Rural Management

The objective of rural management is to ensure the progress and development of backward and
forward linkages of agribusinesses by the suitable application of various tools, techniques and
concepts. (Gupta at el., 2014)

Rural management aims at creating an efficient rural system that integrates operations,
marketing, finance ,HR, and IT functions , for achieving the overall effectiveness and efficiency
.(Rural management ;Gupta ,Siddiqui & Alam ,2014)

We do not find many definitions of rural management as few people have written on this topic.
Most of the definitions suggest that rural management is nothing but applying management
concept in the rural context. So in short business management when applied to the rural context
becomes rural management.
According to Sriram (2007) the Institute of Rural Management [IRMA] that was set up in 1979
was a pioneering institute in the field of Rural Management . IRMA had also taken the lead in
many ways. IRMA was the first college in India offering a full time two years management
program. IRMA became a reality due to Dr. Verghese Kurien the then Chairman of National
Dairy Development Board [NDDB] who was looking for manpower to replicate the Anand
pattern co-operatives under the Operation Flood program. He observed that people with
management skills are hardly available to take up such jobs in the rural areas. Management
graduates were not suitable for working in the co-operatives. So thought about a program where
the graduates will have management knowledge and they will learn to apply it in rural context .
When IRMA was set up, it was an informal joint-venture between IIMA and NDDB. IIMA
provided the content and NDDB provided the context. Informal because, the only formal link
between IIMA and IRMA was that Ravi Matthai the first full time Director of IIMA was on the
board of IRMA.
Rural Marketing
Tending to the Indian CEOs in Jan, 2000, Management Guru, C.K Prahlad, had said "The future
lies with those organizations who see the poor as their clients ".

Rural Marketing handles two expansive exercises:

• Marketing of both rural and unified division items in provincial zones
• Marketing of FMCG and Consumer Durables (counting tough agrarian info like tractors,
pumps, and so forth) in country ranges.
“Rural Marketing is a distinct specialized field of marketing discipline which encompasses a
customized application of the marketing tools and strategies to understand the psyche of the
rural consumer in terms of needs, tailoring the products to meet such needs and effectively
delivering them to enable a profitable exchange of goods and services to and from the rural
market” (Dogra and Ghuman ,Rural Marketing, 2012)

According to Vaswani et al.(2005) rural marketing should be used as a tool for the development
of the rural mass
Aspect Rural Marketing
Definition Rural Marketing encompasses all those activities, institutions and individuals that help identify needs, create
matching products, followed by promotion, and the ultimate delivery, for some profit, at all times keeping in mind,
the complex nature of rural life.

Approach Understanding the consumer, segmentation, targeting and positioning, and marketing issues like Product, Price, Place
and promotion (marketing concepts) in Rural areas are the concern areas.

Focus Achieving efficiency in the marketing function is the main focus.

Outcome It tries to develop an efficient rural marketing system that results in right product at the right place, at the right time,
and at the right price.

Beneficiaries Rural Consumers, channel members and Rural marketing firms are the main beneficiaries.
 Rural Marketing Marketing

Customer Focus Lack Customer Focus High Customer Focus

Customer satisfaction No extra efforts for Customer Emphasizes on Customer Satisfaction

Satisfaction

Objective Empower the rural mass Profit oriented

Marketing is both art and science Scarcity of skilled workers Skilled workers at all levels are
available in plenty

It’s a continuous process It is not a continuous process It’s a continuous process

Integrated approach Lack the integrated approach It’s an integrated approach

Marketing precedes production Production precedes marketing Marketing precedes production

The Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) sector in rural and semi- urban India is estimated to
cross US$ 100 billion by 2025
The rural FMCG market is anticipated to expand at a CAGR of 17.41 per cent to US$ 100 billion
during 2009–25
Rural FMCG market accounts for 40 per cent of the overall FMCG market in India, in revenue
terms
Amongst the leading retailers, Dabur generates over 40-45 per cent of its domestic revenue
from rural sales. HUL rural revenue accounts for 45 per cent of its overall sales while other
companies earn 30- 35 per cent of their revenues from rural areas
Consumers are less Receptive
As there is an explosion of communication (Such as internet ) which has led to the customers
becoming more cynical and less receptive. It calls for immediate marketing attention .

This paper focuses on three major areas A) Literature review on Trust B) Literature Review on
Product Design and C) Literature review on customer Persona. In this study there has been an
effort to understand and explore relationship and possibilities between product design and
customer persona and to find out whether it can provide a solution to the declining customer
Trust.
Consumer Trust
Factors resulting in lack of Trust
Product Design
Prototypicality
Product must conform to its product category and this is known as prototypicality.
Prototypicality increases the aesthetic utility of a new product design (Veryzer and Hutchinson
1998)
Persona
Prototypicality along with persona ----should develop trust –
Current perspective of focus is more on Consumer Behaviour and how they use the product
/role engagement process. And imagination of design.

There is a need to develop scientific focus which focuses on newer value perspective through
persona

Trust is the need of the hour