State of Indian Economy

Indian economy is growing fast in last few years. Growth of 9.0% in 2005-2006 and 9.2% in 2006-2007 in GDP. The share of agriculture in GDP is continuously declining and is 18.5% now. The share of industry (26.4%) and services (55.1%) are increasing.

Services contributes 68.6% of overall growth in GDP in last five years. Contribution of industry is less than half of the contribution from services. But industrial sector growth is 10% in 2006-2007. At the same time service sector grows 11.2% and agriculture sector growth is only 2.7%.

From the above statistics it is clear that, after Liberalization, Globalization and Privatization, industrial growth has been increasing along with the increase in competitions and the major drive comes from the marketing field, governed by successful marketing managers. Todays business world and the marketing managers life style pattern make him/her vulnerable to stress. Continuous struggle of marketing managers to cope up with the competitors and generating innovative ideas to go ahead to earn profit and for long lasting of the organizations, results in very high degree of stress and pressure on them.

In Business Line (Business Daily from the Hindu Group of Publications) of 10th April, 2007, Chennai based Author; R. Devarajan stated that The kernel of marketing management is its kaleidoscopic character. Companies capable of achieving a complete and comprehensive change alone will make the grade and arrive, considering the dog-eat-dog competition in the contemporary market economy.

Nowadays, the marketing function is a much bigger landscape in management. It is no longer just a department that puts the icing on the cake; it is the cake itself. The advent of the small screen with its tendentious outreach together with the unprecedented explosion in the consumer goods sector, backed by obnoxious advertising and publicity have contributed to this passion for possession a kind of paranoia and phobia. Of course, all these are an adjunct to the aggressive marketing maneuvers that is commonplace in the millennium.

It is a paradox of political economy that capitalism has triumphed because Communism has failed. The fact that capitalism has managed to outlive the State-controlled economy has given the market economy the label and insignia of success.

The non-competitive state economy is fast fading into the background. The competitive market economy is all set to win the war, at least for the present.

To put a clear picture of aggressive competitions in marketing, the cases regarding the marketing strategies of three multinational companies are sighted below.

1)       Samsung's Marketing Strategy in India:-

The case examines the marketing strategy of Samsung in India. It provides a detailed account of Samsungs marketing strategies to garner more market share. It examines Samsungs approach to product, pricing, distribution and promotion. It also provides insights into the future prospects of the company in light of the increasing competition and the slowdown in the consumer electronics market.

In 2003, February, Vice Chairman and C.E.O. of Samsung Electronics Jong Yong Yun stated "We are investing aggressively in marketing to transform our company to be truly market driven and to establish our Samsung brand as the most trusted and preferred brand in the market.

In August 2002, India's leading consumer electronics player, Samsung India Electronics Ltd. (Samsung) announced the signing on of seven celebrity cricketers - 'Team Samsung', as its brand ambassadors. In doing this, it aimed to cash in on the popularity of cricket in India. However, the company's hopes of celebrity endorsement received a setback due to anti-ambush marketing clauses, arising from ICC's agreement with some other companies. In place of the ads featuring the cricketers, Samsung launched its - 'Team Samsung. India First' campaign all over the country in December 2002. Said Arun Mahajan of Mudra, Samsung's ad agency, "The focus has been to evolve concepts to do with the players, to promote the cause of cricket and patriotism.'' The copy of the print ad read, 'With Team Samsung, It's India First.''