Disruptive Voice podcast, episode 6: BSSE research paper series | Asian Paints — Aishwarya Ramakrishnan and Neha Rambhia (MBA 2016)

In post-independence India in the 1950’s, the paint industry was close to non-existent; at the low end, localized regional players provided whitewash for walls while the elite imported paint from Britain such as Goodlass Walls and British Paints. Asian Paints entered the market as an economy brand, creating a market for paints in semi-urban India and built a formidable distribution network. Today, Asian Paints owns nearly twice the market share of their next biggest competitor.

In this episode, two students of the BSSE course, Aishwarya Ramakrishnan and Neha Rambhia, join me to talk about how Asian Paints was able to grow and sustain their success, and what theory would predict about the company’s ambitious plans to move into the whole home décor industry — watch out, Home Depot!

In addition to writing a compelling paper, this group took a lot of time to illustrate many of their points using the theory frameworks taught in our course, Building and Sustaining a Successful Enterprise. The students agreed to let me share many of the exhibits from their paper here, which I hope you’ll enjoy:

— Tracy Kim Horn, Community Manager, Forum for Growth & Innovation