CASE – 3

TO KILL OR RE-INCARNATE

South Indian pharmacy limited (SIPL) enjoyed the unparallel strength of its brand leader
Amrut for almost 40 years. Three generations of people in India (especially south Indian)
have used Amrut for headaches. Amrut has been the most favored ayurvedic medicine by
all categories of customers for the two simple reasons of effective result and reasonable
price. It almost became a generic name for all types of balms like dalda for vegetable oil
and nirma for detergents. It enjoyed 80% of the balm market as unchallenged market
leader in south India. The simple design of amrut’s package has also been a major selling
feature for so many years.
SIPL has been observing a fast decline in Amrut’s sale during the last 3 years. A quick
product performance study carried out by the company revealed the following facts:

Performance parameter Amrut’s performance Best performance of the

market
Growth in sales volume 3% 4%

Quality appreciation by B+ A
customers

Profit realization 11% 13%

Brand image B++ A

Presentation style C+ A+

Simplicity in application A A+

Product availability A A++

Amrut has not done well on all the seven fronts. The top management appointed a
strategy formulation team recently which brought out a policy discussion paper. For all
the key executives and consultants of the company. This paper raised some fundamental
issues (which need to be discussed thoroughly to decide the key inputs for strategy
formulation). These issues are

CASE STUDY QUESTIONS:

1. Should Amrut be rectified thoroughly on every front so that it

gains its lost glory once again?
2. What should be the degree for such rectification? That is
should it be a marginal revision in its key features or a
 considerable revitalization of its unique strengths or a total
reincarnation leading to a new product.
3. How should the company study the possible response from the
old and the new customers for the reincarnated product?

Write your answers within 250 words for each question and the
answers should be logical and to the point.