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The case study aims to provide students with an understanding of the challenges businesses face expanding into the home market after having an international presence through exports. It also throws light on operations in an emerging market economy – both rural and urban. The key objectives are to understand the leather footwear business operation in India, understand the challenges of expanding business in India, analyse strategies adopted to sustain and compete in India and identify the possible distribution strategies for the leather footwear business in India.

The case study focuses on Tata International Limited’s (TIL) leather and leather products business in India. The leather and leather products division was present in India since 1973 (Anand, 2020) and exported to more than 35 countries across the world (Anand, 2020). TIL did not want to miss the opportunity available in India and planned to expand its leather footwear business in the country. The company opened retail outlets in major Indian cities and an experience store in Dewas (Madhya Pradesh) in 2019. It aimed for a domestic presence along with the existing export business. However, the biggest challenge that was in front of V. Muthukumaran, head of leather products division at TIL, was how to go ahead with the idea of domestic expansion (Anand, 2020). Should the company expand the market through sister companies (Westside and Tata CliQ) in India? How and in what way should TIL plan for going through Westside and Tata CLiQ? Should Muthukumaran think of either the brick-and-mortar route or the online route or both?

This case study is designed for use in undergraduate and graduate early-stage programmes. This case study is primarily designed for use in Master of Business Administration and/or Bachelor of Business Administration programmes. The case study is ideal for courses on understanding the expansion in the domestic market, strategy, retail and international marketing. The teaching note discusses theoretical frameworks such as external environment analysis and SWOT analysis to devise distribution strategies. The case study mapped the distribution channel and decision alternatives for the company.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 8: Marketing.

The case study illustrated strategic, marketing, financial and operational challenges faced by Netflix in India's growing SVoD market. This case is appropriate in courses such as Strategic Management, Business Strategy, Marketing Management and International Marketing for postgraduate MBA students, other graduate-level management programs and undergraduate-level students. The case was developed to raise awareness among students, to understand the complex nature of the technology-driven industry, to survive in the highly competitive market, to set up a company that serves the huge Indian market. This case delves into the dynamics of marketing on the Indian market, characterized by unorganized players such as local cable television; torrent downloads and organized and established players, low digitalization rates, language barriers, low internet penetration, lack of infrastructure, price-sensitive consumers. Due to up-gradation in technology, internet penetration, an increase in smartphone users, and the market has undergone a notable amount of change, due to a lot on new entrants, competitions, substitutes. The case states various obstacles, for a multinational company while entering the market such as India and how they are required to strategize, mold their marketing mix, need to analyze en-cash their strength, overcome their weakness, take maximum advantage of opportunities and modify their strategies to face huge challenges. The specific learning outcome of the case will help students to understand the strategy that multinational companies can adopt to sustain, compete in emerging countries such as India and within that emerging market such as streaming videos on demand (SVoD). This case will help students to understand the importance of internal and external resources, which help multinational companies to make strategies based on these resources. The case study offers learners the opportunity to explore the strategy in a dynamic environment. This case also highlights the critical issues that should be addressed by multinational companies when entering into a foreign market. The case highlights the importance of analyzing the competitive environment in which it’s going to compete and sustain. It can be used to introduce Ansoff’s growth matrix, internal and external factor analysis and porter’s five forces in the delivery of course for both regular and executive programs. The case should be offered in the middle term periods of the course. Additionally, the case could be used in marketing courses to indicate the importance of scanning the business environment in marketing activities for any organization. The case illustrates the strategies that companies can undertake to expand the market, introduce new products, as per the requirement of business environment and concerns linked with innovating approaches to support the organization to satisfy a larger number of price-sensitive consumers from varied backgrounds.

Netflix has been optimistic about the potential growth of the Indian market. It will grow slowly and gradually and become profitable. The SVoD market in India has been price sensitive. There are no plans for cheaper prices. Netflix had a long way to go. The pricing model of Netflix was a hurdle in its growth, but the future of Netflix in India was bright. There have been numerous challenges in terms of government regulations, pricing structure and an increase in the number of competitive players on the market. Netflix believed that Indian audiences enjoyed “Bollywood” film productions but watched low-quality soap opera content on television. Television audiences were a massive untapped market for their brand of original, exclusively produced content. Can Netflix come up with a marketing and growth strategy, or else they might be looking to lose market share and revenue. Should a new product such as Amazon and MI fire stick be introduced in the existing market like their competitors? Should they enter the existing market with existing products, or should they seek a new market in India, such as the rural market, the Pyramid market, the Tier II market and the City III market? Should they diversify into a new market with new products? How Netflix should plan its market communication if it wants to launch a new product or if it wants to reposition its existing product. Netflix had to rethink its strategies and also needed to address these issues so that they could travel smoothly on Indian roads. High marketing budget and aggressive promotions helped Netflix India to make a profit in its first year.

