Mindshare Game

While corporate battles intensified in a slowdown that refused to go away, a
majority of Indian companies were concerned with only one thing, consolidation–revenues,
marketshare and mindshare. Overall, the eight-month period between October 2001
and May 2002 (agencyfaqs started monitoring media relations activity of Indian
corporate only in October last year) proved to be fruitful for communications
specialists in the Indian IT sector. That they managed to do their job better is
evident from the fact that during this phase, technology companies dominated the
Cirrus Top 10 listings for India Inc.

POSITIVE SIGNS: While the Tatas, Wipro and Satyam had more positive news than negative (for groups), neutral articles outweighed positive articles in the case of HP and HCL

During the period, Tata captured 18% of the total 1,50,192 Cirrus image
points (CIP) for the Indian IT industry to emerge #1 on the DQ-Cirrus Image
Index of Dataquest Top Five groups. Wipro with 13% share at #2 was much behind
the leader in terms of sheer numbers–19,939 as compared to the leaders 26,358
CIP. HP at #3 garnered 9% of the pie, while Satyam and HCL managed 6% and 3%
respectively. Jointly the top five groups notched up 73,210 CIP or 49% of the
overall CIPs scored by the Indian IT companies.

SLICES OF THE PIE: While VSNL was the star performer in the Tata stable with 15,281 CIP, Wipro Ltd was the top runner in the Wipro group with 19,508 points. Within HP, HP India was the top gunner with 9,385 points, followed by Compaq (2,871). Satyam Computer topped within its group with 5,845 points, while HCL Technologies had a major share (3,347) in the overall HCL pie

On the quality of exposure (QE) index front, which is the ratio between the
image and visibility points and helps in understanding whether the nature of the
coverage was flattering or not, Wipro overshadowed Tata by16 points to score 137
and grab the #1 slot. In fact, Tata and Satyam were tied with 121 points for the
#2 position, followed by HCL with 117 points and HP with 95 points. The maximum
a company can score on the QE Index is 200 points and greater the company
scores, higher is its ratio of positive coverage in relation to total coverage
received.

In terms of visibility score, which indicates the coverage for different
types of news and the media preference, corporate issues grabbed maximum 8,739
points. Marketing and sales efforts by the groups got the second largest
coverage and 6,918 CIP. Financial results (5,639), merger and acquisition
(4,380) and alliances (3,086) were the other hot favorites. And while the groups
fought for the mind share, Wipro managed to leave others behind in three
categories–corporate with 2,609 points, financial result (2,476) and alliances
(954). The marketing and sales efforts by Tata earned it the maximum point
(2,660), while HP topped the list on merger and acquisition front with 2,799
point. This in fact, is the highest score garnered by any of these DQ Top Five
groups across different categories.

Interestingly, amongst the companies within the Top Five group, Wipro Ltd.
strongly rallied to touch 19,508 CIP and grab the #1 position. VSNL that is part
of the Tata group now finished #2 with a score of 15,281 CIP. While HP India
scored 9,385 points to emerge #3, TCS scored 8,000 points and was at #4. Satyam
Computers with 5,845 CIP, HCL Technologies with 3347 points, Compaq India with
2871 points and Satyam Infoways with 2471 point were placed at #5, #6, #7 and #8
respectively. CMC scored 2348 points to emerge #9 while HCL Infosystems managed
1427 CIP and #10 slot.

DOMINATING TRAITS: Marketing and sales efforts helped the Tatas get the maximum 39% coverage in the segment. On the corporate front, though, Wipro was at #1 with a 30% share, followed by the Tatas (29%). Wipro also hogged a majority 43% share in financial results coverage and 32% share for news on alliances. Satyam followed with a 28% share in the financial results category, and the Tatas cornered 25% of the ‘news on alliances’ pie. On the mergers and acquisitions front, HP, thanks to its buyout of Compaq, left others far behind with a massive 65% share

SHUBHENDU PARTH in New Delhi

(For more information on Cirrus, contact: sandeep@agencyfaqs.com
or srinibalram@agencyfaqs.com)