Business Development From Start to Scale

Prof. C Bhaktavatsala Rao

Department of Management Studies
Indian Institute of Technology, Madras

Week - 02
Business Development Strategies
Lecture - 06
Successful Businesses

Hi friends, welcome to the NPTEL course Business Development from Start to Scale. We are
in week 2, discussing the theme of Business Development Strategies. In this lecture, the 6th
in the series, we will focus on Successful Businesses.

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Business development is as much an art as a science; it is also as much a practice as a theory.

It is important for us to understand the practical examples of business development to
understand the fundamental drivers of business success. I have a formula which says that
sustainable growth of the business is derived from product innovation, operational
excellence, and customer fulfilment acting together.

When you look at successful companies such as Apple, Tata Motors, Amazon, L&T,
Hyundai, Reliance Industries, Disney, Microsoft, you will find that in various shades this
formula has been implemented. Let us look at Apple; it has a balanced mix of product
innovation, operational excellence, and customer fulfilment; that is why Apple has become
the kind of iconic brand that it is.

In respect of Tata Motors, you will find that it is a product and manufacturing-driven
business; of course, it does marketing and, at times, pretty well, but what characterizes Tata
Motors in terms of business success is the product and manufacturing configuration.

In respect of supply chain driven organizations, Amazon tops the list because it has
universalized supply as well as demand and also ensures that customer fulfilment happens
across the universe of its e-commerce site.

L&T represents the integration of skills which are linked to innovation at the product level,
excellence at the manufacturing or execution level, and happiness of the customer with the
kind of projects it undertakes; therefore, L&T has been able to achieve sustainable business
growth.

Hyundai is tech ops driven. Reliance Industries is out and out operational, excellence driven
whether it is the mega refinery or the mega telecom rollout, it is the operational excellence
that drives the reliance industry’s top-notch performance. Disney is famous for its unmatched
experience. Microsoft has a lead leading position in the software industry, particularly in the
development of software for desktops and laptops as well as cloud-related developments.

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The business development overlay can be seen in terms of four factors; one strategic
marketing, second firm, and customer connect, third the resultant brand equity, and the
customer loyalty that underpins the brand equity. When all these four combines, a company
can strategize and execute its business development or per contra.

The business development strategy and execution of a company should aim at having strong
strategic marketing, robust firm customer connect, top-class brand equity, and unshakable
customer loyalty. When you look at a few examples of both Indian and global companies,
you will find that these four factors have impacted business development positively.

Prestige is a kitchen appliance company in India, very well-known for its pressure cookers.
The home and kitchen connect drove brand loyalty. Starbucks has developed a concept of
beyond home; that is a third home between office and home where coffee can be sipped, but
conversations can be struck.

Indian brand ethnicity has been reflected in Amul’s consistent brand positioning. Indigo has
become the most preferred airline for its punctuality, reasonable cost profile, and cleanness of
its service. Hindustan Unilever is known for its extensive reach, going up to every nook and
corner of the country and establishing connect to thousands and lakhs of retailers.

Horlicks is trying to do its business in the gummies field by bringing out various products
which can be used in a deductible manner as gummies. Owning customers is the
underpinning business development philosophy of Chick advanced shampoo. Tanishq has
done great things in terms of professionalizing the tradition of jewellery.
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There have been master business developers in the global arena. Some firms have developed
an unassailable reputation in their domains based on their business development. I have given
here 33 examples of master businesses. You will be able to instantly connect with most of
these businesses, Amazon.com, Apple, Bang&Olufsen.

Best Buy; Best Buy is one of the topmost retailers of consumer electronics goods in the USA,
BMW the famous automotive group, Caterpillar the famous earth moving equipment
company, Club Med, Costco, Disney, eBay, and Electrolux. Enterprise rent a car, Google,
Harley Davidson, Honda, IKEA, and LEGO known very much for its games for children.

