WINGREENS FARMS: SUSTAINABLE

PROFITABILITY
Case Study
GROUP5:

TEAM Rahul Lal (20), Sandeep Kumar Raina (27), Pranay Kumar (18), Gaur
Srivastava (33)

INTRODUCTION

[1/2]

Wingreen started its operation with very noble

vision of exploring social and environmental
sustainable model in field of agriculture in Rural
India at village Sara, Mewat district, Rajasthan.

It has targeted poor farmers who have ownership

of small agricultural land with very high risk but
low income.

Farmers were not only facing problem with

uncertain income but also with distributors
(mandis) who were eating into its margin.

[2/2]

WINGREEN is derived from two key word WIN and

green. WIN means Womens Initiative Network
and and greens stand for green initiatives.
Started by Anju Srivastava in year 2009 with the
loan of Rs. 9 lakhs from her husband Arjun.
Core Vision of the company; To marry the concepts
of social good and environmental sustainability with
high profitability in the field of agriculture.
Wingreens started its operation with objective of
increasing yield from the same land using modern
and innovating farming techniques, using cash
crops, employing low water consumption method
(drip technology)

Assess Wingreens strategy of partnering

with marginal farmers.

WORKFLOW SUMMARY OF WINGREEN

STRATEGY
Address the Most Neglected SectorAGRICULTURE
Add to it the Most Neglected Resource- LAND
Add to it the Socially Neglected ClassFarmers/Women
Take away the Risks, ensure only rewards
Enhance Skills/Productivity through Training &
Technology
Take Away the middlemen and bring FarmerRetail Closer
Launch at Retail Stores through innovative
Branding
Through Value Creation Charge Premium and
Earn Profits

Wingreens farms have effectively used 5Cs for

Marketing Analysis, Followed with Creating Value
, Capturing Value & Sustaining Value as per
the model below :

Source : http://steinvox.com/blog/wp-

Assessing: Companys Strategy of Partnering: [1/2]

Wingreen focused on the most neglected area in India

(Landlord & Agriculture). It understood the needs of the
marginal Farmers arising out of very less unassured
annual income from the yield w.r.t. family needs besides
high risk from dependency on monsoons. They also have
understood that Farmers are not willing to sell their lands
despite high valuation due to emotional connect.
Keeping these in mind they developed a strong social &
environmental sustainable partnership model with basic
ethos as below:
1. Earning Farmers Trust & Loyalty
2. Effective/Environment-friendly Technology
3. Social & Human Touch.

Partnering: [2/2]

Earning Farmers Trust & Loyalty : Gained Farmers trust by

removing all Fear and Monetary Risks through the Rental &
Employment Model:

They paid lease rentals upfront even before signing agreement as an assured
source of annual income.
Farmer and family members were employed to tilt their own leased land
Farmer continues to own the land and earn upto 10times more , with same
labor as earlier.

Although the risks transferred to Wingreen, it gained access to costly

land without locking high Capital.

Effective/Environment-friendly Technology Institute new farming

techniques to increase the yield from the land, besides being
environment friendly (like low water consumption crops/sprinkler sys.)

Social & Human Touch.

Keep human touch to whole operative model with an aim to bring social
prosperity to the poor and Women welfare/empowerment.

Is there a sustainable competitive

advantage in this model ?

The model has a sustainable

competitive advantage reflected
through the 5Cs analysis:

COMPANY:

[1/4]

The Company has built a strong goodwill and repute among the farmers who
are doing a word of mouth publicity for them. This is evident from the
conversation Suresh had with Raghu, and the way company Spread from 1
village to several states.

COLLABORATORS:

The Company has farmers as biggest network collaborators. Besides

company has tied up with strong Financial Collaborators (Sequoia) without
comprising on its ethos (i.e. its USPs). Retail Collaborators Bharti-Wallmart,
Reliance, Spencers, Gourmet has given company a diverse customer
connect. The Store earned good profit margins from the product sales compared
to competitors, hence they were involved in ensuring sales of the product.

The Technological Collaborators like Jain Irrigation has been a game changer
in reducing efforts, increasing profits. Hence company is very secure.

[2/4]

CLIMATE:

The Govts/policy makers have Ignored to do substantial in this field of

Agriculture/Farmers. Even the welfare schemes for farmers wasnt
effective . The Company with its quick help strategy has won the hearts of
many Farmers, and are now spreading word of mouth publicity for the
Company to Grow.

