Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Real world is not the place that an online player like Info Edge would want to be in at the moment...


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But this ‘virtual entity’ isn’t without its share of recessionary headaches either, writes Neha Sariaya...

What does the term ‘garage’ got to do with every successful entrepreneurship venture? Internationally of course, you’d have heard of names galore who made their mark in their home garage, but in India? Well, wonderfully, here too, the situation is no different! You’ll get the drift of our argument when you finish this paragraph... When you are born to succeed as an entrepreneur, you learn a thousand ways to achieve your ends, or rather start your golden journey. And Sanjeev Bikhchandani, MD and CEO, Info Edge (India) Ltd. certainly had a few of those tricks up his sleeves. And what degree of solidarity in vision are we talking about? When dotcom startups fell all around like nine pins during the turn of the millenium, Sanjeev’s virtual brainchild held its spot tight, and grew with every passing year. Of course there were the hiccups, but fighting his way to make the most of opportunities was much that he learnt having started operations in the servant quarter above his garage paying Rs.800 as monthly rent in 1990 (Hey! Wait! Did you miss that one? He started operations in the servant quarter above his ‘garage’!)

It is 2008, and his once small dotcom startup can boast of current assets of Rs.646.6 million (as on March 31, 2008). So what was the first to-market mode that the company followed? “We used to take job ads and make direct calls to our clients just like direct selling of a product. It was then a small company with a few people working for it. After we took funding the first thing we did was to move to a new office and started off different teams for different functions like marketing, technology etc,” reminisces Hitesh Oberoi, Whole time Director & Chief Operating Officer, Info Edge. As far as expansion to frontiers beyond was concerned, Oberoi adds, “We expanded to other cities beyond Delhi, and also enhanced our offerings and changed our prices.” Today, when you measure the brand awareness quotient of the company’s first online portal, naukri.com, to the blooming of many others under its umbrella such as Jeevansaathi.com, 99acres.com, Quadrangle.com, Brijj.com and the latest being Shiksha.com, one can safely conclude that it has been quite a journey. Even Ankit Kedia, Analyst, Centrum Broking, agreeingly voices out, “They enjoy the first mover advantage till date. The company has a brand name and a large circulation. Thus they enjoy the biggest pool of resources...” And the proof of dominance? Today, naukri.com has been able to retain its no.1 spot and has witnessed a growth rate of about 56% over the years with a market share of 50% followed by competitors like Monster.com and Timesjobs.com which accounted for about 35% and 15% of the online job application marketpie during 2008.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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