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Case Studies:

Marketing Management

© The ICFAI Foundation for Higher Education (IFHE), Hyderabad, May, 2015. All rights reserved

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ii

CONTENTS

1.Volkswagen: Making Adjustments to Win the Indian Customers5
2.McDonald‟s value chain strategy in uncertain markets7
3.Focus on Demographic Environment: A legacy Brand‟s Success Story8
4.Understanding Customers through Customer Lifetime Value Model10
5.Toyota Automobile Recall: Addressing Customer‟s Cognitive Dissonance11
6.Cisco‟s supply chain model to withstand the disruptions due to natural disasters12
7.Amazon‟s Marketing Strategies to Meet the Sales Forecast14
8.Benefit Segmentation of Toothpaste: Sensodyne and Tooth Sensitivity15
9.Concentric Diversification: The Experience of Mother Dairy17
10.Godrej Industries:  Planning a Big Splash in the Indian Face wash Niche18
11.Kalyan Jewellers: Selling Specialty Products with a „Local‟ Touch20
12.Apple‟s Expression through Product Differentiation21
13.Microsoft Smart Watch: A Revolutionary Product-in-making22
14.Brand Rejuvenation: Godrej Appliances23
15.Price Adjustment Approaches: Spicing SpiceJet24
16.Britannia: Designing a New Distribution Strategy for its Biscuits and Dairy Segments25
17.Fulfillment By Amazon(FBA): A New Logistics Mantra26
18.Impact of Market Decisions on Failure of Tashi Footwear Chain27
19.Awareness Creation of New Hero Brand in India28
20.Native Advertising: ATTRACTING CUSTOMERS THROUGH CONTENT29
21.Recruitment and Selection Strategy for an Effective Sales Team: Eureka‟s Model30
22.Downsizing: Cisco‟s Strategy to become Competitive31
23.Legal and Regulatory Enforcement – Uber‟s Case32
24.Direct Marketing in India: The Oriflame Way33
25.Telemedicine 2.0: Apollo‟s Integrated Healthcare Delivery Model34
26.YOU ARE MORE BEAUTIFUL THAN YOU THINK: Dove‟s Idea Marketing35
27.The World‟s Most Ethical Company: Tata Power36
28.SIX PILLARS for Greening Product Portfolio: The Philips Way37
29.Enriching Travelers‟ Roaming Experience using Big Data Analytics :Airtel‟s Approach38

iii

Introduction to the Case Study

Participants in ICFAI University Programs are eager to apply theory into practice. They realize that application orientation can enhance their learning and subsequent usage of management precepts and practices. Picking out the principle behind real world events is critical to this learning.

To fulfill this objective the institution has introduced the Case Study methodology as a learning tool. A one page case is developed for learning a concept/topic from an illustration of a real world occurrence. The case illustrates a situation pertinent to an individual/a company/an industry or an economy in relation to a concept or issue covered in the curriculum. The illustration is specific to the point being discussed.

The case depicts the knowledge which can be applied as illustrated in the practice of the real world. These experiences can be distilled to look at a core principle at play by the participant. While there could be multiple principles at play, the illustration of each case helps in its better understanding of the concept at a very fundamental level.

The learning outcomes expected are:

  1. Real world is illustrated and connected back to one concept/topic for better theoretical understanding.
  • Application based approach, which significantly enhances absorption and retention.
  • Exposure to specific business situations and developments improves perspective.

It may be used for Assessment

iv

 1

Volkswagen: Making Adjustments to Win the Indian

Customers

Volkswagen Group is a German multinational automobile manufacturer was founded in 1937 and headquartered at Wolfsburg, Germany. Involved in the designing, manufacturing and distribution of commercial and passenger automobiles, motorcycles, etc.

Volkswagen launched SKODA brand in 2001 in India. This was followed by the entry of the Volkswagen and Audi brands in 2007 and the Porsche and Lamborghini brands in 2012. The group planned to gain more than 10% share in the Indian market by 2018. The group performance was given below:

Table 1: Volkswagen Performance in 2012

Brand recognition rose from 8% to 54%

Sales soared from 13,000 cars to 110,000

Market share increased from 0.91% to 4.9%

In January 2015 total sales were 23,504 units, despite the slump in the Indian automobile industry

Sources: http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2012-04-22/

www.volkswagen-group-india-audi

The group started losing its initial momentum amidst stiff competition from cost-effective competitors like Hyundai post 2011-2012. It struggled on accounts of – sales, customers, service and dealers.

Table 2: Comparative analysis between Volkswagen and Hyundai

Parameters (in 2011)VolkswagenHyundai
Sales75,000 (Polos & Ventos)1,20,000 (i20s & Vernas)
Dealerships103544
PriceRs.720,000   (Polo,   top-end,   petrolRs.689,000 (i20, top-end, petrol variant)
 variant) 
 Sources: http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2012-04-22/
  www.volkswagen-group-india-audi

The group proposed certain adjustments to its strategy in order to gain a better foothold in the Indian market.

Table 3: Challenges and proposed adjustments by Volkswagen

 Challenges·Proposed Adjustments
 Higher cost structure made it difficult toStrive towards introducing smaller and lower
 connect with the price-sensitive Indian·priced cars soon.
·customers
Proposes to launch cars that were priced
Volkswagen commanded about 5% premium
 price lower than the Polo
   
 Dealers had been ineffective in pushing sales Focus on encouraging dealers to contribute in
 and providing the desired customer care offering product discounts
 Had product offerings that catered to only Plans to launch various versions to suit
 about 35%-45% of the market·Indian consumers
  Hopes to increase addressable market to 55%
 Needed to indigenize its „worldclass‟ cars The company is working towards bringing
 and style of operations to suit Indian market about rapid indigenization of both products
 conditions and talent. For instance, trainers brought in
   from Germany at the Group‟s Chakan plant,
   Pune. Employees from the Indian plant were
   sent to Germany.

5

Company Responses and Adjustments refer to the modifications an organization makes in its productofferings or strategies in order to meet the market and customer expectations. Despite being the market leader in China and Europe, the Volkswagen group struggled to make its mark in the Indian market. The company is now making adjustments in its product offerings as well as market strategies with the aim of strengthening its market position in India.

Discussion Questions:

1.  What do you understand by company responses and adjustments?

(Hints: customer expectations, strategies for product development)

2.  How did Volkswagen make adjustments to meet market and customer expectations?

(Hints: market strategies, market leader)

Course Reference: Concept-Marketing Dynamics/ Unit 1-Marketing: The Development of a Concept/ Subject-MarketingManagement

Sources:

  1. Murali Gopalan , “VW plots a comeback strategy for India” , Business Line, November 6, 2014
  2. Malini Goyal, “Volkswagen may still struggle to compete with fierce price-warriors like Hyundai  & Maruti

Suzuki”, The Economic Times, April 22, 201

  1. Volkswagen website

Other Keywords: Strategic Marketing Management

6

2McDonald’s value chain strategy in uncertain markets
 

McDonald‟s Corporation, the world‟s largest chain of fast food restaurants was founded by Ray Kroc in 1955. As of 2014, it had served 68 million customers daily in 119 countries through 35,000 outlets. McDonald’s restaurant operated through a franchisee model, an affiliate, or the corporation itself. It opened its first restaurant in India in 1996 owning two partners Hardcastle Restaurants Pvt Ltd (HPRL) and Connaught Plaza Restaurants Pvt Ltd (CPRL). In 2014 there are more than 310 McDonald’s restaurants in the country.

McDonald‟s had been planning for expansion through new stores (See Chart 1) . While in 2014 its sales were not so encouraging, McDonald‟s was positive about the growth by 2020. A report from Technopak also

expected the industry to grow from $48 billion in 2013 to $92 billion by 2020. The challenges before

McDonald‟s·to meet the expected growth were:
 How to design procurement strategy to survive the competition?
 ·Foreign sourcing became expensive due to exchange rate, import duties and transportation
 ·costs
 How to effectively organize its supply chain?
 ·Absence of required infrastructure

McDonald developed a value chain strategy to meet these challenges:

Chart 1: Mc‟Donald Value Chain

McDonald‟s value chain strategy could be one of the best models for expansion in uncertain markets.

Value chain is a set of activities companies perform such as designing, producing, marketing, anddelivering, procurement to after sales services. At each of these stages, value can either be created or lost.

McDonald‟s value chain can be an optimistic driving force in its expansion plans, for uncertain markets.

There is value addition at each level of the process, starting from raw material.

Discussion Questions:

  1. What is Value Chain?

(Hints: supply chain management, sales and distribution activates)

  • How did McDonald‟s deploy the value chain strategy?

(Hints: expansion plans, technology investment)

Course Reference: Concept-Value Chain/Unit 2 Delivering Customer Values and Satisfaction/ Subject MarketingManagement

Sources:

  1. Rajarshi Bhattacharjee, “Partnering for growth”, Business Standard, February 24, 2014
  1. www.mcdonalds.com
  2. Rakesh Singh, “Demand forecasting in a supply chain”, Business Standard, August 18, 2014

Other Keywords: Strategic Management, Services Marketing, Retail Management

7

 3

Focus on Demographic Environment: A legacy Brand’s Success Story

Horlicks, a malted milk hot drink company was founded by James and William Horlick. Later, it became a part of GlaxoSmithKline. Horlicks was consumed as a family drink in the 1940s and 1950s. By 2014, Horlicks had transformed itself in many ways from the tag of a family drink to meet the developing and emerging markets need (See Chart 1).

