Its never too late to go global, in my opinion SIF has to create awareness and work on putting an efficient operation. As someone correctly pointed that internal market like US to begin with, would not be a bad idea at all there are quite a few people who buy the ready mix already. I have seen some Chicken curry mix, pulav mix, etc, products from a Pune based company being quite popular. There is potential in every initiative as the people out there (specifically indians) have a thrive to have Indian food which doesnt meet the taste in the Indian resturants out there. The points to ponder on: 1. Concentrate on Sales & Marketing team (the heart of business). 2. Employ good technology driven tools to keep track of things as the business moves forward. 3. International markets demand high quality for every price tag, so maintain quality standards. 4. Market survey for products in demand and keep them bumped up. 5. Create local awareness of products for generating people chain marketing. 6. Try to keep prices mark 2 market to generate quantity sales. 7. Always track the business profitability so that its never late for a pull out. 8. Reduce operational cost for better investment strategies.
Business plans alway carry risks and if the pain is worth taking hit it hard. All is well that ends well.
Well let people give their advice but one thing is for sure,after working 10 years abroad,i know one thing that my advice won't be as cheap as 25000 rupees.
I personally feel that the company should go global due to many reasons . One of the reason is that most of the input items are available at cheaper prices in india and hence the product can be competitive . By exporting they can earn many benefits like importing new machines without paying custom duty under EPCG . They have already proved themselves by increasing their plant utilisation earlier , hence adding new machines and improving productivity won't be an issue for them .The fixed assets at present are not that much and by adding machines the company can not only improve productivity but would be liable for more loans availability . At last but not the least not only the indians staying in USA and UK are fond of indian food but also the people of these countries do like indian food .
i am from delhi. i have not heard of SIF ever. if they cant create a market for north India, then how can they think of going global. kindly get the marketing strategies right SIF....
RE:dont go global
by Seshadre Ramakrishnan on Jun 15, 2007 09:25 PM Permalink
Come on man! I am from South & I have also not heard of such a company name. Even the competitor's name seems to be not heard. But that does not mean there was no such company in real. More so, its a Case Study and probably, I feel they had changed the real name of the company in the case study on request from company. If you can provide some good inputs on reading the case, provide. Otherwise, ignore and move on.
NO,SIF should not go global because by going global at this point of time they may possibly loose there market in India.As it is there is so much competition in our own country only.Right now they should rather make efforts to be the best in India and not just be anybody internationally. Being an Indian company SIF knows the Indian culture,market,Indian taste,rules and regulations etc.India being the biggest democracy in the world SIF should try to cater to each and every Indian... It should try to go to the rural markets if not with the readymade food then with raw materials first and later on with readymade food.
In India Both urban and rural class are not yet very much comfortable with readymade food BUT in the near future a time will come when We Indians will start replacing cooking with readymade food as because India is the fastest growing economy of the world and as more & more people are becoming educated and aware about living a good life the earning power of people is increasing day by day and time is becoming money and as the earning power is increasing so is the spending power. Thereby SIF should remain in India and first try to be the best here only and I am sure if impemented with good quality and marketing strategy,they would be able to sell their products at their price because the Indians are ready to pay anything for good quality things.Its better to have one bird in hand rather than two in the bush. SIF should try to be the number one in India first.
There is no doubt that the company has done well in the past and future prospects dont appearbleak too. In fact this is the best time to enter foreign markets and also try to penetrate into US, UK, European Countries, S E Asia, Far East,Australia Zone and Mid East too as these countries have huge Indian Population. As a start up, the Company can use "killer pricing " i.e by selling large amount of stocks below the normal cost price, capture market and also ensure that samples counter are opened in Hypermarkets in the places where the products have been launched. Slowly after ensuring the movement of inventory turnover, the company can ensure that price corrections are made and thereby resorting to regularizing the prices based on Demand and supply potential. All in all effective marketing and advertisisng strategy needs to implemented to ensure that consumers dont miss out the same among the mass of other products too. Placement in shelves of hypermarkets and attractiveness of packaging and labelling are the other important factors that needs to be loooked into. Having taken these measures any optimistic Chairman of the Company can only expect the foreign currency earnings to por intoi their designated bank accounts yielded out of export earnings.
In U.S. the liability aspect due to food poisoning is very high. Not all Indians in the U.S. take these products. Once you see the Indian Stores you can find all the detailed products manufatured in North and South are stored in their shelves.Ad. is possible through Indian Newspapers which are distributed free in the stores. But till a brand name is established in India like MTR, the products will remain in the shelves. Maintanance of the stores including parking lots for customers vehicles is high and adequate incentives will be required for the stores to display the items. Most of these products are available from other markets like China, Thai, Mexico. The Indian hotels where there is possibility of bulk selling has to be explored. To start with go to the nearest overseas market i.e. Singapore. Establish first the brand name and then think of expansion to other countries. Till such time improve the local market share for project the brand name. Success of the business on these consumables depends on how fast the items move out of the shelves. There in U.S. you have trade tricks like buy one take one free etc. So till the products are liked by the customers should not expect big margin. Even breakeven is adequate. Mind you disposal of spoiled items is also costly in U.S. Dents, label damage etc. are enough for stuff to remain in the shelves. A
SIF should go international, as the company has risen from scratch one with watever rawmaterials was in hand. Starting a business in food industry is not any easy task, as each food (tinned or otherwise) should be very delicately and carefully identified and prepared. people from different cultures and countries have a different taste for every food. So identifying with peoples tastes and choice is not an easy task. But with SIF it is quite possible to reach the comman man's likes and tastes as far as venturing into the international market is concerned. And moreover, in the Middle East and in the US Indians have made their permanent base there. So there will not be much of a problem if the market is correctly exploited.
