Rupbani Beverage Limited

Rupbani Beverage Limited entered the Indian wine industry in 1975 by acquiring the Mastana Wine Company of Shimla and two other smaller wine companies at Kalka for BD 26,300. Despite hostility expressed by other wine makers and predictions that Rupbani would very soon fail as other outsiders such as Parminder Wine Company had, the entry succeeded. Rupbani Limited performed the unheard of feat of establishing a volume of BD15,800 cases within two years and taking the market share away from premium brands such as the National Wine Company of Bombay, Pearl Drink Limited of Pune and Syndicate Cola Limited of Madras.

Rupbani advertised heavily and incurred BD 5,300 in one year and standardised the taste of its wines with considerable success. It also invested BD25, 300 in a large, new winery at Ahmedabad. A Rupbani Executive said, "By 1995, consumption of wine in India will be a liter per capita, compared with half a liter today."

The industry reacted to Rupbani's presence by doubling and tripling advertising expenditure. ABC and Company began a costly campaign to market premium and varied wines while reducing marketing emphasis on its cheap wines such as Nahan Drinks and the Gola Beverage. ABC maintained its 25 percent market share but had to resort to some heavy price discounting to do so.

In 1982 Pearl Drinks formed a special wine unit to combine efforts for all its brands. Mr. Omair former Vice President of the National Wine Company had directed a project to coordinate Pearl's world-wide wine business and develop a worldwide strategy. The new unit was, in fact, a result of his work.

In1983, wine consumption changed from growth at a rate of 5 per cent to no growth. The government also lifted the ban on imports of wine. This presented an even greater challenge because imported wines were cheaper as well as superior in quality.

In1984 Mr. Umar took over as Managing Director of Rupbani. He reviewed the recent performance of the company and its competitive position. He noted that the company was losing its hold over the market and it was not getting the return as expected. He also found that the company's performance in the syrup business was excellent. He, therefore, thought of selling out the wine business to Pearl Drinks, He convened an executive meeting and apprised the executives of his proposal. He also informed them that Pearl Drinks had offered the company to recapture its investment in the wine business which was about BD52, 600. Mr. Ahmad, General Manager, observed that Rupbani was in and out in the past six years and has joined different organisations in trying the wine business. The finance Manager, Mr. Nadeem said, "The return on assets in the wine business is not the 30 to 35 per cent, which Rupbani is used to getting in the syrup business. Gaining share and trying to compete with ABC and Company left Rupbani with, eventually, the number two position in the wine industry with profits of BD31, 600 on BD115,800 in sales. The stockholders wanted immediate return and hence, the company could not afford to make long-term investments necessary to popularise the brands. Had they stayed for five more years, they would have been a key leader in a large and profitable industry."

Pearl Drinks immediately went from the sixth position in the industry to a strong second place with an 11 per cent market share. The Chairman of Pearl Drinks stated: "We believe you can make money in this business in two ways -- remain a small boutique winery or become large and achieve economies of scale."

Mr. Shafaq, Marketing Manager of Rupbani said, "It is no use selling out our business to Pearl Drink and get back what we have invested. We can compete with our competitors successfully and improve our market share if we manufacture wines of varying qualities to suit the varied preferences and pockets of diverse sections of society. We should also offer price discounts to attract the consumers. There should be wide publicity of our brands throughout the country."

1. Rupbani Limited included the setting up of broad objectives and the preparation of the three-year forecast. Discuss how Rubani group grow faster through the Five Generic Competitive Strategies.