...OF UNILEVER 1) What are the key features of Shakti? What are its positive aspects and what are its drawbacks? Key Features of Shakti: • This project was started in 2001 with the aim of increasing the company’s rural distribution reach as well as providing rural women with income-generating opportunities. • Villages with a population of about 2000-3000 are selected. • Personnel from HUL approach SHGs. • Selection of the Shakti Amma. • HUL vouches for Shakti Ammas with banks from credit. • One Shakti entrepreneur is appointed for one village & villages that are about 2 kilometers apart from her village. • The Shakti dealer places initial orders worth Rs.15000(principal customer of HUL) • The Shakti dealer organizes a “Shakti Day” in the village(display of products & free gifts) • The recruitment of a Shakti Entrepreneur or Shakti Amma (SA) begins with the executives of HUL identifying the uncovered village. • The representative of the company meets the panchayat and the village head and identify the woman who they believe will be suitable as a SA. • After training she is asked to put up Rs 20,000 as investment which is used to buy products for selling. The products are then sold door-to-door or through petty shops at home. Positive Aspects: • The Shakti entrepreneur program creates livelihood opportunities for underprivileged rural women. • The Shakti Vani program works to improve the quality of life in rural India, by spreading awareness of best practices...
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...1. What are the key features of the Project Shakti? What are its positive aspects and what are its drawbacks? Key features of Project Shakti: • The project was started in 2001 with the aim of increasing the company’s rural distribution reach as well as providing rural women with income-generating opportunities. • Villages with a population of about 2000-3000 are selected. • Personnel from HUL approach self-help group (SHG). • Selection of the Shakti Amma. • HUL vouches for Shakti Ammas with banks from credit. • One Shakti entrepreneur is appointed for one village & villages that are about 2 kilometers apart from her village. • The Shakti dealer places initial orders worth Rs.15000(principal customer of HUL) • The Shakti dealer organizes a “Shakti Day” in the village(display of products & free gifts) • The recruitment of a Shakti Entrepreneur or Shakti Amma (SA) begins with the executives of HUL identifying from the uncovered village. • The representative of the company meets the panchayat and the village head and identify the woman who they believe will be suitable as a SA. • After training she is asked to put up Rs 20,000 as investment which is used to buy products for selling. The products are then sold door-to-door or through petty shops at home. Positive Aspects: • The Shakti entrepreneur program creates livelihood opportunities for underprivileged rural women. • The Shakti Vani program works to improve the quality of life in rural India, by spreading awareness of...
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...telecom giant, Nokia Corporation (Nokia) launched its Nokia Life Tools (NLT) service in the state of Maharashtra in India. This was a bid to expand its rural base in the country. The service was commercially rolled out after the successful implementation of the pilot program in Maharashtra, in November 2008. The launch of the NLT service marked the increasing accessibility of value-added services (VAS) to rural consumers in India. Targeted at the rural consumers, the NLT service offered a range of services in the areas of agriculture, education, and entertainment to address the information gaps in the rural community. Nokia began focusing on the Indian rural market in 2003 when it launched a mobile handset with features such as longer battery life, one-touch flashlight, etc., that catered to the needs of the rural consumers. Over the years, it extended its support to the rural markets by launching several low-end phones that rural consumers found affordable. However, the company felt the need to serve the rural market by offering a value proposition along with its handsets. It noted that the rural consumers, especially farmers and students, had little or no access to the information they needed due to lack of resources and erratic Internet connections. This prompted Nokia to launch a service that would be embedded in its handsets and would serve the needs of the rural community. In November 2008, the company launched a pilot program for testing its NLT service in Maharashtra. The...
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...THE WILLIAM DAVIDSON INSTITUTE 06 November 2006 case 1-428-604 Rural demand for, and consumption of, consumer products is set to explode. The challenge for most companies is to be able to offer appropriate products in an affordable way in relatively remote locations. It is our view that India will soon see an inflexion point in rural consumption.1 Mr. K.B. Dadiseth, Hindustan Lever Limited Chairman About Hindustan Lever Limited Hindustan Lever Limited began operating in India in 1888 with the distribution of its “Made in England” Sunlight detergent. In 1931, when India was still a British colony, Hindustan Vanaspati Limited was formed as a 100% subsidiary of Unilever in India. It primarily sold soaps, detergents, and other household products to a select group of affluent consumers, such as British government employees and the Indian elite. In Research Assistant Maulin Vakil and Professor Ted London of the University of Michigan developed this case. They thank Vijay Sharma and Rohithari Rajan of Hindustan Lever for their assistance.© 2008, Ted London. DO In fact, since 1999 revenues at HLL had remained nearly constant, an outcome stockholders had not welcomed. With this lack of growth, increasing attention was directed to the company’s Millennium Plan an ambitious blueprint outlining the company’s growth strategies for the 21st century. The Millennium Plan was a part of the company’s renewed emphasis on business focus and operational efficiencies. Additionally...
