Knowledge@Wharton -- Marketing

Bright Idea: Bringing Eco-friendly Lighting to India's Hinterland

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 16:27:06 EST

Nearly 40% of India's population lives in darkness after dusk. Until recently, expensive and polluting kerosene provided the majority of lighting in rural homes. Now, the adoption of eco-friendly solar lights among rural consumers has become a big business opportunity for a number of companies. But the learning curve to roll out these and related products has been steep, requiring a mix of price points, marketing, distribution channels and financing.

Mercedes-Benz India's Wilfried Aulbur: 'India Will Be a Growth Story for the Next 30 Years'

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 14:49:41 EST

Ever since Mercedes-Benz entered India with its line of trucks in 1954, the German auto maker has been expanding operations around the country. India's luxury car market is tiny -- at 0.06% of the total market. China's, in contrast, is much larger. How does Mercedes-Benz plan to leverage its strong brand recognition in India to appeal to the younger generation? India Knowledge@Wharton discussed this question and others with Wilfried Aulbur, chairman and managing director of Mercedes-Benz India, a division of Daimler

Why Companies See Bright Prospects in Rural India

Thu, 18 Jun 2009 17:25:08 EST

Economists were surprised when India's GDP growth in the first three months of 2009 was higher than expected, largely because of strong performance by the agriculture sector. While urban demand is depressed because of the global downturn, rural markets are growing -- and companies are taking notice. Strategies to provide services like banking and products such as cars, gold jewelry and shampoo are being reshaped by the rush to cater to rural demand. As one expert told India Knowledge@Wharton, rural India is forcing marketers to rethink the traditional four P's of marketing -- product, price, place and promotion -- and replace them with four A's: Affordability, awareness, availability and acceptability.

Director-producer Rohan Sippy on India's Appetite for Movies and Why Content Remains King

Thu, 21 May 2009 17:26:19 EST

Over the course of his career, Indian film director-producer Rohan Sippy has witnessed an influx of domestic and foreign investors on the Bollywood scene, which has led to skyrocketing production costs and a new emphasis on marketing and "hard-selling your product" to achieve higher returns through multiple distribution channels. In an interview with India Knowledge@Wharton, Sippy discusses the impact of these changes on Bollywood, the prospects for a global film industry in India, and why independent filmmaking still makes sense for some projects.

In South Africa, the Indian Premier League Takes on a Test Match of Its Own

Thu, 23 Apr 2009 20:59:43 EST

If you attend a friendly game of football in England, you're likely to see a jersey from one of the teams of the English Premiership. But would you expect to see the same on football fields in Los Angeles or on the streets of Bangkok? If you lived in Pennsylvania or Florida, would you throng to a local arena to watch teams from London and Glasgow in a basketball tournament? In other words, can city loyalties command viewership if the action is transported to other countries? Do fans go to a game to watch, or to cheer their teams? As the second edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) gets under way, similar questions are being asked by cricket fans, players and owners against a backdrop of political, business and marketing issues.

Made for India: Succeeding in a Market Where One Size Won't Fit All

Thu, 12 Mar 2009 17:12:09 EST

While consumers across the world are seeing a growing number of "Made in India" labels on the goods they buy, Indian shoppers are witnessing a more subtle change. Increasingly, multinational companies are selling products that are not just made in -- but that are made for -- India. Entire generations of Indian consumers, who once felt grateful simply for being able to experience the same brands as the rest of the world, are now realizing they can ask for products that cater to their wants and needs. Several multinationals have responded with varying degrees of success, but experts agree that customizing products for the world's third-largest market is a necessary investment.

What Makes Titan Tick? Finding Opportunity in India's Unorganized Retail Sector

Thu, 22 Jan 2009 16:52:37 EST

Over the past 20 years, Titan Industries has reinvented the watch and jewelry market in India. The Bangalore-headquartered company is now making fresh inroads into the country's huge "unorganized" retail sector -- including corner shops, kiosks, street vendors and other single-proprietor venues -- which traditionally has been dominated by cheap imports and low-quality domestic products. How does Titan -- India's leading watch manufacturer and the world's fifth largest -- plan to succeed in a market segment where bargain prices and cultural associations often outweigh brand cachet?

iPhone in India: Has Apple Dialed the Wrong Number?

