.

 This though has impacted it in the cow belt and other parts of India which are Hindu dominated. For them, the Ram mandir is an issue. Amarnath Yatra land allotment problem in J&K is also an issue. Its primary vote bank was the pious people, which the BJP exploited.

 But this confused ideology resulted in it neither being its previous self noe in a new avatar. The people did not understand its working and ideas. This can be seen from the voting pattern in Maharashtra and MP.

Thus again the question arises, whether this was a vote for stability which the UPA provided and the NDA did not

 7. Changing with the times:

 NDA has a strategic cell on psephology (statistical study of elections and trends in voting) pioneered in Indian politics by the Late Mr. Pramod Mahajan. The ‘India shining’ campaign in 2004 was a disaster with the NDA losing the elections. The Campaign though wasn’t a disaster; rather the ground realties were different from those portrayed in the campaign. Thus the methodology was perfectly right.

 Same methodology was tried this time too with an IIM Graduate helping LKA in his attempt with promoting BJPs ideology on the internet thought social networking websites such as Orkut, Facebook and Twitter. They were one step ahead of the UPA which had just a strategic war room with all analysis of day-today numbers and results.

 But as it always the case if you draw an analogy with food, the contents matter rather than the garnishing i.e. the taste matters more than the colour of the food.

 So being ahead of time and your competitors is good but it has to be followed by a good product at a proper price available at the nearest place

 Conclusion:

 The irony of the situation is that no one expected such a clear verdict. All psephologists were expecting a hung assembly where there would be no major party and the two major alliances, UPA and NDA would resort to ‘horse-trading’ to get the numbers. So all this analysis is done in hindsight where we are trying to find the cause and effect of the decisions already takes. It is similar to a post –mortem.