Sathguru advised an Indian fertilizer company over five years to drive differentiation in a highly competitive and regulated market by conceptualizing a novel product offering that not only increased
Case Study
AllAgribusinessAnimal HealthBiotechnologyBusiness AdvisoryCorporate Finance and Investment BankingDevices and DiagnosticsDigitalFood and RetailHealthcareInnovation AdvisoryInternational DevelopmentPharmaceuticalsPolicy & Regulations
Over a five-year period, Sathguru assisted an Indian chocolatier to develop a differentiated product portfolio to consolidate its position as an innovator and leader in cocoa derivatives and cocoa products. Sathguru handheld this client in the food processing segment through the complete incubation process from product conceptualization and technology access to business strategy and market penetration roadmap.
Context: Creating market entry and growth roadmap in fiercely competitive international and domestic chocolate market
Our client, a greenfield Indian food processing company, was aspiring to foray into international and domestic chocolate markets. The Indian chocolate industry at that time was dominated by contract manufacturers for large multinationals and was fiercely competitive with little scope for new entrants. The client sought Sathguru’s advice to develop a strategy and operational roadmap to gain competitive positioning and penetrate this highly competitive market.
Scope
The scope of Sathguru’s engagement included:
- Market research and opportunity assessment: Identifying and assessing different market segments and their drivers both in India and international markets. Assessing overall opportunity merit, geographic composition, potential for enhanced profitability and drivers of competitive advantage.
- Strategic roadmap: Conceptualizing a differentiated business strategy for competitive positioning and market penetration in cocoa processing sector.
- Portfolio planning: Developing differentiated product portfolio and accessing relevant technologies.
- Business plan: Developing a comprehensive business plan and project report including assessing level of investment entailed, financial viability and return on investment.
- Operational handholding: Handholding the venture through the business incubation lifecycle and key milestone of technology access and strategic partnerships.
Approach
Sathguru’s approach was to create a differentiated strategy for this process processing company by focusing on value added cocoa products that were not pursued by the established players
To achieve this, Sathguru:
- Identified high value cocoa derivatives that could be developed in India and had potential in Indian and global markets
- Conducted detailed assessment of technology packages available for processing and developing cocoa derivatives.
- Conducted global market and industry assessment to:
- Identify and analyze major competitors operating in this market segment
- Map research and industry trends
- Analyze and identify the markets/customer segments across the globe for exporting cocoa derivatives and intermediaries to be used as ingredients in final food products
Recommendations
To implement an innovation driven model that ensures development of advanced products and growth in new markets, Sathguru recommended the following as key elements of the business plan and market entry strategy:
- Pursue manufacturing of value-added cocoa derivatives instead of low value contract manufacturing of chocolates.
- Establish a product development center, equipped with capabilities and resources capable of undertaking research activities.
- Procure (licensing or acquire IP or access technologies through strategic partnerships) latest technologies that would enable production of cocoa derivatives of international standards.
- Follow a staggered business expansion strategy for sustained growth in new markets.
Impact
Sathguru’s holistic advisory services, including technology, marketing and financial recommendations ensured competitive positioning and rapid penetration of client’s products in Indian markets. The business plan we developed paved the way for profitability that was substantially higher than Indian industry benchmarks in this segment of food processing. The strategy also pioneered exports of cocoa derivatives from India besides the export of cocoa beans only.
Sathguru managed technology transfer for Indo-Swiss Collaboration in Biotechnology (ISCB), a bilateral program between the governments of India and Switzerland engaging leading private sector entities and ensuring commercialization success of research outcomes.
Over a multi-year effort, Sathguru advised an Indian multinational seed company on prioritizing and optimizing research program, access and in-licensing relevant technologies thereby accelerating
Title Description
Sathguru supported a pioneer public translational research institute to conduct a India market assessment of veterinary vaccines and diagnostics in animal healthcare industry.
