As a marketing manager, take case study of Amul Products and place them in the BCG model, and suggest

us on what action plan you will take for the brands lying in the dog and question mark section.

Boston Consulting Group (BCG) Matrix is a four celled matrix (a 2 * 2 matrix) developed by BCG, USA. It is the most renowned corporate portfolio analysis tool. It provides a graphic representation for an organization to examine different businesses in its portfolio on the basis of their related market share and industry growth rates. It is a two dimensional analysis on management of SBUs (Strategic Business Units). In other words, it is a comparative analysis of business potential and the evaluation of environment. According to this matrix, business could be classified as high or low according to their industry growth rate and relative market share. Relative Market Share = SBU Sales this year leading competitors sales this year. Market Growth Rate = Industry sales this year - Industry Sales last year. The analysis requires that both measures be calculated for each SBU. The dimension of business strength, relative market share, will measure comparative advantage indicated by market dominance. The key theory underlying this is existence of an experience curve and that market share is achieved due to overall cost leadership. BCG matrix has four cells, with the horizontal axis representing relative market share and the vertical axis denoting market growth rate. The mid-point of relative market share is set at 1.0. if all the SBUs are in same industry, the average growth rate of the industry is used. While, if all the SBUs are located in different industries, then the mid-point is set at the growth rate for the economy. Resources are allocated to the business units according to their situation on the grid. The four cells of this matrix have been called as stars, cash cows, question marks and dogs. Each of these cells represents a particular type of business.

10 x

1x Figure: BCG Matrix

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1. Stars- Stars represent business units having large market share in a fast growing industry. They may generate cash but because of fast growing market, stars require huge investments to maintain their lead. Net cash flow is usually modest. SBUs located in this cell are attractive as they are located in a robust industry and these business units are highly competitive in the industry. If successful, a star will become a cash cow when the industry matures. 2. Cash Cows- Cash Cows represents business units having a large market share in a mature, slow growing industry. Cash cows require little investment and generate cash that can be utilized for investment in other business units. These SBUs are the corporations key source of cash, and are specifically the core business. They are the base of an organization. These businesses usually follow stability strategies. When cash cows loose their appeal and move towards deterioration, then a retrenchment policy may be pursued. 3. Question Marks- Question marks represent business units having low relative market share and located in a high growth industry. They require huge amount of cash to maintain or gain market share. They require attention to determine if the venture can be viable. Question marks are generally new goods and services which have a good commercial prospective. There is no specific strategy which can be adopted. If the firm thinks it has dominant market share, then it can adopt expansion strategy, else retrenchment strategy can be adopted. Most businesses start as question marks as the company tries to enter a high growth market in which there is already a market-share. If ignored, then question marks may become dogs, while if huge investment is made, then they have potential of becoming stars. 4. Dogs- Dogs represent businesses having weak market shares in low-growth markets. They neither generate cash nor require huge amount of cash. Due to low market share, these business units face cost disadvantages. Generally retrenchment strategies are adopted because these firms can gain market share only at the expense of competitors/rival firms. These business firms have weak market share because of high costs, poor quality, ineffective marketing, etc. Unless a dog has some other strategic aim, it should be liquidated if there is fewer prospects for it to gain market share. Number of dogs should be avoided and minimized in an organization. Limitations of BCG Matrix The BCG Matrix produces a framework for allocating resources among different business units and makes it possible to compare many business units at a glance. But BCG Matrix is not free from limitations, such as1. BCG matrix classifies businesses as low and high, but generally businesses can be medium also. Thus, the true nature of business may not be reflected. 2. Market is not clearly defined in this model. 3. High market share does not always leads to high profits. There are high costs also involved with high market share. 4. Growth rate and relative market share are not the only indicators of profitability. This model ignores and overlooks other indicators of profitability. 5. At times, dogs may help other businesses in gaining competitive advantage. They can earn even more than cash cows sometimes. 6. This four-celled approach is considered as to be too simplistic.

HISTORY OF AMUL :
0 years after it was first launched, Amul's sale figures have jumped from 1000 tonnes a year in 1966 to over 25,000 tonnes a year in 1997. No other brand comes even close to it. All because a thumb-sized girl climbed on to the hoardings and put a spell on the masses. Bombay: Summer of 1967. A Charni Road flat. Mrs. Sheela Mane, a 28-year-old housewife is out in the balcony drying clothes. From her second floor flat she can see her neighbours on the road. There are other people too. The crowd seems to be growing larger by the minute. Unable to curb her curiosity Sheela Mane hurries down to see what all the commotion is about. She expects the worst but can see no signs of an accident. It is her fouryear-old who draws her attention to the hoarding that has come up overnight. "It was the first Amul hoarding that was put up in Mumbai," recalls Sheela Mane. "People loved it. I remember it was our favourite topic of discussion for the next one week! Everywhere we went somehow or the other the campaign always seemed to crop up in our conversation."