McDonald’s, Nike, Nordstrom, Procter and Gamble, very diversified consumer goods
company, Progressive Insurance, Red Bull the energy drink, Ritz Carlton, Samsung, of
course, the latest sensation in terms of consumer electronics, Southwest Airlines, Starbucks,
Target, Tesco; Target and Tesco being top class retailers warehouse retailers in the United
States.

Toyota an unmatched company as far as quality and design is concerned, Virgin, Walmart,
and whole foods. Apart from driving sales and profits, strategic business development helped
such firms build sustainable businesses.
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Let us look at the examples in little more detail. Amazon achieved its success by developing
a universal market. A product innovation that universalised supply and demand connectivity
and the supporting factor has been the robust supply chain management; it ensured seamless
and agile stocking and supply globally.

It has also done localization of product and service portfolio even though the company is
global. High-intensity sales and marketing promotion characterize Amazon in whatever
jurisdiction it operates. Bang & Olufsen is known for its acoustic purity, that is the theme the
brand theme.

Distinguishing its Danish product design and branding for Millennials and Genz. Bang &
Olufsen has positioned itself as a very young fresh, and new brand. Although it has been a
long-standing company, it has always executed strongly in its core markets in various regions
of the world. It has also entered into strategic partnerships in various regions to amplify
demand.

It has provided digital experiences to customers in sales and after-sales support utilizing
augmented reality. Best Buy, as I said, is one of the most striking consumer electronics
retailers in the united states, it has always strived to be at the top of the retail chain in terms
of electronics goods, and it has overcome the retail apocalypse that has occurred to various
other retailers.
The most developed Omni channel customer experience is provided in its physical stores. It
also has an online platform and an in-home service for all electronic and entertainment
devices. What distinguishes Best Buy is what it has on its floors. Most extensive, well-trained
teams of tech geeks, that is, who understand how the products function and are able to relate
the product and the consumer very effectively.

It also has a membership program for customer loyalty and returns for repeat purchases. It is
a one-stop solution with strong manufacturing visibility and product range support.

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BMW is higher in the high end of the automobile market and industry. It has perfected the art
of marketing its products higher than similar rivals. It has an elite market segmentation
strategy which has focused on selling BMW, MINI, and Rolls Royce. It also has strong brand
equity comprising perceived quality, brand loyalty, brand awareness, and brand associations.

It has also transited from a product-centric model to a customer-centric model, and it is

transiting very rapidly from the internal combustion engine vehicle range to the electric
vehicle range and other clean energy options. Caterpillar is very well known in the
earth-moving equipment range. It has retained the dominance all through the institutes in
infrastructure development across the globe. It has a very strong brand positioning.

Although other competitors are there, such as Sterix, Caterpillar retains its overall dominance
in construction equipment. The portfolio has demonstrated time and again its product strength
and dominance. It also moved into infra-developing markets such as Japan, China, and India,
and it lays great reliance on design and manufacture to express the marketing personality.

Whenever somebody thinks of a caterpillar, the giant machines that it designs and
manufactures immediately come to mind, and it has relied on this iconic symbolism for
expressing its marketing personality. It has the ability to sustain market volatility and
geographic uncertainties; it has managed recessionary headwinds from time to time.

ClubMed is a pioneer preserve, in a manner of speaking. It has the niche position of

pioneering all-inclusive travel holidays over the last 70 years. It has consistently added new
destinations and reached out to untouched locations around the world. It has also made
contrarian investments in resort property even in the tough times of COVID lockdown and
the low travel periods. It has ensured that customers return by providing a superior
experience for the guests and the customers.

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Costco Wholesale, it is a perfect model of supply chain logistics with store and parking
space, warehouses and demand planning, and robust customer loyalty. It is the topmost
membership-driven wholesale retailer in the world. It has added new dimensions, such as
curbside delivery, in recent times, and it has leveraged its cost and pricing power to retain and
grow its mass customer base.
Contrasted with Walmart, which has, let us say hundred and 50000 SKUs. Costco has
focused on a more modest number of 4000 SKUs but has driven volumes in those SKUs, and
the focus on the lower number of SKUs together with the higher volumes meant that it has
got the best cost position in negotiating with the suppliers.

