The funny side of value addition
Saturday, 20 March 2010
Mahmudur Rahman
"What's in a name,
A rose by any other name would smell as sweet"
— William Shakespeare
…And so spoke the bard as he extolled the virtues of character and quality over that of mere names. In modern times the hard boiled marketer would probably shudder at the concept of branding being so berated. But in the world of value addition perhaps the bard's 16th century view isn't all that outdated after all.
Value addition; the oft aired words of adding a little bit more in everything that we do and produce. So be it in going beyond the boundaries of one's personal realms, through the exercise of being cognizant of the consumer's never ending desire for more for less or even in the smallest of businesses, value addition reigns supreme. Then again, there is always the notion that there's value addition to value addition (read pricing) even when no one really wants it.
The enticing but humble greens Kolmi Shaka priced at very conservative levels suddenly undergoes an almost 1600% value addition when served as a dish of choice in a posh Chinese or Thai outlet. The poor bitter lemon languishing in the kutcha markets at Tk 5.0 per piece regains its bitter glory when served as "fresh lime" with a manifold rise in its value at posh hotels. Rice valued at Tk 33 per kg attains a more honourable position of a 260% enhancement when presented in packaging as Muri (puffed rice) at the royal price of Tk. 86 per kg and a good many percentage points more when ordered at a fancy outlet. Rough flour (Atta) may be within certain limits when bought by the kilogram but certainly becomes rougher when a certain value addition produces one Naan Roti priced at Tk 30! For all that we hear of tomatoes going for Tk 5.0 a kilo in Faridpur, Dhaka prices for the delicious veggie are a neat 220% higher at Tk 11. And even the poor man's Chepa Shutki (dried fish)-nowadays also adorning tables in affluent homesteads-can be safely deduced to have an additional value in the range of 55% extra when sold in neat packaging, wrongly suggestive of cleanliness and hygiene. And there's no debate whatsoever when the heat of palate offensive Red Chilli, at times, is enhanced, at least in terms of emptier pockets, when the ground version commands a premium in the range of 143%. The results of simple math on small scale purchases are quite amazing.
Food was always meant for gastronomical urges and somewhat the tickling of the nostrils. That is till someone somewhere came out with the concept of preparations being of similar appeal if not more to the visual senses as well. Master chefs throughout the world then went about perfecting the art of garnishing, adding a little bit here and a little bit there and contributing to a colossal wastage of vegetables, herbs and such that are hardly ever consumed.
But it does defy the imagination when while hapless palms extend hesitantly at every car, at every traffic signal talented ladies of cookery shows come up with new recipes encouraging indulgence in the types of food physicians "officially" condemn (and "unofficially condone"). One only wonders what would happen when the unfashionable Paan (betel leaf) is officially upgraded to a garnishing or salad somewhere as a wonderful new creation. Maybe then the unfashionable chomping would stop. Now wouldn't that be a shame. (The writer is a former Head of Corporate & Regulatory Affairs of British American Tobacco Bangladesh, former CEO of Bangladesh Cricket Board and specializes in corporate affairs, communications and corporate social responsibility. E-mail : mahmudrahman@gmail.com)
"What's in a name,
A rose by any other name would smell as sweet"
— William Shakespeare
…And so spoke the bard as he extolled the virtues of character and quality over that of mere names. In modern times the hard boiled marketer would probably shudder at the concept of branding being so berated. But in the world of value addition perhaps the bard's 16th century view isn't all that outdated after all.
Value addition; the oft aired words of adding a little bit more in everything that we do and produce. So be it in going beyond the boundaries of one's personal realms, through the exercise of being cognizant of the consumer's never ending desire for more for less or even in the smallest of businesses, value addition reigns supreme. Then again, there is always the notion that there's value addition to value addition (read pricing) even when no one really wants it.
The enticing but humble greens Kolmi Shaka priced at very conservative levels suddenly undergoes an almost 1600% value addition when served as a dish of choice in a posh Chinese or Thai outlet. The poor bitter lemon languishing in the kutcha markets at Tk 5.0 per piece regains its bitter glory when served as "fresh lime" with a manifold rise in its value at posh hotels. Rice valued at Tk 33 per kg attains a more honourable position of a 260% enhancement when presented in packaging as Muri (puffed rice) at the royal price of Tk. 86 per kg and a good many percentage points more when ordered at a fancy outlet. Rough flour (Atta) may be within certain limits when bought by the kilogram but certainly becomes rougher when a certain value addition produces one Naan Roti priced at Tk 30! For all that we hear of tomatoes going for Tk 5.0 a kilo in Faridpur, Dhaka prices for the delicious veggie are a neat 220% higher at Tk 11. And even the poor man's Chepa Shutki (dried fish)-nowadays also adorning tables in affluent homesteads-can be safely deduced to have an additional value in the range of 55% extra when sold in neat packaging, wrongly suggestive of cleanliness and hygiene. And there's no debate whatsoever when the heat of palate offensive Red Chilli, at times, is enhanced, at least in terms of emptier pockets, when the ground version commands a premium in the range of 143%. The results of simple math on small scale purchases are quite amazing.
Food was always meant for gastronomical urges and somewhat the tickling of the nostrils. That is till someone somewhere came out with the concept of preparations being of similar appeal if not more to the visual senses as well. Master chefs throughout the world then went about perfecting the art of garnishing, adding a little bit here and a little bit there and contributing to a colossal wastage of vegetables, herbs and such that are hardly ever consumed.
But it does defy the imagination when while hapless palms extend hesitantly at every car, at every traffic signal talented ladies of cookery shows come up with new recipes encouraging indulgence in the types of food physicians "officially" condemn (and "unofficially condone"). One only wonders what would happen when the unfashionable Paan (betel leaf) is officially upgraded to a garnishing or salad somewhere as a wonderful new creation. Maybe then the unfashionable chomping would stop. Now wouldn't that be a shame. (The writer is a former Head of Corporate & Regulatory Affairs of British American Tobacco Bangladesh, former CEO of Bangladesh Cricket Board and specializes in corporate affairs, communications and corporate social responsibility. E-mail : mahmudrahman@gmail.com)