Today the Parisa Group is recognised as the most innovative and successful UK company in its sector.

Central to the company's whole businesses philosophy - driven by Chief Executive Nader Haghighi - is the importance of market positioning and the building of new brands.

When Nader Haghighi took over the helm of the company in April 1994, he inherited what one influential trade publication at the time described as "a sleeping giant"- a mixed collection of just under 500 high street and local off - licences generally lacking customer appeal and a distinctive personality.

Today nobody can any longer accuse this retail operation - the number one independent operator in the UK off trade and rising star in the drinks leisure sector - as dull or boring.

Nader Haghighi, who led the £56 million buyout of the businesses from parent company The Greenalls Group in August 1997, has transformed the organisation from top to bottom. From shop fascias to distribution. From new company name to ground breaking retail concepts. From purchasing strategies to promotion.

Like so many successful marketeers and innovative business leaders, Nader Haghighi has an instinctive understanding of how changing trends in lifestyle and customer taste reflect themselves in new patterns of shopping behaviour.

The trick is to spot the trend, identify the new needs of customers - and change and adapt your product accordingly. Nader Haghighi quotes the classic description of what real marketing is all about. "The right product, in the right place, at the right time, at the right price."

It's a lesson that Nader has learned from his earliest days in business when, at the tender age of nine, he became the family breadwinner running his own kiosk, selling sweets and cigarettes, in his native Iran. He came to the UK to study medicine, and to finance his studies he took a part time job in an off licence. Ten years later he had shot through the ranks of the company's management to become Operations Manager of the largest specialist retail drinks operation in the country.

Today he heads The Parisa Group, the new dynamic force in UK specialist drinks retailing and leisure, which has become one of the best known names in the industry through its rapid development of new shopping and leisure concepts and brands. From its traditional base in the North of England, the company has now expanded into the Midlands, London and the South East.

The company has, for example, launched the first-ever Wine Cellar continental-style licensed cafe in an off-licence and introduced in-store fresh bakeries and luxury food products and gifts, extending the product range of traditional drinks stores.

This innovation has been taken a step further by Parisa Cafe Bars, food and wine led outlets with their very own microbrewery and choice of over 250 wines to enjoy with a meal. Following the success of the first pilot Parisa Cafe Bar in Putney, London, five further new outlets have been launched in UK towns and cities, from Bromley to Leeds.

A major roll out is planned for the Parisa Cafe Bar concept. Over the next 12 months 20 new outlets will open in new geographical locations across the country.

At the same time, an ever-expanding chain of open-all-hours local convenience stores have been created, as well as cut-price, no frills, off-licences that challenge supermarket prices head on.

It's a long way from the collection of all-too-often dowdy off-licences that used to make up this previously under-performing retail group. With an excellent recent track record of improving profits and major investment in new brands, systems and management, Parisa has a confident vision of the future.

Parisa faces the challenge of retailing into the Millennium, and supermarket competition, with a firm belief in the values of the local convenience and first-class customer service combined with imaginative thinking and a determination to create a warm and welcoming atmosphere in every store.

These are the current retail brands of Parisa:

Parisa Cafe Bar -
Following the success of the first six Parisa Cafe' Bars, 20 new outlets will be created in the next 12 months. This development marks a major move into the on-trade leisure sector by Parisa.

Each Parisa Cafe Bar offers customers a choice of over 250 wines at prices comparable to those sold in the group's off licences.
The success of the microbrewery at Parisa's first pilot store in Putney has led to the sale of the company's own micro-brewed beer at all new outlets.

Wine Cellar -
Group of 74 upmarket specialist wine stores which routinely stock over 700 different wines. Selected Wine Cellar outlets incorporate Continental-style cafes, which serve freshly-baked baguettes, patisserie foods and freshly-ground coffee, in a relaxed Parisian atmosphere.

Wine Cellar has broken the traditional UK barriers between pubs, restaurants and retail off-licences, by allowing customers to buy alcohol from off-licence shelves and drink it on the premises, within the cafe areas of its outlets. It is the only major high street drinks chain to operate dual 'on' and 'off' licences.