It also has leveraged technology to bring in young and women customers into the fold; it also
entered new high-potential geographies such as China. Disney, of course, needs no
introduction; it is a creative executive leadership that drives Disney to ever higher
entertainment vision and entertainment execution.

It has got outstanding business organization, Disney Parks, experiences and products, Disney
media and entertainment distribution, general entertainment, and sports content. Disney as a
company is committed to three core principles, organizational common purpose, holistic
understanding of the customers, and exceptional service as an investment rather than as an
expense.

Disney also has an institute to train and develop leaders through feedback and insights. eBay,
it has a unique zero inventory multi-sided mediatory platform to enable buyers and sellers to
exchange and buy their products. It has a digital backbone that optimally matches seller and
buyer profiles and needs. It has been the only platform to offer a product auction feature to
both buyers and sellers in addition to buying a product at a fixed price.

Outstanding customer experience in the form of money back guarantee, Top Rated Seller
program, Safe Harbor program, and Verified Rights Owner Program.
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Electrolux is highly reputed in the white goods industry. It is innovation-focused. It is focused

on food and clothes experiences rather than on just refrigerators or washing machines. It does
not see itself as a manufacturer of these white goods equipment; it is more thinking of itself
as a food and clothes experience provider to the customers.

Operational efficiency is achieved through digitalization, automation, and modularization. It

has focused on metrics such as operating margin, return on net assets, and capital turnover for
a solid balance sheet that supports reinvestment. Although South Korean companies have
come into the white goods industry in a big way, Electrolux has been able to stay on its
ground because of these factors.

It has strong brands, achieved global leadership, and has been extending that global position
across all the continents. Again, a name that needs no introduction Google, very much part of
our day-to-day or even minute-by-minute life for every citizen today. It has a patented search
engine that democratizes information and connectivity on the web, and it is backed by a
variety of drive and cloud options.

It is getting deepeR & Deeper into consumer lives with Android, YouTube, Maps, Photos
Meet, and other applications; it also provides free information for consumers with innovative
paid digital ads of sponsors; where at the same time it has designed such a digital network
that what we do and what we think is taken by Google to feed us with more information and
earn revenues.
As a result of that, through its very unique advertisement program. An organizational
ecosystem has been created by Google to enable the members to push the envelope on a
continuous basis; of course, the parent company of Google Alphabet is into a number of new
horizon industries.

Harley Davidson is a classic heritage global motorcycle brand; it remains contemporary and
futuristic even to date. It has been able to build a passionate community of Harley Davidson
riders to amplify the brand as the right experience. It has a separate division to design and
manufacture electric motorcycles.

It has prioritized marketing and consumer reach in 12 advanced markets across the globe,
covering the US, Europe, China, Japan, and ANZ. All of these things indicate that the
company is poised to operate at the high end of the market despite the tremendous changes
that are occurring in the two-wheeler space.

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Honda, again a very innovative automobile company from Japan, is extraordinarily

innovative and was the earliest to globalize amongst the Japanese automobile companies.
What it pursued was a strategy of autonomous localization as opposed to highly centralized
localization, which Toyota attempted.
It has been able to align innovation to local customer needs with a global brand that reflected
innovation strongly; when its products entered India, they were redesigned to meet the Indian
operating conditions, including the ground clearance and the power torque requirements.

It is also the only global Japanese automobile manufacturer that produces two-wheelers and
four-wheelers for pan-consumer mobility needs. No other Japanese automobile manufacturer
manufactures two-wheelers and four-wheelers. It has a flexible factory architecture to meet a
variety of customer needs efficiently. It has also excelled in developing robots for its own use
as well as icons for a future that is going to unveil in later years.

IKEA is known for its furniture elegance. It has minimalist Swedish designs but redefined
furniture globally. It has a design and manufacturing paradigm that ensures material
conservation and cost-effectiveness. It also has a franchise model that helps the company
reach many countries globally with a lower level of cost commitment.