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...SOLUTION 3.BENEFITS 4.HUL-PROJECT SHAKTI PRESENTATION TRANSCRIPT 5.SUPPORT SHAKTI. 6.MARKET LINKAGE FOR RURAL PRODUCTS 7.INDUSTRY ROLE IN BUILDING MARKET LINKAGES 8.SCOPE AND OPPORTUNITIES 9.LITERATRURE REVIEW 10.CONCLUSION 11.REFERENCES AND BIBLIOGRAPHY Introduction Rural products of India are unique, innovative and have good utility and values. Large number of these rural products (like handicraft items, food products, embroidery, clothes & other products) sustains a significant segment of the population in the rural areas. Several attributes of rural products can be identified, for which, it has a demand in the market. Out of the lots, ‘ethnic origin’ and ‘indigenous design & appearance’ are two traits of rural products, attracting a premium in the market. But, contrary to this, the non-uniformity of rural products (from one another) and lack of its quality control measures has been creating a negative demand. Besides, the small sized and dispersed production units of these rural products hinder realization of the economies of scale in marketing and result in high transaction costs per unit of output. Niche-based products have no local market. Products in local use are also not marketed horizontally; they often first travel down to market through a long chain of intermediaries and then up to more difficult locations in the rural areas. In...
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...SHAKTI. 6.MARKET LINKAGE FOR RURAL PRODUCTS 7.INDUSTRY ROLE IN BUILDING MARKET LINKAGES 8.SCOPE AND OPPORTUNITIES 9.LITERATRURE REVIEW 10.CONCLUSION 11.REFERENCES AND BIBLIOGRAPHY Introduction Rural products of India are unique, innovative and have good utility and values. Large number of these rural products (like handicraft items, food products, embroidery, clothes & other products) sustains a significant segment of the population in the rural areas. Several attributes of rural products can be identified, for which, it has a demand in the market. Out of the lots, ‘ethnic origin’ and ‘indigenous design & appearance’ are two traits of rural products, attracting a premium in the market. But, contrary to this, the non-uniformity of rural products (from one another) and lack of its quality control measures has been creating a negative demand. Besides, the small sized and dispersed production units of these rural products hinder realization of the economies of scale in marketing and result in high transaction costs per unit of output. Niche-based products have no local market. Products in local use are also not marketed horizontally; they often first travel down to market through a long chain of intermediaries and then up to more difficult locations in the rural areas. In the process, the people in rural areas suffer from both low prices as producers and high prices as consumers. In this conflict, rural products loss its equilibrium...
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...November 06, 2006 case 1-428-604 Hindustan Lever at the Base of the Pyramid: Growth for the 21st Century About Hindustan Lever Limited Hindustan Lever Limited began operating in India in 1888 with the distribution of its “Made in England” Sunlight detergent. In 1931, when India was still a British colony, Hindustan Vanaspati Limited was formed Published by GlobaLens, a division of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan. Research Assistant Maulin Vakil and Professor Ted London of the University of Michigan developed this case. They thank Vijay Sharma and Rohithari Rajan of Hindustan Lever for their assistance.© 2008, Ted London. Unauthorized reproduction and distribution is an infringement of copyright. Please contact us for permissions: Permissions@GlobaLens.com or 734-615-9553. DO In fact, since 1999 revenues at HLL had remained nearly constant, an outcome stockholders had not welcomed. With this lack of growth, increasing attention was directed to the company’s Millennium Plan an ambitious blueprint outlining the company’s growth strategies for the 21st century. The Millennium Plan was a part of the company’s renewed emphasis on business focus and operational efficiencies. Additionally, a core aspect of the Plan was to identify and nurture businesses of the future. Over 150 new businesses were proposed before the list was narrowed down to nine. These included a foray into drinking water, a plan for network-based marketing (along the...