Booze Buster -
New generation of over 350 no-frills cut price off-licences with bold shopfronts. Booze Buster's aggressive pricing policy challenges the major supermarkets drinks prices. This established brand is now available to independent retailers through franchise arrangements to help them compete with supermarkets through Parisa's bulk-buying power.

Right Choice -
Local convenience shops offering a full range of fresh and packaged groceries as well as drinks, news and video rental. They are very attractive, clean, bright and warm and serve the local community. From a single pilot store in early 1995, a chain of over 65 Right Choice outlets operate mainly in the North West, North East and Midlands.

Some have been conversions of existing off-licences, others have been opened at new sites, acquired externally.

New retail concepts have been introduced into many of the stores, to provide a complete one-stop-shop for the local community.

Nader Haghighi’s speech at the BIBA General Meeting, November 1999, at London Hilton:

Donald Trump once said:
" I like thinking big. If you're going to think anything, you might as well think big"

Or as Ivana his wife summed it up:
"Don't get even, get everything!"

They are both certainly right, and if you think of some of the great entrepreneurs of the past, people such as Richard Arkwright and Alexander Graham Bell or modern day luminaries such as Richard Branson or Bill Gates, you find they share a number of characteristics, namely vision, ambition and a real determination to succeed.

Entrepreneurs, however, also do share another characteristic which is vital for success, and this is the acceptance of the need to take risk. Market entrepreneurs certainly don't rely on learning from past experience but from future experiments.

What makes them stand apart is their realisation that innovation must be focused to enable the consumer to get real value out of the experience - this is clearly not just about satisfying customer needs, but it is fundamentally about exceeding their aspirations.

Achieving this often involves change and the idea of change often makes people uncomfortable. However change within an organisation must be constant. In reality it is the organisations that do not embrace change. Those that stand still are the ones who end up going nowhere.

I once read a saying from Theodore Roosevelt, which I often quote to people who worry about change, and it goes like this:

"It's hard to fail, but its worse never to have tried to succeed"

I came to the UK in 1979 with ambition of becoming a doctor. Little did I know that 20 years on I would be invited to speak on this topic of entrepreneurship to such an important group of British Iranians.

Recognising that the science of retailing is now possibly as sophisticated and complex as any other topic that we might concern ourselves with, it is not surprising therefore to give some recognition to real entrepreneurs.

Unfortunately I do not see myself as an entrepreneur but someone who has had to practice the art of retailing at the age of nine on a kiosk in the streets of Shiraz and I learned some fundamental lessons about retailing at an early age through need rather than choice.

These lessons have certainly facilitated my success in UK retailing. Once retailing is in your blood there is no turning back and where would be a better place to practice such an art than in the UK. After all, Napoleon Bonaparte once described this country as:

"a nation of shopkeepers"

With over 3 million people being employed in the 'retail' and 'wholesale' industry - some 15% of the employed population- his words still ring true today, however I doubt if even he would have recognised today's retail environment.

If we go back in time, retailing was predominately confined to town centres - the sites of old medieval markets, certainly fulfiling Napoleon’s vision.

Even with 19th century industrialisation and the subsequent enormous expansion of towns and cities, changes in the pattern of retailing were still largely confined to existing high streets or along towns' arterial road.

However the 19th century also heralded a retail revolution, considered by many as the real beginning of retail innovation and the dawning of the modern retail age.

This innovation took place in Toad Lane Rochdale in 1844 - of course it was the beginning of the co-operative movement.

I suspect that the Rochdale pioneers could not have perceived that what they started was to snowball and effectively dominate retailing in this country for well over 100 years.

The towns' dominance as the major shopping centre continued into the 20th century.

Before the emergence of cars as a means of transport for the ordinary person, public transport as we know it was the way of getting from A to B and thus the town centre was the logical place to do your shopping.

Following the depression of the 30's and the command economy of the war years, the next retail evolution occurred shortly after the lifting of rationing in the 1950's - the emergence of self-service.