It has an unconventional business strategy that combines offline and online stores,
self-assembly, and partner assembly, and it has derived synergy and consumer experience in
big format stores and restaurant businesses. Many people visit IKEA for the kind of food it
offers its restaurants and happen to buy its furniture as well.

Lego is a Danish pioneer of interlocking bricks that spelled great education for kids and
elders alike. In every home in the developed world, Lego is commonplace. Kids develop their
fine motor skills by using a number of Lego play stuff and, given the developments in the
stem.

Lego also has upgraded the game to enter into stem education with its classic brick format
games. It is a classic brand. Therefore, it has fused the product and brand seamlessly. Lego
bricks emphasize consistency, quality, flexibility, adaptability, and our child’s safety. They
provide multi-generational customer experiences.

Elders enjoy Lego bricks as much as children, and it is one way in which the bonds are
strengthened between the parents and the children as they play together with Lego bricks.
Lego adheres to responsible business principles that reflect sincerity and commitment.
(Refer Slide Time: 20:00)

McDonald’s is very well known to the millennials and even to the non-millennials. It has
succeeded by franchising fast food, and it drove the rapid global expansion of 35000 stores or
counting in 120 countries. It has the consistency of food and service cross-selling and follows
a 3D model which comprises digital, delivery, and drive-through.

These models helped maintain momentum for the company. It also enabled McDonald’s to
adapt to local ethnic tastes. McDonald’s has been having the flexibility to meet
environmental, labor, and other concerns in the developing world. It has maximized
marketing expenditure to further strengthen the already strong golden arches brand.

The transportation infrastructure, the logistics backbone, has been exemplified in the west by
companies such as FedEx and UPS. FedEx focus on value-added logistics globally, from
packaging to warehousing and manufacturing to delivery through transportation, is
legendary; it has served both institutional and consumer segments.

Companies such as FedEx and UPS have played a stellar role in distributing vaccines all over
the world during the COVID times. It does customization to cater to multiple industrial
global logistic needs. It also partners with new-generation businesses such as e-commerce
and vaccines.

As far as the pharmaceutical industry is concerned, FedEx and companies such as UPS
follow good transportation practices, which ensure that the pharmaceuticals are transported
with the right conditions across the globe. Extensive digitization has helped FedEx to ensure
real-time navigation and tracking of packages globally.

Proctor and Gamble is another company that requires no introduction. Consistently it has
developed innovative products that make everyday life easier for everyone, and if you look
around your home, you will find that there are at least two to three P & G products that help
us have a better life, from shaving kits to the laundry detergents for washing machines you
got everything in Proctor and Gamble product portfolio.

It collaborates with innovators to supplement organic innovations and expand its product
portfolio. It is one of the companies which has invested very strongly in brand promotion. It
has made its brands become the second name for the products. Many brands are probably
known more than Proctor and Gamble as a company.

Executing highly visible corporate responsibility and community development programs, it

has viewed itself into the local ethnic backgrounds.

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Then we have Samsung. It has been once a low-tile manufacturing brand in South Korea.
There was a cheap customer perception about the company. Product innovation is not very
well known; however, the company changed course in the 80s and 90s and drove up
acceleration in its innovation engine. That, coupled with marketing excellence, turned
Samsung into a global brand.
It has diversified its product range amazingly well across the electronics and entertainment
range in step with the changing consumer profiles. In that process, it has overtaken Japanese
giants such as Sony, Toshiba, Sharp, and others. It has globalized in a manner of speaking
with a vengeance with a focus on revamped distribution and enhanced brand promotion. It
has benchmarked itself against the best of the best brands, such as Sony. Global leadership,
there was a time when Sony had to source its flat panel screens from Samsung.

