Case Study

(Marks = 10)

THE CASE OF INSTANT FAILURE

Shri. Shantaram and Mrs. Urmila Joshi were both senior clerks in the Accountant

Generals office at Nagpur. Mrs. Joshi is an expert cook and her preparations of idlis,

dosas and dhoklas are very popular in her office and their friends' circle. Over the years

Shri. and Mrs. Joshi have, through trial and experimentation developed instant dry mixes

for idlis, dosas and dhoklas. These are very successful in their neighborhood. But as they

are busy in office Mrs. Joshi prepared and sold these mixes on order to very close friends

only. It was in 1991, when Mrs. Joshi took voluntary retirement that she, on the advice of

her friends, started supplying mixes on a large and regular basis. But the business was

still restricted to advance orders only. Soon the whole activity started gaining lucrative

popularity. When Shri. Joshi retired in 1993 they took up the business seriously. They

prepared small plastic packets of all the four mixes. These were sold door to door by two

sales boys whom Shri. Joshi employed for the purpose. However, due to lack of business

acumen Shri. Joshi did not go in for proper branding, packaging, and printing for their

products. One essential function performed by the sales boys was of explaining the

cooking procedure to every customer. This procedure was unique and important for good

results. One day Shri. Joshi has a chance meeting with one Shri. Khanna who is the

proprietor of a large departmental store in Nagpur. This departmental store has been

recently started looking at the increasing change in the buying habits of Nagpurites. On

the advice of Shri. Khanna Shri. Joshi decides to go in for a major change in their selling

technique. He discontinued the sales boys and instead stocked his packets on a shelf in

the departmental store. With an eye on the large clientele of the departmental store and

depending on his success at selling through sales boys. Shri. Joshi expected quick and

tremendous growth in his sales. However, to their great dismay, Shri and Shrimati Joshi

soon discovered that their packets had just failed to be picked up off the shelf in the store.

Most of the mixes had become highly insect infected. Both of them were heartbroken and

perplexed at the failure.

Questions

1) Analyze the causes of Shri. Joshi's failure.

2) What will be your advice to Shri. Joshi if he still wants to sell through the

departmental store?