Strategic Intent (The Indian way...)

Having read examples of western organizations going out of their way and stretching their resources to accomplish big, I was wondering if there are any Indian organizations too which fit to the ‘Strategic Intent’ philosophy. Then I came across a news article (19, July, 2012) talking about Dainik Bhaskar (Daily Hindi Newspaper) having tied up with HBR (Harvard Business Review) and Time magazine for content sharing.


 After studying about the group in detail I found what I was looking for. Dainik Bhaskar Group is certainly an Indian organization who has reached a position which was beyond the scope of its available resources in earlier days.


 - Building layers of competitive advantage: It started and revolutionised Hindi newspaper industry by offering newspaper at lowest price of just Rs 1 per day. Later when other competitors followed the suit, it launched 14 regional versions to build a national brand and differentiated itself. Competitors again imitated its strategy, but this time DB launched itself in regional languages throughout the country. Definitely a perfect example of building layers of competitive advantage


 - Searching for loose bricks: When DB launched, publishing industry was highly fragmented in nature and many local players existed. It found this loose brick as an opportunity and promoted itself as a national brand. Operating on national scale and serving many regions simultaneously, gave DB advantage in content gathering and also economies of scale which it leveraged to cut input costs of materials like paper, ink etc.


 - Changing the terms of engagement: DB did not choose to operate like existing players, rather it chose to launch itself with a bang. Where existing players charged their subscribers on per day basis and made collections on monthly basis, DB for the first time in India launched yearly subscription plan at heavy discount and also for the first time in offered free gifts with these subscriptions. This new way of engaging with customers proved successful and DB gained huge readership base in very less time.


 - Competing through collaboration: This is a recent step which DB has taken, it has collaborated with HBR and Time magazine for content sharing for its Sunday edition. This step will give it an unprecedented differentiated positioning of a’ modern Hindi newspaper’ and an additional competitive advantage.