Southwest Airlines has a business model; that is based on extremely efficient operations. It
has adopted low-cost pricing along with innovative logistics solutions as the bread and butter
of its business model. It had customer-friendly flexibility in meeting the varying needs from
reservation to cancellation compared to other airlines. Booking of airline tickets is a hassle,
and cancelling the tickets is an even greater financial hazard by simplifying this process and
ensuring economics to the customers, Southwest Airlines has become a very customer
friendly or a flyer-friendly airline.

Dedicated credit card and rewards programs for customer engagement have enhanced brand
loyalty even further. Starbucks innovated the concept of a third place between home and
work where people can relax or work enjoying over a cup of coffee while experiencing the
inviting ambiance.

It taught the USA and the world how to drink coffee is the refrain on Starbucks. Incidentally,
it is a matter of pride that an Indian CEO is heading Starbucks. Now, it helps casual and
informal chats with customers to capture the overall mood, understand the experience with
the store and gather valuable feedback. The classic experiential format globally positioned
Starbucks as an iconic global brand.
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Then we have Target, it has finite three store formats; discount, small, and hyper under one
singular Target brand. It has a brand management division that manages its own private label
brands besides third-party brands. It has established a network of warehouses across the
nation to support its thousands of stores. It is consistently ranked as one of the most
philanthropic companies in the US.

Tesco is another company in the retail space; it has developed over the decades a model of a
store for every need. The value proposition of Tesco is to provide customers with the
products they want at a low price, including through a virtual store for time-short commuters.
Pioneering of a new marketing paradigm in which the process starts with the consumer and
his or her needs as opposed to with the product.

This is the mantra for every successful business development or strategic marketing, start
your marketing paradigm with the consumer rather than with the product, and look at the
experience rather than the transaction. It has been a pioneer in the early use of Smartphones
for seamless customer connectivity and experience.

Toyota again needs no introduction. It is ranked as one of the most consistently successful
corporations in the world. It has been in the vanguard of product innovation and
manufacturing excellence, including hybrids and clean energy automobile options. Its price
has been a trendsetter in terms of its hybrid engine technology. It is known for its dedication
to customer satisfaction through quality and reliability.
It is the pioneer of the concept of mobility in Japan, offering consumers freedom from the
hassles of warning and maintaining a car. Very rarely a company develops a system that is
universally adopted and very rarely does a company offers its production know-how on or
manufacturing know-how very unselfishly to all the companies in the world.

But this is what Toyota has done. Its Toyota production system is synonymous with the
Japanese production system and has been enthusiastically embraced by several companies in
the west, including General Motors and Ford.

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Virgin Atlantic, it has a parent brand that owned a music label and record stores in the early
years; however, Virgin Atlantic took off using marketing and public relations related to the
virgin brand to its advantage. Richard Branson, the group’s enthusiastic and exuberant
chairman, had a personality that became the airline’s personality, but the airline transformed
itself from the initial what one may call attention-seeking behavior to premium service. It has
globalized with state-of-the-art aircraft and interiors and focused on sustainability.

Walmart is the biggest store in the United States. It is a chain of stores, in fact, and it has
extended itself generously into Latin America and various other countries. Its widely
advertised mission statement and slogan are as follows: We save people so that they can live
better. What else communicates better for a consumer wanting to save money but at the same
time have a higher lifestyle and it has to stay true to the stated purpose.
From the barcode of the 1890s to the artificial intelligence of today and with optimized store
and warehouse planning, Walmart leverages technology for advanced supply chain
management. It has scale-driven partnerships with manufacturers for wide consumer choice.
It also offers resilience and efficiency in the face of headwinds for offline physical retail.

Whole Foods was taken over by Amazon; why did it take over? Because it has got very
strong capabilities in the brick-and-mortar businesses. It has a unique team-based building of
the organization that emphasizes interdependence and collaboration. It has deployed
technology in a very effective manner for a data-driven supply chain delivery and customer
experience and it has clubbed itself with farmers to be able to get the best possible produce
and products for families. It is a combination of generic as well as intensive growth strategies
for business development; it has focused more importantly on the organic or natural
characteristics of its products.