Call her the Friday to Friday star. Round eyed, chubby cheeked, winking at you, from strategically placed hoardings at many traffic lights. She is the Amul moppet everyone loves to love (including prickly votaries of the Shiv Sena and BJP). How often have we stopped, looked, chuckled at the Amul hoarding that casts her sometime as the coy, shy Madhuri, a bold sensuous Urmila or simply as herself, dressed in her little polka dotted dress and a red and white bow, holding out her favourite packet of butter. For 30 odd years the Utterly Butterly girl has managed to keep her fan following intact. So much so that the ads are now ready to enter the Guinness Book of World Records for being the longest running campaign ever. The ultimate compliment to the butter came when a British company launched a butter and called it Utterly Butterly, last year. It all began in 1966 when Sylvester daCunha, then the managing director of the advertising agency, ASP, clinched the account for Amul butter. The butter, which had been launched in 1945, had a staid, boring image, primarily because the earlier advertising agency which was in charge of the account preferred to stick to routine, corporate ads. In India, food was something one couldn't afford to fool around with. It had been taken too seriously, for too long. Sylvester daCunha decided it was time for a change of image. The year Sylvester daCunha took over the account, the country saw the birth of a campaign whose charm has endured fickle public opinion, gimmickry and all else. The Amul girl who lends herself so completely to Amul butter, created as a rival to the Polson butter girl. This one was a village belle, clothed in a tantalising choli "Eustace Fernandez (the art director) decided that they needed a girl who would worm her way into a housewife's heart. And who better than a little girl?" says Sylvester daCunha. And so it came about that the famous Amul Moppet was born. That October, lamp kiosks and the bus sites of the city were splashed with the moppet on a horse. The baseline simply said, Thoroughbread, Utterly Butterly Delicious Amul,. It was a matter of just a few hours before the daCunha office was ringing with calls. Not just adults, even children were calling up to say how much they had liked the ads. "The response was phenomenal," recalls Sylvester daCunha. "We knew our campaign was going to be successful." For the first one year the ads made statements of some kind or the other but they had not yet acquired the topical tone. In 1967, Sylvester decided that giving the ads a solid concept would give them extra mileage, more dum, so to say. It was a decision that would stand the daCunhas in good stead in the years to come. In 1969, when the city first saw the beginning of the Hare Rama Hare Krishna movement, Sylvester daCunha, Mohammad Khan and Usha Bandarkar, then the creative team working on the Amul account came up with a clincher -- 'Hurry Amul, Hurry Hurry'. Bombay reacted to the ad with a fervour that was almost as devout as the Iskon fever. That was the first of the many topical ads that were in the offing. From then on Amul began playing the role of a social observer. Over the years the campaign acquired that all important Amul touch. India looked forward to Amul's evocative humour. If the Naxalite movement was the happening thing in Calcutta, Amul would be up there on the hoardings saying, "Bread without Amul Butter, cholbe na cholbe na (won't do, won't do). If there was an Indian Airlines strike Amul would be there again saying, Indian Airlines Won't Fly Without Amul. There are stories about the butter that people like to relate over cups of tea. "For over 10 years I have been collecting Amul ads. What does she do with these ads? "I have made an album of them to amuse my grandchildren," she laughs. "They are almost part of our culture, aren't they? My grandchildren are already beginning to realise that these ads are not just a source of amusement. They make them aware of what is happening around them."