COMPETITION:

Wingreen has used a first mover advantage in a field neglected (Agriculture

& Landlord).
Wingreen has positioned itself between Farmers and Retailers and
eliminated the unwanted layer of distributors in between. Major competitor
for Wingreens was small and big Mandis which actually were eating up
farmers margin. By employing unique model of win-win situation for both
farmers and itself, it has outcast mandi from the scene.

Another threat for Wingreens is from cash rich Big MNC who may try to
replicate the this model. But, social initiatives by Wingreens and great trust
of farmers on them will probably make this model very difficult to replicate.

Hence, Winsgreen is much ahead of the competition.

[3/4]

CUSTOMER:

With rapid urbanization, the urban consumers having access to

Malls/Retailers is growing exponentially. Urban demands for fresh
agriculture products has grown significantly and is excepted to continue
growing. The Strategy of Farm to Fork to meet the requirement of
fresh/organic/homemade food has paid off handsome profit to the
company.

From the above analysis, it is clear that the model has a strong
sustainable competitive advantage as is profitability is high with
investment expenses very low; labour easily available and self
driven, high yield/low water consumption techniques bringing
profit to both owner & the farmer. The extensive Retail
Collaborators will ensure that Farm products reach end customers
in a seamless fashion. Competitors even if try to replicate the
business model will find it difficult to copy the softer factors of
earning huge trust /reliability brand-mark.

[4/4]

Source : http://steinvox.com/blog/wp-

What is your assessment of the robustness

of the Wingreens partnership model? Is it
an owner driven model thus not replicable
and not scalable?

The Wingreens is very robust model and it has all

right elements and advantage for all those
[1/4]
involved in the process.
Wingreen have Created strong Value in their
Partnership model by addressing the needs of
Farmers and that of the Retailers and Consumers.
The model is not owner driven but driven and
owned by all the Stake holders including Farmers,
Retail Chain and Consumers through a complex
network of Supply Chain Management:

[2/4]

LEVEL 1. Self Driven by Farmers and their Family members :

The farmers & family members are not just Employees but business partners
& collaborators . The company has earned a huge trust factor through word of
mouth publicity and is now the first choice for farmers . Their individual
growth is linked to company growth. The Rental & Employment model is
taking away all the risk from the farmers with assured annual income.
However to sustain & grow the income inflow the business will be required to
be sustained and grow. Hence Farmers are actively involved in the same.
Hence its a WIN-WIN Model for both the company and the Farmers.
Wingreens has created network of partner farmers. Both have worked in
synergy creating value for each other. Wingreens has been benefitted in
following way:

Wingreens has got access to costliest part of whole model which is land. This has
reduced fixed cost to the company. It also allowed Wingreens to experiment with
new crop farming techniques.
It has employed partner farmers on their own land which resolved the issue of hiring
and retention of workers for Wingreens.
With proper training and new farming techniques, same farmers were able to
produce much higher yield on same land.
Wingreens has took advantage by employing rural women in its food processing
process (forward integration).

[3/4]

LEVEL 2. The Retail Chain :

The Retail Chain of Reliance, Spencers, Bharti-Wallmart,

Gourmet etc have found a strong impact on customer
footfall and hence have helped in expansion of
Distribution network thereby giving assured
consumption for produce
The Store earned good profit margins from the product
sales compared to competitors, hence they were
involved in ensuring sales of the product.

LEVEL 3. The Urban Consumer:

The packaging and Quality has been USP for the

growing urban consumer. The demand will continue to
grow.

[4/4]

The Model is easily replicable*. It has already been replicated from 1

Village to several States within a short period of 7 years from 2009-2016.
70% of India is in villages and the basic concerns, financial problems and
value system is identical in all villages. With a Strong trust level and
repute already established spreading to other villages will be a cakewalk.

There will be no concern of scalability as the process is self driven

through the farmers, through the collaborators and consumers. With
extensive and leading Retail Channel Partners and growing Urban
Consumers scaling up of the production is not going to be an issue. Only
concern will be that with large operations owner may find less time to be
in touch with the Farmers; it needs to be compensated with a dedicated
Sales force.

However replicability in terms of replication by other companies will

not be easy as is explained in answer to last question

What was the role of Branding strategy in

Wingreens success?

Role of Branding strategy in

Wingreens success.

[1/7]

With an expert background from marketing

Anju used unique branding strategy to make
the Wingreen Products a runaway success in
Retail Stores. She Focussed on Value
Creation & Value Capturing.
She Sensed the growing need of Authentic
Homemade processed food from the Urban
population. She could even charge a premium
(and thus hefty profits) if the Branding is Eye
Catchy and Authentic.
This thought was the basis for Branding.
The Branding was done after considering all
the 4Ps of Marketing Mix ,which led to its

[2/7]

Answering Key questions of 4 Ps to arrive

at overall Branding decision
[3/7]

Product:

What Customer want from the product?