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 17:37:58 EST

At midnight on August 22, Apple rolled out its iPhone in India and some 20 new countries. It didn't roll too far: Missing were the lines and fanfare that accompanied the iPhone's launch in the U.S. and some other parts of the world. Despite the lack of buzz and other potential hang-ups, some Wharton experts see a clever strategy at work where Apple is "testing the waters" and getting prospective customers acquainted with its device before a full-scale marketing assault.

An Increasingly Affluent Middle India Is Harder to Ignore

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 18:54:59 EST

Several recent studies show that the real Indian market may not lie in large metros such as Mumbai, Calcutta or Chennai but in smaller cities such as Nagpur, Jaipur, Surat and Coimbatore. Consumers from these markets have high aspirations and, increasingly, the purchasing power to realize them. India Knowledge@Wharton interviews marketing experts to explore why the emergence of this rising middle class has crucial implications for marketers.

Cricket in India: Moving Into a League of Its Own

Thu, 20 Mar 2008 19:35:31 EST

The Indian Premier League -- a new cricket league -- has generated business worth $2 billion even before the first ball has been bowled. Large corporations such as Reliance Industries, the UB Group and India Cements, among others, have invested in city-based teams, as have movie stars such as Shah Rukh Khan and Preity Zinta. Supporters argue that these investments, in conjunction with aggressive marketing and an innovative 20-over format, will elevate cricket to a new level. Other experts warn, however, that unless fans flock to accept the new format, the Indian Premier League could be caught and bowled.

M. N. Vora: A Farewell to Indian Management Education's Case Study Pioneer

Thu, 26 Jul 2007 17:33:32 EST

On June 25, Mahasukhrai N. Vora, a former professor of marketing at the Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedabad (IIM-A), passed away at age 73. Widely respected, Vora is credited as the pioneer of the case study approach in Indian management education. He was a tough but caring task master for students, and blended a sophisticated business approach with the realities of a developing economy. India Knowledge@Wharton interviewed Vora's former colleagues and students about his contributions to marketing and to Indian business education.

Marketing to Rural India: Making the Ends Meet

Thu, 08 Mar 2007 16:34:42 EST

In corner offices in Mumbai and New Delhi, executives have long recognized that to build real sales volumes they will have to reach outside the big cities. In several categories, rural India is where the growth lies. India's villages now account for 46% of all soft drinks sold, 49% of motorcycles and 59% of cigarettes. Recognizing this reality, multinational companies as well as Indian firms are developing strategies to reach consumers in India's 600,000-plus villages. "No consumer goods company today can afford to forget that the rural market is a very big part of the Indian consumer market," says Jagmohan Singh Raju, a professor of marketing at Wharton.

Sustaining Corporate Growth Requires 'Big I' and 'small i' Innovation

Wed, 21 Feb 2007 14:55:13 EST

All companies, from major multinationals to start-ups, face a common challenge: how to keep growing. These firms find it difficult to sustain growth because they become risk averse, opting for safer incremental product and service improvements instead of more rewarding, but riskier, major initiatives, according to a study by Wharton marketing professor George S. Day. Companies, Day says, need to better understand the risks inherent in different levels of innovation and achieve a balance between BIG I innovation and small i innovation.

The 'Myth of Market Share': Can Focusing Too Much on the Competition Harm Profitability?

Wed, 24 Jan 2007 15:12:24 EST

Business has long been likened to warfare, according to Wharton marketing professor Scott Armstrong, so it is hardly surprising that companies strive to beat their competitors and wrest away as much market share as possible. But such efforts not only waste time and energy, they can actually be detrimental to the firm's profitability, according to Armstrong. Based on new research and examples from today's business environment, Armstrong and co-author Kesten Green suggest that overemphasis on market share is the wrong approach.

