Brands and Branding - Ibscdc

1 's Product Innovationand brand Building Strategies inIndia: Re-creating the LostMagic?This case is written to debate and discusson the issue In the presence of focusedand determined competitors, even a well-known and established player is capable ofmaking all the possible incorrect strategicmoves. Established in 1996, Whirlpool ofIndia Ltd. (WIL) set out to capture theIndian market with its customer-centricapproach. The company gained leadershipin the direct-cool refrigerator segment witha significant share in the washing machinemarket. However, with the entry of theKorean conglomerates LG and Samsung,WIL's rise to success came to a for the same market space,these Korean players offered a host oftechnologically superior products ataffordable rates through a strongcountrywide network.

2 Promotedaggressively and backed by a customer careservice to please Indian customers, theseproducts took away the market share fromWIL in less than a decade. The Koreancompanies redefined the customer servicein the home appliances segment. To makea come-back into the Indian market, WIL,under the direction of its new vicepresident, Marketing, Shantanu Das Gupta,geared up to focus on offering innovativeproducts. To create a brand recall, thecompany hired celebrity couple Kajol andAjay Devgan as brand ambassadors. After3 years in the red, WIL finally witnessed anet operating profit in 2008. However,with its market share still trailing behindits competitors, the case questions thesustainability of WIL s Objectives To understand the nature of the consumerdurables market in India and to analysethe critical success factors in this market To understand the reasons for WIL's riseand fall in the consumer durables industry To suggest alternatives for WIL tobecome India's 'Best Home AppliancesCompany'.

3 IndustryConsumer Electronics/FMCGR eferenceMAR0104 Year of strategy, Product innovation , brand building, Branding , LG, Samsung,Whirlpool, Consumer Durables industry,Marketing, CSFs, Competition, India,TurnaroundBrands and BrandingBrands and BrandingBrands and BrandingBrands and BrandingBrands and BrandingSamsung in India: brand Buildingthrough Customer ServiceThis case, set in 2008, attempts to analysehow to build brand in a hyper competitiveindustry like consumer durables industrywhere Brands matter the most andmarketing efforts matter even more. Thiscase study can very effectively be used todebate on what can be the unique platformsfor competitive advantage in consumerdurable industry. Post liberalisation in 1991,with the entry of multinational companieslike LG, Samsung and Whirlpool, the Indianconsumer durables industry has witnessedintense competition.

4 In order to lure thecustomers, companies flooded the marketwith latest models, new features and latesttechnology. To position their Brands in theminds of the consumers, these playersadopted several brand -building strategiesapart from investing heavily on R&D andmarketing. This case delves into the criticalsuccess factors of the industry and thefactors that gave a few players marketleadership in this industry. To create acompetitive edge, Samsung, the No. 2player, is emphasising on customer is believed that customer service is a keyinfluencing factor in the consumer durablesindustry. However, with other companiesalso catching up, can Samsung create anedge? The case delves into what Samsungneeds to do to create a competitiveadvantage in the highly competitiveconsumer durables Objectives To debate on the sources of brand -building in a commoditised industry To understand Samsung India's brand -building strategies To analyse and debate on whetherSamsung's focus on customer servicewould give it a competitive advantageover Electronics/FMCGR eferenceMAR0103 Year of , Repositioning, StrategicPostioning, Conglomerate, Branding ,Network Operator, Retail, Diversification,Vision, Airtel, Bharti, Bharti TeleventuresBharti Enterprises' NewConglomerate brand Identity:The Strategic PositioningChallengesThis case study's primary objective is todebate and discuss on.

5 Does it make sensefor a single-business firm from an emergingcountry like India, to transform itself intoa conglomerate when the reverse trend iswitnessed in other countries bothdeveloped as well as developing? With theinception of Bharti Telecom (Bharti) in1985, Sunil Bharti Mittal laid thefoundations of an organisation that wouldemerge as India's 'telecom conglomerategiant'. The company made a humblebeginning with the manufacture of pushbutton handsets. However, 1992 marked theturn of events for Bharti. The liberalisationof the Indian telecom sector in that yearunleashed numerous opportunities fordomestic and international players to tapthe lucrative Indian telecom its small size, Bhartiplunged into the bidding war for cellularlicenses, successfully capturing the licensefor providing cellular network service inNew Delhi (Delhi).

