Winning in Rural Emerging Markets

Fabio Ancarani (1) , Judy Frels (2) , Joanne Miller (3) , Chiara Saibene (4) , Massimo Barberio (5)

1 UNIBO - Alma Mater Studiorum Università di Bologna [Bologna]
2 Audencia Recherche
3 i2i Results
4 SDA Bocconi School of Management
5 General Electric Healthcare

In 2010, General Electric launched an investigation into how multi-national corporations (MNCs) were adapting to rural emerging markets. A team of 33 executives and three academics examined models ranging from Toyota's vehicle servicing program in East Africa to Nokia's localized mobile handset financing in India to Egis Pharmaceuticals' worker retention incentives in Eastern Europe. The project included 15 case studies from India, China, Africa and Eastern Europe. This article presents common tactics that these MNCs have used to successfully adapt to rural markets in emerging regions across five key organizational functions: product development, distribution, service, financing, and human resources.

Keywords: Emerging markets; Marketing Strategy; Growth Strategy

Domains: Business administration

Fabio Ancarani, Judy Frels, Joanne Miller, Chiara Saibene, Massimo Barberio. Winning in Rural Emerging Markets. California Management Review, 2014, 56 (4), pp.31-52. ⟨10.1525/cmr.2014.56.4.31⟩. ⟨hal-01025188⟩