According to Nielsen (a leading global information and measurement company) data, in 2014, Horlicks (a legacy brand) leads with a market share of 46.2 percent in India. Many a times, Horlicks had to be updated

so that it remained in sync with the changing lifestyle and needs of consumers. Over the years, the challenges it faced to survive and lead the market were:

·

·     Competing with other legacy brands

·     Altering the design of containers and packaging

·     Changing advertisements with changing variants

·     Shifting the focus from health drinks for entire family to target specific consumers

·     Extending product lines to meet different categories

Understanding the marketing strategies of competitors

Steps taken by Horlicks to survive and grow in the market were:

Chart 1:- Timeline of Horlicks

Horlicks consolidated its position as a leading Brand in health food drinks market despite the fact that the health drink category had very limited ways to differentiate the performance of the product.

Marketers study demographic environment on performance of the product to understand the changing needs of consumers. By proactively adapting to changes in the macroeconomic environment, companies can gain a competitive edge. Adapting to the ever changing tastes and preferences of customers helped Horlicks to succeed as a legacy brand leaving its competitors much behind.

8

Discussion Questions:

  1. What did you understand by demographic environment? (Hints: macroeconomic environment, population size)
  • How did Horlicks leverage the demographic environment to become a  family drink?

(Hints: expansion plans, technology investment)

Course Reference: Concept-Demographic Environment/Unit 3 Marketing Environment/SubjectMarketingManagement

Sources:

  1. Viveat Susan Pinto, “40 Years Ago…and now: From family nourisher to individual supplement “, BusinessStandard, October 01, 2014
  2. www.Glasxosmithkline.com
  3. Viveat Susan Pinto, “Makeover for Horlicks, again”, Business Standard, August 21,2014

Other Keywords: Strategic Management

9

 4

Understanding Customers through Customer Lifetime Value Model

Established in 1977, Avis Budget Group, Inc. was a US based rental and leasing company with a range of vehicle rental services. It operated through two global brands in the industry, Avis and Budget, in three segments North America, International and Truck Rental. It had its headquarters in Parsippany, New Jersey, US.

To succeed in a competitive world, companies need to understand their customers and their profitability.

Avis·faced the following challenges in understanding their customers, owing to lack of:

·     organized process to understand customer and their choices

·     analytical infrastructure tool to analyze the data available

·     identification of long-term customer value

·     specialists to focus on customer data integration

reliable reports on customer-level performance management

In 2014, Avis developed a very efficient model (See Chart 1), wherein it used 360-degree view of the customer through ‘customer lifetime value’ (CLV) to understand its customers more.

Customer

Lifetime Value

Model

Chart 1: Customer Lifetime value model

Customer Lifetime value model has facilitated Avis Budget to add more value to its rental transaction system by integrating and analyzing the available customer data.

Customer profitability analysis is an important tool to retain profitable customers. It is carried out withthe help of customer and operational data, using analytical techniques and software technology. The customer lifetime value model was one such model that helped Avis to face the challenges of fierce competition.

Discussion Questions:

  1. How is customer profitability analysis conducted? (Hints: expansion plans, technology investment)
  2. What are the factors addressed by Avis for customer lifetime value model?

(Hints: customer data integration, customer strategy)

Course Reference: Concept-Customer Profitability Analysis/ Unit 4 Marketing Budgets and Costs/ Subject Marketing Management

Sources:

i. “How Avis Budget Group Uses Data to Drive Its Marketing, Forbes”, March 26 2014 ii Avis Budget Group, Forbes, May 2014

Other Keywords: Strategic Marketing, Consumer Behavior

10

 5

Toyota Automobile Recall: Addressing Customer’s Cognitive Dissonance

Toyota Motor Corporation, popularly known as Toyota, a Japanese multinational automobile giant, was founded in 1937 and was headquartered in Toyota, Japan. Involved in manufacturing and selling motor vehicles and motor parts, the company in 2014 had more than 300,000 employees worldwide and operated in nearly 160 countries globally.

In October 2014, Toyota recalled nearly 400,000 Lexus vehicles on account of possible fuel leakage which

could lead to vehicle fire. The company first became aware of this issue in June 2010 when a customer had reported a „gasoline odor emission‟ from the engine compartment. This created cognitive dissonance among customers. These recalls included Toyota‟s Lexus LS (2007-2010 models), Lexus GS and Lexus IS (2006-

2011 models) (See chart 1).

Toyota investigated the issue but was able to trace the real cause of the problem only in 2014. To reduce dissonance among its customers, Toyota adopted several corrective measures.

“Fuel Delivery“In some of“May “Couldlead to“Increase
Pipeshadthese   Pipes,DestroytheFuelLeakagethe Risk of
Platingtothe  ParticlesSealing duringVehiclea   Vehicle
may come inPropertyofOperation “Fire”
protectagainst
Contact withthe Gasket”   
Corrosion “   
the Gasket“     
       
Repairthe ReplacethedefectiveEliminatestheEliminate    the    risk    of
Seating +Gasket  +  Re-install  Fuelpossibility of FuelVehicle Fire
SurfaceofPressure SensorLeakage  
   

the Gasket

Chart 1: Toyota‟s Measures to Reduce Customer‟s Cognitive Dissonance

The company· decided to:

Notify owners of the different versions of the three Lexus variants that have been affected,

  • from December 2014
  • Ask owners to bring in their vehicle for repair at Lexus dealerships
  • Repair the seating surface of the gasket of the fuel delivery pipe, free of cost
  • Replace the faulty gasket

Re-install the fuel pressure sensor with the correct tightening torque

Till November 2014, Toyota had received 238 warranty claims and 6 complaints from the field.

Cognitive dissonance is a psychological state that customers experience during their post-purchaseevaluation. Toyota recalled its faulty Lexus models and offered repair and replacement of the defective parts. The company offered these corrective measures to its existing customers with the aim of minimizing cognitive dissonance.

Discussion Questions:

  1. What is cognitive dissonance?

(Hints: psychological state, post purchase evaluation)

  • How did Toyota take corrective measures to minimize cognitive dissonance? (Hints: repair and replacement strategy, customer satisfaction)

Course Reference: Concept-Cognitive Dissonance/ Unit 5 – Understanding Consumer Buying Behavior/Subject-Marketing Management

Sources:

  1. Romaine Bostick, “Toyota Recalls Some Lexus Vehicles for Fuel Leak “, NHTSA Says, Bloomberg,November 22, 2014
  2. Corporate news-Toyota, “Lexus Announces Recall of Certain LS, GS, and IS Vehicles”, October 15,

2014

Other Keywords: Brand Management

11

 6

Cisco’s supply chain model to withstand the disruptions due to natural disasters

Cisco Systems, Inc., an American international corporation was founded by Leonard Bosack, Sandy Lerner and Richard Troiano in 1984. It had its headquarters located in San Jose, California, US. It designed, produced and sold networking equipment.

Cisco was unable to handle the supply chain effectively during the natural disaster of Hurricane Katrina in Gulf Coast of the US in 2005. With great difficulty, it could meet the orders for new telecommunications infrastructure to replace the damages. Subsequently, Cisco developed a flexible, well-organized and profitable supply chain to make its value-chain more effective (See Chart 1).

A recent study by MIT Scale Network showed the following reasons for failure of large companies to meet the contingencies:

·

·     Managers fail to work on risk management factor of supply chain

·     Absence of effective risk management practices

·     Lack of support for risk management practice

Unable to construct an agile supply chain that can fit risks

An efficient five-step supply chain process developed by Cisco to meet the contingencies was:

Chart 1: – Cisco developed five step supply chain process

Cisco Systems realized the necessity of incorporating responsive measurement tools into supply chain management. Proactive initiatives from the entire value chain can help survive during major disasters.

The organizational buying process will be affected by environmental factors such as climatic conditions, location, or ecological concerns. Cisco‟s five-step model can inspire the complete value

chain to develop proactive measurement tools in the coming period to meet the environmental disasters.

12

Discussion Questions:

  1. How does an environmental factor influence organizational buying process? (Hints: psychological state, post purchase evaluation)
  • What are the measures taken by Cisco to overcome the contingencies arising out of environmental factors?

(Hints: responsive measurement tools, supply chain management)

Course Reference: Concept-Environmental Factors/Unit 6 Organizational Markets and Organizational BuyingBehavior/Subject Marketing Management

Sources:

  1. María Jesús Sáenz and Elena Revilla, “Creating More Resilient Supply Chains “, MIT Sloan ManagementReview,June 17, 2014
  1. Cisco-Wikipedia

Other Keywords: Strategic Management, Retail Management

13

 7 Amazon’s Marketing Strategies to Meet the Sales Forecast
   
    

Amazon.com, Inc. was the largest international online retailer that sold third party goods and provided cloud computing services. It also produced and sold consumer electronics such as Kindle e-book readers, Kindle Fire Tablets, Fire TV and Fire Phone. It was founded by Jeff Bezos in 1994, and headquartered in Seattle, Washington, US.

As Amazon never disclosed its sales figure. Pacific Crest‟s (Equity Research Analysts firm) Chad Bartley (senior research analyst) estimated sales units of Amazon‟s Kindle to be 3.6 million in 2011 and 11.8 million

in 2013. Bartley forecasted the sales of Kindle to be 11 million in 2014. Moreover, Forrester (a market research firm) also predicted that Amazon could lead the path acquiring major share in total retail sales

anticipating·the following changes:
 Conventional stores investing in web businesses
 ·Global evolution of Internet and mobile devices
 ·Growth of multichannel strategy
 ·Growth potential in US and international markets where it had less existence
 ·Anticipated growth of e-commerce business in Asia-Pacific region

Amazon was positive that its Kindle device sales would reach $22.6 million within the forecast phase.

