In 2023, Kaushik Roy, the managing director of PCBL (formerly, Phillips Carbon Black Limited), unveiled an ambitious plan to propel the company’s profit before tax to ₹20 billion in Indian rupees by 2029, a more-than-threefold level of growth. Emphasizing capacity-expansion and strategic-rebranding initiatives, PCBL aimed to fortify its status as a global industry leader and as India’s largest carbon black manufacturer. Despite global economic uncertainties, the company’s robust financial performance and strategic dividend declaration underscored its resilience and market dominance. Central to its strategy were innovative product development and enhanced customer engagement, which were crucial for penetrating new markets and sustaining its growth momentum. However, with the company’s focus on high-margin specialty chemicals, Roy pondered the alignment of this strategy with its broader branding efforts and the potential impact of the strategy on both domestic and international markets. As PCBL navigated these challenges, agility and strategic alignment were identified as pivotal for achieving its ambitious growth targets.
Established in 2020, Nurture.farm was a digital platform that focused on reimagining the next generation of sustainable technology-based solutions for agriculture. In June 2021, Nurture.farm’s chief executive officer Dhruv Sawhney and his team recognized a grave problem in northern India. Environmental hazards were being created from mass rice stubble burning, which was an inexpensive and quick way for farmers to clear their field for the next crop cycle. In response, Sawhney and his team conceptualized and executed India’s largest crop residue management (CRM) program. The organization’s initial success in providing its services to over 25,000 farmers and curbing the stubble burning problem gained international recognition and helped Nurture.farm earn several new partnerships within a year of operations.<br><br>By March 2023, Nurture.farm was hoping to scale up its CRM program and expand into over 800,000 hectares (2 million acres) of land, primarily in India’s rice paddy fields. In this mission, Sawhney and his team found themselves facing some difficult questions. Could they efficiently scale this mission-driven campaign to additional states? How could they convince and garner organic trust from farmers? Modern technologies helped Nurture.farm facilitate its operations, but what challenges could the company face in the future? What sustainable practices could help the company drive its CRM program?
Sirona Hygiene Private Limited (Sirona Hygiene) started operations in 2015 with its launch of PeeBuddy—a portable urination device for women. For Sirona Hygiene, the first four years had been extremely satisfying, as the company was able to launch five unique products and 15 differentiated products across its three brands—PeeBuddy, Sirona, and BodyGuard. Each brand had its own unique value proposition and operated in a different product space. The company’s founder was looking for additional funding as he moved toward achieving his mission of tripling the company’s growth by 2022. When it came to investor mindsets, most investors were traditional in their thinking and sought to invest in single brands. As such, the company’s founder was considering consolidating all of the brands under the corporate brand—Sirona Hygiene. Brand articulation, strategy formulation, and fundraising were all interlinked, and to steer the firm to its next journey, a sequential path was imperative. The question was clear, but there were no straight answers.
Saregama India Limited (Saregama), a 117-year-old music company, was on a growth trajectory. Its third-quarter financial results in 2017–2018 had shown unprecedented growth. Over the previous three years, Saregama had converted its conventional copyrighted music into high-quality digital formats and made a rare stretch from the business-to-business (B2B) to business-to-consumer (B2C) market. The company had added new intellectual properties (IP) in audio and video. Then in 2017, Saregama launched Carvaan, a portable music player with 5,000 evergreen songs. Cleverly created to meet the needs of its older target audience, the Carvaan was largely responsible for the company’s turnaround.<br><br>Saregama’s goal was to be a ?20 billion IP content company in the next five years. To make that happen in the context of rapidly evolving technologies and consumer trends, the company needed sharply defined short- and long-term strategies that addressed content acquisition, its success with Carvaan, and its pursuit of B2B and B2C markets.
The Indian luxury leather brand Nappa Dori, founded in 2010 in Delhi, had a product range that included a luxury line of trunks, bags, accessories, and bespoke projects for its prestigious clients, which included international luxury hotels and airlines. The brand had earned worldwide recognition from global luxury clients, and by 2017, it had seven stores, a design studio, and two cafés in India as well as one destination store at a luxury resort in the Maldives. The company’s self-taught designer-owner wanted his brand to be globally recognized as an affordable luxury brand from India by 2020. However, he often wondered whether his brand story was on the right track. For instance, was it a good idea to expand into related categories while creating a unique user experience? Should Nappa Dori focus on setting up shops in luxury destinations around the world? Did the young brand have the right story to resonate with globe-trotting luxury connoisseurs? To build a global luxury brand, the firm needed to craft a unique experience that resonated with luxury connoisseurs. The founder knew that what had started as an organic exploration into luxury now needed a well-crafted blueprint as it entered the next phase of sustainable growth toward achieving global recognition.
Clubb International Private Limited (Clubb) was a 26-year-old travel goods and accessories firm based in Kolkata, India. The owner believed in a complete ownership model. The firm had come a long way since its beginning and now had close to 200 product offerings. In March 2017, the owner’s son (the second-generation director of Clubb) felt it was time to scale up the business and acquire a leadership position in the market. Clubb had at its core a legacy of innovation, quality, and a bootstrapping philosophy, but it might not be conducive to the new strategic vision. For the road ahead, the company needed a professional and streamlined product and retail strategy. Could the desired scale of operations be achieved with the complete ownership model and mantra of no advertising?