top of page

By:

Divyaa Advaani 

2 November 2024 at 3:28:38 am

When Growth Confuses Markets

In business, growth is often associated with expansion. As companies evolve, founders naturally begin exploring additional services, new verticals, and complementary offerings that can strengthen revenue and create larger opportunities. From a business standpoint, this progression appears logical. The entrepreneur sees the connection clearly because the new service often emerges directly from existing expertise. However, markets do not always interpret expansion the way founders expect them...

When Growth Confuses Markets

In business, growth is often associated with expansion. As companies evolve, founders naturally begin exploring additional services, new verticals, and complementary offerings that can strengthen revenue and create larger opportunities. From a business standpoint, this progression appears logical. The entrepreneur sees the connection clearly because the new service often emerges directly from existing expertise. However, markets do not always interpret expansion the way founders expect them to. Recently, during a conversation with an entrepreneur, this reality became particularly evident. She explained that despite putting significant effort into growing her business and introducing additional services connected to her current work, she was struggling to attract clients for these newer offerings. What surprised her most was not the lack of effort being made, but the lack of understanding from the market itself. People were becoming uncertain. Existing clients no longer clearly understood what exactly she should now be known for. And in business, the moment perception becomes unclear, trust begins weakening faster than most founders realise. The services were related, the value proposition made sense internally, and from her perspective the transition felt natural. Yet externally, the audience struggled to clearly understand what exactly she now represented. Existing clients knew her for one thing, while her newer positioning was attempting to communicate something broader. This is becoming increasingly common among founders and business owners operating at substantial levels of turnover. At earlier stages of business, growth is often driven by activity. More services, more offerings, and more visibility appear to create momentum. But as businesses scale, particularly beyond the ₹5 crore mark, perception begins playing a far more significant role in determining growth. The challenge is not always capability. Very often, the challenge is clarity. Many entrepreneurs underestimate how quickly confusion weakens trust. Audiences today process information rapidly and make judgments even faster. They do not spend long periods trying to decode a founder’s positioning. The moment the messaging feels inconsistent or overly broad, attention begins to drift elsewhere. This creates a hidden business problem that many founders fail to recognise immediately. The entrepreneur continues investing more effort. More meetings are scheduled, more marketing is executed, more content is created, and more explanations are repeatedly given to the market. Yet despite all this activity, conversions remain inconsistent because the underlying issue has not been addressed. The market does not clearly understand where to place the individual. This is where personal branding becomes a business necessity rather than a visibility exercise. A strong personal brand creates strategic clarity. It allows people to immediately understand not only what an entrepreneur does, but why the additional services make sense within the larger identity of the founder and the business itself. Without this alignment, even valuable offerings begin to feel disconnected. Over time, this confusion creates broader consequences. Opportunities become slower to materialise. Referrals reduce because people struggle to explain the business clearly to others. Premium positioning weakens because clarity is directly connected to authority. In many cases, founders begin questioning their marketing strategies when the actual issue lies in how their positioning is being perceived. This becomes particularly dangerous in today’s environment where visibility is abundant but attention is limited. The founders who continue to grow are rarely the ones trying to communicate everything simultaneously. They are the ones who build a clear identity first and then strategically expand around it. Their audience understands not only what they currently offer, but also why future offerings naturally belong within their ecosystem. This distinction changes everything. Because in business, people rarely buy what confuses them. They buy what they can quickly understand and confidently trust. For founders and business owners who feel they are putting in increasing effort yet still struggling to position newer services effectively, this may be an important moment for reflection. Sometimes the issue is not the quality of the offering, but the clarity of the perception surrounding it. I work with a select group of founders and entrepreneurs to help them identify these positioning gaps, refine how they are perceived in the market, and build personal brands that create stronger authority, trust, and business growth. Those who wish to explore this further may book a complimentary 30-minute Founder Brand Audit here: https://calendly.com/divyaaadvaani/founder-brand-audit In the end, businesses rarely lose only because of weak services. Increasingly, they lose because the market understands someone else faster. In a world overwhelmed by options, clarity is no longer just a branding advantage. It is becoming one of the strongest competitive advantages a founder can build. (The author is a personal branding expert. She has clients from 14+ countries. Views personal.)