Network-based Marketing: Using Existing Customers to Help Sell to New Ones

Wed, 10 Jan 2007 15:27:02 EST

Marketers have long used all sorts of demographic and geographic data to target potential customers -- age, sex, education level, income, zip code. But there's another variable that companies may want to consider: Who is connected to whom? A study, co-authored by Wharton professor of operations and information management Shawndra Hill, found that consumers are far more apt to buy a company's product if they are "network neighbors" with existing customers.

How and Why Chinese Firms Excel in 'The Art of Price War'

Wed, 13 Dec 2006 15:19:43 EST

When it comes to price wars, Wharton marketing professor Z. John Zhang can't help but notice that companies in the West and companies in China are quite literally worlds apart. In the West, Zhang says, the outbreak of a price war is viewed as the failure of managerial rationality. In China, the outbreak of a price war is considered a legitimate and effective business strategy. In a recent paper, Zhang and Dongsheng Zhou, a marketing professor at the China Europe International Business School in Shanghai, analyze two price wars that took place in China in the mid-1990s.

The Lowdown on Customer Loyalty Programs: Which Are the Most Effective and Why

Wed, 06 Sep 2006 14:30:41 EST

When making a purchase, a consumer has a choice between using frequent-flier miles, cash, or some combination thereof. Which will he or she choose? Another consumer has an opportunity to participate in a special program to get a free car wash after paying for a certain number of washes. What's the best way for the car-wash owner to motivate the customer to participate? Such questions are serious business for airlines, hotel chains, credit-card companies and other corporations that offer loyalty programs to customers. Wharton marketing professor Xavier Drèze and Joseph C. Nunes of the University of Southern California's Marshall School of Business have spent several years studying how these programs can be structured to generate the most revenue for companies offering them.

Delhi in Davos: How India Built its Brand at the World Economic Forum

Wed, 22 Feb 2006 16:56:24 EST

The emergence of China and India figured prominently at the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos last month. In India's case, however, another factor also was at work. Determined not to be overshadowed, Indian business and government leaders spent some two years and $4 million planning an elaborate branding campaign to ensure that the "India story" got prominent play and did not get lost amid the chatter at Davos. How does a country go about building its brand though such PR campaigns? And how can outcomes be measured to see if the campaign worked? Wharton professors who were at Davos and Indian business and government leaders say that while India's campaign at the summit was impressive, the country will now have to walk the talk on infrastructure investments and policy reforms if it wants to retain its credibility.

The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid: Eradicating Poverty through Profits

Wed, 25 Aug 2004 22:17:41 EST

For more than 50 years, the World Bank, donor nations, various aid agencies, national governments, and, lately, civil society organizations have all tried to but failed to eradicate poverty. The adoption of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) by the United Nations only underscores the reality that in the 21st century, poverty — and the disenfranchisement that accompanies it — remains one of the world’s most daunting problems. In The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid, C. K. Prahalad argues that the typical pictures of poverty mask the fact that the very poor represent resilient entrepreneurs and value-conscious consumers. What is needed is a better approach to help the poor, an approach that involves partnering with them to innovate and achieve sustainable win–win scenarios . Collaboration between the poor, civil society organizations, governments, and large firms can create the largest and fastest growing markets in the world.

Marketers Must Seek Their 'Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid'

Wed, 10 Mar 2004 16:03:36 EST

For experienced marketing managers in the world’s largest multinational companies, it is clear who their target consumers are: People in the developed world and in the upper and middle classes of the developing world who can afford costly products and services. But C. K. Prahalad, a professor at the University of Michigan Business School, has a different perspective. In his forthcoming book, The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid: Eradicating Poverty through Profits , Prahalad argues that MNCs not only can make money selling to the world’s poorest, but also that they must undertake such efforts to close the growing gap between the rich and poor countries. Prahalad’s book is one of the first volumes to be offered by Wharton School Publishing, a new joint venture with Pearson Education, a unit of Pearson, the international media company that publishes The Financial Times.