The marketing strategies of Amazon to attain its sales forecast were (See chart 1):

Chart 1: Marketing strategies of Amazon for sales forecast

Amazon‟s launch of high and low priced Kindle tablet ranges with free cash flow and average pricing wasprojected to improve its sales and profitability with a prospective growth in e-commerce market.

Company Sales Forecast refers to the volume of sales the company expects to obtain with the help of a particular marketing plan, in a specified marketing environment. Amazon‟s marketing plan of web traffic

attraction, cash flow focus and average pricing is expected to help the company attain its sales target.

Discussion Questions:

  1. What is company sales forecast?

(Hints: volume sales, marketing environment)

  • How did sales forecast help Amazon to achieve sales target?

(Hints: marketing strategies, profitability)

Course Reference: Concept-Company Sales Forecast/Unit 7Marketing Research, MkIS, and DemandForecasting/Subject Marketing Management

Sources:

  1. TrefisTeam, “How Amazon Plans On Driving Future Growth”, Forbes, May 15 2013
  2. Trefis Team, “Estimating The Value Of Kindle Hardware Sales For Amazon”, Forbes, , Marc
  3. Market Watch, “Amazon raises bets with new Kindle Fire HDX”, September 23 2013

Other Keywords: Strategic Management, Retail Management, Services Marketing

14

 8

Benefit Segmentation of Toothpaste:

Sensodyne and Tooth Sensitivity

Glaxo Smithkline plc (GSK), a British multinational company headquartered at Brentford, London, entered into „Sensitive Toothpaste‟ segment with the Sensodyne brand in India. They made people aware of tooth

sensitivity problem and provided a solution with Sensodyne toothpaste. Tooth sensitivity and other oral problems were common in India as two in five Indians suffered from it (See Chart 1).

Sensodyne identified opportunity in oral care sector in India as follows:-
·Shift in urban family buying pattern, from buying one toothpaste to multiple toothpaste to
·solve multiple oral problems like sensitivity, cavity, bad breath, etc.
People were not aware of any solution available for sensitive tooth problem.
·32% Indians suffer from gum sensitivity and oral care problems.
·Majority of consumers were willing to pay for preventive attribute to avoid sensitivity.

GSK enhanced market share for Sensodyne by focusing on Benefit Segmentation as follows:-

Testimonial Advertising Basic & Educational like

practicing dentists visited people‟s home explaining

& sharing brand experience

Push Marketing

Doctor‟s recommendation of

Sensodyne to prevent sensitivity

Benefit

Segmentation

Below-the-line advertising Through distributing samples, retail activations, OTC (over the counter) on pharmacy shops, etc

Wake      Up      To

Sensitivity (WUTS)

Campaign across 45

cities connected over

200,000         people

lakpeople

Chart 1: Benefit Segmentation of Sensodyne

Source: Nielsen

Sensodyne segmented the market based on „Customer Benefits‟ in term of „Sensitivity‟Toothpaste in oralcare. Sensodyne also added new variants in its sensitivity portfolio like Sensodyne Original and Sensodyne Rapid Relief with average price of Rs. 50 (40g) and Rs. 90 (80g). Sensodyne overtook Colgate Sensitive with 26% market share of sensitive market and 3% of total tooth paste Market in March 2013.

Benefit Segmentation is done based on customers who look for  a  particular  benefit in a  product.

Sensodyne provides benefits of „no sensitivity‟ in oral care.

Discussion Question:

  1. How „benefit‟ is used for segmenting consumer market? (Hints: product, consumer segmentation)
  • How did Sensodyne enhance its market share through benefit segmentation? (Hints: push marketing, testimonial advertising)

15

Course Reference: Concept- Benefits/Unit 8 – Market Segmentation and Market Targeting/Subject-MarketingManagement

Sources:

  1. Viveat Susan Pinto , “GSK overtakes Colgate in sensitivity segment Nielsen” , Business Standard, April 18 2013
  1. Rajiv Singh, “ Sensitivity Segment: How Sensodyne checked Colgate from Capturing Market”, Economic Times,July 23 2014
  2. “Oral care: Colgate faces serious challenge from GSK‟s Sensodyne and Pepsodent”, The Economic Times,

December 11 2013

  1. Press Release, “GlaxoSmithkline‟s Sensodyne is India‟s No.1 dentist recommended brand for sensitive teeth” ,

March 5 2014

Other Keywords: Strategic Marketing, Service Marketing

16

9Concentric Diversification: The Experience of Mother Dairy
  

Mother Dairy Fruits and Vegetables Private Limited (MSFVPL) started in 1974. It was previously known as

Mother Dairy a subsidiary of National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) which was a part of „Operation Flood‟ to enhance dairy production in India (See Chart 1). It has a product range of dairy products, ice

creams, edible oils, fresh fruit and vegetables, frozen food, processed food, juice & fruit beverages etc.

Mother Dairy· faced challenges between 2011 to 2013 as follows:

Mother Dairy had less presence apart from NCR region which contributed 75% revenue from

  • milk.

Mother Dairy‟s 85% revenue earned was paid back to farmers as procurement cost hence

  • resulting in less capital in hand; it, thus, failed to introduce new products.

Mother  Dairy  faced  challenges  from  competitors  like  Amul,  Pepsi,  Krafts  &  Nestle  in

·nutrition market.
Mother Dairy was inefficient in supply chain, logistics and forecasting tools.

Mother Dairy made concentric diversification strategy in 2014-15 to overcome the challenges as following:-

Chart 1: – Concentric diversification strategy of Mother Dairy

Concentric Diversification Strategy had opened up Mother Dairy with huge growth opportunities in dairy products. Mother Dairy aimed to generate 35% more revenues outside of NCR through concentric diversification. Mother Dairy wanted to reach Rs.100 billion revenue by the year 2014-15.

Concentric Diversification is to serve new customer base by introducing products related to its existingproducts. Mother Dairy has introduced many value added existing products and regional flavors across Pan-India. Mother Dairy introduced SAP-enabled technology and vending machines at milk booths to better serve Pan-India customers.

Discussion Question:

  1. How does diversification help companies to grow?

(Hints: increase customer base, introducing products)

  • What are the key features of concentric diversification by Mother Dairy? (Hints: technology, regional flavours across Pan-India)

Course Reference: Concept- Diversification growth/Unit 9- Strategic Planning Process in Marketing/Subject-MarketingManagement

Sources:

  1. “Mother Dairy aims at capturing 20% icecream market share by 2014”, Economic Times, February 6 2013
  1. “Gearing for Growth, www.cfoconnect.com Issue” May 2013
  1. “Billiondollar Mother Dairy‟s new strategies to win back market base and go National”, Economic Times,

May 15 2011

  1. Happy & Healthy, www.impactonnect.com,June 30 2014

Other Keywords: – Strategic Marketing, Retail Marketing

17

Godrej Industries: Planning a Big Splash in the Indian Face

10wash Niche
 

The Godrej Group, popularly known as Godrej, was an Indian conglomerate, majorly owned and managed by the Godrej family. The company was founded in 1897 and headquartered in Mumbai, India. In 2014, the company enjoyed the patronage of more than 600 million Indians across its different businesses and clocked revenues of about $4 billion (See Table 1).

In November 2014, Godrej decided to re-enter the Rs. 15 billion niche face wash market with its „Godrej No. 1 Herbal Face wash‟. Godrej had previously entered this niche segment in 2007 with „Fair Glow Fairness Face wash‟.

Table 1: Godrej’s Past & Present Attempts of Entering the Niche Face wash Segment

„Fair Glow Fairness Face wash Godrej No. 1 Herbal Face wash
       
Year  2007  2014
     
Positioning „Fairness Face wash‟ „Herbal Face wash‟
     
Target  Women in the metros and tier-1 citiesFor Women
Customer     
     
Product  Reap the benefits of extending its testedHigh growth-rate of the face wash segment (30%)
Rationale  andsuccessful   product,‘FairGlowLow  market  penetration  in  both,  the  rural  and  urban
   fairness soap’ 
    markets
      
      Reap the benefits by extending its successful soap brand,
      ‘Godrej No. 1’
     
USP  Godrej was the 1st company to introducePlans to highlight the „Herbal Antecedents‟
   „fairness facewash‟ in the Indian marketProposes to offer new variants like „Kesar‟ in addition to
      
   Use of „Active Ingredients‟ like Naturalthe conventional „Neem‟ option
   Oxy-G, which offered noticeable fairness 
     
Pricing  Rs. 29 (50 ml tube) and Rs. 55 (100 mlFace wash Tube @ Rs.35 & Face wash Sachet @ Rs.10
   tube)   
      
Market  Unsuccessful product Yet to be decided
Outcome  Inability to create a customer connect 
    
    
Other Key Highlighted the product‟s effectivenessProposed  to  differentiate  by  offering  „Low  Unit
Strategies vis-a-vis fairness creams by stressing onPacks‟(LUP) like sachets as they contribute significantly
   the greater „skin penetration power‟to volumes
      Plans to introduce packaging innovations like „screw cap‟
     
Godrej was·faced with numerous challenges in the niche Indian face wash segment. Experts opined:
  Customers demand visible benefits from products like face wash, making it a tough market to
 · crack   
  Competitors like  Zydus introduced their Everyuth face  wash sachet  in September  2014,
 · eating into Godrej‟s market share 
  Stiffcompetition  fromestablished  firms  like  Procter  &  Gamble  and  small  players  like

Himalaya, which entered this niche segment due to high growth potential.