Despite some of the negative reactions that the ads have got, DaCunhas have made it a policy not to play it safe. There are numerous ads that are risque in tone. "We had the option of being sweet and playing it safe, or making an impact. A fine balance had to be struck. We have a campaign that is strong enough to make a statement. I didn't want the hoardings to be pleasant or tame. They have to say something," says Rahul daCunha. "We ran a couple of ads that created quite a furore," says Sylvester daCunha. "The Indian Airlines one really angered the authorities. They said if they didn't take down the ads they would stop supplying Amul butter on the plane. So ultimately we discontinued the ad," he says laughing. Then there was the time when the Amul girl was shown wearing the Gandhi cap. The high command came down heavy on that one. The Gandhi cap was a symbol of independence, they couldn't have anyone not taking that seriously. So despite their reluctance the hoardings were wiped clean. "Then there was an ad during the Ganpati festival which said, Ganpati Bappa More Ghya (Ganpati Bappa take more). The Shiv Sena people said that if we didn't do something about removing the ad they would come and destroy our office. It is surprising how vigilant the political forces are in this country. Even when the Enron ads (Enr On Or Off) were running, Rebecca Mark wrote to us saying how much she liked them." There were other instances too. Heroine Addiction, Amul's little joke on Hussain had the artist ringing the daCunhas up to request them for a blow up of the ad. "He said that he had seen the hoarding while passing through a small district in UP. He said he had asked his assistant to take a photograph of himself with the ad because he had found it so funny," says Rahul daCunha in amused tones. Indians do have a sense of humour, afterall. From the Sixties to the Nineties, the Amul ads have come a long way. While most people agree that the Amul ads were at their peak in the Eighties they still maintain that the Amul ads continue to tease a laughter out of them. Where does Amul's magic actually lie? Many believe that the charm lies in the catchy lines. That we laugh because the humour is what anybody would enjoy. They don't pander to your nationality or certain sentiments. It is pure and simple, everyday fun. Low Cost Strategy : Low Cost Strategy Amul adopted a low-cost price strategy to make its products. Affordable andattractive to consumers by guaranteeing them value for money. Diverse Product Mix Diverse Product Mix Amul Butter, Milk Powder, Ghee, Amulspray, Cheese, Chocolates, Shrikhand, Ice cream, Nutramul, Milk and Amulya Strong Distribution Network : Strong Distribution Network Amul products are available in over 500,000 retail outlets across. India through its network of over 3,500 distributors. 47 depots with dry and cold warehouses to buffer inventory of the entire range of products. Technology and e-initiatives : Technology and e-initiatives New products Process technology Complementary assets to enhance milk production E-commerce. GCMMF Over View : GCMMF Over View GCMMF: Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation GCMMF is India's largest food products marketing organization. It is a state level apex body of milk cooperatives in Gujarat which aims to provide remunerative returns to the farmers and also serve the interest of consumers by providing quality products which are good value for money. CRISIL, India's leading Ratings, Research, Risk and Policy Advisory company, has assigned its highest ratings of "AAA/Stable/P1+" to the various bank facilities of GCMMF.

Amul - Business Model : SWOT Analysis : Strengths : Largest food brand in India High Quality, Low Price World's Largest Pouched Milk Brand Annual turnover of US $1504 million Highly Diverse Product Mix Robust Distribution Network. Weaknesse : Risks of highly complex supply chain system Strong dependency on weak infrastructure Alliance with third parties who do not belong to the organized sector Opportunities: Penetrate international markets Diversify product portfolio to enter new product categories and expand existing categories like processed foods, chocolates etc Threats: Competitors - Hindustan Lever, Nestle and Britannia Still competition from MNCs in butter Growing price of milk and milk products Ban on export of milk powder Mix Product for every one : Mix Product for every one Amul never forgot its primary customer - Amul collects 447,000 ltrs of milk from 2.12 million farmers (many illiterate) Product for youth - Amul launched Chocolate milk under brand name of Amul Kool Koko targeting the youth Product for diabetic people - Indias First Pro-Biotic Wellness Ice cream & Sugar Free Delights For Diabetics Mix Product for every one Product for the health conscious - Amul Launched low fat, low cholesterol bread spreads Product for the price sensitive India - Low Priced Amul Ice Creams and affordable sagar whitener Product for the urban class - Amul launched emmental, gouda and pizza mozzarella cheese. Amul - Product Diversification : Amul - Product Diversification Secret Philosophy Progressive addition of higher value products while maintaining the desired growth in existing products. Amul introduced products with consistent value addition but never left the core philosophy of providing milk at a basic, affordable price Seeking unfamiliar products or markets in the pursuits of growth with both dairy and non-dairy products. BCG MATRIX : BCG MATRIX High Low HIGH LOW MARKET SHARE BUSINESS GROWTH RATE The 3 C : Customers extremely satisfied Moved from loose milk to packaged milk Ready to try more products Improved socio-economic conditions Largest milk brand in Asia More than 30 dairy brands Market leader in ghee & butter Very strong supply chain Enjoys Fine reputation Quality with Affordability Defending against Mahananda, Vijay, Milma & other co-operative milk brands Aggressive moves against Britannia, Nestle, Mother Dairy and Kwality. Amul can try out the following ideas: I) Amul can re-lauch the products that fall under Dog section to a market, where demand is more and supply is less. So that the product may convert into Question mark Section. II) It can change the product's feature, price or taste a little, to suit the need of the buyer. III) The USP of the product can be changed to attract customers. IV) Advertising strategies may be converted to sales promotion strategies, so that company directly approached consumer to explain the benefits of the product.