What Does it look like? How is it Branded? How is it differentiated wrt

competitors.

It should be branded such as to restore trust in customer that his above

needs are met.

Price:

What is the Value of Product for the customer?

Processed food : Fresh, Homemade & Organic Products. It should be

environment friendly.

The Urban customer finds great value to this unique proposition and will be
ready to pay a premium over competitors if the trust level is build up
through quality

Place & Promotion

Where does customer look out for the product?

Urban customers typically go to REPUTED Stores to purchase the household

requirement.

Where to get the marketing message to the Customer?

At the malls, in serene environment it is Ideal to showcase/or give trial

usage to the customer

[4/7]

PRODUCT:

Generally nowadays we find Products Jazzily

Packed in computer printed designs. However to
Stand out , Wingreens Consciously ensured that
the Packaging is not eye Catchy but as raw as
possible.
They ensured packaging is handwritten and on
Recycled paper to convince the customer on the
Authenticity of the Homemade processed food.
With Customer getting more environment
conscious, Recycled paper also ensured that
Customer notices Environmental consideration of
the Company.

[5/7]

PRICE:

With this packaging and branding, they were able to

charge more than their compitators. This premium added
to good profit margins of the company.

Wingreens has created value for Retail chains and store

owners by providing higher margins on its product. These
products are also fast moving due to its unique selling
point and positioning in premiuim segment.

[6/7]

PLACE & PROMOTION:

Wingreens ensured that the Product is sold through

REPUTED CHANNEL PARTNERS ( Reliance, BhartiWallmart, Spencers, Gourmet). The Value proposition
through unique branding was enhanced through the sales
from Reputed Retail Stores. The Perception and trust
levels of the customers soars high at such places who are
not only willing to purchase but also pay a premium.
Had the similar branded product been at a Local Kirana
Shop, its value proposition to the customer with the same
branding would have been very low.

[7/7]

Wingreens farms have effectively used 5Cs for Marketing Analysis,

Followed with Creating Value , Capturing Value and Sustaining Value as
per the model below :

Source : http://steinvox.com/blog/wp-

If big firms were to adopt the same

strategic model do you think it would be
successful to imitate it? Why or Why Not?

Imitation of the Model of WinGreen

[1/3]
It is quite natural that in these competitive times full of networking and
market information any big firm will find this model lucrative, especially after
witnessing the growth graph of WinGreen from 2009-2016. In order to check
whether the model can be replicated we need to go through the three
Components as below:

Technology/Farming Practices :

Retail Channel Partners and other Collaborators

The Landlords (Farmers/Families) Socio-Cultural

The Model has three important Components . Lets analyse each

component for their replicability.

Imitability of each Component of the Model

Technology/Farming Practices: The Optimizing

techniques and practices for high yield are publicly
available and can be easily purchased and imitated by
any company. Even Tie ups with irrigation experts like
Jain Irrigation or equivalent is easy for a Big Firm.

Retail Channel Partners and other Collaborators:

Channel Partners like Retail Stores are interested in the
profit margins they can earn from the product, and
what additional footfall it can provide. If any other
product is better on these scales, it will replace it from
the shelves. Branding/Sales promotion can be easily
imitated by Big Firm

Imitability of each Component of the Model

The Landlords (Farmers/Families) Socio-Cultural: The

Farmers (Landlords): This is the most contributing component
to the success story. The Level of Trust & Goodwill WindGreen has
earned is not easy to replicate. It has following advantages which
are tough to be imitated by BigFirms:

First Mover with a Noble Cause: Anju had a noble cause of selflessly
helping the farmers in times of need selflessly. This developed a very
strong goodwill for the firm and generated a high level of trust.
Trust on Familiar Indian Firms: Landlords in India treat their Lands not
as commodity but like their mother. Hence there is a strong emotional
bonding. However India Farmers have preconceived notions of Land
Grabbing on Multinational/Big Firms. Convincing Farmers will not be easy.
Also, the Riskfree model given by WindGreen was main factor that
farmers joined the movement out of trust and a feel of ownership. This is
difficult to be developed for MNCs/Big Firms.
Ladies as WorkForce: In an unprecedented manner Farmers allowed
women to join as employees of the firm. These ladies have contributed
immensely to the firms success story. Primarily because of the Regards
for Anju and a trust factor since she being a lady. It is a socio-cultural
phenomenon not easy
to be
replicated by MNCs/Big
Firms. CAN BUY
NOT
EVERYTHING
MONEY

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