18

Niche  Marketing  is  a     competitive  strategy  where  marketers  attempt  to  win  customer              loyalty  by

dedicating all their resources towards satisfying a particular customer need. Godrej aims at cracking the niche Indian face wash market by catering to the „fairness‟ need of Indian women. Godrej strove to

position its new offering in a manner that catered to the specific need of its target customers and win their loyalty.

Discussion Questions

  1. How are niche marketing strategies designed? (Hints: customer need, customer loyalty)

2.    How did Godrej use niche marketing   to become a leader in the herbal face wash category?

(Hints: low unit packs, packaging innovations)

Course Reference: Concept-Designing Competitive Strategies/ Unit 10 – Marketing and Competitive Strategies/ Subject-Marketing Management

Sources:

  1. Viveat Susan Pinto & Sheetal Agarwal, “Godrej goes herbal to enter busy skincare niche “, Business Standard,

December 5 2014

  1. “Godrej launches FairGlow Faireness Face Wash”, Money Control.com, June 13 2007

Other Keywords: Strategic Marketing Management

19

Kalyan Jewellers: Selling Specialty Products with a ‘Local’

11Touch
 

Kalyan Jewellers was founded in 1993 by T.S. Kalyanaraman and was headquartered in Thrissur, Kerala. During the early 1990s, jewellery stores in Kerala were small in size and offered limited product options to its customers. Kalyan broke this trend by offering its customers a fully air-conditioned store with an area of nearly 4,000 sq.ft. It also offered adequate sitting capacity to its customers, ample parking area and clean toilets. In 2014, the company had nearly 60 stores with a workforce of about 4,000 employees across India (See chart 1).

In October 2014, the firm attracted an investment of about Rs. 12 billion from Warburg Pincus, the largest investment on a firm in the Indian jewellery segment. Kalyan eyed an aggressive expansion plan with intentions of foraying into newer regions particularly in the Northern and Western India. The company proposed to expand on a national level while imparting a local touch to its products in each of its diverse markets. Kalyanaraman took the initiative to prove that not only ladies but gents can also promote jewellery. He chose male film stars to endorse his jewellery business. In 2010, Kalyan Jewellers named film star Nagarjuna as a brand ambassador.

Customize Products

  • Detailed surveys are conducted to understand customer’s likes and dislike before opening a new store
  • Designs of these specialty products from one state are not imposed on the customer’s of another region Ex: Manga mala, a famous design from Kerala
  • Database of the sales of all items is maintained to help gauge customer’s preference


Deploy its ‘My Kalyan’ sub-brand

  • To promote ‘CustomerLoyalty Programme’ and offering Customer Service
  • Promoting diamond sales even in rural areas by offering them at prices between Rs. 5,000 and Rs. 25,000


Focus on Advertising and Brand Building

Using    a    ‘highly     visible’

advertising and marketing campaign focusing around the element of ‘Trust’

Roping   in    celebrities   like

Amitabh and Aiswarya Bachchan to give the brand national visibility

Associating with local celebrities like Manju Warrier in Kerala to ensure a connect with the local customers

  • An annual budget of Rs. 1 billion had been set aside for 2014


Educating Customers

  • About fair practices in the sale of specialty products like jewellery
  • The only jewellers that offer ‘rate tags’ on their products. This allows customers to compare prices and make

an informed purchase decision.

  • Judging gold’s purity. Has introduced ‘Carat Meter’ for the same.
  • Launched the ‘Fight Against Impure Gold’ campaign.


Chart 1: Kalyan‟s Customization Strategy

Kalyan’s ·efforts at emerging as a ‘national jewellery brand’ had raised apprehensions among experts. Taking a brand from a market where it was an established and household name to a market where it was practically unheard of entailed huge risks for Kalyan

·     Competition from „highend‟, „branded‟ jewellery like Nakshatra and Tanishq

Specialty Products refer to expensive items which require customers to spend considerable time andeffort before making a final purchase decision. Kalyan Jewellers had established itself as a household name in Kerala. Instead of resting on its laurels, the company decided to transcend beyond state borders by customizing its specialty product offerings in order to emerge as a national jewellery brand.

Discussion Questions:

  1. What are Specialty products?

(Hints: low unit packs, packaging innovations)

  • How did Kalyan Jewellers become a national jewellery brand with specialty products? (Hints: low unit packs, packaging)

Course Reference: Concept-Specialty Products/ Unit 11 – Product and Product Lines/ Subject-Marketing Management Sources:

  1. T E Narasimhan , “Kalyan Jewellers to act local but go national”, Business Standard,December 5 2014
  1. “Warburg Pincus set to invest $200 million in Kalyan Jewellers”, Reuters, Business Standard, December 5

2014

Other Keywords: Brand Management

20

 12 Apple’s Expression through Product Differentiation
   
    

Apple Inc. is an American Multinational Corporation founded in 1976. It was founded by Steve Jobs, Steve Woznaik and Ronald Wayne. As of October 2014, Apple had 425 retail stores globally. Apple faced

continuous losses and less innovation in products during late 1990‟s during the absence of Steve Jobs.

Management invited Jobs to turnaround the company through innovation (See Chart 1).

Steve Jobs·had brought in innovation based on the following philosophy:-

·     Offering less number of products.

·     Focusing on premium customers or high end customers.

·     Creating halo effect around products.

Giving priority to profits more than market share.

Jobs focused on product differentiation strategy as follows:

Chart 1:- Product differentiation strategy of Apple

„Think Different‟ is just not a logo of Apple Inc. but conveys the same sentiment through Productdifferentiation. For the fiscal 2014, Apple generated $ 182.8 billion in sales and $ 38.5 billion is net income from 2013 to September 2014.

Product Differentiation strategy had helped Apple Inc. through innovations in product form, productdesign, product features and halo effect around products to become leader in the market.

Discussion Questions:

  1. How is product differentiation perceived by customers? (Hints: marketing mix of a product, product positioning)
  • How did product differentiation strategy help Apple Inc. to become a market leader? (Hints: product design, product features)

Course Reference: Concept- Product Differentiation/Unit 12 – Product Differentiation and Positioning/Subject-Marketing Management

Sources:

  1. Smita Nair, “Apple‟s premium pricing strategy and product differentiation”, Market Realist, October 14 2014
  1. Bambi Brannan, “Differentiation: Apple‟s Succes In a Word” , Mac 360,  August 6 2014
  1. “Alonzo Canada, Take a lesson from Apple: A strategy to keep customers in your ecosystem”, Forbes,

December 11 2012

  1. www.apple.com/in/pr/library/2014/10/20

Other Keywords:-Strategic Marketing, Retail Marketing

21

13Product-in-making
 

Microsoft Corporation was an American multinational corporation. It was incorporated by Bill Gates and Paul Allen in 1975. Microsoft Corporation was based at Redmond, Washington, US. Microsoft developed, manufactured and sold computer software, consumer electronics and personal computers and services. Microsoft wanted to enter into wearable device market. Microsoft planned to launch Smart Watch by 2015 (See Chart 1).

Microsoft identified the following challenges in wearable device market:

  • Existing wearable devices such as Moto 360, Pebble, Jawbone Up24 and Samsung Gear comprised less than one day battery life.
  • Wearable device technology had more potential for connecting multiple devices such as Smart Home, Car, Health tracking devices, etc as in IoT(internet of things).
  • Apple‟s Smart Watch and Samsung‟s Watch only worked on iOS and Android.

As of 2014 Microsoft’s Smart Watch was at product development stage, with the following features:

Microsoft Smart Watch

Chart 1: Microsoft‟s Smart Watch at product development stage

Microsoft Smart Watch prototype was already developed in 2013 with modified version of Windows 8 and 6 GB storage capacity. Some analysts felt that the Smart Watch with advanced features might revolutionize the wearable device market.

Product Development involves designing the prototype of the product consisting of the proposed features which is produced in R&D department. Microsoft‟s Smart Watch prototype contains extended

battery life, cross platform features and health tracking device functions.

Discussion Questions:

  1. What is product development?

(Hints: product design, product features)

  • State the key features of Microsoft Smart Watch?

(Hints: storage capacity, cross platform features)

Course Reference: Concept- Product Development/Unit 13 – New Product Development/Subject-MarketingManagement

Sources:

  1. “ Microsoft Plans to Launch a wearable device within weeks”, Forbes, October 19 2014
  2. “Exclusive: A Microsoft Smart Watch is coming”, Forbes, May 29 2014
  1. Mary Jo Foley, “How Microsoft‟s expected fitness band fits into its new wearable‟s game plan”, October 20

2014

Other Keywords: Strategic Marketing

22

 14 Brand Rejuvenation: Godrej Appliances
   
    

Godrej Appliances operated under the subsidiary of Godrej & Boyce Mfg. Co. Ltd (GBMCL). Godrej Appliances was launched in 1958 in India. One of its main products, „Godrej Refrigerators‟, faced sudden drop in market share after enjoying top position in FMCG segment during late 1990‟s (See Chart 1).

The company·faced challenges as follows:
 Company‟s flagship product „refrigerators‟ market share dropped from 50% to 13% in 2000.
 ·Customers perceived Godrej‟s products as low-tech.
 ·Godrej experienced competition from MNC brands like LG, Samsung etc.
 ·Godrej was unable to connect emotionally with the youth in the age group of 35 to 45 years.
 ·Introduced  new  product  categories  in  washing  machines,  ACs,  but  failed  to  capture
 ·customer‟s attention.
 Promotional strategy of price reduction could not enhance market share.

