Saturday, October 22, 2011

Student Contributions - Week 1

Update: 24-Oct
Thanks to Ramesh Raman who has sent in a link to a 'yes Minister' episode on how surveys can be manipulated.

Dear Professor,


This is a link to the Yes Minister video on survey manipulation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMub4rbiOzg

I hope you enjoy it.

Cheers

Ramesh




Hi All,

There've been several instances of interesting examples, counter-points and facts thrown up by students during class discussions. I make it a point to invite folks to send small write-ups that I'd be happy to putup on the blog for a wider audience. Am happy to see one such student, Pranjal Pathak has been kind enough to take the trouble and write back. This point was made during the discussion on Rural consumption in session 2 and how products designed for the Rural masses could show success.

Dear Prof. Voleti,


Wanted to send you the information on LG Sampoorna TV as you mentioned in the class:

Sampoorna TV was launched by LG in 1998. Through Sampoorna LG probably became the first MNC to target region specific branding in India. It was priced at a premium of Rs. 2000 over competing products but offered on-screen display options in Hindi, Tamil and Bengali. LG spent Rs. 21 Lakhs ($50,000) developing the product and 100,000 units in the first year of launch (development cost of Rs 21 per unit considering just first year sales). Most first year sales were in towns with population of around 10,000. According to one the references below in 1998-99 in Rajkot Gujarat more Sampoorna sets were sold than all competitors combined.

I learnt about this when researching for a case study and have so far not found anyone (most of the contacts are people from urban regions) who had heard about Sampoorna TV. Yet by end of 1999 Sampoorna accounted for 12% of LG`s 950 crore turnover and LG has since established a 500 crore plant at Nodia and another one at Pune to meet demand.

It is probably the biggest success story from rural markets that is not known at all in urban India.

(references: "Rural Marketing: Concepts and Practices" by Balram DOgra and Karminder Ghuman; and Accenture research report: "Masters of Rural Market", 2010)

Regards,
Pranjal

I'd be happy to putup more such contributions in this thread as updates (more recent above).
 
Sudhir

2 comments:

  1. This is regarding the youtube video. It wont play outside UK.

    "This video contains content from BBC Worldwide, who has blocked it on copyright grounds."

    ReplyDelete
  2. Uh-oh. Thanks for pointing that out. Will see if an alternative source exists.

    That video is off till then.

    Sudhir

    ReplyDelete

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