First India marketing scholarships give London exporters the edge

9th April 2009

A lucky seven companies have taken advantage of a scholarship programme funded by UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) London and the London Development Agency to give themselves a competitive edge in India.

Export development is a key way for businesses to help themselves through the economic downturn, and UKTI London’s India Marketing Scholarships, also supported by Jet Airways, gave these SMEs the opportunity to learning from Indian experts in India about the central role of marketing in building business there.

The scholarship for UK managers included all accommodation and tuition costs for an intensive five-day marketing course (30 March to 3 April) at the globally respected Indian Institute of Management (IIMA) in Ahmedabad. The programme is the first on marketing in India that the IIMA has run for overseas executives, and attracted applications from companies across the industrial spectrum. The successful applicants came from sectors including ICT, security, life sciences, healthcare, food, and publishing – all looking to expand in the Indian market.

Strong economic growth, increasing demand for foreign investment, and a youthful consumer demographic are creating many opportunities for UK companies in India. However, India’s diversity and complexity, and the rapid changes it is undergoing, must be taken into account when planning a marketing strategy – and what better way to learn about these issues than at the country’s premier business school?

Course presenters included ex-IIMA graduates such as Sanjeev Bikhchandani, CEO of naukri.com, India’s leading Internet company.

The participating companies have either identified opportunities in India or are already trading there, but the course held lessons for all of them. Among the key insights, as one UK manager remarked, was that "India is not one market, but many different ones linked together, and this understanding is a vital part of any marketing plan".

Other themes that emerged, were the importance of the mobile phone to the future of marketing in India, with the number of mobile phone users expected to nearly double, from 310 million to 600 million, within two years; that marketing in India is about individuals and not about systems and processes; that two influential parts of modern Indian culture, Bollywood and cricket, cut across all castes and regions; and that products and services should be customised for the Indian consumer wherever possible.

Summing up the week, Chandresh Pala, from UK ICT consultancy Cohezia, said the programme “was very interesting and I am sure will help us to develop and implement our India strategy”. And Matthew Moyes, representing a leading player in the UK FMCG industry that, owing to its size, did not receive a scholarship, but was eager to take part anyway, commented: “In short, a well-planned, -structured, and -executed course. Certainly worth repeating in 2010."

Having studied the theory of marketing in India during the day, the UK participants visited local businesses in the evening; and at the end of the five-day course, a number went on for a week’s executive attachment to an Indian company in their sector, to see the marketing process in action.

John Stasi, policy and partnership manager at UKTI London, who led the delegation of UK managers, said: “Given its reputation across the world, the IIMA was a natural choice among Indian institutes when we considered having a special course designed to suit our requirements.”

He added that because of the positive feedback from companies on the IIMA course, it may soon be repeated with other UK groups.

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