Situation Analysis
Our client, a translational research center in animal healthcare sector was scouting for expert consulting service providers in this segment to provide support in market assessment for veterinary vaccines & diagnostics and for policy framework. Animal diseases pose a serious threat to human health with food-borne and zoonotic diseases contributing to a huge challenge on livelihoods of people in developing nations like India. The group focused on animal disease diagnostics and preventive health care as areas of study as these segments are unrecognized or minimally recognized and lack due attention among policy makers. Furthermore, it was observed that there was a lack of market information on veterinary vaccines and diagnostics and this study could play a vital role in policy decisions in reducing disease outbreaks and in improving well-being of rural households that depend primarily on livestock. The institute sought assistance from Sathguru to aid them in assessing vaccine and diagnostics marketin India.
Scope
The scope of engagement included:
- Identifying key Indian veterinary vaccines and diagnostic manufacturers, marketers and license holders that include public and private sector.
- Conducting market due diligence (product price, substitutes, consumer expectation etc.) based on animal health impact.
- Evaluating market potential, research capabilities, infrastructure capacity, technology portfolio, product quality, competitive landscape, market dynamics and influencing factors of veterinary vaccines and diagnostics
- Enumerating national and regional demand, national policy, international regulations, growth strategy for public institutions, small, medium and large industry participants.
Approach
Sathguru’s approach was to
- Design the study and provide all industry players’ connectivity to our client.
- Profile current dominant products, level of technology adoption, number of firms, and production capacity of veterinary vaccines and diagnostics to better understand animal healthcare industry structure.
- To assess demand-supply pattern of vaccines and its impact on product competitiveness.
- To summarize the available infrastructure, capacity availability, expertise and linkages with major research institutes in the country and abroad for assistance in policy making.
Study outcome
Based on the client expectations, Sathguru provided the following study outcome
- Commendable development of private-public linkages for future technology transfer interactions.
- A comprehensive report on animal vaccines and diagnostic sector to better understand Indian animal healthcare market.
- Synopsized the emerging needs in the veterinary vaccines and diagnostics sectors and current demand-supply gap in the country.
- Outlined status of translational research and development initiatives, access to funding and the private sector interest to adopt newer technologies.
Indian packaged food category is rapidly expanding with substantial opportunity for growth. It presents an attractive growth adjacency in the overall Indian agribusiness and food landscape. Sathguru advised a leading Indian tobacco company to pursue this diversification opportunity with a well conceived business plan and roadmap for technology adoption and market entry.
Client context and growth aspiration
Our client, a mid-sized Indian family business group, and one of the largest manufacturers of tobacco products with a pan India presence was challenged with declining revenues due to market and regulatory hurdles. The need for diversification was obvious and the group was keen on venturing into the food business. However, they were also aware of the various challenges within food sector that was predominantly mass market driven, highly cluttered and competitive. Further the sector also posed challenges with limitation of quality product development professionals, high marketing costs and uncertainty of viability of products especially for new entrants. The company sought strategic and operational advisory from Sathguru to traverse from ideation to a feasible business in processed food sector.
Scope
Scope of the engagement included:
- Conducting extensive market research (primary and secondary research), identify and prioritize categories and products in the Indian branded packaged food market with substantial growth opportunity and business merit
- Formulating product development pathway and roadmap to accelerated translation of vision to marketed products for identified categories of packaged snacks / beverages
- Evaluating manufacturing technologies and recommend vendors, provide technical assistance in facility development
- Developing marketing plan for launch of branded snack range including strategy for market placement and product promotion
- Handholding during the implementation phase and strengthen operations backbone for R&D to manufacturing and food safety integration: developed various policies and SOPs for smooth operation of business, building in-house research and product development capabilities etc
Approach
Sathguru’s approach was
- Competitive portfolio backed by extensive research on market gaps and technology integration: Identify the gaps between the Indian consumer’s expectations and the value proposition offered by existing products in packaged food segment and identify innovative technologies and products to create a niche business proposition for the client
- Marketing strategy: Devise a unique cost effective marketing strategy with an optimal mix of ATL and BTL initiatives
- Innovation and technology roadmap: Identify technologies that were broad based rather than specific given the nascent stage of client in the food sector to enable the client leverage the same technology for multiple products
- Prudent investment plan: Stagger infrastructure development, product development capacity and market penetration
Recommendations
Taking cognizance of the client expectations, bandwidth and risk appetite, Sathguru’s dedicated food industry advisory team made the following recommendations to steer accelerated market penetration by the Client in the Indian FMCG landscape:
- Adopt an innovative and differentiated product portfolio and operate in a niche segment that is not cluttered by competition along with mass market products to optimize risk
- Engaging external product development experts during the initial phase and eventually build in-house product development capabilities
- Adopt flexible versatile technology package capable of producing multiple product categories to minimize risk and dependence on a single product
- Phased product launch, promotion and market placement to minimize the risk and investment in market development
Sathguru performed a comprehensive techno-commercial due-diligence covering commercial, regulatory, IP and manufacturing aspects for a $130Mn funding transaction in an Indian bio-pharmaceutical company.