Postgraduate MBA students, other graduate-level management programs and undergraduate-level students.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 11: Strategy.

The paper aims to argue, while examining the history of marketing theory in India, that the discipline is ahistorical, serves large business interests and is shaped by hegemonic Western knowledge.

The primary sources of data were the marketing doctoral dissertations, working papers, teaching material and research publications produced in the top management schools in India from the 1960s up to the present period.

The historical review reveals that the marketing theory in India is characterized by dependence on the West and elision of the country’s rich business history. It further shows that the discipline in India focuses on research problems and issues which are more appropriate to a Western context, and remains detached from local realities. Moreover, the discipline is characterized by a narrow managerial orientation.

Findings from the paper will be of value to researchers who wish to understand the Indian marketing thought.

Findings from the paper will be of value to academics and policy makers who wish to create more independent and contextually informed and sensitive management programs.

The paper reveals the extent to which the education and institutions in India are influenced by the West, and aims to motivate academics and policy makers to understand local knowledge and ways of knowing.

The main contribution of this paper is to show that the marketing discipline in India has been ahistorical and is shaped by hegemonic Western knowledge.

Unlike the traditional growth model of emerging markets after economic liberalization, India’s inward foreign direct investment (FDI) surged paralleling its strong economic growth in the 2000s, despite the failure to establish a strong secondary sector. This creates an opportunity to deepen the conceptual and contextual understanding of the pivotal mechanisms that impel foreign multinational enterprises to invest into India and provides a natural setting to better understand the nature of its institutional, political and economic environment.

The authors develop a theory contextualized to Indian inward FDI patterns for the 2000–2017 period. The theoretical framework expands upon received investment motives, with explicit consideration given to the idiosyncrasies of developments in India’s recent macro and socioeconomic environment. The authors test the hypotheses using panel data from 134 countries that invested in India, using a Hausman–Taylor estimation.

The authors find that India’s transition toward a knowledge economy attracts asset augmenting rather than asset exploiting FDI. Investors appear to target long-term investments by gaining access to India’s digital capabilities, R&D, and growing talent base with a high degree of specialization within analytics, biotechnology, engineering, or pharmaceuticals. Foreign investors do not seem to be notably deterred by infrastructural challenges nor by legal and regulatory restrictions.

By providing a new perspective on India’s atheoretical economic development and FDI environment, this study offers a distinct point of comparison with regard to established hypotheses within the extant literature on FDI into emerging markets. Rethinking contemporary investment motive theory by introducing an adapted conceptual framework provides further opportunity to inform the understanding of firm strategies in similar environments.

An analysis of opportunities available to US fines for marketing to India are presented and both direct exports and trade collaborations are discussed. Economic growth patterns in the country that are likely to support international marketing operations on a much larger scale are outlined. Various factors that contnbute to the success of a marketing venture are isolated and a set of guidelines based on these three factors is developed to assist the marketer in making informed decisions for entry and establishment in the country.

The purpose of this paper is to examine marketing strategies that India is currently applying to promote itself as a competitive yoga destination.

The methodological approach consisted of a constructivist research paradigm, a qualitative methodology and an interview-based data collection method. Ten in-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with yoga practitioners from various backgrounds and yoga levels who have travelled to India for yoga tourism purposes.

The findings determined that interpretation of yoga tourism is crucial in the choice of marketing approach adopted by destinations offering yoga retreats because, as the study has shown, various perceptions of yoga constitute the basis for particular promotional strategies.

Future research could expand on the sample size and demographics of the current study by investigating, possibly through comparative means, larger groups of more diversified yoga practitioners from different countries or backgrounds.

It was recommended that India’s tourism marketers re-design their approach concerning an ‘authentic’ yoga experience. Indian destination marketing organisations should target those searching for an authentic yoga experience and use imagery that is realistic.

The findings of this study have led to the re-positioning of yoga tourism in India, utilising a unique combinative approach in which a more inclusive concept of wellness is juxtaposed against a lack of any religious referencing. It was also revealed that the motivations of yoga tourists are only partially targeted through an undifferentiated strategic marketing approach.

The purpose of this paper is to attempt to trace the origins and early history of the development of the market research practice in India. It covers the period 1955-1975.

A search of key terms in databases such as Google Scholar and ABI-INFORM indicated there was limited data in the public domain on the subject and that the information gleaned was not adequate to trace the birth of the market research practice in India. As there was very little recorded history, the researchers decided to initiate a recording of the history using the available literature, on the reminiscences of the authors and, to a limited extent, contemporaries of the pioneers in the field.