Godrej made the following interventions to rejuvenate the Godrej brand:

    RefrigeratorsAir ConditionersMicrowaveWashing   
    with extrawith oneoven withmachines   
    cooling ventscompressor toweight defrostintroduced with   
    and poly bagreduce powerand jetbuilt-in-   
    consumption bydefrostintelligence   
    suspender   
    30%     
          
Investing 5% of        
revenue in    *Eon for premium, Edge
advertising    & Axis for mid and Neo
       forpricesensitive
       customers  
Investing 5% of    *Introduced ‘Godrej
turnover in product  Edge  Digi  in  premium
innovation    segment  
Refrigerators Washing AC      
        
* Stay cool Machines * sleep mode  Specialfocusondesign,
* Cool shower * cascade * memory  
* ZOP waterfall * catechin  sophistication&color,
* Anti B * Effect filter   as   an  shapes,appearancesto
  * gravity drum anti-viral  
     enhance aesthetics 
    bacteria   
           

Chart 1:Brand Rejuvenation by Godrej

Brand rejuvenation has made the Godrej Appliances to occupy 5th position in FMCG market. Rejuvenation held Godrej Appliances could reach compound annual growth of 35.5% for the period of 2007-2011 which was higher than 17% growth rate of FMCG industry. Godrej appliances have made Rs.21 billion turnover in 2012-13 and targeted Rs.27 billion turnover in 2013-14.

Brand Rejuvenation has helped Godrej Appliances to discover, innovate and express its products inmultiple ways leading to growth.

Discussion Questions:

  1. What do you understand by brand rejuvenation? (Hints: storage capacity, cross platform features)
  2. How did brand rejuvenation help Godrej appliances?

(Hints:, expanding product portfolio, investments in R&D )

Course Reference: Concept- Brand Rejuvenation/Unit 14 – Branding and Packaging/Subject-Marketing Management Sources:

  1. Manu Kaushik, “Daddy Cool”, Business Today, December 25, 2011.
  2. Company News, “Godrej & Boyce launch; EON range of frost free refrigerators”
  3. “Godrej Appliances to focus on premium products”, Economic Times PTI, June 24 2014

Other Keywords: Strategic Marketing, Retail Marketing, Marketing Communications, Services Marketing

23

15Price Adjustment Approaches: Spicing SpiceJet
 

spice Jet, owned by the Sun group, was a low cost airline operator in India. spice Jet was the second largest domestic airline in India with 20.9% market share in June 2014. spice Jet operated 340 flights daily to Indian and International destinations.

spice Jet identified· opportunities as follows:-

Huge potential exists among railway passengers who travelled by AC I, II, III tier and luxury

  • buses.

Aviation industry in India failed to create awareness among middle-class customers that Air

  • travel was within their reach.

Occupancy rate was a challenge for airlines as many seats went vacant.

Spice Jet adopted Price adjustment approaches as follows (See Chart 1):-

Chart 1:- Price Adjustment approach by Spice Jet

Price adjustment approaches made Spice Jet a key player in the Indian aviation industry with occupancy rate of 79.4%. Experts felt that Dynamic price, Discounts and Allowances and Discriminatory price helped spice Jet to increase market share and sustain revenues in the business.

Price adjustment approaches are based on demand patterns of customers, service level to be delivered, toimprove short term sales and long term customer perceived value. Spice Jet‟s price adjustment approaches such as Dynamic price, Discounts and Allowances, Discriminatory price enhanced market share.

Discussion Questions:

  1. What are the price adjustment approaches? (Hints: pricing, discriminatory)
  • Which price adjustment approaches were adopted by SpiceJet?

(Hints: market share, sustain revenues in the business)

Course Reference: Concept- Approaches to Price Adjustment/Unit 15 – Pricing and Marketing/Subject-MarketingManagement

Sources:

  1. “SpiceJet edges past Jet Airways to be second largest passenger carrier for July”, Business Standard, August

20 2014

  1. “Jet,SpiceJet start another fare war ahead of Diwali; announces fares starting at Rs 899”,

Economic Times October 22 2014

  1. “SpiceJet Launches scheme for MSME travelers”, Economic Times September 24 2014

Other Keywords: Strategic Marketing

24

Britannia: Designing a New Distribution Strategy for its

16Biscuits and Dairy Segments
 

Britannia Industries Ltd., popularly known as Britannia, was a manufacturer and seller of bakery and dairy

products like biscuits, cakes, curd, etc. It was founded in 1892 in Kolkata, West Bengal, India, as Britannia Biscuit Company. The company forayed into the market for dairy products in 1997. By 2014, the company‟s

products were available in more than 3.5 million retail outlets across the country and reached more than 40% of Indian families (See chart 1).

Britannia enjoyed a 60% market penetration in urban markets in 2014. However, it did not enjoy a similar

response in markets of northern and western India as well as in rural areas. Experts attributed this low market penetration to Britannia‟s distribution channels.

  • Lack of infrastructural development restricted its presence in greater number of outlets
  • Inability to supplement its manufacturing ability with its distribution capacity especially in northern and western India
  • Need to improve product visibility across outlets to encourage customers to buy the company‟s products

Britannia proposed to increase its market penetration by filling certain prominent gaps in its distribution channels.

 Improve Distribution in Rural Areas
Taking manufacturing centers closer to centersü Urban-Rural Split  on a National basis is 60:40
 
of consumptionü In states like Gujarat, the Urban-Rural Split was 75:25
 Proposed
 Changes to
 Improve
 Distribution


Improve market penetration in states like Gujarat which currently contributed to only 40% of

Britannia’sü National Share

Low-priced SKUs like the Rs. 5 Good Day

Biscuit Pack would aid in driving rural

penetration

  • the depth of Stock Keeping Units (SKUs)
  • Earlier, every salesman tried to sell 200 SKUs

Now, Salesman ‘A’ gets a specific number of dairy and

biscuits to sell and Salesman ‘B’ gets another set of biscuits and dairy products.Increasing

Chart 1: Proposed Improvements in Britannia‟s Distribution Channels

Designing Distribution Channels refers to the decisions that are related with framing a new distribution channel or altering an existing one. Britannia‟s existing distribution channel helped it capture the urban

market in certain parts of India. The company was unable to enjoy the same level of success in rural areas as well as in the northern and western parts of India. The existing distribution channels were modified with the aim of achieving a greater market penetration.

Discussion Questions:

  1. What is the importance of distribution channels?

(Hints: market share, sustain revenues in the business)

  • How did Britannia propose improvements in its distribution channels?

(Hints: market penetration, distribution)

Course Reference: Concept-Designing distribution Channels/ Unit 16 – Channels of Marketing/ Subject-MarketingManagement

Sources:

  1. Tanya Thomas , “Our Focus on Biscuits is Going to be Intense”, Business Line , November 6, 2014
  1. Antonita Madonna and Viveat Susan Pinto , “Berry Roadmap Helps Britannia Move Ahead”, Business Standard,

November 7 2014

Other Keywords: Sales & Distribution Management, Strategic Marketing

25

17Fulfillment By Amazon(FBA): A New Logistics Mantra
 

Amazon.com, Inc., founded by Jeff Bezos, was incorporated in 1994 and headquatered at Seattle, US. As of 2014 Amazon had 18 million unique products. Amazon made changes in the online shopping behavior of its customers with speed in delivery and pricing. Amazon offered guaranteed one-day delivery with its unique selling merchandise model called Fulfillment By Amazon(FBA). FBA focussed on building

infrstructure for sellers so that theycould store their products (See Chart 1).

Amazon   identified· the following problems of sellers in logistics management:-

·     Sellers (small merchants) are unreachable to wide customer base.

·     Sellers lack efficient logistics system for on time delivery.

·     Distribution costs are hindrance for sellers as they operate on less margins.

Seller cannot meet one day delivery as cycle time of a product delivery consumes time.

Sellers benifitted by using FBA (Fulfillment By Amazon) as follows:

  2
How Fulfillment by Amazon Works: 
  
   
   

1

3

5                                                                                 4

Chart 1:- 5 steps of FBA

FBA was a win-win strategy for the sellers and the customers in terms of delivering customer services, reducing total distribution costs and cycle time. FBA benefited sellers in reaching more customers, on time delivery, increasing sales volume with less cycle time. FBA shipment increased during 2014 holiday season with more than 65% in FBA sellers worldwide.

Logistics Management is timely delivery of goods to the distant customer, reducing total distributioncosts and cycle time. FBA made Amazon the fastest delivery E-retailer to bring sellers products to wider customer base in a single day delivery.

Discussion Questions:

  1. State the objectives of logistics management. (Hints: market penetration, distribution)
  2. How did the „Fulfilment by Amazon‟ work?

(Hints: fast free delivery, increasing sales)

Course Reference: Concept- Objectives of Marketing Logistics/Unit 17- Logistics and Wholesaling/Subject-MarketingManagement

Sources:

  1. Amit Agarwal, “Amazon India‟s approach is to focus on long term:”, Business Today, January 30 2014
  2. Hemant Mishra, “Amit Agarwal: The logical salesman” , Live Mint, ,October 25 2014
  1. Fulfillment by Amazon, January 2015 Newletter

Other Keywords:Strategic Marketing, Sales & Distribution Management

26

Impact of Market Decisions on Failure of Tashi Footwear

18Chain
 

Tata International Ltd (TIL) launched Tashi Footwear Chain in 2010 in India. Initially, the company launched 15-20 stores in New Delhi and Mumbai on trial basis to test the footwear concept in India. They planned to set up 250-300 outlets by 2014-15. But all of a sudden, the company had taken a decision to close several loss making stores. Tashi explored to find out the reasons of its failure. (See Table 1).