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So, when you look at these examples, you will see several themes which are common in
terms of product innovation, operational experience, and operational excellence a legacy of
customer service over decades, and an ability to digitize themselves very successfully.

When you look at large product businesses in India, you will find that the Indian companies
also access in an exemplary manner. Many Indian firms have unique growth records because
of the consistent development of competencies in design, manufacturing, and marketing.
Business strategy and business development characterize such companies.
Let us take the example of Tata Motors; it is a very diversified yet integrated company. It has
market leadership in commercial vehicles and is among the top three in passenger cars and
utility vehicles. Tata Steel is India’s largest private-sector steel producer. It is known for
integrated development and manufacturing with a national and global presence.

One of the most famous paint companies in this region of the world is Asian Paints; it is the
largest Indian paints company with a significant international presence which we discussed in
one of the earlier lectures. It has a combination of product range, high capacity, and creative
marketing.

Dr. Reddy’s is a leading Indian pharmaceutical company, it is top ranking in terms of its
pharmaceutical research as well as FDA standard manufacturing, and its deep R & D and
manufacturing capabilities as well as global marketing competencies helped Dr. Reddy’s
achieve a top five global generic status.

Hindustan Unilever is the largest Indian MNC. It is an FMCG company and a subsidiary of
Unilever known for the product range manufacturing and marketing in India that are always
ahead of the curve. Many a time, Hindustan Unilever is seen more as an Indian company than
as a subsidiary of a multinational company.

Maruti Suzuki is India’s market leader in passenger car manufacture, and that lead has
extended to utility vehicles as well. It is the Japanese product and manufacturing capability
that has translated itself to Maruti Suzuki in a seamless fashion. It also established role
models in sales marketing and servicing of new-generation automobiles. These six examples
are examples of successful large product-based businesses in India.
(Refer Slide Time: 33:27)

Let us look at large service businesses in India. India is home to several service companies
which became large behemoths by creative and business development. HDFC is a large
housing finance company which has pioneered housing finance in India, and it made housing
finance services accessible to all customers.

HDFC, along with its twin HDFC bank, dominates the BFSIS space, with several of the
subsidiaries supplementing the core companies HDFC and HDFC Bank. Now they are poised
to merge and become one of the largest banking corporations and house finance corporations
in an integrated manner in the country.

Life Insurance Corporation is India’s largest Life Insurance Company in the public sector. Its
huge network of branch offices and sales offices, and agents is incomparable, and it brought
business to LIC and created huge employment opportunities. State Bank of India is India’s
largest public sector bank. It has devised several people-friendly banking products and
services; it has the largest bank network across the length and breadth of India.

Through its probation officer scheme, it is very much known for developing talent ground up,
and invariably the top echelons of the state bank of India are always homegrown and come
from the ranks of the preparation officer leadership bench that joins early in the bank up to
their education and passing through the competitive examinations.
Apollo Hospitals has been a pioneering healthcare chain of hospitals, clinics, and pharmacies
in India. I talked about Apollo Hospitals while demonstrating the business development
template in an earlier lecture. It has one patient acceptance through world-class medical
infrastructure; it has, in fact, pioneered medical tourism in India.

Engineers India Limited is a public-sector engineering consultancy firm. It has been ahead of
the curve in terms of engineering complex projects in the oil, gas, and energy sector. In the
private sector, an employment portal was something which was unique at the time
employment news was the sole agency to provide employment opportunities for the youth.

But naukri. com blazed itself into the employment arena by becoming the number 1 job
website. It pioneered the digital democratization of employment and career opportunities for
the vast multitudes of job seekers in India.

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When you look at the businesses, they can be seen as large businesses, medium businesses as
well as small businesses. Let us look at some successful large businesses in India and try to
understand how they shape their business development over time. Large businesses
invariably become what they are by constantly developing new business avenues, and they
take specific initiatives for that.

