Since globalisation, the markets around the world have been changing at such an alarming rate that predictability has become difficult for the marketers and advertisers to achieve consistent programmed actions. Yet the mass production and consumption cycles are also increasing at such a pace that no marketer can afford to wait too long for predictability. Things have outpaced the expectations and even foresight of the guru of gurus like Peter F Drucker and the ?new realities? are at times really hard to decipher. Against this backdrop, Consumer India: Inside the Indian Mind and Wallet helps in grasping the trends and the changing currents underneath.
Dhiraj Sinha has adopted a horizontal as well as a vertical segmentation approach to understand the emerging market patterns. On the one hand he has given a demographic profile of three broad market segments, which have historically emerged in the Indian market scenario, on the other he has described the demographic subgroups to explain the inter demographic nuances. The impact of globalisation on Indians as individuals, family members, community participants, entrepreneurs and employees has been presented in a historical way. He narrates their stories. He effortlessly describes how various environmental and policy factors that were directed towards the consumer attitude have finally made a dent on the Indian psyche, thus changing the consumer from a savings-oriented person to a high-earner and high-spending entity.
The consumer, from being an accumulator of money for capital building, has become a participant in the monetary cycle through the use of credit and plastic money. It unleashed a hidden potential, which was hard to fathom for the marketers of 60s and 70s. The power of money had finally impacted citizens of all classes and this led to different socio-economic classification and stratification of market segments. The government had to accept the market-oriented policies and remove the barriers of communication, and exchange of goods and services in favour of private players and competitive forces.
Dhiraj has been successful in portraying the real life situation, courtesy Michael Porter?s depiction of the diamond of competitive strategy and the application of Competitive Advantage of Nations. Drucker?s ?new realities? have been concretised as the New World Economic Order, the mission of WTO through the intervention and withdrawal process of the public and private players to bring about the level playing field in terms of the PPP model of development. The writer has also factored in how the government has tried to change its role as a necessary evil to a facilitator of the market economies rather than controller of the politico economic forces that it had been through the second half of the last millennium.
When the government assumes a new role, the impact will definitely run through the society and the marketers will have to adjust their strategies accordingly. The author projects the learning organisation approach to the marketers and gives them a psychological framework, which has emerged as a result of these environmental changes, enabling them to look differently at the consumer behaviour. The marketing and management thinkers have to imbibe the changes which they have brought about and impart the knowledge to their successors whom they teach in b- schools.
The transformation reflects how consumerism has affected the deep-rooted spiritual values that Indian households have been maintaining since ages. The changing perception of destiny and the proactive role reflected in the terminology of Kshatriya verses Brahmanical thought process reflects the tilt from spiritualism to materialism or the age of Kalyuga having finally arrived in the Indian mind.
Therefore, marketers and advertisers have to adopt a mix of intuition and rational thought process to pass through this age of dynamic fads and the resultant confusion till the globalisation process finally settles down at an acceptable equilibrium.
The author has adopted the narrative style of a story teller, which would help the marketers in understanding the socio-cultural issues from an angle of organisational objective. The interesting part is the presentation of emerging acculturation, the outcome of interconnectivity due to the growth of consumerism at the physical, mental and spiritual levels since independence. The commercialisation of spiritualism has spiced up the recipe, adding flavour to social communication through media.
The author has connected the impact of the market forces, across the levels of individual, family and community, from the social angle with the corporate and governmental organisations as stakeholders.
Once again, Indian ethos and culture have survived the onslaught of Western habit patterns by flexibly adjusting the rigidity of the Manu Samriti cultural fabric in Indian lifestyle, reflecting the socio, religious network through which the Indian subcontinent has survived by accommodating numerous diverse cultures. In spite of materialism taking over in everyday life, the grassroot has not been allowed to get shattered as might have happened anywhere else in the world.
In this competitive environment, we have to accept the changes happening globally and accelerate our markets for better development and growth. The livelihood of Indian consumer has been currently perceived to accommodate the neo-concept of consumer insight.
The writer is dean, Ajit Haksar Institute of Advertising, Communication & Marketing Management, EMPI Business School