PANCHATANTRA -1.MARKETING

THE GOLDEN AGE…

Panchatantra in Sanskrit is a famous treatise on adult education through simple stories conveying the arts of management. There, Pandit Vishnu Sarama teaches the 3 sons of a king on the arts of state craft that have stood the test of times for a long long time till to day .

This is an attempt to rewrite those in to days context……..

THE CONTEMPORARY DAYS..

MARKETING

The students assembled around Vishnu Sarma in the evening and posed their queiry of the day….

Sir! we hear many times that all the present day wonders were invented by our ancestors long long ago! Is it true? If so why we are still underdeveloped to day?

Well , let us not go that deep into our past. Let us look at some of the stories published about 50 years back in our popular magazines and analyze.

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There was a famous merchant known for his ethics and riches. He had a son helping him in his business and a grand son. Suddenly the son meets his end and the old man is in a dilemma – whether to burden his young grandson with business or carry on with the business himself for some more time allowing the young boy to enjoy his child hood till he has grown out of it. He decides on the later course , but as fate would have it ,suddenly took ill and is in the last stage of his life. He calls his grand son and tells him

“ I don’t have the time to train you. Let me give our success formula in short for you……….buy for more ……and sell for less………”

So saying , he breathes his last.

The boy truly takes the advice to heart and implements it to find him-self running into losses very soon. He can’t believe it or understand . So he decides to consult an old friend of his grandpa . The old man smiled on hearing the story and told the boy

“ you combined the 2 split sentences and ran into losses. Split them….buy good quality goods paying a little more than your competitors…thereby , you will have committed suppliers ,quality and availability……same way…..sell good quality goods at a price little less than your competitors …..there by you will have an assured market and profit too due to higher TURNOVER….THAT IS THE KEY…TURNOVER!

The boy understood and prospered earning as good a reputation as his ancestors

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So now let us get back to your question, Vishnu Sarma continued…this very principle is being successfully deployed by the big chain of stores like the wallmarts, costcos etc. to day. But we don’t see it here still ? Why? Is it that we don’t have the knowledge? or is it a failure in implementation? Now you can think about the answer to your question!!!

It was getting dark and the students got up to go to their homes pondering over the moral.