Caste-based Census Sparks Nationwide Debate

Updated: Oct 22, 2024

Caste-based Census

Caste-based identities continue to dominate rural India, directly or indirectly shaping electoral outcomes. Many major elections are influenced by specific caste groups. After the Bihar government released the first phase of its caste-based socio-economic survey, the caste census became a hot topic. The results, backed by evidence, showed improvements in the living standards and social status of marginalised communities, both in cities and villages. With parties like the JDU and NCP backing a caste census, there is growing momentum for the government to conduct one. However, every story has two sides—joy and sorrow. Even Mahatma Gandhi, the Father of the Nation, raised concerns about the caste census.

Rahul Gandhi accused the BJP of being “anti-Bahujan.” The clear meaning is that his father and forefather refused to execute a caste-based census, which might have far-reaching effects and even permanently fracture India’s social fabric. This may be negative for caste-based beneficiaries. The last caste census in India was conducted in 1931 by the British government. Those times were different from the present scenario. The data was made public and became the basis for the Mandal Commission Reports and reservation policies for Other Backward Classes. Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has clarified that the caste-based population count data will not be used for core politics. But the agenda for politics is always twisted and expanded.

The Central Government also joined the legal debate by filing an affidavit with the Supreme Court, leaving the matter unresolved. India’s partition, rooted in the divide-and-rule strategy, is frequently cited as a cautionary tale. Including caste in official census data could further deepen social divides. This issue has become a political pressure point, with various states pushing the Centre for action. Although the Constitution uses the term “class” instead of “caste,” the Supreme Court has consistently ruled that caste is a relevant, and at times, sole or dominant criterion for defining a backward class.

After the release of caste-based census data in Bihar, discussions around conducting similar censuses have gained momentum in states like Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, and Jharkhand. Karnataka, which has already conducted its own caste census, may release its data soon as well.

Notably, all these states are governed by anti-BJP parties. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi also announced that Congress-ruled states have committed to carrying out caste censuses. Meanwhile, the BJP has remained silent on the matter, creating a significant roadblock.

Caste-based censuses focus on proportional representation in areas like jobs and education, with the argument that this will aid in targeted planning for the disadvantaged. However, the situation remains unclear, much like a foggy winter morning. The BJP’s stance on caste-based censuses and reservations seems different, as they fear the caste-based calculations could fragment their traditional Hindu voter base—an underlying concern for the party.

Professor Sanjay Kumar from The Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, says, “Let alone the BJP; no party can openly oppose it; it is not free from danger. BJP gets a large number of votes from the OBC community, their population across the country would be around 52%. Another downside is that the caste-based censuses could disrupt the balance of socio-economic zones. Data theft is a common issue in government systems, and people may feel disconnected from their actual rights.

The moot question is that if the financial status of an ST/SC/OBC or Dalit citizen moves up by a few notches, will his social status change automatically? The lifestyle of any class will only change when the income of a particular class is changed. The actual source of income is employment. The reality is that only metro cities have enough place and space for workers. Aside from the GIDC and IT sectors, less than 30% of industries have their own designated vacancy periods. After a decade, the Jamnagar and Rajkot Corporations have opened their doors to newcomers alongside experienced staff. However, age and caste bias often operate behind the scenes. It’s important to recognise that poverty is also widespread among many upper-caste individuals, and their needs cannot be overlooked. In the overall interests of the nation, terms like SC/ST/OBC, Dalits, etc. must be deleted from the nation’s vocabulary. Every citizen should have only one classification, that of being an ‘Indian’, in the spirit of the constitution.

Last year, when the Bihar government decided to conduct a caste survey in the state, the BJP was also Nitish Kumar’s partner in the state government, and it supported it. Political expert and former professor of Tata Institute of Social Science, Pushpendra Kumar, says, “It is not that the BJP does not talk about caste. It tries to reveal the caste of the Prime Minister as well. For caste politics, the BJP also tried hard to raise the issue of Pasmanda Muslims.”

(The writer is a management professional based in Ahmedabad. Views personal.)

Comments

bottom of page