Adani Wilmar, an FMCG company with about 70 percent of its portfolio being focused on
edible oils and another 30 percent on FMCG products such as wheat flour, salt, sugar, and
various other products. It is a joint venture between Adani Group and Wilmar of Singapore
through organic growth joint ventures and acquisitions.

Adani Wilmar has catapulted itself to the top rank of the edible oil industry and other FMCG.
It has had one of the most successful public issues in recent times. Titan needs no
introduction. It started as a joint venture with TIDCO, and Titan quickly achieved a pole
position indigenous watch manufacturer. Subsequently, it has diversified itself into branded
jewellery through its Tanishq business unit and into smartwatches, sarees, fashion
accessories, etc.,

ITC is a conglomerate, but it started its life as an imperial tobacco company over a century
ago, manufacturing cigarettes and developing the tobacco business to support cigarette
manufacture. It has moved away from its concentration on cigarettes and tobacco. It is now a
highly diversified conglomerate with a strong presence in FMCG, hotels, papers and
paperboard, agrifoods, and information technology. Much of the diversification can be owed
to its longest-serving chairman Y C Deveshwar who felt that business must have a
socio-economic purpose.

Indian Oil Corporation is the largest central government public sector company in the oil
refining and marketing field. The company has grown organically with an extensive refining
and national oil station network. It is also now poised to enter the green energy and green
hydrogen businesses in a strong way.

IRCTC is a unique experiment of Indian railways that has blossomed into a highly valuable
digital ticketing service. IRCTC is a public sector undertaking, but it is almost like the private
sector. It undertakes ticketing, catering, and tourism services for the Indian railways. It is a
highly successful digital service corporation, and it has had a glorious listing over the last
several years.

Gas Authority of India Limited, or GAIL for short, is an Indian public sector cooperation. It
has pioneering interests and strengths in natural gas, liquefied hydrocarbon, liquefied petrol
gas transmission, city gas transmission, and, more recently, renewable energy. When
everybody was focused on oil exploration and drilling, GAIL focused on the development of
gas reserves and gas transportation. Today gas is considered a clean option to crude.
(Refer Slide Time: 39:33)

Few other examples of large businesses in India, they continue to combine systematic
business development with new business innovation, and therefore, they are able to grow
consistently. Larsen and Toubro, I referred to the company earlier too, is a diversified
construction and infrastructure giant that is reputed globally for its construction technologies
and infrastructure building.

It has formidable iconic facilities, highways, and metro rails to its credit all over India and
also in certain overseas locations. TTK Prestige, again mentioned earlier, is a pioneering
manufacturer of kitchen appliances and cookware in India. It is known for its innovative
marketing strategy and indigenous development of products, and it has been pioneered in
distributing pamphlets from helicopters in the 50s for catching consumer attention. It has also
introduced several interesting and beneficial exchange schemes for consumers. Reliance Jio
Infocomm Limited is a subsidiary of Reliance Industries Limited.

It became a dominant force in the Indian telecommunication space in no time. Jio is now
spearheading India’s move into 5G and low-cost smart devices. UltraTech is the largest
cement company in India, followed closely, of course, by Adani Cement after its acquisition
of ACC and Ambuja Cements.

UltraTech is a company that has over 100 metric tons of capacity in a single country outside
of China. In recent times it grew aggressively through big-ticket acquisitions. It belongs to
the Aditya Birla Group.
Amul, which has the tag-like taste of the India, is indeed identified with the Indian psyche
very closely. It is a pioneering cooperative movement of thousands of dairy farmers in India
that made India the world’s largest producer of milk and milk products. Amul’s head group is
credited with ushering in India’s white revolution; it has also set new benchmarks in branding
and marketing.

Indigo is India’s largest airliner; with its focus as a low-cost airliner with well-maintained
aircraft and a commitment to clean service and punctual operation, Indigo demonstrated how
operational excellence could be the sole driver of business excellence and business
development.

(Refer Slide Time: 42:09)

Successful business development is not confined to only mainstream companies or large

companies; start-ups, too can have successful business development. Start-ups, by definition,
of course, lay new business paths by developing creative products and solutions for
customers, yet they must follow a particular pathway of business development for them to be
successful.

