Blair Water Purifers in India

Blair Water Purifiers India

PMBA – MAR 6816

Team A

Christina Crosby, Jake Lewicki, Jamie Stengle and Regina Velliquette

Dr. Michaels

Spring 2010

Situational Analysis

Blair Company Inc. was founded by Eugene Blair in 1975. The company’s mission is to provide equipment that will meet the needs of its target market in terms of filtration and purification of water. As part of the organizational goal, the company is also aiming to enter the international market and position itself in the global arena.

The Indian market is large and expected to grow over three-fold in the coming five years. Nearly 85% of population is not being reached by any competitor. Very low labor costs and central location could enable export to other lesser-developed countries. Indian customers are favorable toward western products and the Indian government is actively seeking foreign investors. Quality of Blair’s product appears superior to competitors.

The main product currently serving customers is a unit that uses an integration of innovated technologies with a purpose of removing four kinds of water contaminants that can be found in potable water. These include sediments, organic and inorganic chemicals, microbial or cysts and objectionable odors and tastes. The product is provided to the Indian customers to meet their needs having equipments that will enhance the quality of their water for their everyday consumption.

The decision the company Blair faces in this case is if they should enter the Indian market for home water purification. The market in India for water purifiers is not easy to describe. On one side, it has only a few established and mainly Indian competitors. On the other side, the Indian market shows to be more fragmented with no big competitor but many small regional ones. This is why it is hard for Blair to estimate a realistic market potential of entering the Indian market. What is known to Blair is that Indians have a need for improved water quality that is...