Case study- Pidilite Industries Limited

The Rural Dilemma

About the company

We are a part of you.
Pidilite is a consumer centric company committed to quality and innovation. For decades, we
have been pioneering products for small to large applications, at home and industry, which have
forged strong bonds with people from all walks of life.
From adhesives, sealants, waterproofing solutions and construction chemicals to arts & crafts,
industrial resins, polymers and more, our product portfolio is as diverse as it is ever-evolving.
Today, our brands are trusted household and industrial names, and we are market leader in most
categories we deal in.
A robust and growing network makes our products accessible across demographics and
geographies.

Pidilite and Rural India

Pidilite currently taps the rural markets with a range of key existing products:
Dr. Fixit- for new construction and repairs, Best-In-Class Waterproofing Solutions for
Building and Repairing Homes.
Fevicol-adhesives for carpenters, India’s most trusted brand of adhesives
Fevikwik-quick repair for broken items-metal, wood, plastic, paper
M-seal-the plumbing range, India’s No. 1 epoxy
ASF- the stationary range

The problem Statement

Akshay is a young management graduate; from a top-rated management school. He has joined
the company 2 years ago as a management trainee. The MT duration lasts for 1 year. Akshay has
now taken up his new role as Channel Development Manager and has been assigned the task of
managing the rural channel catering to rural markets of villages in <10k pop strata.
The channel has already setup a base of 5000+ Dealers in these markets. These dealers are being
supplied directly by Company Distributors and are also visited by 3rd party field force once a
month. The rural Users like masons, carpenters, Plumbers, Rural Households visit such dealers
to buy Pidilite products. To improve usage of the company products in these locations, Pidilite is
also driving awareness of its Products and its applications through AVs in multiple languages
and sharing these with their dealers and users over digital media, primarily Whatsapp, Youtube
etc. Dealers show these AVs to Users and it makes the Users appreciate the products and also
makes them aware of how to apply these.
The Company now wants to expand its footprint in rural by appointing more dealers across rural
India but doesn’t want to follow the more manpower more coverage strategy. The idea is to
appoint such dealers who can work as Promoters for the company’s products in addition to being
Channel partners. Capability building of dealers and through them of the Users is an agenda that
the Co. would like to focus on.
Akshay has tried the digital way. A survey done by him showed that Rural Dealers are
selectively digital. They hardly use digital for commercial transactions, and use it more for
entertainment, messaging and Whatsapp etc. Akshay has been using the same but, the messages
are so large in number that getting attention to Cos messages sometimes is a challenge.
Herein lies the challenge lies for Akshay: “TRAINING OF RURAL DEALERS”

Questions to Ponder
• What can be some out of the box ideas to build a model for regular training of the dealers in a
cost effective manner?
• How differently can Akshay utilize the power of technology to engage the rural dealers
knowing the challenges? Will Digital be user friendly for Rural Dealers? (Practically
feasible options only).
• How do I maintain the relationship connect with Dealers in a Rural market, if the manpower
visits are reduced to Once in a Quarter?
• How do I build a model for measurement of the effectiveness of such training?

Submission guidelines

Round 1: Teams of 2-3 members will submit a concept note as problem solution to the case
study. The note must be 2-3 pages in Word or PDF format. Line spacing 1.0, Times New Roman,
Font size 12.

Last date: 1st February, 2020

Round 2: Top 5 teams will present their final solutions on Weschool Campus, Mumbai. PPT
format of 10-15 slides.
Date: 7th February, 2020

Annexures
Annexure – 1
Product Categories
Annexure – 2
POPULATION CLASSIFICATION DEFINITION AND SUMMARY (INDIA)