Market expansion strategy – reasons for and against: what do managers in India think?

Abstract

Managers have been often criticized for not making adequate market expansion efforts especially in emerging markets. In strategy literature various reasons have been cited for and against choice of a market expansion strategy. However these are mostly opinions of scholars which have not been empirically examined. A lot of literature on marketing to emerging markets and bottom of the pyramid segments is normative in nature. In this study a maiden attempt has been made to examine views of managers from consumer products companies in India. Reasons for and against choice of a market expansion strategy are classified into three categories: market domain related reasons; industry domain related reasons; and team domain related reasons. Hypotheses with respect to each category of reasons have been tested through a cross-sectional survey of 28 senior level managers. Data have been collected through a combination of a structured questionnaire and in-depth interviews. The study reports a mismatch between scholarly writing and views of managers on quite a few issues related to market expansion strategy. Depth interviews throw light on the strategic thinking of managers operating in consumer product companies in India. This study also discusses several market expansion strategy related innovations practiced by companies.