Indian Journal of Marketing August 2007

Volume XXXVI • Number 8 • August 2007

Advertising in the Middle East : Exploring The Impact of the West
With the global spotlight firmly on the Middle East, this paper sets out to investigate the influence the West has had on advertising content in the region. Using both in-depth interviews with industry professionals, as well as a survey of consumers, prevailing thoughts about Middle East culture are used to assess the nature of any change. Results indicate an acknowledgment of the impact from the West, though this is perceived as indirect; attributed to lifestyle rather than ad content. The implications being that there is still a need to communicate within a framework of Middle Eastern cultural values. Questions are also raised about the conflict between authentic tradition and modernity affecting the interpretation of results.
Mais Sukkar Account Executive Cloth Court Communications London	Simon Pervan Lecturer School of Management University of Bath Bath, United Kingdom s.j.pervan@bath.ac.uk Ekant Veer Lecturer School of Management University of Bath Bath,United Kingdom
Bottom of The Pyramid Marketing
In recent years, a very few people have realized that if we stop thinking of the poor as victims or as a burden and start recognizing them as resilient and creative entrepreneurs and value conscious consumers, a whole new world of opportunity will open up. There has been an assumption that the rich will be served by corporate sector, while government and NGOs will protect the poor and the environment. If we talk of a revolutionary proposition of serving low-income markets, how many marketers are ready to accept this? The Bottom of Pyramid is a new management concept that conveys the promise to fulfill a twofold objective: promote social development and allow companies to regain double-digit growth rates. The emergence of a huge population who make up the Tier 4 market is a great opportunity for MNCs. It also represents a chance for business, government, and civil society to join together in a common cause. There’s a huge opportunity lying for linking the poor and the rich across the world in a seamless market organized around the concept of sustainable growth and development. Selling to the poor-the base of the pyramid-is a key part of the economy and an important aspect of social existence. There have been initiatives by many companies in reaching the poorest of the poor in India and other developing countries. For instance, "single-serve revolution" is sweeping poor countries, as companies learn to sell small packets of shampoo, ketchup, tea, coffee or aspirin. Tier 4 is becoming aware of many products and services and is aspiring to share the benefits. The poor cannot participate in the benefits of globalization without an active involvement of the private sector and without access to products and services that represent global quality standards. Are we all ready to explore “Bottom of Pyramid”?
Smita Sharma Senior Lecturer JK Business School Gurgaon,Haryana
Viral Marketing: Motives and Challenges for Marketers
In Marketer’s evolution of the offering of products and services is greatly influenced by the social referral network of the customers. The promotion of product and services are backed by the tactile experiences of the peer network. In absence of dominant brand the buyer’s evaluation is heavily influenced in the referral framework. The viral marketers have to be creative to sell their products backed by the parameter of mutual trust and development of tangible infrastructure and benefits. Viral messages are able to show its effectiveness in the countries where the existence of products and services of the marketer is not there.
Dr.Ashutosh Nigam Assistant Professor Department of Management Studies Vaish College of Engineering Rohtak,Haryana
Rural Marketing -Study of Consumer Behaviour with Reference to Hair Oils
Rural markets are growing rapidly because of social, political and economical changes. Rural consumers are fundamentally different from their urban counter part. In present scenario hair oils is one of the many products, which is consumed by the rural consumer more than their counterpart. The rural consumers consume hair oils as essential goods. Many companies are marketing their hair oils under different brand names. This has made it essential to probe in to and analyse the impact of socio-economic influences in rural consumer behaviour in terms of their buying practices, brand loyalty and behaviour changes of rural consumers. In this study an attempt has been made to study the factors influencing the choice of the Brand of Hair oils in Jhangadi (Mawana).
	Bhawna Garg Senior Lecturer Integrated Academy of Management & Tech Ghaziabad
On-line Tourism Services in Developing Countries : Need for the Website Marketing Infrastructure
In developing economies the tourism sector is of strategic importance. Currently online tourism is a dynamic growing industry with highly competitive newcomers and powerful concentration mechanisms. Globally the number of online tourism providers has increased over the years and the market has experienced a gradual consolidation in the hands of the larger and better-funded companies. In developing countries the opportunity offered by ICTs is a priority for tourism providers at national, regional and community levels. However, before the Internet, information on tourism opportunities in these countries were mainly generated and maintained by overseas service providers. Now the Internet has underlined the continuous evolution of the tourism industry which drives substantial changes in the market structure and consumer behavior.