6 Making a mark with itsbrand, Airtel, in the Delhi market, Bhartiwas confident of a triumphant to its aspirations, this earlyvictory was followed by a string ofdownturns. The company lost most of thesubsequent cellular bids and found itself introubled waters. Nevertheless, competitors'inability to exploit their winning cellularbids proved a boon to Bharti. The eagernessof these companies to sell their cellularlicenses to Bharti brought the company backinto limelight. Banking on the opportunity,the company spread its cellular service tonew regions in the country. From being ahandset manufacturer, Bharti transformeditself into a full cellular service providerwith a whopping million customers inMarch 2003. However, the company is notcontent with being only a 'telecomconglomerate'. In 2008, to gratify itsgrowing aspirations, Bharti declared itsintentions of becoming India's 'finestconglomerate by 2020'.

7 Equipped with ayouthful logo and new brand identity, Bhartiis determined to unveil another successstory. However, many challenges lie Objectives To analyse the critical success factors inbuilding conglomerates and tounderstand the role of brand building ina conglomerate vis-a-vis a single-businessfirm To analyse and understand the factorsresponsible for making Bharti's Airtelthe No. 1 telecom brand in India To debate on the efficacy of Bharti'sdecision to convert itself from a single-business firm into a conglomerate To examine the challenges that Bhartiwould face in operating as aconglomerate when a reverse trend isbeing witnessed all across the of A R K E T I N GM A R K E T I N GM A R K E T I N GM A R K E T I N GM A R K E T I N GKeywordsRebranding, Repositioning, StrategicPostioning, Conglomerate, Branding ,Network Operator, Retail, Diversification,Vision, Airtel, Bharti, Bharti TeleventuresHeineken's Beer Branding :Bringing 'Starbucks CoffeeExperience' to BeerThis case study, while providing a landscapeof the beer industry, offers scope to discussthe factors behind the declining marketshare of beer.

8 In the light of this, the casealso enables a discussion on the relevanceof Heineken's concept of branded beer barsat international airports. Apart from thatthe case also explores the challenges thatHeineken would face in bringing theStarbucks experience to beer given the factthat coffee and beer are similar anddissimilar in many , as beer is regarded as ahomogenous product, breweries have longbeen adopting unique ways to differentiateand create consumer preferences. Howeversince the 1990s, the most preferred drink Beer is being viewed as ordinary and old-fashioned. Beer manufacturers failed tocreate consumer demand and lost marketshare to wine and other liquors. To counterthis, the world's top brewers adopted manytechniques. Among others, Heineken, oneof the world's most recognised beer brandslaunched branded beer bars at Hong Kong'sInternational Airport in March 2007.

9 Theidea was to win back customers by providingthem with a unique experience. Soundsfamiliar? The idea is taken from Starbucks,the world's leading retailer, roaster, andbrand of specialty coffee that successfullymade coffee synonymous with Objectives To understand the critical succes factorsof the beer industry with specificreference to Branding To analyse the relevance of the brandingstrategies adopted by beer manufacturers To explore the feasibility of a brandedbeer bar To debate whether Heineken wouldsucceed in bringing the 'Starbucksexperience to beer'?IndustryBeer industryReferenceMAR0101 Year of , Brands , Branding , Beer,Heineken, Budweiser, Bud Light, Breweries,Retailing, Premium Brands , BrandPersonality, Marketing Strategies,Consumer BehaviourAcer vs Lenovo: Asian Brands 'Global AmbitionsOn the global personal computer map, Aceremerged from obscurity to become thethird largest PC company only behind Delland HP.

10 But the company wasn't a smashhit over night. Staying true to its SouthAsian culture, the company worked up theladder, rather silently, building brick-by-brick. On its way up, the company workedout many hurdles ranging from brandingproblems to facing near boycott from thethen stalwarts in the business and graduallyovertook much bigger and older long standing chairman Stan Shih putup a workman-like effort solving oneproblem after the other and steering thecompany in one of the most competitiveindustries. All the way through, he stuck tothe basics of the business, focusing onquality, quantity and low costs. Acer's Asiancounterpart, Lenovo, made its mark in theglobal PC market with a bang by takingover IBM's PC business. From then on,the rivalry between the two Asian giantscaught the attention of industry as well asacademia.