The management had identified some of the ineffective market decisions in terms of 4P’s that led to the company incurring losses and failures:

  Table 1: 4P’s
  
Producti)  Product assortment did not meet customers‟ requirement and expectations.
decisionsii)Absence of well-known brands in the store.
  
Pricing decisionsi)   Since, pricing points are targeted at high end segment, for example Rs.700-4,700
  for  ladies  footwear,  Rs.600-7000 for men‟s footwear, Rs.500-1500  for  kids
  footwear, other segments of customers were not attracted.
 ii)   Customers felt that quality was not matching premium pricing.
 iii)   Company could not contain the increasing product cost due to sourcing of 90%
  supplies  from  outside.  Initially,  the  management  thought  to  source  90%  of
  supplies from Tata factories.
 iv)  Premium pricing kept customers away from the store.
  
Place decisionsCompany hired outlets at strategic locations to attract customers but ended up paying
 high rents which affected their margins and capital investments.
  
Promotioni)   Media experts figured out that Tashi‟s branding was not right.
decisionsii)To clear unsold stock the premium priced footwear was sold at Rs.500. This
  diluted the premium brand image.

Tashi failed to find the right formula to succeed in footwear retail business in India. In 2013, Noel Tata, MD of TIL, decided to exit from footwear business. Unless Retail stores make better market decisions their fate would be similar to that of Tashi in India. However the TIL had continued to manufacture leather products at its factory outlets for exports.

The case of Tashi footwear chain illustrates improper market decisions. To succeed in India, footwear chains should make better market decisions in terms of product assortment, pricing, location and promotion.

Discussion Questions:

  1. How are market decisions framed? (Hints: product assortment, pricing)
  2. In what ways did Tashi fail to incorporate the 4 P‟s of the marketing mix?

(Hints: market decisions, marketing strategy)

Course Reference: Concept- Market Decisions/Unit 18 – Retailing/Subject-Marketing Management Sources:

  1. ypitalwalla@mydigitalfc.com, “Noel Tata scales back retail plan”, Financial Chronicle, August 19, 2012.
  1. Noel Tata, “Tata shutting down Tashi retail chain”, live mint, August 14, 2013.

Other Keywords: Strategic Marketing, Services Marketing, Retail Marketing

27

 19 Awareness Creation of New Hero Brand in India
   
    

Hero MotoCorp Limited, formerly  known as Hero Honda Motors Limited was based in India. The company

was the largest manufacturer of motorcycles in India. The joint venture between Hero cycles of India and Honda of Japan split in 2010. Hero Motocorp created the first national brand in bikes category – „Hero‟ (See

Chart 1).

Hero Motocorp faced the following challenges for creating a new identify:

·

·

·

People are not aware of new corporate entity as Hero Motocorp.

After split  from Hero Honda, Hero Motocorp found it difficult to build brand image.

With  new   brand  they   were   unable  to     propogate   into  all  segments   of   market

like

youth,women,corporate professionals, etc.

Hero Motocorp launched ad campaigns to create awareness in India as follows:

In 2010 advertisementIn 2012 ‘Bllion Voices’Hero tapped corporateWith the success of Vrom
campaign Hum Mein Haifeaturing commonbrand image through
Vroom campiagn Hero
Hero composed by A Rpeople’s voice for HumVroom Vroom ad campaign
launched ad with bunch of
Rahman & creativelyMein Hai Hero videoaligning sound of Dhak
kids portraying everyone
track. One video was
conceived by Law &Dhak Go to serve better
 
made featuring onlyirrespective of region
Kenneth Ad agencymileage in every category
women for Women’s day 
   

Chart 1:- Awareness campaign by Hero Motocorp

The jingle Hum Mein Hai Hero gave Hero Motocorp a right platform and opportunity to create awareness about the new Hero brand. Hero Motocorp became India‟s first two-wheeler maker to produce 50 million

bikes and scooters. Its sales in the year 2013-14 recorded at Rs.722 crores with number of units sold 62.45 lacs.

Awareness is the communication strategy of creating awareness about a new product or improvementsmade to an existing product. Hero Motocorp ensured that each ad campaigns were consumer-relevant and added to the emotional and rational appeal of the brand.

Discussion Questions:

  1. How can a company increase the awareness of the customers regarding its products as part of its communication strategy?

(Hints: new product development, advertising)

  • How did Hero Moto corp create awareness about the new Hero brand?

(Hints: ad campaigns, emotional appeal for the brand)

Course Reference: Concept-Awareness/Unit 19 – Communication Mix in Marketing/Subject-Marketing Management Sources:

  1. “ From Hum Mein hai Hero to Vroom Vroom: Hero‟s ads help company carve a name for itself”, The Economic

Times, September 18  2013

  1. “Hero MotoCorp: Can the two-wheeler brand stay on top while Honda and Bajaj Auto claw into its market share? “, The Economic Times, May 28 2013

Other Keywords: Strategic Marketing, Marketing Communications, Consumer Behavior

28

Native Advertising: ATTRACTING CUSTOMERS

20THROUGH CONTENT
 

Gartner Inc was an American information technology firm set up by Gene Hall, Craig Safian and Darko Hrelic in 1979.It dealt in research, consulting and content development. The company focussed on native advertising strategy to meet the right customer with the right content. Native advertising is a type of online advertising that matches the form and function of the platform on which it appears. Gartner used its company newsletter to promote native advertising (See Chart 1).

Gartner identified· problems in non-native advertising campaigns as follows:

90% of all marketing campaigns fail to capture potential customer‟s attention due to lack of

·relevant content.
Conventional  advertising  like  print  advertising,  TV  advertising,  etc  are  becoming  less
·effective because they are impersonal.
Customers want right content at the right place at the right time in an advertisement
·Consumers perceive banner ads, e-mail messages, etc. as intrusive.
·Digital marketing campaign like Ad banner click-through rate by users dropped down from

9% to 2 % between 2000 and 2012.

Gartner attracted target group attention through promoting ‘Native Advertising’ in its Newsletter

about its annual customized Symposium and IT Expo conference. It placed relevant content in the ad as follows:-

Top of the Funnel Customer Customers heard about Gartner but never experienced the content

Native

Advertising

Of

GARTNER

Bottom of the Funnel Customer Customers convinced about the

brand but need customized information

Customers were given access to sponsored article by Gartner

· Full access of article require customer to submit information like Name, Email add, Phone No, Company, etc

9 parallel tracks at conference were conducted to

  • meet specialized interest of customers Gartner provided personalized agenda of
  • conference

Customers could attend specific parallel tracks after submitting interest areas, contact details, etc

Chart 1:-Gartner‟s Native Advertising

Native advertising proved to be less disturbing advertising strategy hence attracting customer‟s attention more. Native advertising techniques are expanding into music services, photography business, etc. In 2013 Online Publishers Association (OPA) reported that 73% of US publishers depend on native advertising.

Selecting the Right Media is the choice of advertising media to meet right customer at the right time withthe right message. Gartner used its Newsletter as a medium to promote native advertising to reach two different target groups with the right content.

Discussion Questions:

  1. Why is selecting the right media essential for message structure? (Hints: customer, advertising)
  • How does Gartner use media for advertising?

(Hints: newsletter, conferences)

Course Reference: Concept- Selecting the Right Media/Unit 20 – Advertising, Sales Promotion and Publicrelations/Subject-Marketing Management

Sources:

  1. CMO Exclusive, “Bright Times For Native Advertising”, October 29 , 2013
  2. Sree Vijayakumar, “How Native Advertising helped Gartner double its lead count in 30 days”, Trade Briefs,

October 28 2014

Other Keywords: Strategic Marketing, Marketing Communications, Services Marketing

29

 21 Recruitment and Selection Strategy for an Effective Sales
  
  Team: Eureka’s Model
    
    

Eureka Forbes Ltd. was a consumer durable company formed in 1982, as a joint venture between Shapoorji Pallonji’s Forbes Group and Electrolux of Sweden. Headquatered at Mumbai, India, it was Asia‟s largest direct sales company with employee strength of 10,000. It‟s product portfolio included water purifiers, vacuum cleaners, air purifiers, security systems. „Aquaguard‟ was it‟s flagship product (See Chart 1).

Eureka Forbes identified the following challenges in recruiting and selecting salespeople for an efficient sales team:-

  • Due to retail channels and e-commerce platforms, sales personnel failed to generate sales.
  • Commission based sales was not the only motivator for existing salespeople.
  • Selecting  right  salesmen  for  an  effective  sales  team  could  not  be  met  only  through
  • recruitment advertisements.

With atrition rate of  25%, there was no other alternative recruitment startegy.

Eureka Forbes revamped recruiting and selection for  sales staff as follows:

Salesman cum franchisee:

Potential and senior salesmen were offered franchisee in small towns and in cities to make company’s products more visible

Get-afriend Programme:

Existing sales personnel refer a friend and more than 70% of new recruits

retain and enhance sales

Recruitment & Selection

of sales people at

Eureka Forbes

Dream Team Plan:

Teams of potential salesman were created for 12 markets with specific deadline. Upon completion of the target they were offered core leadership in the team

Campus recruitment:

Fresher’s were attracted by offering

commission based pay

Chart 1:-  Recruitment and selection strategy of salespeople at Eureka Forbes

As a result, Eureka Forbes had around 400 franchisees across 150 cities in India and reported a turnover of Rs.1,471.54 crores for the financial year 2013-14. Eureka Forbes‟ improved model of recruiting and

selecting salespeople acts as a solution to others for B2B and B2C customers.

