Marketing

... Ram Manohar Vikas & Rohit Varman pages 189-202. ... The teleological morality of decision making is assessed by measuring the probable outcome (Hartman 200217. Hartman, Laura P. 2002. Perspectives of business ethics , New Delhi: McGraw‐Hill Irwin. ...

... Ram Manohar Vikas & Rohit Varman pages 189-202. ... The teleological morality of decision making is assessed by measuring the probable outcome (Hartman 200217. Hartman, Laura P. 2002. Perspectives of business ethics , New Delhi: McGraw‐Hill Irwin. ...

Extant postmodern theorization celebrates a close relationship between freedom and consumption. Some theorists have argued that in this period of late capitalism, consumption has become an independent sphere and compensates for freedom lost in the domain of ...

Cultivation analysis suggests that media influences local cultures by their complex repertoire of images, and narratives, which constitute a representation. Through a discursive analysis of television content in India we contend that rising material aspirations and consumer culture are influenced by media. Significantly, dialectics of turmoil and tranquility marks this development for the working class population. On the one hand, there is domestication of unrest among the working class, as they withdraw from collective political struggles to narrower and tranquil forms of emulation and economism. These attempts at emulation have, on the other hand, resulted in poorer sections of the society devoting their limited resources to aping a lifestyle well beyond their reach and further compromising with the quality of life. The other pole of the dialectic is the increase in turmoil with the tearing of the traditional social fabric and support systems. This turmoil progressively manifests ...

Abstract
The case presents the dilemma of the decision maker in selecting the most appropriate market segment for Vanraj 10 HP mini-tractors – an innovation from a small farmer in Gujarat. Four market segments were identified, small and marginal farmers, large farmers, industries, and horticulture farmers. Vanraj was economical and possessed all the features of a big tractor. Mr. Trivedi, the decision maker, believed that the tractor would serve the needs of small and marginal farmers better, but his colleagues wanted him to think further before selecting any particular market segment for targeting.

Key Words
Market targeting; Target marketing; Tractor Marketing; Agriculture Marketing; Rural Marketing; Minitractors

ABSTRACT:
Definition and domain related issues of ‘rural marketing’ need further clarification and revision. Often times, rural marketing is equated with marketing by multinationals in rural India. The extant literature in rural marketing has uncritically used the theories, models, concepts, and frameworks of the mainstream marketing discipline. So far, rural marketing has failed to create its proprietary theories, concepts, frameworks, and distinct vocabulary. As a result, rural marketing cannot claim the status of a separate subdiscipline within the broader marketing discipline. I provide a critique of the extant work in rural marketing and its dependence on the mainstream business marketing literature. I argue that rural marketing must find its own distinct perspective before theory construction can begin in the field. After reviewing the literature on marketing and economic development, I propose that development of rural people should be the perspective of rural marketing. In this paper, I propose a domain and definition of rural marketing, and suggest several potential areas for theory construction to begin in the subject.

ABSTRACT:
Uttarakhand state had a unique advantage of hilly weather that was suitable for cultivation of some fruits and vegetables, which were in great demand in plains during off-seasons there. Out of the total net margin accruing to the entire supply chain of these fruits and vegetables, only 25% went to the farmers despite they bearing disproportionately high market risk and the entire production risk. The Uttarakhand State Cooperative Federation (UCF) was created with a mandate to strengthen the cooperative structure in the state. The organisation had to decide a course of action that would improve the returns for the fruits and vegetable farmers in the state. The managing director of the federation had identified three alternative courses of action: first, to take up the primary value addition activity of an aggregator; second, to take up the higher value addition activities of processing the fruits and vegetables; and third, to take up retailing of the fruits and vegetables on behalf of the farmer members. The chairman of the federation was wondering which alternative was appropriate; or was there some other option too.

KEYWORDS:
Agriculture Marketing, Agribusiness Management, Agricultural Supply Chain, Cooperative Marketing, Horticulture Marketing

Edited by:
Pratik Modi, Institute of Rural Management Anand (IRMA)

“These unhappy times call for the building of plans that rest upon the forgotten, the unorganized but the indispensable units of economic power...that build from the bottom up and not from the top down, that put their faith once more in the forgotten man at the bottom of the economic pyramid.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt in his April 7, 1932 radio address.

Most of the emerging economies of the world are predominantly rural in characteristics. This rural context poses several challenges, such as low-income, absence of basic marketing infrastructure, subsistence living, irregular income and demand patterns, dependence on agriculture, high social stratification, lack of social mobility, and traditional value orientation, to marketers. These challenges may require new marketing thinking to deal with the issues and to realize vast potential of thus far ignored rural markets. This is an emerging area and studies that try to understand the challenges and issues involved in marketing to rural are far and few.

In this special issue, we invite contributions from scholars and practitioners on the issues pertaining to rural marketing. The indicative list of topics is mentioned below; however, they are by no means exhaustive or restrictive.

• The scope, domain, definition, or interpretations of rural marketing.
• Research or methodological innovations related to rural marketing.
• Theoretical contributions related the various aspects of rural marketing
• Consumer behaviour in rural markets.
• Adaptation of the 4Ps of marketing in rural markets.
• Rural distribution including public distribution system (PDS).
• Rural retailing.
• Communication strategies for rural markets.
• Segmentation, Targeting, and Positioning issues in rural markets.
• Branding decisions in rural markets.
• Impact of marketing activities on the lives of the rural poor.
• New product development and innovations for rural markets.
• New product development and Innovations from rural markets.
• Rural tourism.
• Case studies on marketing to or its impact on rural, poor, or disadvantaged consumers.
• Developmental aspects of rural marketing.

Submit your contributions via email to the special issue editor by 31 December 2011 (Email: pratik@irma.ac.in Alt Email: ijrm@irma.ac.in). All papers will be subject to double-blind peer review. The selected papers shall be published in the first issue of 2012. Your manuscript and all editorial correspondence should be addressed to: Pratik Modi, The Special Issue Editor, International Journal of Rural Management, IRMA Campus, Anand – 388001, India. Email: pratik@irma.ac.in Alt Email: ijrm@irma.ac.in. Mention clearly in the subject field that the submission be considered for the special issue. The author guidelines can be requested from the special issue editor or can be accessed on the journal website (http://irm.sagepub.com/).


Special Issue Editor
Pratik Modi
Assistant Professor of Marketing
Institute of Rural Management Anand
Anand – 388001 India.
E-mail: pratik@irma.ac.in
Fax: +91 2692 260188
Phone: +91 2692 221634