Business Case Studies, Executive Interviews, Parvatha Kiran on Bottom of the Pyramid

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Executive Interviews: Interview with Parvatha Kiran on Bottom of the Pyramid
November 2008 - By Dr. Nagendra V Chowdary


Parvatha Kiran
General Manager - Sales, Taj Group of Hotels.


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  • What do you think are the five important factors that would shape global as well as Indian hotel industries?

  1. Human Resources will play a key role going forward as there will be a severe shortage of manpower as the industry expands in a big way in India and across the globe.
  2. Process driven approach as opposed to adhocism will drive the industry. Relationships will be passe.
  3. Electronic Distribution Channels (EDC) will play a key role. EDC already is on a high growth path.
  1. Big brand names with a multiple offering will be the dominant players in the landscape.
  2. The business would get competitive leading to consolidation in the marketplace.
  • With increased urbanization, new foreign players entering, and the existing hotel chain groups adding up capacity, what is your assessment of Indian hotel industry in the coming five years?
    Price rationalization: the general impression gaining ground is that the hotels in India are overpriced with the demand/supply imbalance in favor of supply. The customer will once again be the king with better negotiation power leading to price rationalization. The foreign chains need to understand the Indianmarket better, the strength of Indian chains is the sales force and the foreign chains need to understand the way Indian business is handled. The Indian market is set to see a multiplicity of offerings a varied bouquet from mid market to high-end luxury. This will again improve the quality of hotels and rationalize the prices.

  • What do you understand by BOP markets and BOP customers? What are the defining characteristics of these markets and the customers?
    Every industry has a multiple product offering. Unfortunately so far in the hotel industry the BOP offering was not well defined and was restricted to the unbranded standalones. Hopefully this will evolve over the years with branded and well defined product offerings in the years ahead. This will see the maturity of the product offering and once again give a value offering to the guest. The customers in this segment are looking for a value for money proposition and no frills, the "do it ourselves" concept rather than having things done through elaborate service designs. Products would also get defined as they move along for this segment as hotel chains understand the large volume of business in this segment. The fine definition of product design would be by way of different sets of products for different needs ie., the leisure product would be different from that of a business location.

  • One of the trends thatwe see of late in the Indian hotel industry has been the emergence of budget hotels with distinct value propositions. Are these budget hotels a part of tapping the bottom of the pyramid market? If yes, what changes do you envisage in the value proposition? Who are likely to be the target customers?
    Yes, these budget hotels like Ginger or Hometel are the industry's answer to tapping the huge unstructured market that exists. It is all about defining these markets and reaching out to these markets with welldefined product offerings.

    The value proposition would be driven around neat, clean and safe places to stay in with families which are from trusted and branded corporate houses, mildly redefined as "5 Star lodges." The customer gets value for the money and it is easy on the pocket.

    The target customers would vary for the different markets. Leisure destinations like Goa would look at more of the family vacationers, while business destinations or metros would look at a mix of families and the emerging business travelers.

1. Bottom of the Pyramid Consumers Case Study
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3. Case Study Volumes

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