Innovation in procurement from rural India using enterprise mobility strategy: a case study
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/WJEMSD-04-2013-0025 |
| Pages | 143-153 |
| Date | 14 April 2014 |
| Published date | 14 April 2014 |
| Author | Mrinalini Shah,Nilanjan Chattopadhyay |
| Subject Matter | Strategy,Business ethics,Sustainability |
Innovation in procurement from
rural India using enterprise
mobility strategy: a case study
Mrinalini Shah
Athens University of Economics & Business, Athens, Greece, and
Nilanjan Chattopadhyay
Institute of Management Technology, Ghaziabad, India
Abstract
Purpose – The fundamental rule for sustenance in the business world for organizations is to
explore new ways to discover themselves and to realign the business strategies with the changing
environment, apply new management concepts and adopt new technologies so as to have a faster
response to the changing business situation. With more than 600 million user base of mobile phones in
India, it may be useful for the Indian companies to set up an enterprise mobility strategy akin to their
information technology strategy and take maximum advantage of this mobile wave. The paper aims
to discuss these issues.
Design/methodology/approach – The paper discusses methodology adopted to bring in and
manage change in its process of procurementin a big organization “Marico,” one of thelargest players
in the Indian FMCG sector. A detailed processwhich “Marico” adopted to bring change in procurement
process and itssupply chain was studied withthe help of long interviews and availablesecondary data.
Findings – Heindl mode (2008) on the steps on continuous innovation are what Marico followed
though process started in Marico much earlier. The case emphasizes how innovation models can be
followed even to bring change in big corporate houses.
Practical implications – Marico did formulate an enterprise mobility strategy as an innovation in
its procurement process can pave the way and learning for other FMCG companies to benchmark its
strategies against the one adopted by “Marico” the company of the study to find out the gaps exiting
and therefore, the scope for improvement.
Originality/value – “Maricio” is a unique example of continuous innovation and change in
procurement from rural India which revolutionized the industry and bought bigger revenue and less
hassles for the company.
Keywords Innovation, Enterprise mobile strategy, Marico, Rural India
Paper type Case study
1. Introduction
India, despite its phenomenal growth in the recent years, its leading position in
information technology (IT), service industry, has about half of its population living
in rural areas. The rural India lacks the basic infrastr ucture facilities, education in
English and even economic activities. However, rural India is rich in agriculture and
therefore, the Indian food and retail sector and FMCG companies need to get more
active in the rural areas of the countr y.
Till date, despite a greater use in customer-centric applications, mobile technology
has a higher focus on voice communication to wireless data transmission. Though
mobile technology has been applied to some business applications yet very few has
studied ways to improve business process, or the implications of mobile technology for
business applications or critical factors of the same.
Marico India is trying to innovate the procurement process and supply chain with
mobile technology in the rural areas – and mobility has a huge p otential. The company
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/2042-5961.htm
Received 1 April 2013
Revised 1 April 2013
Accepted 8 April 2013
World Journal of Entrepreneurship,
Management and Sustainable
Development
Vol.10 No.2, 2014
pp. 143-153
rEmeraldGroup PublishingLimited
2042-5961
DOI 10.1108/W JEMSD-04-2013-00 25
143
Enterprise
mobility
strategy
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