ABSTRACT

         Indian footwear industry is second largest next to China and it is segmented in two ways namely organised sector and unorganised sector.  Organised sector includes market players like Bata, Liberty, Adidas, Metro etc and it serves to 1/3rd of the market.  The unorganized sector serves the rest 2/3rd.  Further it is more segmented into men, women and kids market. Mostly women and kids are catered by the unorganized sector.

Bata, it may not be exaggerated, if I say, that there would be no one in India who would not know this name.  Most of us are brought up wearing those shoes, chappals with white sole and blue straps.  The unanimous name known for footwear was Bata in 1980s.  Families used to visit these showrooms for their entire family purchase, be it for children, women, men, formal or informals or executive one stop for all.  It may not be exaggerated if I say that the company enjoyed almost monopoly those years.  Later on, Bata started outsourcing for their products and the quality gradually eroded away along with the brand name.  Many people who were real loyals for the company also shifted to other brands.

The company realised it very late and started reengineering their product line and their strategies.  Meanwhile many other companies took part of its market share leaving a little for Bata. The company suffered at its top as well as bottom level making huge ultimate losses finally in early 2000s.  Soon, the company started reworking, but this would take time to change the perception of the people.

This case study highlights the various strategies adopted by the Bata Management in the current market trends with increased competition from local players and Chinese imports.  Bata usually targets lower middle and middle class segments of the society, but now it is contemplating changes to survive in the competition. This paper deals all these issues in detail and offers few suggestions as well for its future recourse.

Keywords: Bata, Chinese imports, reinvention, future strategies, SWOT analysis, BCG Matrix, Product Development, Research.