Title: The impact of organic transformation: strategies and innovative ideas towards profitability - a case of Hathikuli Tea Estate

Authors: Tripti Paul; Sandeep Mondal

Addresses: Indian Institute of Technology (Indian School of Mines), Dhanbad, Police Line, Sardar Patel Nagar, Hirapur, Dhanbad, Jharkhand 826004, India ' Indian Institute of Technology (Indian School of Mines), Dhanbad, Police Line, Sardar Patel Nagar, Hirapur, Dhanbad, Jharkhand 826004, India

Abstract: Tea has occupied an important place in India's economy for the last several decades. But in the recent time, India's contribution to global tea production and exports are trailing behind. The study examined how an ordinary tea estate becomes sustainable at the same time increase the production of high-quality tea and captures the global market as well. The purpose of this paper is to study the operational challenges that a tea garden faces during the organic transformation, and comprehend the benefit of the organic transformation of a tea estate with reference to the outstanding practices and innovative business ideas of 'Hathikuli Tea Estate'. The paper reveals that, by bearing a huge loss, Hathikuli Tea Estate transformed into a sustainable organic tea garden, not only to capture the premium market of organic tea but also to dedicate efforts towards conservation of nature and provide the eco-friendly working environment. At the same time, the estate become profitable by introducing innovative ideas such as grow multiple products using the same resources, develop optimism tea supply chain to sell the organic tea by inventing a 'tea boutique' concept. The study includes a two-year detailed analysis of various tea estates in Assam including Hathikuli Tea Estate. Therefore, the study offers practitioners with a concise and pragmatic approach towards strategic decision making for organic transformation of a tea estate.

Keywords: organic transformation; organisational strategy; tea estate; tea supply chain; organic tea.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSCM.2021.117837

International Journal of Strategic Change Management, 2021 Vol.7 No.3, pp.217 - 234

Received: 06 Jan 2019
Accepted: 26 Jul 2019
Published online: 04 Oct 2021 *