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...Rural demand for, and consumption of, consumer products is set to explode. The challenge for most companies is to be able to offer appropriate products in an affordable way in relatively remote locations. It is our view that India will soon see an inflexion point in rural consumption.1 Mr. K.B. Dadiseth, Hindustan Lever Limited Chairman On August 30, 2004, Hindustan Lever Limited’s (HLL) share price on the Bombay Stock Exchange touched Rs.100.5 (US$ 2.28) - a new low for one of the largest Indian companies by market value (see Exhibit 1). In its Q2 2004 results, HLL’s bottom line had fallen by 43% due to price pressures in its mainstay detergents business. Procter & Gamble, its long-time nemesis, had unveiled a series of price cuts on its leading detergent brands, Ariel and Tide, forcing HLL to respond. As a consequence, operating profit margins, which had peaked in 2002 at 19.6%, declined to 14%.2 Furthermore, although the mergers, restructuring, and operating changes that HLL underwent in the 1990s had helped profits grow through 2003, the company’s top-line growth had remained more or less stagnant over the past few years, causing some analysts to re-align their portfolios. In fact, since 1999 revenues at HLL had remained nearly constant, an outcome stockholders had not welcomed. With this lack of growth, increasing attention was directed to the company’s Millennium Plan - an ambitious blueprint outlining the company’s growth strategies for the 21st century....
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...enterprising youth. They have passed out from IIM, Bangalore. They thought instead of doing a job, they will launch fresh vegetables in Indian markets. Having learnt of the future conventional foods, they decided to venture into cultivation of mushrooms. Mushrooms are known to be the best alternative food for vegetarians. For Sachin and Virag fund raising was a serious handicap for mass production. However, the first trial batch of mushrooms that they produced was bought by Star Hotel in Bangalore. Further, the hotel placed orders for supply of 20 kgs every day. Now mushroom industry is run by small entrepreneurs, like Sachin and Virag. Another big player M/s Ashtavinayak Mushrooms, equipped with cold storage facility was more interested in the export market. Sachin and Virag have set their sights high. They aim to sell mushrooms in a very big way all over India. Mushrooms have a great market potential and is a perishable food. Questions A. How will you advise Sachin and Virag, as how to increase the consumer awareness about this new food? What would be your suggestions for distribution channel for mushrooms? B. Possible Solutions A. • Consumer awareness can be created by test marketing. Through sales persons and customer response to the product. • • Samples can be distributed in big malls and Variety stores. Awareness can also be created through outdoor publicity such as wall hoardings, banners, insertions in news papers etc. Targeted...
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...Goods Company with a heritage of over 80 years in India and touches the lives of two out of three Indians. With over 35 brands spanning 20 distinct categories such as soaps, detergents, shampoos, skin care, toothpastes, deodorants, cosmetics, tea, coffee, packaged foods, ice cream, and water purifiers, the Company is a part of the everyday life of millions of consumers across India. HUL works to create a better future every day and helps people feel good, look good and get more out of life with brands and services that are good for them and good for others. By combining multinational expertise with our deep roots in diverse local cultures, HUL is continuing to provide a range of products to suit a wealth of consumers. HUL is thriving to strengthen strong relationships in the emerging markets as they believe that it will be significant for the future growth of the organization. With these economic and social objectives in mind HUL started project Shakti to tap the vast market of rural India. Project Shakti Intense competition and saturated urban markets made FMCGs look at rural markets. 70% of India’s population lives in rural areas and therefore they hold great potential notwithstanding the low income levels. Government measures like loans waiver, national rural employment guarantee scheme (NREGS) and higher minimum support price for agriculture produce have resulted in higher disposable incomes in rural India. Nevertheless, rural markets are beset with problems such as poor...
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...Identifying and Evaluating business Opportunities, idea generation and evaluation, Lifecycle and growth plans and the role of the entrepreneur in each stage, Exit options, Preparation and Presentation of Business Plans. Unit III Post-entry entrepreneurial issues: Implementing Business plans, Forms of business ownership, Professionalization and Management Succession, Reinventing and turn around. Support systems for entrepreneurs: Institutional support: Training Institutions, Financial Institutions, Research and Technology, Marketing and Legal aspects, Taxation benefits, Global aspects of Entrepreneurship SUGGESTED READINGS: 1. Anjan Raichaudhuri (2010) Managing New Ventures- Concepts and cases on Entrepreneurship, PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi. 2. Hisrich, R.D, Peter, M. P and Shepherd, D.A (2006) Entrepreneurship, New Delhi: Tata Mcgraw Hill, sixth edition. 3. Dollinger, Mark J (2004) Entrepreneurship: strategies and resources, Delhi: Pearson Education (Singapore) 4. Sharma, Sudhir, Singh, Balraj and Singhal, Sandeep (2005) Entrepreneurship development, New- Delhi: Wisdom Publications 5. Saini, J S and Rathore, B S (2001), Entrepreneurship: theory and practice. New Delhi: A.H.Wheeler, 2001. 6. Desai, V (2006), Small- Scale Industries and Entrepreneurship, Himalaya Publishing House. 7. Jain P. C. (1998), “Hand book for new entrepreneurs”, Oxford University 8. Peter Drucker (1993), “Innovation and Entrepreneurship”, Hyper Business Book 9. Barrow, Colin, Brown...
