How Indian Pharmaceutical Companies Are Building Global Brands: The Case of the Himalaya Herbal Brand

Abstract

This study aims to understand how Indian brands are built globally. The study also gives insight on understanding the mode of entry adopted by Indian companies with special reference to the Himalaya Drug Company. The study takes a multistage approach through secondary data analysis, an interpretative approach, and interviews of 15 pharmaceutical personnel and 30 consumers from the United States through focus interviews. The interviews were recorded. It is qualitative descriptive research. Our research shows that Himalaya has used a franchising model to build their herbal brands through retail franchisees, and a problem‐solution approach strategy in communication. Emphasis on customer experience has created good word‐of‐mouth and generated good revenue for its herbal brands. Quality, effectiveness, price, and availability are the key factors for herbal brand building. The product mix is selected based on the country's culture and consumers' needs. They also capitalized on newfound Indian pride and confidence due to faster gross domestic product (GDP) growth. This article contributes to a better understanding of the opportunities and challenges associated with brands from emerging markets, in particular, India, as well as the development of brands from emerging markets, which is becoming more important at the economic and political level. It also helps to better understand mode of entry, especially for small companies. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.