Our client, a government body was developing a state of the art Lifesciences Park and was considering creation of a Laboratory Animal Facility to nurture a more holistic ecosystem for the continuum of research to manufacturing in life sciences.
A VC fund and its portfolio company, a molecular diagnostic startup developing a portfolio of predictive and prognostic oncology tests approached Sathguru to assess value of its portfolio of Intellectual Property including patents, trade secrets and trademarks.
Background and Context
A multinational conglomerate with global revenue north of USD 20 billion engaged Sathguru to assess and prioritize portfolio offerings to the Indian lifesciences industry and investment avenues with strategic merit for near to mid-term growth. Subsequent to a global re-organization activity, the Client had embarked on a critical planning activity to shape portfolio composition for enhanced competitiveness and steer growth strategically. Sathguru was chosen due to established level of industry depth and cross-functional experience across areas of client’s offerings to the industry.
Scope
Sathguru performed a comprehensive market opportunity assessment across the following application areas covering the breadth of biotech and pharma manufacturing (small molecule pharma, peptides, vaccines, biosimilars, novel biologics et al) in India:
- Biopharmaceutical R&D and manufacturing inputs
- Pharmaceutical packaging
- Cold chain solutions, logistics and tertiary packaging
- Personal protective equipment
Using a strategic funneling approach, we assessed overall level of evolving opportunity and derived demand in each of these application areas. Merit for expanded participation was assessed after considering competitive landscape, adjacencies and white space for growth, potential for innovation led sustained advantage andacquisition opportunities and possibility of accelerated growth. Portfolio recommendations were made for the near term as well as more strategically engineered mid-term participation in the Indian growth opportunity.
Our Approach
Given substantial breadth of opportunity analyzed and high level of uncertainty around certain areas of industry investment, extensive primary research was used to gain needed strategic inputs and more than 100 key informant interviews were conducted during the study.
A mix of qualitative and quantitative assessment methods were used to identify opportunities in all the four segments. Qualitative insights on current practices, market composition, competitor analysis, unmet needs and white space analysis was done through detailed secondary research and primary research with suppliers, end-users, industry experts and other significant stakeholders in all the segments. In addition to the above, regulatory landscape was also mapped to derive the business implications of upcoming regulations in different geographies and identify emerging business opportunities. Evolving technology landscape and global research pipeline were also analyzed to infer implications for near to mid-term portfolio decisions and evolving competitive landscape.
Quantitative analysis included high-level market sizing, estimating target and addressable market size, predicting demand volume and value over the next 5 years. As most application areas assessed derived demand from final products such as biosimilars, vaccines, peptides or small molecules, anticipated scenarios were developed for the final products and level of derived demand were inferred for prioritized products. Strategic considerations that will impact investment decisions of the biopharma industry were analyzed and opportunity and risk levers were accordingly factored in.
Project Output
Final prioritization matrix was developed as a strategic input for portfolio prioritization and investment decision making. Opportunity areas were classified based on anticipated market size, strategic merit and potential for near-term, mid-term or long-term opportunities participation for growth. In prioritized application segments, more specific way forward recommendations were also made including acquisition and strategic partnership opportunities.
The study output has served as an input for global decision making and next steps (portfolio strengthening, development and implementation of commercial strategy) is currently being undertaken in certain areas recommended as high potential for near term growth.