Recruiting and selecting right sales people are essential for developing efficient sales team. Eureka

Forbes developed recruiting & selection strategy with focus on internal employee‟s referrals, cash incentives and offered senior salesmen an opportunity to become a franchisee.

Discussion Questions:

  1. Why is recruitment and selection so important in sales force management? (Hints: newsletter, conferences)
  • How did Eureka Forbes revamp its recruitment and selection of salespeople?

(Hints: cash incentives, employee‟s referrals)

Course Reference: Concept-Recruiting and selecting salespeople /Unit 21 – Personal Selling and Sales ForceManagement/Subject-Marketing Management

Sources:

  1. “How Eureka Forbes is refurbishing its 8000-strong sales force”, The Economic Times, November 02, 2012
  1. www.Eureka Forbes.com
  2. Forbes-Annual Report  2013-14, www.forbes.co.in/files

Other Keywords: Sales & Distribution Management, Strategic Marketing

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 22 Downsizing: Cisco’s Strategy to become Competitive
   
    

Cisco Systems Inc., an American multinational company headquartered at California was ranked No.1 in

revenue growth market share by IDC (a global market intelligence firm) in 2014. Its employee strength was 74,043. Cisco‟s revenue stands at US$47.142 billion globally. It manufactured network equipment. Cisco

was planning to slash 6000 employees globally to centralize the business. Cisco decided to realign consumer business through core routing, switching and services, collaboration and videos (See Chart 1).

Cisco· figured out following reasons for downsizing:

Failing to sustain growth in its high-end networking switches and routers which declined from 7% in 2013 to 4% in 2014

·     Decline in sales around 23% in China, 13% in Brazil as of 2014

·     Inability to cope up with competitors who were offering software which can run on low-priced hardware.

·     Lack of focus on R&D and talent enhancement.

Cisco’s strategy on end user benefits through downsizing

·              Rightsizing

6000 employees will be cut off for re-allocation and improving

  • competence

In India, Cisco plans to remove 2000 employees out of 10,000 to enhance R&D output and meet competition

·Technological Up gradation  Investment
Cloud computing  To   improve   efficiency
·Security devices ·through
·IoE (Internet of Everything) & Talent
·Collaboration ·Innovation
Analytics ·Growth
·Data Center   
     

Chart 1: Cisco‟s downsizing plan

The downsizing will help Cisco to face the competitors such as Juniper Networks Inc and Huawei Technologies Co Ltd, and meet market expectations. The focus shifts from being marketing services to marketing technology solutions. Cisco recorded revenue of $47.1 billion in 2014 and expects to discuss the revenue after downsizing the business.

Downsizing is an attempt by the companies to reduce the employees and to find ways to improveefficiency and increase profitability. Cisco plans to downsize its employees and invest in growth areas through technological up gradation for better customer satisfaction.

Discussion Questions:

  1. How does downsizing help an organization? (Hints: increase profitability, improve efficiency)
  • How did Cisco‟s strategy benefit the end user through downsizing?

(Hints: satisfaction, technological up gradation)

Course Reference: Concept-Downsizing/Unit 22 -Developing and Managing Holistic Marketing Organization/Subject-Marketing Management

Sources:

  1. “Cisco to cut another 6,000 jobs as forecast falls flat”, The Economic Times, August 14 2014
  2. “Cisco to take $700 million in restructuring charges for layoffs”, Thomson Reuters 2014, August 14 2014

Other keywords: Strategic Marketing, Services Marketing

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 23 Legal and Regulatory Enforcement – Uber’s Case
   
    

Uber Inc. was started by Travis Kalanick and Garrett Camp in San Francisco, USA in 2009.Uber operated radio cabs across 45 countries. The company entered India in 2013 (See chart 1).

Uber· served customers in the following ways:

Operates on electronic and online payment system only. Uber used foreign-based payment gateway system in India.

·     Uber targeted only the luxury segment offering ride in Mercedes, BMW and Innova with base fare of Rs. 200. Cost per km is Rs. 25 and waiting time is Rs.2 per minute.

·     Uber offered free rides to privileged customers on Mother‟s and Father‟s day. It also offered 65% discount on India‟s 65th Republic day in Delhi.

·     Uber classified preferred list of customers based on driver‟s ratings.

Uber failed to operate effectively in India due to the regulatory compliance of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA). The following constraints discouraged Uber.

  RBI   FEMA 
      
            
            
            
            

Payment Settlement procedures

*RBI restricted Foreign Payment gateway system to operate in India

  • 2-Step (PIN & onetime password) procedure was not followed by Uber
  • RBI was not able to regulate Uber in India since it was not a legal entity

Tax structure

*Uber was not paying service tax beyond the exemption limit of Rs.1 million

*Tax authorities confused over source of tax collection (Uber or Taxi Driver)

Fare was collected in non-resident account in India and later on credited to drivers account which was not acceptable to FEMA

Chart 1:-Uber‟s Compliance Issues

RBI extended Uber‟s compliance deadline till 30 November 2014. Unless Uber complied with RBI and FEMA, it would miss a great business opportunity existing in India. Uber was engaging in talks with national payment gateways such as PayTM and PayU in order to comply with RBI guidelines.

Legal and regulatory environment have a direct bearing on the business operations. Therefore marketers have to analyze before venturing into potential market. Uber‟s failure showcases the impact of legal and regulatory environment on the business operations of companies. By regulating Uber‟s services in India,

RBI has sent a strong message to MNCs worldwide on how important is to adhere to the legal and regulatory framework.

Discussion Questions:

  1. How does the legal and regulatory environment effect the business operations of a company? (Hints: increase profitability, improve efficiency)
  2. What are the implications of Uber‟s failure to comply with the legal and regulatory framework?

(Hints: business operations of the companies, RBI guidelines)

Course Reference: Concept- Legal and regulatory environment/Unit 23 – Global Marketing Strategies/Subject-Marketing Management

Sources:

  1. “10 littleknown facts about Uber”, Times of India.com September 4 2014.
  2. “Is Uber Legal in India”, blog.ipleaders.in, October 15 2014
  3. “RBI puts brakes on taxi aggrerator Uber, Insists on 2-step validation for card payments”, Firstbiz., August 25

2014

Other Keywords:  Strategic Marketing, Services Marketing

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 24 Direct Marketing in India: The Oriflame Way
   
    

Oriflame Cosmetics was an international cosmetics company. It was founded in 1967 in Sweden. It was incorporated by Jonas af Jochnick and Robert af Jochnick. The company sold skincare products, accessories and cosmetics. Oriflame operated in 60 countries with 2.5 lakh consultants in India as of 2013. Oriflame organized its operation based on four regions CIS & Baltics, EMEA, Asia and Latin America.

Oriflame faced obstacles such as logistics and infrastructure to sell its products in India. Oriflame‟s marketing division believed that India was a potential market to create its brand equity. Oriflame felt that direct marketing strategy suits the best to target middle class customers in India (See Chart 1).

Oriflame focused on direct marketing strategy to streamline its logistics and infrastructure as follows:

Chart 1: Oriflame‟s Direct marketing strategy

As of 2013, Oriflame sold 600 products in India across categories like personal care and accessories. Oriflame had around 250,000 consultants across India. The company aimed to double the number of direct selling agents by 2016. India has high potential market for cosmetics. Oriflame intended to grow its sales in India by 25% per annum through direct marketing.

Direct Marketing is a process in which products are sold through direct contact with customers andwithout using retail store. Direct Marketing strategy had helped Oriflame Cosmetics through Online Marketing, Catalog Marketing and Multi-level marketing and is taking several initiatives for all the Indian market and expecting 25% growth by 2016 in sales through direct marketing.

Discussion Questions:

  1. How is direct marketing used in the promotional mix of a company?

(Hints: direct contact with customers, increases sales)

  • How did direct marketing by Oriflame streamline its logistics and infrastructure?

(Hints: zero financial risk, enhances distribution)

Course Reference: Concept- Direct Marketing/Unit 24-Direct and Digital Marketing/Subject-Marketing Management Sources:

  1. Ratna Bhushan, “Direct selling companies like Oriflame Amway beat economic slowdown grow 23% in FY”, Max

India,2012.

  1. Hakki Ozmorali, “Oriflame‟s Choices”, World of direct selling, November 18 2013.
  1. PTI, “Oriflame turns to online sales in India to cut costs”, Economic Times, April 25 2010.
  1. PTI, “Oriflame aims to double India revenues by 2016” , Economic Times, June 2 2013.

Other Keywords:  Retail Marketing, Strategic Marketing, Marketing Communications

33

Telemedicine 2.0: Apollo’s Integrated Healthcare Delivery

25Model
 

Apollo Hospitals Group was incorporated in 1983 by Dr. Pratap Reddy. Apollo‟s vision for the next phase of development was to „Touch a Billion Lives‟. Apollo launched Telemedicine model through which doctors

contact patients who were located remotely (See Chart 1).

Apollo identified opportunities in reaching remote customers in India as follows:

  • Around 80% Indians do not have access to specialist healthcare.
  • Lack of specialized healthcare facilities at government hospitals in rural areas
  • Unavailability of specialist doctors services at remote locations.
  • Wide-disparity between urban and rural medical facilities.

Apollo made service differentiation by bringing Telemedicine 2.0 in delivery mechanism as follows:

Chart 1:- Service differentiation model of Apollo

Apollo planned to upgrade the existing Telemedicine 1.0 devices with Telemedicine 2.0 for better monitoring mechanism. Health monitoring devices extract the patient‟s reports such as ECG, blood pressure,

etc. The Telemedicine 2.0 is an integrated delivery model which is attached to patient and aligned with the portal to enable doctors in monitoring and giving effective feedback.

