Godrej, a fast-moving commercial goods (FMCG) company in India that was historically known for its refrigerators in the Indian market, contemplated launching a new product for rural markets. Chotukool was an unconventional cooling solution targeted at the bottom of the pyramid (BOP) segment in India. More than 80 per cent of the Indian population did not own a refrigerator and 50 per cent earned less than US$2 per day. The study tracks Godrej’s journey of disruptive innovations from the conception of the idea to the marketing challenges faced by the company. It also focuses at length on how the organization planned to execute two parallel business models, with one aimed at the consumers of traditional refrigerators and the other simultaneously targeting current non-consumers. The case focuses on the management challenge of innovating across the value chain in order to succeed at social innovations.

Godrej, a Fast Moving Commercial Goods (FMCG) company in India, historically known for its refrigerators in the Indian market, contemplated launching a new product for rural markets. Chotukool was an unconventional cooling solution targeted at the bottom of the pyramid (BOP) segment in India. More than 80 percent of the population in India does not own refrigerators and 50 percent of the population earns less than US$2 per day. The study tracks Godrej's journey of disruptive innovations from the conception of the idea to the marketing challenges faced by the company. It also focuses at length on how the organization plans to execute two parallel business models, one aimed at the consumers of traditional refrigerators while the other one simultaneously targets current non-consumers. The case focuses on the management challenge of innovating across the value chain in order to succeed at social innovations.

This case deals with the commercialization challenges that a premier research institute in an emerging economy faces despite conducting cutting-edge research. The case is set in 2009 in Hyderabad, India, soon after the appointment of CCMB’s new director, Dr. Mohan Rao. Rao has to decide how to proceed with incentivizing the scientists to find potential applications for their research when most scientists are merely interested in doing basic research and when, at the same time, the government is increasing its emphasis on the use of public science for societal good. The case also deals with the role of commercialization and technology transfer, publishing versus patenting, basic versus translation sciences, and incentives.