These strategies could help the marketing manager to atleast move from DOG section to Question mark, before actually the company thinks of ending the product completely. The products that fall under Question Mark, can always have the chance to covert into Star, but with lot of effort. Amul as a Brand is not new for people, however, any new product line introduced by the company may not gain momentum at the first stage. Rather, it could go on losses. I) There are certain products like Amul basundi, gulab jamoon, choclates etc which are not as popular as Amul ice cream. Amul must try to understand the cause of this through thorough market research and work on improving these products. II) They can change the labeling of the products, which better describes the product. III) Advertise through the right medium with emphasizing on main features. IV) Re-position the product into new market segment. For eg. Amul has sugar free chocolates. They may focus on people with Diabetes, which is very prominent disease in India at present. Every family there could be one type 2 Diabetic patient. V) Increased vision or public appearance have a better chance of brand recognition, name recognition, credibility. Amul already has a credibility as a Brand. it only needs to focus the advertising of its products in Question mark section to improve the visibility. VI) Sponsorship can also help Amul to get more customers. VII) Personalized email marketing strategies can also be used. VIII) Amul may go for public surveys to know the drawbacks of the product in comparison to products like Amul butter or Milk. This will help them get the consumers word of mouth.

You are a product manager of a leading pharmaceutical company. Where you have the opportunity to launch a brand in the market which has a growth of 30% per year, and there is only one competitor in the market which does not have the brand focussed for promotion. Chalk out a marketing plan for the same?

The pharmaceutical industry is the worlds largest industry due to worldwide revenues of approximately US$2.8 trillion. Pharma industry has seen major changes in the recent years that place new demands on payers, providers and manufacturers. Customers now demand the same choice and convenience from pharma industry that they find in other segment. Indian Pharmaceutical Industry is poised for high consistent growth over the next few years, driven by a multitude of factors. Top Indian Companies like Ranbaxy, DRL CIPLA and Dabur have already established their presence. The pharmaceutical industry is a knowledge driven industry and is heavily dependent on Research and Development for new products and growth. However, basic research (discovering new molecules) is a time consuming and expensive process and is thus, dominated by large global multinationals. Indian companies have only recently entered the area. The Indian pharmaceutical industry came into existence in 1901, when Bengal Chemical & Pharmaceutical Company started its maiden operation in Calcutta. The next few decades saw the pharmaceutical industry moving through several phases, largely in accordance with government policies. Commencing with repackaging and preparation of formulations from imported bulk drugs, the Indian industry has moved on to become a net foreign exchange earner, and has been able to underline its presence in the global pharmaceutical arena as one of the top 35 drug producers worldwide. Currently, there are more than 2,400 registered pharmaceutical producers in India. There are 24,000 licensed pharmaceutical companies. Of the 465 bulk drugs used in India, approximately 425 are manufactured here. India has more drug-manufacturing facilities that have been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration than any country other than the US. Indian generics companies supply 84% of the AIDS drugs that Doctors without Borders uses to treat 60,000 patients in more than 30 countries .

Pharma Marketing Process and its Challenges While many pharmaceutical companies have successfully deployed a plethora of strategies to target the various customer types, recent business and customer trends are creating new challenges and opportunities for increasing profitability. In the pharmaceutical and healthcare industries, a complex web of decision-makers determines the nature of the transaction (prescription) for which direct customer of pharma industry (doctor) is responsible . Essentially, the end-user (patient) consumes a product and pays the cost. Use of medical representatives for marketing products to physicians and to exert some influence over others in the hierarchy of decision makers has been a time-tested tradition. Typically, sales force expense comprises an estimated 15 percent to 20 percent of annual product revenues, the largest line item on the balance sheet. Despite this other expense, the industry is still plagued with some very serious strategic and operational level issues. From organizational perspective the most prominent performance related issues are enlisted below: a) Increased competition and shortened window of opportunity. b) Low level of customer knowledge (Doctors, Retailers, Wholesalers).