	Dr.Arabi.U Reader Mangalore University Department of Economics Mangalore,Karnataka urabi@yahoo.co.uk
Organic Farming in India: Its Opportunity and Challenges in the Context of Globalization
Organic farming is a system of crop and livestock production that promotes and enhance the health of agriculture, eco-system and while producing pure and healthy food. The annals of organic farming exist ever since the birth of this godly planet. It was Sir. Albert Howard how was the first man to cultivate organically in India at Pusa, and published the article on organic farming during the year 1900. But the history shows that the presence of organic farming even in the Vedic period, Ramayana and Mahabharata this shows the evidence that there is a practice of organically cultivated lands in India in olden days. But after Sir Albert Howard published his article, a German philosopher Rudolph Steinar builds biodynamic method of organic farming. Later to popularize this concept Europeans developed a guideline called ‘Codex’. Approximately 120 countries adopted this guidelines and cultivating organically with an area of 31.1 million ha. Among this countries Australia stands first with 21.1 million ha. Though in India, organic farming is in its relatively old practiced it is not practicing at large. This is mainly due to the challenges and constrains faced in Indian market. But the bigger challenges before organic food is marketing, though the demand for organic product is increasing there is a many major obstacles to the further development of the organic market which need to be removed. To remove these obstacles this paper highlights and focuses on the opportunities and constrains in organic marketing, consumer attitude towards organic goods and policy consideration in developing organic food. Entering this lucrative market is not easy however there is a growing demand for organic food in major urban cities. But organic agriculture is facing major challenges as it is not an automatically an alternative food. It as to go a long way before it zips and zooms.
Dr.Satish Chandra Ph.D Faculty and Research Associate Institute of Development Studies University of Mysore Mysore,Karnataka	Ms.Sowmya Shankar Research Scholar Institute of Development Studies University of Mysore Mysore, Karnataka
Market Based Organizational Learning - A study in the Indian Industry
This research paper explores how Indian industries are sensitive to market-based learning. In line with Huber and Power’s (1985) guidelines for single informant, data were collected from 81 executives working in both public and private sector companies by administering a structured questionnaire. The analysis of data indicates that private sector companies are better learning oriented than public sector companies. Moreover, the analysis reveals that there is a significant positive correlation between market based learning orientation and overall performance.
	Dr.S.Jayachandran Professor of Marketing Indian Institute of Technology-Madras Chennai
Consumer Buying Behaviour of Processed Spice Products
Spices have been an integral part in every Indian food, be it prepared at home or elsewhere. In recent times, large scale production of spice powders, curry seasonings, masala powders, spice paste etc., has been taken up by many firms. Marketing of these brands has been aggressive since there are several brands firmly rooted in the market. Information on the buying behavior of consumers with regard to processed spices, factors influencing the purchase of processed spices and problems in use of processed spices would help firms to formulate their marketing strategies. Hence a study was undertaken addressing the above issues. The study was conducted in Bangalore and Chennai city since they were developed urban areas and the use of processed spics is likely to be higher than in other areas. Simple random sampling technique was used to select area, supermarkets and ultimately 200 sample respondents. The data required for the study were gathered by personal interview with the selected respondents. Majority of the consumers in Bangalore and Chennai purchased 200 gms of spice powders and masalas and 100 gms of spice paste per month. About 50 per cent of consumers purchased processed spices once in a month. In Bangalore, occupational status of the women respondents was the most influencing factor regarding purchase of processed spices, followed by income of the family, time saved while cooking, quality certification of the product and number of working persons in the family. In Chennai, time saved while cooking was the most influencing factor followed by employment of the respondents, income status and lack of knowledge on the method of preparation of garam masalas and other spice paste items were also influencing factors or the purchase. Addition of the preservatives was stated as the main problem in the use of processed spice products followed by gradual decline in flavour and aroma after the opening of the package of processed spice products.
Indumati V.M Senior Research Fellow Department of Agril & Rural Management,Tamil Nadu Agril University,Coimbatore,Tamil Nadu S.D.Sivakumar Professor Department of Agril & Rural Management Tamil Nadu Agril University Coimbatore,Tamil Nadu	N.Raveendran Professor Directorate Planning & Monitoring Tamil Nadu Agril University Coimbatore,Tamil Nadu P.Balaji Teaching Assistant Department of Agril & Rural Management Tamil Nadu Agril University Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu