Kantha Industries

TITLE OF CASE: Stagnation in Growth of Kantha Industry

STATEMENT OF PROBLEM:

Whether the organization should go out of the village for marketing or organize exhibitions within the village.

THE CASE:

1. 50 year old small scale industry in West Bengal.
2. Main products: Leather, textile and other handworks like Kantha stitch.
3. Employs 350 workers, out of which 72 are women. They work in groups of ten with monthly income of 400-800 Rs.
4. Products perceived as a luxury goods and not necessity.
5. Currently, the source of income is through exhibitions in nearby towns and cities.
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   Major market being Kolkata.

SCOPE: >>Considered merits and demerits of both alternatives as below:

ALTERNATIVES:

Village exhibitions: Merits – Overall expenses of setting up an exhibition will reduce. Employment will be generated. Promotion tourism in and around the village. Subsidies from the Government will promote the industry further. NRIs will be a major customer base. Unique identity of the place and product. Demerits – There’ll be a loss of current customer base that is the nearby towns and cities. Revenue will be reduced as once it goes out of village, its price shoots up.

Organize exhibitions outside:

Merits- greater revenues as exhibitions are targeted at the cities and towns where demand exist. Demerits- Expenses of organizing exhibitions so up.

RECOMMENDATION:

To run both alternatives parallel for some time and in the long run do away with exhibitions outside the village once the village exhibitions seems feasible and profitable. CONCLUSION: The organization should continue marketing out of village via exhibitions along with exhibitions within the village and then slowly after gaining popularity or doing good business it can continue with the exhibitions within the village and try for handicraft retailers and traders.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:

Kantha-stitch industry in West Bengal, which is a specific kind of decorative embroidery done only by the rural people of Bengal, has emerged as a highly lucrative industry, operating as an informal sector in India. However the people who create the exquisite patterns, after labouring for days, however, receive meagre remuneration and no recognition for their art. The main cause is that these products are not necessity rather a luxury or status symbol. So people in villages cannot afford it. The sales in cities and towns like Kolkata is better but not at all at a comfort zone.

The main reason being the lac of promotion. The income mainly comes from the exhibitions which absorb a lot of capital investment. So this case study provides a decision making problem of whether to go out of the village for marketing or to organize exhibitions within village. For the analysis both the possibilities have been considered and merits and demerits of each have been analysed. Ultimately the conclusion which was reached of running both alternatives parallel for some time and in the long run do away with exhibitions outside the village once the village exhibitions seems feasible and profitable.