c) Poor customer acquisition, development and retention strategies d) Varying customer perception. e) The number and the quality of medical representatives d) Very high territory development costs. f) High training and re-training costs of sales personnel. g) Very high attrition rate of the sales personnel. h) Busy doctors giving less time for sales calls. i) Poor territory knowledge in terms of business value at medical representative level . j) Unclear value of prescription from each doctor in the list of each sales person. k) Unknown value of revenue from each retailer in the territory l) Virtually no mechanism of sales forecasting from field sales level, leading to huge deviations m) Absence of analysis on the amount of time invested on profitable and not-so profitable customers and lack of time-share planning towards developing customer base for future markets n) Manual and cumbersome administrative systems and processes designed which don't facilitate optimal efficiency levels in sales teams

As stated in the problem, if the companys competition is restricted to a singular firm, launching a brand in the market becomes relatively easier.

The company can adopt any of the following strategies in the given market situation :

For one, the company operates in niche formulations (chronic) segments such as psychiatry, cardiovascular, gastroentology and neurology. While most of the top Indian companies have focused on antibiotics and anti infectives (acute), Sun Pharma focused on therapeutic areas such as depression, hypertension and cancer. The company has introduced the entire range of products and has gained leadership position in each of these areas. Being a specialty company insulates Sun Pharma from the industry growth. The first quarter results for FY02 explain this to some extent. While the industry was affected to a large extent by a slowdown in the domestic formulations market, Sun Pharma logged a growth of 26% in revenues. Over the years Sun has also used the strategy of acquisitions and mergers to grow quickly. It acquired Knoll Pharmas bulk drug facility, Gujarat Lyka Organics, 51.5% in M. J. Pharma, merged TamilNadu Dadha Pharma & Milmet Labs and acquired Natcos brands. Post Merger with TamilNadu Dadha Pharma the company gained presence in gynecology and oncology segments.One of the constants of pharmaceutical company strategy over the past decade has been increasing scale. Only by growing larger are companies able to afford the considerable costs of drug development and distribution. Within this broad approach at least two business models are discernable:

(i) Super Core Model involving the search for, and distribution of a small number of drugs from Chronic Threapy Area that achieve substantial global sales. The success of this model depends on achieving large returns from a small number of drugs in order to pay for the high cost of the drug discovery and development process for a large number of patients. Total revenues are highly dependent on sales from a small number of drugs. (ii) Core Model in which a larger number of drugs from Acute Therapy Area are marketed to big diversified markets. The advantage of this model is that its success is not dependant on sales of a small number of drugs.

Marketing approaches of Super Core Model In pharmaceutical maket there has been a significant shift from Acute towards Chronic Threapy area. Chronic segments are driving the growth of the market as leading prescribers in these segments are specialists as opposed to general practioners. This is evident from high growth rates achieved by firms like Sun Pharma, Dr.Reddy laboratories and Dabur Pharma Ltd. Who have focused on these segments. During last five years pharma companies have started identifying the hidden potential of oncological market. A number of drugs have been launched into the oncological market by pharmaceutical companies, including new biological drugs and drugs that can be used as a support for patients undergoing cytotoxic chemotherapy. As a matter of fact, pharmaceutical companies are merging, and, through the merging process, the portfolio of the new companies changes. Medical representatives are rearranged throughout the new companies. Some of the sales representatives are now afraid of losing their job, due to the changing scenario and the possible layoffs. On the other hand, the new, bigger, pharmaceutical companies are competing more and more with one another, and, in order to stress their products, might adopt a more aggressive sales strategy. For example, sometimes in the same geographical area there are five representatives for just one company, or different representatives for the same drug in different settings. As a result of the new, aggressive strategy, the aggressiveness of representatives has also been increasing, since the larger stress exerted by their companies might affect their stay in the company. Therefore, they tend to have more frequent visits to encourage doctors to prescribe drugs and thus increase sales. In this model medical representatives are the key actors for example in a small oncology unit almost 40 sales representatives interacting with doctors, and most of them are coming for a visit on a regular once-amonth basis as this is the restriction put by doctors of meeting only once in a month that to on a fix time only, in order to stress the usefulness of their products and push clinicians towards the use of their drugs. This means that, basically, there are at least two representatives every day in busy clinic asking for a short meeting to support their product. Pharmaceutical marketing is a specialized field where medical representatives form the backbone of entire marketing effort. Pharmaceutical companies also appoints medical representatives and assign them defined territories. Medical representatives meet doctors, chemists and stockiest as per company norms. Medical representatives try to influence prescription pattern of doctors in favour of their brands. The pharmaceutical distribution channel is indirect with usually three channel members i.e. depot/C&F, stockiest and chemist. Pharmaceutical companies appoint one company depot or C&F agent usually in each state and authorized stockist(s) in each district across the country. Company depot/C&F sends stocks to authorized stockists as per the requirement. Retail chemists buy medicines on daily or weekly basis from authorized stockiest as per demand. Patients visit chemists for buying medicines either prescribed by a doctor or advertised in the media. Here patient is end customer and doctor is direct customer for any pharmaceutical company. But for doctor customer is more important so he wants an effective supply chain management from prescribed company. And for pharmaceutical companies their customer that is doctor is more important thats why they emphasize more on supply chain management. Ultimately end-customer is benefited out of this. For marketing of these type of products companies require more and more skilled field force to develop good rapport with their direct customer (doctor). Moreover field force should have good product knowledge and USP of their products over other so as to convince doctors and PULL the demand for their products i.e. from Doctor to Retailer. In this system, doctors are the core customers and the major thrust is given to build and retain these customer because they are pulling the demand for products hence companies also give main emphasis in

