Reynaldo Marasigan                                             IT-ETHICS                                                      April 10, 2008

Case Study: The Annapurna Salt Story: Public Health and Private Enterprise

Case annapurna Salt.doc

1.       What is the role of NGOs (Non-Governmental Organizations) in BOP markets according to Prahalad? Do you agree with this position?

      - NGOs serve as an interface between people, especially those who are poor and needy, and the private sector/government. In other words, they form a link between those who have and those who do not have. The strength of an NGO such as ours is competence, commitment, credibility, collaboration and advocacy. NGO’s becomes part of the society wherein they give services to the BOP thus thru this BOP people has their hopes for a change.

2.       According to Rekha Balu of Fast Company, "poor people ... can become just as discerning about brands as rich customer". Do you agree with this statement? Is this applicable in the Philippines?

     - Yes, Filipino has these thoughts of branding. We cannot change it; people believe that if they purchase something that is branded they belong to this high class. Because even if this high or branded products it has a quality that is much better.

3.       What is the nature of the breakthrough of K15 Technology in your own words?

    - It is stable iodine also known as K15 where K represents the element potassium and 15 represents 15ppm of iodine. K15 technology would release iodine only in very acidic environments as that of the human stomach.

4.       What are the issues/difficulties in branding something like salt according to Vishal Dhawan?

     - according to Vishal Dhawan head of Popular Foods, HLL made the decision to enter the branded staples business with salt and atta by assessing the branding potential of these commodities. And because of the few players dominate the salt market which is saturated with numerous local players.

5.       Why is the Annapurna evolution necessary according to Vishal Dhawan?

     - Annapurna needs to give reasons for the market to expand and that has happened. The number of re-launches is not too frequent in this market. Te life of a product is usually 18 months. Because the name has remained the same throughout, each launch has ad going back with the strongest, most relevant perspective. We have gained market share each time. Who knows what benefits may be ahead with salt?

6.       What would the nature of the "differentiator" for Dr. Amitava Pramanik?

    - Pramanik said that I remember reading an article by the Central salt and Marine chemicals research institute that mentioned the stability of iodine in salt is poor and can be lost in storage. That article in late 1992 was followed by a variety of publications that claimed that up to 70% of iodine can be lost during Indian cooking. This publicity gave us the idea we could differentiate Annapurna on the iodize salt platform – a recognized deficiency in other branded salts.

7.       What is the effect of advertising for the marketing strategy for Annapurna with K15?

 - In it’s in advertising that their market grows bigger and bigger. The advertising for Annapurna salt, the focus was primarily iodine education. The consumer were first educated the importance of iodine, then they would become more inclined to buy or purchase salt on iodine.

8.       What are the innovations of HLL with regards to transporting salt?

  - HLL successfully executed a salt supply chain innovation, where they began to use rail that become an edge on their competitors. This system carries tons of tons of salt that increase the amount of the salt transported in one shipment. Also they made the salt buffer depot where salt is loaded to trucks for delivery to the wholesaler or retailer outlet.

9.       What is Project Shakti and what are its goals?

   - confectionaries and sweets, consumer health care, SANGAM (an e-tailing program for daily ordering and delivery), addressing the needs of top-end consumers, water and SHAKTI or the direct to consumer initiative targeted at individuals at the bottom of the pyramid in rural India.

10.   How would you imagine SANGA, an "e-tailing program for daily ordering and delivery"? If you were its designer how would you describe it?

    - E-commerce with PayPal and FedEx or other payment gateway and delivery system could best describe our most appropriate system for SANGA.

11.   Project Shakti caters exclusively to men. There have been requests for men to become Shakit dealers but HLL turned them down. If you were the decision-maker, would you allow men to become Shakti dealers? Why?

   - Yes, men dealers have this capability that women have, yet still women can be the best advertiser of the product. Men can, women can do it better than men. There are some men that are capable in dealing with other but not all of them that’s why proper recruiting and screening could be best approach to select qualified men dealers.

12.   What is i-Shakti? As an IM student how can you improve i-Shakti?

   -to target bottom of the pyramid market as an IM students it is better to use our marketing skills and managements skill because of the fact that bottom of the pyramid people belongs to class C and D. this class doesn’t have their own fund to buy high end technologies.

13.   HLL's would-be competitors decided to have a watch-and-wait policy. If you were a would-be competitor for HLL would you decide to get into HLL's market? Why? How?

    Yes, the opportunity is always there markets are market where ever they are there is money in them.

14.   Should HLL keep their K15 technology proprietary? Why?

   Yes, this would be a great step for them. This would really increase their profits and it will be beneficial for them.

15.   Do you think a program like Project Shakti would succeed in the Philippines? What do you think would be some of the anticipated difficulties?

Here in the Philippines, it is hard to persuade Filipino. They have these connotations that when a person entered there house selling a product it is hard for them to buy it. They don’t believe that fast. It is hard for Shakti to get high profit here in the Philippines but yet there are many possible markets here.

Reference: The Annapurna Salt Story: Public health and private Enterprise Handouts

        Section II Known Problems and Known Solutions: what is the Missing Link?