Rama Biijapurkar and Yuwa Hedrick-Wong: “We believe that it is both the cause and consequence of the widespread informal sector that is commonly estimated to account for 90% of employment, but generating only a third of the value added in the economy. It is huge with limited efficiency because of its many constraints, and is a low-productivity trap that chokes off the formation of a genuine middle class in India…The Indian economy is at a fork in the road: either a policy push that delivers a large, vibrant and prosperous middle class, or a business-as-usual growth story with a massive informal sector that increases consumption but not of the calibre of a genuine middle class. In order to rapidly expand India’s genuine middle class with all its manifold benefits, there appears to be no shortcut to creating a large-scale manufacturing sector that can drive formal employment.”
WSJ: “An estimated 3.2 billion people play videogames worldwide, according to industry tracker Newzoo. Brands have been trying to tap in to that market for years, mainly by placing video ads in mobile games that reward players for watching and, to a lesser extent, by putting virtual billboards around cities and arenas in console and computer games. Now, some brands are producing bespoke entertainment experiences, despite the greater cost, in hopes of connecting with hard-to-reach gamers in a more effective way.”
Assembly Mag: ““The traditional way of making a vehicle is [to] stamp it, build a body-in-white, paint it and do final assembly,” says Lars Moravy, vice president of vehicle engineering at Tesla. “These [individual] shops are dictated by the boundaries that exist in [auto] factories. If something goes wrong in final assembly, you block the whole line and you end up with buffering in between.” According to Moravy, vehicle assembly processes haven’t changed in the last 100 years, which he says is “really silly. You take all these stamped [body] panels, you put them together in a framing station, you put the doors on and then you paint them. [Next], you take the doors off and then you start putting the interior in through the openings that exist. Finally, you put the seats and glass in, then reattach the doors. “At Tesla, that’s not good enough,” claims Moravy. “To scale the way we want, we have to rethink manufacturing and make another step change in cost. We started this on the Model Y with huge giga-castings that eliminated hundreds of parts.”
Mediapost: “Brands need to be conscious of their customers. Timely emails, with offers, are fine. If you train me to simply delete your emails when they arrive, your message is not going to get through. Don’t come off so desperate. Balance your retargeting, video and email advertising with a sense of self-confidence. Your product is your best marketing. Give me a quality product, and have some confidence that I like it, and I will remain a repeat purchaser. Overwhelm me, make me numb, and the chances of me buying again become slimmer. Nobody I know buys clothes every day, so why email me every day? Scale it back, and believe in your product. I will recommend you and I will buy from you again, but right now I think need to be on a break.”
Economist: “In 1700 India accounted for 24% of world GDP, more than China (this figure uses purchasing power parity; all others in this article use market exchange rates). It fell to a humiliating low of 1% in 1993 after a financial crisis. Since then it has grown relatively fast, a trend that has continued since Mr Modi’s election in 2014. India now accounts for 3.6% of global GDP, the same as China in 2000. By 2028, the IMF forecasts, it will hit 4.2%, overtaking Germany and Japan. India’s heft is rising in other ways, too: its stockmarket is the fourth biggest after those of America, China and Japan. Its exports of goods and services relative to its GDP are not far from the annual all-time high. They have grown by 73% over the past decade and as a result India’s share of global exports has gone from 1.9% in 2012 to 2.4% in 2022.”