building and retaining these customers. For retaining and developing customers, the companies normally provide gifts like sponsorship for various conferences like RSSDI, FOGSI, APICON, UPCON etc. For example Dabur having PASS (Professional Academic and Scientific Services) activities for promoting its chronic therapy range. Also it is interesting to note that since this is a pull system demand is being pulled in to the market so generally representatives place product orders from their stockist on the basis of a forumula. Normally there are absolutely no chances of dumping of goods at stockist and retailer level is yet reported also payment recovery of companies is also very good. Marketing approaches of Core Model In present scenario companies are focusing more and more on the availability of products so as to enjoy good image in their cutomers (doctors) chamber. Many companies such as Glaxo, Pfizer, Dabur, FDC, Aventies, Cipla etc. are known for their availability of products. For marketing of these type of products companies require more and more field force to remind their products on daily basis to their direct customer (doctor). Moreover field force should have good knowledge of product schemes and offers. Also field force is required to have a good rapport with retailers. Field force also required to ensure good availability of their products to convince doctors and PUSH their products i.e. from to Stockist to Retailer to Doctor .It has been observed that sometimes there are more than fifteen or sixteen representatives in a day are meeting with their customer and requesting for same type of products.. Although field force visits are important for an update on drugs and their use. The doctors are, in general, sneaking away, trying to hide from sales representatives, since there are too many and they are too pushy and there is too little time, and the representatives probably have noticed that the reluctant doctors have always less time for short meetings and less interest and tend to reduce the time of the visit . CLOSING STOCK * 2 OPENING STOCK= ORDER The relationship between clinicians and representatives has always been good and pharmaceutical companies have provided, and still provide, the major economical support for customers' continuous medical education. Something needs to be done to find a solution to this problem that takes into account the needs of both pharmaceutical companies and their representatives on one side and physicians on the other, for a better professional interaction. Push System Working In Acute Therapy Segment In this system, doctors and retailers are the core customers and the major thrust is given to build and retain these customers. Here retailers are also core customer as most of the times they are substituting the products based on their own discretion. For retaining and developing customers, the companies normally provide gifts like sponsorship for various conferences like small gifts & sponsorship to remind the products on a daily basis. Also it is interesting to note that since this is a push system products are being pushed in to the market so generally representatives place product orders from their stockist on the basis of SKUs sold and schemes. Normally the chances of dumping of goods at stockist and retailer level are reported also payment recovery of companies is also not very good. Supply Chain Managers can provide considerable value to their companies by understanding the customers' delivery requirements. A very powerful tool for understanding these requirements is account segmentation. A company can use account segmentation to identify market segments Such as Acute & Chronic therapy market. Which is well positioned to serve and then organize its product range and even SKUs and service in a superior way. Companies are fighting (for customers) like never before and if anything is certain then it is further intensification of this war, and because of this companies are increasingly looking at Logistics, as a weapon to gain Competitive Advantage and it is true that Logistics has the potential to do so. Delivery and delivery chain-delivery can be defined as "how well the product or service is delivered to the consumer". Delivery is the final link in the chain of the total Logistics function; that is, it is the point where the

logistic function finally meets the customer. The focus is on efficiency and effectiveness and it includes fleet routing, deciding on timing and locations of delivery, scheduling and vehicle planning, etc.