Case study: Hindustan Lever Limited and marketing to the poorest of the poor
by Pia Sabharwal Ahmad, Michael E. Gorman, Patricia H. Werhane
International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management (IJEIM), Vol. 4, No. 5, 2004

Abstract: In the 1970s, the early marketing activities of Hindustan-Lever in India tended to focus upon the urban middle class and elite. Meanwhile, an Indian entrepreneur produced and marketed a detergent, Nirma, targeting the poor rural sector. By 1977, Nirma was the second largest volume seller in the country. The paper suggests that the common description of the bottom-of-pyramid market segment as the disorganised sector can have a psychological impact on marketing strategy formulation, over and above the real effects of absent infrastructures. The classic Nirma story helps us to re-frame and re-describe prospects for serving this market segment. For example, it can be a base-camp from which an MNC can launch a very effective attack upon all levels of the pyramid.

Online publication date: Tue, 30-Nov-2004

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