What is second nature today was still in its infancy. However, retailers at long last had the opportunity to take advantage of new techniques and keep pace with the increasing scale of operation of the manufacturers of consumer goods. The logical extension of this trend was of course, the development of the superstore, with the first opening at Crossgate in Leeds in 1965.

Back in the 1960's Harold Wilson pointed out:

"He who rejects change is the architect of decay. The only human institution which rejects progress is the cemetery."

That was said over 30 years ago and of course the world of the 1960's was very different from the world of today.

If you think back to those days; the beginning of the white hot heat of the technological revolution; politicians were still touring the country to address mass political rallies, arguing the case and dealing with hecklers - the TV as a medium was still in its infancy.

Well we've come along way since then.

Old labour has been replaced by new Labour, dear old Mr Wilson with smooth Mr Blair.

Politicians have certainly recognised the importance and significance of the carefully crafted broadcast and interview - the spin doctor has come into his own and of course the 'sound bite' is now one of the politicians greatest weapons.

Like it or not, politics has grown up - they have learned how to use emergent technology and they have innovated and embraced change.

If I take my own sector as an example we also see significant change if we make the same comparison.

In the 1960's the off licence was the pub. The norm was to drink beer and spirits and the supermarkets role was for purchasing your soap powder and tinned soup.

How times have changed!

Supermarkets now account for a staggering 86% of take home sales and the social norm has moved towards drinking wine - so the pub now becomes the Wine Bar and the off-licence becomes the Wine Shop.

During the 80's and the 90's the pace of change has heated up and we seem to be in state of permanent revolution.

Nearly everyone now has a car or access to a car and out of town superstores and complexes have put the traditional high street under threat.

It's a sobering thought that if we go back to the 1960' there were in the region of 142,000 shops in this country including many specialists like butchers, bakers and green grocers.

Now the number has fallen to less than 38,000 reflecting the trend to all under one roof shopping trips.

As stated supermarkets have certainly made their mark, and when you consider that the likes of Wal - Mart are now moving into the market, with their tremendous buying power it is clear that the pace of competition is certainly going to intensify.

Technology has also come to the fore. It is almost inconceivable in today's environment to trade without the help of technology - it drives everything, from the merchandising for the store to the automatic replenishment of stock, it works your tills and it does your accounts; in fact it governs almost every element of the retail mix.

Today you don't even have to leave your own armchair to shop. You can now step into the virtual world of 'e' commerce. Is this the dawning of a new retail revolution? - I would say yes but I don't think it will kill the high street because for many shopping is a leisure activity, our task is to make it a really enjoyable and fulfiling one.

The question I want to pose this evening is:

Given the revolution that there has undoubtedly been in retailing this century, why is retailing viewed by many both inside and outside the trade as a 'second division' occupation, rather than a real profession in its own right?

Unfortunately this is very true - a recent Mori Poll concluded that 90% of UK employees do not care about the company they work for.

This maybe gives a large hint as to one of the major hurdles that has to be overcome in the retail trade.

If your staff are only there to earn a wage without showing any real interest or passion about the company how are they going to interface with the customer?

I think we can all guess!

Changing this mind set is vital for the future profitability of the retail industry.

Thomas Carlyle once said:

'A person normally has two reasons for doing something: a good reason and the real reason.'

I would suggest that in the past a lot of retailers have paid lip service to the needs of their staff.

When considering a product a marketer would normally concentrate on the 4 P's of marketing:

* product
* pricing
* packaging, and
* promotion

A retailer, however, most definitely has to consider the 5th P and that is people.
Why are staff in the retail profession not highly motivated?
Is it the drudgery of the job, the working conditions or the pay?
I would suggest people in almost every industry would make these complaints.

I would further suggest that it is also because the management perceive the staff are just there to serve rather than sell.

We don't offer structured career progression or the necessary training to develop the skill base of the person- in other words the 5th P is not being marketed effectively and until we change this situation we are not going to attract the people with the calibre we require.

If retailers once shaped peoples preferences, today the roles are reversed - it's now the job of the retailer to respond to a better informed and more confident consumer.

