Blair Water Purifiers India

Blair Water Purifiers India

The company's mission is to provide equipment that will meet the needs of its target market in terms of filtration and purification of water for having high quality water.

As part of the organizational goal, the company is also aiming to enter international market to be able to be known in both local and international level and position itself in the global competition. As part of the geographic expansion of the company, they are trying to produce innovative products to meet future needs in terms of water purification and filtration.

Rahul Chatterjee, one of the company's international market liaisons, had made two fact-finding trips to India to survey the Indian market and competition for home water filters and purifiers, and the foreign investment issue in India. Based on these findings, he had to evaluate the feasibility of launching the Company's own "Delight" home purifier in the Indian market. After several researches and analysis made on the data obtained, he provided his recommendations on the appropriate entry strategy for the Indian market.

From the analysis made by Chatterjee and the Indian research agencies, we can identify that :

Strategic Analysis :

Situational analysis :

* External (Macro) Environment Analysis :

1-Political/legal factors:

- Liberalization had opened the Indian economy to foreign investors .liberalization had meant major changes in approval requirement for new commercial projects ,investment policies, taxation and attitudes of government officials.

- India governments offered a wide range of tax concessions to foreign investors, including liberal depreciation allowances and generous deductions. The government offered even more favorable tax treatment if foreign investors would locate in one of India's six Free Trade Zones.

- Trademarks and patents were protected by law in India.

2- Economic factors:

- The Indian market seemed clearly to be a mature one. The Indian market is large and expected to grow over three-fold in the coming five years.

- Investment and trade regulations in 1996 meant that business could be conducted much easier than before. All saw the promise of huge market developing over the next few years.

3- Social factors :

- The market for clean water in LDCs was huge, profitable and attractive in a socially responsible sense .Considering one of the corporate social responsibility.

4- Technology factors:

- Traditional Method for Home Water Purification:

Boiling: two to five liters of water for 10 minutes, allow it to cool, and then transfer it to containers for storage. This procedure is cumbersome, time consuming, and ineffective in removing physical impurities and unpleasant odors.

Candle Filters: low price depend on material (plastic, porcelain or stainless steel) and easy of using. Candle filters were slow, ineffective in eliminating bacteria and viruses

Water Purifiers: better than Candle Filters. There are three steps, the first removed sediments, the second objectionable odors and colors and the third harmful bacteria and viruses .Water purifiers generally used stainless steel containers.

* External (Macro) Environment Analysis:

1-Product :

- Delight Purifier: Used a combination of technologies to remove four types of contaminants found in potable water: sediments, organic and inorganic chemicals, microbial or cysts, and objectionable tastes and odors. In addition, two modules are available to remove iron, calcium and other metallic contaminants peculiar to specific Indian regions. This technology to purify water to a level beyond WHO standards.

- Delight purifier has two models that were countertop and wall amount design.

2- Consumers:

40 million consumers were similar in many respects to consumers in middle and upper middle class households in the united states and the Europe union. They valued comfort and product choice they saw consumption of material goods as a means to higher quality of life.

4 million households who had similar values and lifestyles but yet took little effort to improve water quality in their homes.

* 50% of the target market used boiling to make clean water.

* 10% of the target market filtering their boiled water through candle filters.

* 40% of the target market used a mechanical device to improve their water quality (candle filter and water purifiers).

3- Competition:

There are three major competitors. There are:

1. Eureka Forbes

* Joint venture Company in 1982 between Electrolux (Sweden) and Forbes Campbell (India) .the Company marketed a broad line of modern life style products.

* First brand name was "Aquaguard" (used ultraviolet rays to kill bacteria and viruses) Rs.5,500.It was clearly the market leader and came close to being India's only national brand.

* Second brand name was "PureSip" (used polyiodide resin to kill bacteria and viruses) Rs.2,000

* Used 2,500 person sales force (directly on households) to sale Aquaguard and independent dealers to sale PureSip.

2. Ion Exchange

* Began operation in 1964, specializing in treatments of water they use brand name was ZERO-B (Zero-Bacteria)

* ZERO-B purifiers used a halogenated resin technology.

* It helped prevent iodine deficiency diseases and permitted purified water to be stored up to eight hours without fear of recontamination

* Every year needs to replace the halogenated resin at a cost of Rs. 200.

* 7% of Indian water purifier market .

3. Singer

* The newest