Innovation in India: The Chotukool Project
Students are supposed to read the Opening Case of Chapter-3 ‘Innovation in India: The Chotukool Project’ (Page Number-43) of their e-textbook. Based on your understanding of the case and concepts studied until now answer the following question in 300-500 words each.
QUESTIONS
1. What were the pros and cons of attempting to develop a refrigerator for India’s rural poor? (2 marks)
2. What product and process innovations did the Chotukool entail? Would you consider these incremental or radical? Architectural or Component Competence enhancing or competence destroying? (2 marks)
3. Did the Chotukool pose a threat of disrupting the traditional refrigerator market? Why or why not? (2 marks)
4. Is there anything you think Godrej should have done differently to penetrate the market of rural poor families in India? (2 marks)
5. What other products might the lessons Godrej learned which chotukool apply to? (2 marks)
Answers
Question 3
A few years ago, two items gained worldwide notice. Both sought to give customers in
emerging economies an alternative to refrigerators that could not buy a standard refrigerator or
lacked the electricity. One was Chotukool, a little box-like unit with a distinctive structure (chotu
meaning small in Hindi) cooled by a battery-operated thermoelectric chip. The second was
MittiCool, a container in clay with racks used to evaporate water and chill things. The price of
Chotukool was $60, and the cost of Mitticool was $40. The concept that essential cheap
emerging-market items are first taping into unfulfilled requirements of trillions in their native nations and then moving to global markets and disrupting them was important. Currencies such
as & innovation; and reverse innovation; were gaining momentum, and such notions were
quite exciting back in time when emerging-market booms coincided (Christensen, 2018). An
examination of reality presently, however, indicates that the true success was undermining, and
most of these items did not increase their sales beyond a few million dollars or go beyond tiny
niches.
Why Chotukool pose a threat of disrupting the traditional refrigerator market
The notion of low-cost engineering has been reinterpreted to lead to many disruptive
developments – from a new two-cylinder rear-mounted motor to a new body design to suppliers
innovating and achieving meager prices. Chotukool was not also viewed as consumer wishes to
be fulfilled. One of Chotukool’s top managers said they recognized that the low-income
individuals aspired to the wealthier people and that the lower-income segment, unless the
affluent buy it. Chotukool brought product design and development discipline. The most
significant feature in innovative goods of developing markets and why they are struggling to
measure. Such innovation has been increasingly concerned with the creation of highly expert
solutions to local issues by entrepreneurs. As a result, quality and scalability are lacking in the
end output (Madhusudan & Panneerselvam, 2017). A lack of the production ecosystem further
supports the problem.
Question 4
Marketing executives need a good knowledge of their basic needs and drivers for their
marketing strategies at Refrigerators Chotukole, design products and services that are capable of
meeting these needs in Chotukol refrigerators, and then develop a business model for a full
market approach. Chotukool’s financial and technological resources are viable………………
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