A lot of consumers these days are suffering from what has been called time poverty - in other words their leisure time is being eroded by the pace and demands of modern life and thus they are looking to get the most out of available time.

Time poverty is also a major issue for people in the retail trade.

In my industry, drinks retailing, the member of staff has typically less than two minutes to sell to a customer.

In this case it is no good giving the staff all the product knowledge in the world if you don't equip them with the basic skills to persuasively get the message home to the customer in the limited time available.

Vision is of major importance to the entrepreneur.

It enables them to add real innovation to the market place and create a level of excitement, which the customer will respond to in a very positive way.

However none of us must forget that as we approach the next millennium it is very much the customer who is in charge - they demand this innovation and excitement, but unfortunately we often let them down.

In today's marketplace, short term results are perceived as being of vital significance - a different perspective from some of our European colleagues.

Given this fact what happens when you have a short-term business problem? Well most often it's the Research and Development budget that gets the axe. In fact, what is being axed is the company's commitment to real innovation and change.

In this scenario you lose your strategic direction and thus when someone launches a new initiative you have no option but to copy it without understanding if it is the right move - innovation rapidly becomes replaced by imitation, confusing the customers and often costing the companies concerned many millions into the bargain.

For a classic example of this you only have to look at the licensed trade where all the major operators are spending a fortune constantly copying each other - its got to such a stage that no-one can remember who invented what. These companies are making major investments just to stand still.

Unfortunately its not just big established companies that get sucked into this defective corporate culture, it can all too easily happen to who we consider to be leading innovators.

If we go back to maybe one of the greatest entrepreneurs that this country has had for a very long time, namely Richard Branson, we can see signs of this.

This man gave us Virgin records and changed the flight industry forever with the launch of such brands as Virgin Cola and Virgin Vodka, unfortunately classic examples of imitation - not adding any new values to the market. With no unique selling proposition these, on the face of it, would appear to be two examples of just using the Virgin name to make short term profit rather than enhancing the reputation and development of the company through innovation and change.

Maybe its inevitable that eventually everybody succumbs to the 'corporate culture' and if this is the case its vitally important that we actively encourage entrepreneurs and innovators to join our companies, encourage them to experiment and help shape the future direction of our businesses.

Things have certainly moved on since Napoleon called us a nation of shopkeepers - the investment and sophistication of the retail trade is second to none.

It is now are task to continue to encourage entrepreneurial flair and to develop the missing dimension-the 5th 'P', our people.

So lets turn a second division occupation into a recognised and respected profession.

We have to work at this and be determined to be successful, for as Napoleon Bonaparte also said:

'Victory belongs to the most persevering'

Thank You.” 18 November, 1999.

Kamran Kashani is a professor of marketing at IMD, Lausanne.

The role of brands and their contribution to business performance have been controversial over the years. In the mid-1990s, following the rise of private labels in fast-moving consumer goods industries, many were quick to announce the decline and fall of brands such as Coca-Cola, Marlboro and Gillette.

However, those predictions were premature. By the end of the decade not only had most of the fallen brands recovered, but a number of non-consumer goods and service companies had joined the club of sophisticated brand builders.

Who would have thought, for instance, that Intel - an industrial label for a semiconductor chip that computer users do not see, touch, smell or taste - was on its way to becoming one of the world's most recognised and valuable brand names? Intel's management, with a keen eye on the growing number of first-time PC buyers, saw the potential for creating and then protecting a highly differentiated branded position in an increasingly commodity-like market for semiconductor chips. Intel's success, confirmed by the premium prices PC customers are willing to pay for a product with an Intel sticker, has been an inspiration for many raw material and component manufacturers. Like Intel, they seek ways of enhancing their competitive position through the effective use of their brands.

The controversy surrounding brands was re-ignited most recently with the rise of electronic commerce. Once again, many predicted the decline of brands. They argued that brands had little to contribute in internet markets, where price transparency is the rule. As experience accumulated, however, sceptics were again proved wrong.