Delivery refers to efficiently delivering product or service to customer with accuracy to enhancecustomer satisfaction. Apollo made service differentiation by bringing innovation in delivery mechanism through Telemedicine 2.0 to reach the remote customer.

Discussion Questions:

  1. How does service differentiation help in creating opportunities in the market? (Hints: intangibility, heterogeneity)
  • How Apollo did differentiate itself through the Telemedicine 2.0 delivery mechanism?

(Hints: innovation in delivery mechanism, customization)

Course Reference: Concept- Service Differentiation-Delivery/Unit 25-Marketing of Services/Subject-MarketingManagement

Sources:

  1. “Apollo readies higher dose of telemedicine”, Business Standard, October 23 2013

ii. Itishree Sanal, “Apollo Hospitals to start Telemedicine 2.0”, Business Standard, September 21 2012 Other Keywords: Services Marketing, Strategic Marketing

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 26 YOU ARE MORE BEAUTIFUL THAN YOU THINK:
  
  Dove’s Idea Marketing
    
    

Dove was a personal care brand owned by Unilever that offered products ranging from body to skin care. Dove worked on „Real‟ beauty a concept different from beauty industry. In 2013, Dove‟s „Real Beauty Sketches Campaign‟ had gone viral and registered 114 million total views. The campaign said „You are better than You think‟. The campaign had also won Titanium Grand Prix award at 2013 Cannes Lions

International Festival of Creativity.

Dove‟s study revealed the perception of women beauty as follows:

  • Globally, 96% of women had low esteem about their beauty.
  • 54% women were their own beauty critic.
  • Women were always negative about their beauty across all age groups.
  • Women became their own enemy rather than victims of society in terms of beauty interpretation.
Dove wanted·to change the perception of beauty through Idea Marketing as follows:-
 „You are better than you think campaign‟ by comparing two beauty sketches.
 ·Gil Zamora, sketch artist drew the first sketch based on self-description of
 ·participant and second sketch based on a strangers description. After placing two
 ·sketches side by side the portrait drawn based on stranger‟s description looked
 ·more attractive than self-description.
 ·Participating women were selected from different ages & ethnicities. They exhibited
 ·similar kind of perception about their beauty.

‘You are more beautiful than you think’ video was showcased in 25 different languages in Dove‟s 33 YouTube channels across 110 countries. Experts believed that the powerful idea could change women‟s perception and paid back in term of more sales.

Idea Marketing influences customer to change their perception and behaviour through „ideas‟. Dove‟s „Real Beauty Sketches Campaign‟ changed women‟s perception of their own beauty and boosted their

self-esteem.

Discussion Questions:

  1. How is idea marketing important from a business prospective? (Hints: customer penetration, enhancement of sales)
  2. How did Dove use the „Real Beauty campaign‟ to change women‟s perception of beauty?

(Hints: social awareness campaign, percention)

Course Reference: Concept- Idea Marketing/Unit 26-Marketing of Organizations, Individuals, Places and Ideas /Subject-Marketing Management

Sources:

  1. “Dove, Your Sketches Idea is more beautiful than your critics think”, Forbes, April 23 2013.
  2. “How Dove‟s real beauty sketches became the most viral video ad of all time”, Business Today, May 22 2013.
  1. Jessica Grose “The story behind dove‟s mega viral real beauty sketches campaign”, Fastcocreate,April 19 2013.

Other Keywords: Strategic Marketing, Marketing Communications

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 27 The World’s Most Ethical Company: Tata Power
   
    

Tata Power Ltd was awarded the world‟s most ethical company of 2014 by Ethisphere Institute (a leading

International group committed to the creation, advancement and sharing of best practices in business ethics). The core business of the company was to generate and transmit electricity. Tata Power was India‟s largest

private player in power sector with a workforce of about 4,100. At the end of August 2013, its market capitalization stood at $2.74 billion (INR 182 billion). Its revenue for quarter three financial year 2014-15 was Rs. 8,807 crores (See Chart 1).

Ethisphere examined the following parameters to award Tata Power from among 144 companies
across 41 industries:-
·Evaluating investment in innovation and sustainable business practices.
·Looking at activities designed to improve corporate citizenship.
·Studying nomination compliance and ethics program.

Tata Power’s ethical practices that earned the award were:

Chart 1: Tata Power‟s ethical practices

Ethical companies foster trust amongst all stakeholders in society. This trust enhances brand value and long term prospects of the company.

Ethical companies voluntarily set ethical standards for their business operations and ensure thateverybody in the organization complies with them. Tata Power had met all the ethical standards of Ethisphere parameter to be awarded as the most ethical company in 2014.

Discussion Questions:

  1. Why is it important for businesses to practice marketing ethics? (Hints: profitable position in the long-run, ethical standards)
  • Why was Tata Power awarded as the most ethical company of 2014?

(Hints: green practices, compliance)

Course Reference: Concept- Marketing Ethics/Unit 27-Marketing Management: Ethical and Social Dimensions/Subject-Marketing Management

Sources:

  1. “Tata Power and Wipro Emerged as most Ethical Companies in India”, Current Affairs Today, March 24 2014
  1. “Wipro, Tata Power among world‟s most ethical companies”, The Economic Times, March 2014
  1. Tata Power Press Release

Other Keywords:  Strategic Marketing, Services Marketing

36

28The Philips Way
 

Royal Philips, commonly known as Philips, was headquartered at Amsterdam, Netherlands. It had multiple products in healthcare, lighting and lifestyle segments. It was founded by Gerard Philips and Fredrik Philips. Philips worked towards greening its product portfolio in collaboration with Delft University of Technology, Netherlands (See Chart 1).

Philips· faced the following difficulties in implementing green innovation:-

Changing mindset of people about green products across value chain for maintenance, reuses,

  • remanufacture and recycle of products.
  • McKinsey estimated that $1 trillion value can be recovered by reusing resources.
  • Packaging: The use of carton material for packaging produced more scrap. Reluctance of customer to make big investments in adopting green products.

Philips focused on Six Pillar for innovation in green products

Chart 1:Six Pillars of Green Innovation

Philips focused on greening its product portfolio. The green innovation stood on circular economy which was based on maintenance, reuse, remanufacture and recycling of products. Philips aimed to grow at 55% of revenue by 2015 with green products.

Green products are produced through green technologies which cause no environmental damage.Philips developed green products through state-of-the art technology and changing people‟s mindset

about green products. Philips relied on the six pillars of green innovation for sustainable product portfolio.

Discussion Questions:

  1. What are green products?

(Hints: green technology, less environmental damage)

  • How did Philips develop green products?

(Hints: sustainable product portfolio, green innovation)

Course Reference: Concept-Green Product/Unit 28-Green and Sustainable Marketing/Subject-Marketing Management Sources:

  1. “Toward a circular economy: Philips CEO Frans van Houten”, McKinsey & Company, February 2014
  1. “Why Philips Eco Design play is paying off in more than one way”, Green Biz, July 2014

Other Keywords:  Strategic Marketing, Consumer Behavior

37

 29 Enriching Travelers’ Roaming Experience using Big Data
  
  Analytics: Airtel’s Approach
    
    

Bharti Airtel was a leading telecommunications company operating in 20 countries across Asia and Africa. Airtel partnered with Mobileum Inc to offer customized and hassle free roaming free experience for

customers in Asia and Africa. Mobileum Inc was a leading Telco Big Data Analytics Company. The partnership facilitated understanding of the customer‟s travel intentions, travel patterns and service usage

habits while travelling (See Chart 1).

Airtel recognized opportunities for using Big Data for enhancing the roaming experience of travelers

as follows:·Inability to tap potential revenue from roaming experience of travelers across countries.
·Unable to use massive customer data to personalize campaigns which could increase income
·per user.
Big Data insights were not used to cut costs efficiently.
·Unstructured  data  like  images,  audio,  video,  etc  were  not  properly  classified  to  make
 meaningful insights about customers.

Airtel used Big Data Analytics to customize roaming experience of travelers as follow:-

Helpedgain   commercialEnabledefficient
insightsliketraveloperations for customized
prediction, roamer detection,roaming services 
roamer segmentation   

*‘One Airtel’ service for African travelerstravelling in India and Sri Lanka without roaming charges along with flat rate on SMS, data services, etc

  • Pre-paid cards at various price points such as customers could call to India from UK at 1 cent/min & from US at 1.4 cent/min

*Post-paid cards such as Saudi Arabia pack with Rs.786 monthly rental offers Rs.15/min calls to India as well as local

Chart 1:- Big Data Analytics of Airtel

Airtel  used  Analytic  Models,  Technology  and  Customized  Pricing  to  enhance  roaming  experience  of

travelers. Airtel had over 312 million customers by the end of December 2014.

Big Data refers to the challenges, capabilities and competencies associated with storing and analyzing huge data for decision making. Airtel used Big Data Analytics to understand customer‟s needs and

tailored travelers roaming experiences.

Discussion Questions:

  1. What is big data?

(Hints: improves decision making and performance, measurement)

  • How did Airtel leverage big data analytics to understand customers?

(Hints: customization of customers need, travelers experience)

Course Reference: Concept-Big Data /Unit 29-Marketing Analytics/Subject-Marketing Management Sources:

  1. “Bharti Airtel innovates with Mobileum on Telco Big Data Analytics”, India Infoline, February 25 2014
  2. “Airtel, Mobileum join hands to leverage data analytics”, Tele Analysis, February 24 2014
  1. Bharti Airtel-Performance at a glance

Other keywords: Strategic Marketing, Services Marketing, Consumer Behavior

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