Overview

The Marketing Science Institute (MSI) and the Indian School of Business (ISB) jointly hosted the conference “Marketing in Emerging Economies: The Indian Experience” during December 8-10, 2010. The MSI-ISB conference focussed on the broad theme of marketing in an emerging market with special emphasis on issues relevant to India. The conference highlighted opportunities and challenges faced by marketers in India and showcased a few marketing success stories.

K R Kim, Vice Chairman and CEO, Videocon, who delivered the keynote address, argued that for the next 30 years, India should maximise job creation by leveraging the potential of manufacturing and exports. Kim contrasted soft and hard cultures and emphasized that India needs to grow beyond its already strong base of soft culture and embrace hard culture through risk-taking and discipline. He went on to emphasize “foot marketing” as the hard way to win in emerging markets.

The first part of the conference was on marketing opportunities in India. Venkatesh Shankar, Professor of Marketing, Mays Business School, Texas A&M University and conference Co-Chair, made a presentation entitled “Healthcare Marketing: Just What the Doctor Ordered” that focussed on the re-orientation of pharmaceutical firms in India on market creation by penetrating into Tier I and Tier II markets. He emphasized patient-centric marketing, social media marketing and focussing on branded generics as the future success factors for Indian pharmaceutical marketers. He highlighted the dire need for improving accessibility, affordability, and infrastructure to serve the rural markets.

Shikha Sharma, CEO, Axis Bank presented “Marketing Opportunities for Financial Services in India” in which she recounted the marketing success story of her former company, ICICI Prudential in the growing market for life insurance. She also presented the marketing story of Axis bank, highlighting the vast opportunities presented by the low penetration of financial products, and customer-centric solution as source of competitive advantage for financial services. 

The second part of the MSI-ISB conference focussed on marketing successes in India. Venkat Changavalli, CEO, GVK EMRI presented “Emergency Services for Emerging Markets.” He shared the success story of his non-governmental not-for-profit organisation and argued that a firm can achieve its goals by caring, valuing, and respecting life with humaneness, humility, and commitment to serve people.

S Sivakumar, Chief Executive, ITC Ltd (Agribusiness) talked about growth in rural markets driven by factors such as crop diversification, increase in commodity prices, government schemes, and rising aspiration levels. He argued that the focus of rural marketing has shifted from low prices and outreach to consumer engagement. He recommended contextual design and delivery of products and services, technology leverage, co-option of local people, and experimentation of new business models as the methods to tap rural markets further.

Rajan Varadarajan, Ford Chair Professor of e-Commerce, Mays Business School, Teaxs A&M University made a presentation entitled “The Many Phases and Faces of Innovation in India,” in which he talked about reverse and architectural innovations and the role of policy failures in creating innovations. Changavalli, Sivakumar, and Varadarajan also participated in a moderated panel discussion on marketing successes.

The third part of the conference was about marketing challenges in India. Ajay Nanavati, CEO, 3M India spoke about the challenges 3M India faced in marketing its products and the marketing lessons it learned. He used the example of Scotch Brite to underscore the need to make an emotional connection with Indian consumers in addition to delivering functionally innovative products. 

Vikram Kaushik, CEO, Tata Sky Ltd spoke about penetrating rural markets through customised media and communication strategies. In the Tata Sky case, these strategies included the creation and promotion of an English language improvement programme called Active English targeted at housewives and a programme entitled Fun Learning Pack aimed at 3-12 year old children.

Bhaskar Das, Executive President, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. started a panel discussion on “Targeting Youth and Tapping their Potential” moderated by Venkatesh Shankar, with a presentation entitled “Decoding Trends.” The other panellists, Indrajit Gupta (Editor, Forbes India) and Professor Rishtee Batra, Assistant Professor of Marketing, ISB identified high aspiration, willingness to take risk, and enterprising streak as the characteristics of modern Indian youth.

Ajit Rangnekar, Dean, ISB made concluding remarks by highlighting the evolutionary nature of marketing in emerging markets and the need for more research on marketing in India.

About ISB


The Indian School of Business (ISB) was founded by a unique partnership of business visionaries from McKinsey & Co. and the world's leading corporations,.