While products and prices can be compared endlessly, internet consumers are nonetheless sticking to a few established sites with recognised names - such as Amazon.com and Charles Schwab, and even old-economy labels such as Barnes & Noble and IBM.

The realisation that brands are just as important online as offline has encouraged many e-commerce companies to invest heavily in advertising. At the height of the dotcom frenzy, many e-commerce start-ups spent sums several times their sales revenues in an attempt to establish a dominant presence in the internet's crowded market space.

The logic of brands
What explains the persistence and growth of brands in both the old and new economy, and the endemic scepticism about their role? What is the enduring logic of brands? A closer analysis of Intel's campaign may provide some answers.

In the early 1990s, a court gave Intel's rival AMD the right to copy the company's microchips - an unforeseen byproduct of a licensing agreement between them. Managers were faced with the challenge of finding new ways of differentiating Intel's chips from those produced by its competition. Competing on price was not an appealing option. Branding computer chips itself was a new idea, but reaching the consumer with a brand statement was totally unconventional, especially in an industry where differentiation had always been fought on technical superiority. After all, the sceptics argued, Intel's customers were PC makers, not PC users. Why should the consumers care about the brand of a component inside their PC?

However, Intel's managers understood the psychology of a growing number of first-time PC buyers who wanted reassurance that their investment in a computer was a safe one. The ''intel inside'' sticker on each PC communicated quality and power - exactly what the consumers needed. All the company's press and broadcast advertisements emphasised the brand values of assured quality and high-tech power. Intel's brand was to stand for a safe choice.

The message fell on receptive consumer ears, but consumers were not the only beneficiaries of Intel's logic. Intel had also recognised that many lesser-known manufacturers would be interested in buying the company's premium-priced microchip and displaying the Intel logo on their products and advertising. While the brand on the computer, often an IBM clone, might not be well known, consumers had no difficulty recognising the Intel sticker that had come to represent assured quality and computing power.

Monday, 30th July 2001

If a life spent on both sides of the tracks is an asset to someone in the parliamentary lobbying game then London firm Moon Beever - the UK branch of transatlantic practice ShawnCoulson - could have done a lot worse than hire Lord Peter Temple-Morris.

Lord Temple-Morris has worked as a barrister, a solicitor, a Tory MP, an independent MP, a Labour MP, and now - as of two weeks ago - a peer.

Lobbying is not the word that Lord Temple-Morris prefers to use for his department at ShawnCoulson. It is, he insists, a public affairs department. 'It wouldn't be proper for me to lobby personally', he says, referring to his role as a peer.

However, lawyers at ShawnCoulson can carry out lobbying tasks, he says, such as creating briefing papers and making submissions on legislative changes to appropriate civil servants on behalf of clients.

'What lawyers should not under any circumstances be doing is influence-peddling

Lord Temple-Morris does not shy away from the issue of lobbying. He says that in the same way that 'lawyers have lost out tremendously to accountants in many spheres of business that they wouldn't have in the US', with lobbying, lawyers should seize the initiative back from 'public relations consultancies which have been making most of the running for the past ten years in the UK'.

Over at City firm DLA, the head of the firm's lobbying section - another solicitor peer, former Liberal Party chairman Lord Clement-Jones - is much more gung-ho about what the firm is trying to achieve. 'Lobbying gets tarnished by the foolishness of one or two individuals, but it has cleared up its act a lot in the last ten years,' he says, adding that there is no shame in the word.

He says DLA was the first firm to seize the initiative 'US style' with its practice, based in London and Brussels. DLA Upstream has 15 staff, all of whom, except Lord Clement Morris himself, are not legally qualified. But he agrees with Lord Temple-Morris that it is an area ripe for lawyers. 'The advantage for us is that we have access to lawyers of so many different specialist areas who understand the legislative points.'

Undoubtedly, DLA Upstream represented something of a first, with its separate branding from the firm, but few could deny that City giant Clifford Chance was the first English firm to set up a dedicated practice to public policy and lobbying.

Richard Thomas, the partner who heads up the department, says: 'Whereas most lawyers advise on what the law is, we are advising on what it's going to be... lawyers can no longer afford not to be aware of what's in the pipeline.'

