Case Studies on Marketing Management

4

Chotukool from Godrej^*

Marketing Challenges at the Bottom of the Pyramid

In 2005, Sunder Raman Gopalan, Innovator and Vice President of Corporate Development at Godrej & Boyce Mfg Co. Ltd,¹ on completion of his 25 years work at the Indian conglomerate, told his Chairman, Jamshyd Godrej: ‘I think I want to do something different now.’² At that time, he had no concrete idea about what he wanted to do, and in which arena, or for whom? For him, the true reward of his hard work would come when he would hear the words: ‘Chotu, thanda leke aa’³ (Chotu, bring some cold drink) in a rural household. His mind was set to do something for the rural population of India, something that could solve the problems of villagers. In 2007, he started pursuing his ...