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...&Weaknesses of Unilever in Indian Market HLL has numerous advantages; well-established strong brands, sales and distribution system, local manufacturing and distribution. Another strong point of HLL is its first-mover advantage. HLL entered India much earlier than other multinational FMCG companies like Procter & Gamble and Colgate-Palmolive. HLL has the greatest market penetration and geographical coverage among other FMCG giants operating in India. HLL has also strong position against unorganized local competitors who do not work to build brand image. HLL offers a very large number of brands and SKU to serve Indian market. On weaknesses side of Unilever; unorganized local players can sell their products at lower prices than HLL brands. HLL might entered the India first but after economic liberalizations other major FMCG players whom Unilever is competing globally also entered India. So HLL’s vast product line and brands brought great number of competitor at each profit-center that HLL operates in high-price segment. The competition led to price-reduction and resulted profit-loss. Opportunities &Threats for Unilever in Indian Market One of the greatest opportunities in India for Unilever is the number actual and potential customers. India has the second largest population in the world with 1.2 Billion. Majority of this population is young people under 25 years-old and willing to consume. India’s rising GDP and purchasing power is bringing extra opportunities. Unilever is also...
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...every month, and the country is witnessing wild momentum in the telecom industry. Maheshwari (July-September 2008), in her report analysed the Indian telecom industry and ascertain that Indian telecommunications has been zooming up the growth curve at an mounting pace, and India is has surpassed US to become the second largest wireless network in the world. This growing subscriber base is basically created by tapping into rural India, which is an emerging market for the industry. The estimate for the next five to ten years is that the rural market will form 40 % of the subscriber base. The study has analysed the human resource management process of the industry, and specially the latest trends of recruitment of this massively growing industry. Anderson (2008), in his single executive interview titled “Developing a route to market strategy for mobile communications in rural India An interview with Gurdeep Singh, Operations Director, Uttar Pradesh, Hutch India” suggests that managers need to go beyond traditional approaches to serving the poor, and innovate by taking into account the unique institutional context of developing markets. His practical implication says that the experience of Hutchison Essar in India provides some important lessons for mobile network operators (MNOs) and other firms in other developing markets who are hoping to...
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...Study Objective * To learn about the existing trends in e-commerce industry today * To analyse in depth the benefits and limitations of online transactions of products * To examine the online shopping sites prevalent in Coimbatore such as the mall.coimbatore which is an online shopping store and personal buying assistant in Coimbatore * To observe the future of the industry and recommend improvement ideas Need for selecting the ecommerce Industry India, one of the fastest growing economies presents a world of opportunities to entrepreneurs, investors, and researchers with an interest in the global economy. India’s e-Commerce industry is on the growth curve and experiencing a spurt in growth. With this increased interest comes a surge in demand for facts, trends and indicators. Highly concentrated urban areas with very high literacy rates, a vast rural population with fast increasing literacy rate, a rapidly growing internet user base, technology advancement and adoption and such other factors make India a dream destination for ecommerce players. E-commerce combines web technology with business economics. As of the last 10 years, online visibility for such online enterprises now heavily rely on the relationship between the own online sales platform and Search Engines for improved traffic consisting of presumable customers with the intent of acquiring products or services related to the customers’ needs. In 2008 an Internet behavioural analysis showed that over 90%...
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...players of M&HCV industry. Also, two wheelers, passenger cars and SUV’s were also used for freight transport. Non motorized vehicle sector included bullock carts, bicycle rickshaw, horse drawn carriages, and manual pull carts. The size of the non motorized section was large but undocumented. After many successful years, In India commercial vehicle industry is going through a bad patch due to following reasons- • Economic slowdown • Delay in infrastructure facilities i.e.-Roads Medium and high commercial vehicle industry has seen significant slowdown while LCV industry is still experiencing growth. To overcome the slowdown OEMs have started investing in more research in technology, design, innovation, increasing the reach and increasing the standard of aftersales service instead of investing in expansion of output facilities. Some international OEMs like Daimler (Bharat Benz), MAN motors, VE motors and Scania are Investing and expanding in India. International OEMs are calibrating and designing their products according to local product demands and they are looking forward to make India as their export hub. Global scenario- China, India and Russia are one of the emerging markets for commercial vehicle...
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