Flipkart became the poster boy of the Indian start-up movement by becoming India’s
homegrown e-commerce platform, and so it attracted a takeover by Walmart eventually.

Byjus revolutionized online education in India. It has grown by leaps and bounds during the
COVID pandemic times, although after the opening up of colleges for physical classes. It has
encountered its hiccups it has also encountered such hiccups mainly because of the
aggressive acquisitions it has undertaken during the heydays. After acquiring Aakash, a
physical coaching network, Byjus is setting up its own offline centers too, given the changing
circumstances.

Big Basket is a leader in grocery delivery. It is a digital company which has revolutionized
grocery delivery in India through its exceptional ordering and sourcing as well as delivery
infrastructure. It has now become a Tata Group company, and it now has two types of grocery
service; one we deliver, which delivers in 30 minutes and the other, which delivers as per the
choice with a 42-hour span.

Nyka is a fashion company. It is stated to be India’s only consistently profitable digital

fashion platform. It has a woman founder CEO at the helm. Nyka recently went through a
successful IPO. Zomato was initially set up as a restaurant and dining review and rating
service, again a model which I referred to in the earlier lecture, but it has emerged as the
biggest food delivery company in India recently, it went through a large IPO.

Ola has pioneered the red handling services on a mass scale in India on the lines of Uber
globally. Ola also moved into the manufacture of electric vehicles. It has set up a subsidiary
to manufacture electric two-wheelers, which it promises would be the largest in the world. It
has also taken up its taxi services in certain international markets as well.

Ola now tries to extend its frontier even more audaciously and even more ambitiously; it has
announced plans for manufacturing electric cars and also its own batteries. When you look at
these start-ups, Nyka, Zomato, or companies which have enlisted themselves on the stock
exchanges and their performance has not been too good because they continue to make very
marginal profits or outright classes, and the investors want a stable business model. So,
successful business development for start-ups cannot be confined only to an expansive
market presence or extensive market share gains.

Successful business development should be sustainable through appropriate revenue and

profit models, which assure a measure of internal generation of cash resources along with the
funding by the investors.
(Refer Slide Time: 45:44)

When you look at all the firms, we have some common factors that we can delineate in
respect of business development. Companies derive their strengths functionally but also with
holistic business management. Technological innovation is the prime driver of business
success, but that has to be within the ambit of a creative business strategy and a unique
business model. The business strategy and business model have to be unique not only to the
industry but, more importantly, to the company’s competitive position. The companies must
exhibit core functional strengths.

A company need not be 10 over 10 on all the functional parameters, but certainly, it must
rank high 8 to 10 on all the functional strings and be 10 by 10 in certain core competencies. A
high-performance organization is the landmark of successful business development, and all
companies will and must score on customer connect if they have to be seen as successful
developers of businesses.

Operational excellence goes without saying as the prime driver for meeting volume
throughput needs as well as for the cost-effectiveness of the products. Financial starting is
very much important; nothing like generating your own cash and putting it for strategic
investments but the ability to raise extra cash through its business model, attracting private
equity and other investors or retail investors is a perfectly all-right strategy. As long as the
business model does not depend only on such sources business model must be on a
combination of internal generation of cash as well as external resources coming in at
appropriate valuations, and every business development that is successful is based on a
quality paradigm that is top notch. Therefore, quality focus cannot be diluted in the pursuit of
business. These are the common factors that characterize each and every business that has
been successful in terms of its business development, whether in India or on a global scale.

So, with this, we come to the end of this lecture. I hope you have had a good review of
several successful businesses in the world as well as in India and different formats and from
different industries conglomerates, large corporations, mega-corporations, medium
companies, public sector undertakings, private sector undertakings, start-ups, all of these
things share the common factors that I have enlisted in the previous slide.

We must keep that in mind as we pursue our program through other lectures in this business
development course.

Thank you! I hope to see you in the next lecture.