He says the role of the department involves preparing guides about the machinery of government for clients, an annual guide to the Queen's speech, an on-line public policy service on European and UK legislation, and advising firms about areas of practice - such as public private partnerships - where there are government issues.

Mr Thomas suggests that one reason for increased interest in the field is the fact that 'government is becoming far more open'. The increasing transparency of process gives more scope for lawyers such as him to identify the correct time and place for suggesting changes to legislation.

One Bill the firm lobbied on last year - he prefers not to specify which -had a whole clause dropped at the instigation of the firm's efforts. But Mr Thomas acknowledges that the lobbying is usually targeted at smaller amendments to clauses.

He is also pleased by the announcement last week by the new leader of the Commons - former Foreign Secretary Robin Cook - that the government intends to use draft Bills more widely, as these enable more professional lobbying input.

It is tempting to assume that- with the examples of Lords Temple-Morris and Clement-Jones - it is a prerequisite to have at least one ermine-lined consultant on the payroll of a successful lobbying outfit.

But most of the players agree that it is far more important to have an understanding of, and good contacts with, the civil service, rather than parliament.

Lord Clement-Jones says: 'It's entirely coincidental with my role as head of Upstream that I also sit in the House of Lords. I have been involved in this area for many years before that happened.'

This would explain why Lord Temple-Morris works with a foreign office civil servant Nicholas Hall and that Mr Thomas was an under-secretary in the Office of Fair Trading during the Thatcher and Major years before his arrival at Clifford Chance in 1992, when he set up the first public policy department in the City.

Mr Thomas says Clifford Chance would not appoint someone within parliament to represent its interests in this way, because it would be afraid that partisanship might impede the advice. Instead, he says, 'we find our expertise with civil servants and regulators more often than government officers'.

There is no ethical issue thrown up by Lords being involved in lobbying, say Lords Temple-Morris and Clement-Jones, who both insist that the Lords' systems for declaring interests are more rigorous than the Commons.

The important thing, so far as Lord Temple-Morris is concerned, is to distinguish between the lobbying functions. 'What lawyers should not under any circumstances be doing is influence-peddling,' he says. 'To have lawyers hanging around bars at night in parliament does not befit a solicitor.'

However, as the quantity of firms involved in lobbying rises - as he predicts it will - this is something that the Law Society should keep an eye on, and he adds that some codification of legal lobbyists' roles might need to be considered.

Lord Clement-Jones agrees that regulation is currently unnecessary because of the 'rigorous effects of the Neill report' - which redefined the extent to which politicians declare their interests - and also because regulation of solicitors generally is so rigorous.

However, he says DLA Upstream has its own code of conduct to deal with the extent to which authorities may be contacted, to prevent anyone accepting financial inducements or attempting to put people onto retainers to gain influence.

He says there are too few players in the lobbying game to justify regulation, though he agrees that - if there is a marked increase in lawyers in the market - it might be appropriate to adopt a voluntary code.

ShawnCoulson's ultimate plan, Lord Temple-Morris explains, is to co-ordinate its lobbying efforts over several jurisdictions, and build an international lobbying capacity across different jurisdictions. He explains: 'We already have dedicated staff in Brussels, Rome, Washington, Paris and Canada.' He predicts the increase in global transactions means that ShawnCoulson will be on cue to step in with this capability for corporate clients, seeking advice across many different jurisdictions.

Although Upstream has dedicated staff in Brussels, Lord Clement-Jones says the plan is to use DLA's international network, D&P, to spread its influence, though the importance of cross-border business should not be overplayed. He adds: 'We take things on a country-by-country basis.'

Mr Thomas backs this up, explaining that the public policy role in different countries varies enormously.

Of ShawnCoulson's bold step into the market, Lord Clement-Jones says: 'It demonstrates that these departments are strong and beneficial to firms... there's nothing like a bit of competition to stir up the market.'

Whether lawyers really strike gold in the lobbying market remains to be seen, but those who don't get stuck in now look like being left behind.