The origins of market research in India can be traced to its supporting role in gauging the efficacy of advertising. Examination of the history of advertising leads to the conclusion that marketing research arrived in India in the decade of the 1950s, initiated by Burmah-Shell’s needs for market research. S. H. Benson (London) Ltd was selected to undertake the pioneering market research that led to the birth of Indian Market Research Service, headed by Krishnaier Parameswaran. Marketing research in India presented numerous challenges (that were overcome) because the operating environment was very different than in advanced countries.

Because of the paucity of information in the literature, this investigation as per the authors’ knowledge represents the first attempt to record the birth and early history of marketing research in India. The recording of history is limited by the fact that many of the early pioneers and collaborators are no longer alive and because of the difficulty in retrieving archival mostly proprietary information.

In determining the future of a practice, it is important to know the history of the practice. It helps determine whether history proceeds in a random manner or whether it proceeds following some discernable patterns. In an area that has been ahistorical, this research identifies the origins of the practice. It is hoped that other researchers build upon this construction of the early history of marketing research in India based on their experiences and knowledge of the pioneering companies and practitioners and using sound historiographical tenets.

Presents the results of an empirical investigation into American executives’ perceptions of business climates in India and China. Addresses six distinct issues cocnerning economy, management, marketing, government, labour and finance. Attempts to establish the homogeneity of internal consistency of the shortened version of Buntzman’s 31 item scale used in the study. Surveyed 110 US businessmen working in these countries. Suggests that findings show India to possess a more favourable business climate but perceive China’s economy to be better.

After completing the case, students should be able to understand: the importance and uniqueness of the individual market and developing a suitable marketing strategy. The concept of value creation and learn the importance of developing the right value proposition to compete and succeed in a market. The target audience and how to create the right marketing mix. Competition in a digital landscape and the importance of developing an appropriate strategy to counter its rivals and position the brand effectively.

During his visit to India in December 2019, Netflix’s founder and chief executive officer Reed Hastings talked about a series of steps the company had taken in the recent past to successfully face stiff competition and move towards achieving its stated target of 100 million viewers. These steps involved significant changes in their marketing mix such as reworking their pricing, developing a rich portfolio of Indian content and building various partnerships. Since Netflix’s launch in India (December 2016), it faced fierce competition from players such as Hotstar and Amazon Prime, both of whom had developed a rich portfolio of Indian content and adopted a very aggressive pricing strategy thus, making these changes essential. At the time of their launch, Netflix had set a very ambitious target of gaining 100 million viewers within five years (by 2021) while adopting a premium pricing strategy and positioning themselves uniquely based on their international content. They quickly learned that they would have to reevaluate their approach if they wanted to achieve their target on time. The changes announced by Hastings were an effort in that direction. The moot question was whether these steps would help Netflix India reach its goal. This challenge was further compounded by an almost 40% hike in data tariffs by three major wireless carriers considering most Indians watched over-the-top media content on their mobile phones.

The case is designed for undergraduates, as well as for fundamental marketing courses in the Master of Business Administration and other graduate level programmes. It can be taught in the Principles of Marketing, Marketing Strategy and International Marketing courses. It is ideal for topics such as understanding the operation of a digital business in a new market, customer value creation and value drivers, brand and brand positioning, product promotion, strategies for business growth and expansion, fighting competition in a digital landscape.

Teaching Notes are available for educators only.

CSS 8: Marketing.

Strategy/entrepreneurship/international marketing.

This case is recommended for use in courses on strategy, entrepreneurship, international marketing and joint venture for PGDM and Executive programmes.

International Football Academy (IFA), a leading football development firm, is gearing up to expand its operations to a new geographic market, India. The purpose is to further its international growth plans by establishing a lasting presence in developing markets. Their previous stints in China and Indonesia met with huge success. However, there was a stark difference between those geographies and the Indian market, in terms of political system, economic infrastructure, social framework, cultural practices, technological advancements, legal regulations, etc. In a country where 47 per cent of the 1.2 billion population considered themselves football fans (Nielson survey, 2010), it was ironical that the Indian football market remained one of the most untapped and fragmented of its kind. The question for IFA was: “Would India be another feather in our hat?”

The case highlights the key factors facing firms, when expanding into emerging markets. The students are expected to think through the various dimensions to decision-making, which includes Why (expand), Where (which market), When (right time), What (thrust of strategy) and Who (partners). It also compels the students to appreciate the various challenges involved in exporting a product, which is as unique as “football training”.

Teaching notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes.

CSS 11: Strategy