AN OVERVIEW Cobra Beer is one of the fastest growing beer brands in the UK, with a current turnover of 56.

9 million at retail value. It has been exported to over 30 countries worldwide, and is available nationwide in more than 5,000 Indian restaurants and in major supermarkets and off-licenses. Cobra Beer has been awarded Gold for three successive years at the 2003, 2002 and 2001 for Quality, presented with the Monde Selection International High Quality Trophy in 2003 for its achievements, and listed on the 1999 Virgin Fast Track 100 list of the fastest growing, privately owned companies in the UK. Founder and Chief Executive, Karan F. Bilimoria, was honoured as 2003 London Entrepreneur of the Year (Consumer Products) 2003, Entrepreneur of the Year 2003 by the Asian Achievers Awards, Asian of the Year 2002, and is co-Chairman of the Indo-British partnership.

Cobra was recently recognized as Business of the Year by the Asian Business Awards. Headquartered in London, UK, Cobra Beer has offices throughout the world, including India, South Africa, and the USA.

PORTRAYING THE IDEA INTO REALITY

The result was COBRA, a premium beer, using best quality natural ingredients, a unique blend of barely malt & yeast with maize, hops & rice.

Cobra beer is extra smooth & less glassy, retaining a premium strength of 5%.

VISION

To brew the finest Indian beer & to make it a global beer brand USP The Cobra USP is that the beer is the ideal accompaniment to spicy Indian food.

PROBLEMS FACED
Bilimoria could hardly raised funds by getting a bank loan of just 30,000 euro to begin its operation. Bilimoria was operating in a highly competitive market with the presence of all global brands & locally brewed beer. Moreover, 1990, the year Cobra launched its operations in the UK, saw the beginning of a recession. The brand & the quality were both unknown to the people. The cobra beer was large in bottle size where the customers were accustomed to small bottle size, suited for individual consumption. Logistics was the major threat to profitability & eating time up to 50% of management in managing .

ORGANIZING STRATEGIES ADOPTED Created a strong USP for a niche market segment. Targeted growing no. of restaurants serving Indian cuisine. Developed personal relationships, by making cold calls, with the South Asian curry houses. Convinced the customers with the benefits of sharing one bottle & two glasses, which worked.

 Started to brew its beer with Charles Wells, UK largest independent brewery under license. Creative advertising & premium quality helped achieve Cobra a very successful penetration of the Indian restaurants sale of beer. Availability in super markets & can be ordered through net. Going & diversifying into new markets by offering a full range of packaging formats, including cans & multipacks

GLOBAL STRATEGIES Commenced brewing with Brower Belgia in Poland to serve European as well as other markets. Introduced wine & goes for expansion from south of France. Added various South African & Spanish range. Major initiative to make cobra a global brand was taken in 2004 by launching the Krait, the export brand of Cobra in the US

ENTERING INDIAN MARKET Launched its beer in one city at a time.

 Tie-up with Mount Shivalik Group, Indias largest independent brewery in 2004 to brew it in Rajasthan, Punjab & Maharashtra. Marketed its beer in metros like Delhi, Mumbai, Goa, Pune, Kolkata, Hyderabad & Bangalore. Launched at competitive prices but it were higher then the competitors due to taxes ASSOCIATED PROBLEMS Consumption of beer in India is one of the lowest in the world. The price of the beer was somewhat higher then the competitors. Drinking of beer is quite often an independent entertainment activity. Unlike the UK people, Indians dont have the habit to take beer with their food. Licenses are required to serve beer along with food in the Indian restaurants, resulting in expensive affair & restriction up to smaller no. of restaurants. Advertisement of beverage in India is prohibited & illegal, therefore, restricted to make people aware of the Cobra brand. Sponsoring various events will lead to further expense which it cant weigh because of low initial sale & limited resource base.

State level regulations on sale of alcoholic beverages Transport & infrastructure issues. The Indian market is highly regulated. Effective duopoly exists in the form of SAB Miller & the United Breweries. Customer base is also very small. Some market experts say that the market growth at a double digit level is highly exaggerated as the real growth is only 2-3% during last 2-3 years

Analyzing Cobra beers decision to enter Indian market & possibility of its success DECISION PARAMETERS: As the Indian market is one of the largest beer market so the decision is viable & sound. The consumption level is lower at present but in future it will increase like other nations (China, South Africa, UK & Czech Republic ) i.e. from 0.5 litre per year per person to somewhat 5-15 litre per year per person or even more. The Indian market is growing @ 7-8% & is valued at Rs. 4500-5000 crores, therefore, turning into an altogether profitable scenario. The attitude of the consumers are also changing with respect to drinking mild intoxicants including beer.

Large no. of departmental. stores are also retailing beer. Many classy up-markets & stylish bars & lounges are opening up in the metros.

 The beer more-or-less is becoming a life-style product as the experience of purchasing & its consumption is changing. POSSIBILITY OF SUCCESS: As the Indian market consumes 85 million cases per year & Cobra see it growing 30-35 times in the next 25 years, so more scope is there to establish & position itself & snare a huge market share. If the market continues to open up then there are more chances to succeed. If the customers are provided with greater choices then they do respond, hence possibility is there to penetrate into the market. As the economy grow also grow the consumption pattern of the consumers which may lead to higher demand. A slight relaxation in the govt. norms & tax would lead to access to more markets & lowering of price of beer, thus leading to more growth prospect & sales. By looking at the potential of Indian markets Cobra like to make India a production hub for the entire South Asia which would result in more access better management.

By joining the hands with Greenfield's brewery in Andhra Pradesh the company is looking for gaining market share as A.P. is the biggest consuming state with 16 million cases out of the national total of over 80 million cases. Moreover by producing in A.P. the company will be publicized easily & be better known by the citizens of the state.

Cobra Beer marketing strategy in the face of Kingfishers product positioning & marketing strategyPRODUCT POSITIONING STRATEGY:

 Cobra Beer should position himself as a brand that enhances brand imagery and creates awareness about the brand in India as a brand that was born in India, went to UK, became successful there and has come back to India now. It should carry on with the same USP the beer is the ideal accompaniment to spicy Indian food. The company should go for product adaptation at regional, country, city & retailer level.

The company should build brand form bottom-up both strategically (building awareness before brand-image) & tactically (creating sources of brand equity in the market). The non-gassy feature of the beer should be highlighted as it wont create any bottleneck problem & its smooth also. The beer can also be associated with the changing attitude of the consumers in India w.r.t. drinking beer as it can be highlighted as 100% natural beer with no added flavors & helps in digestion & dont do any harm. The company should position himself as first company to produce 100% alcohol free beverage. The company can also present its product more of a general/normal need product instead of a luxury need product. As it had already tied up with so many Indian breweries, so it can present himself as original Indian brand serving its people with finest of quality. MARKETING STRATEGY: The company can focus on the 30% remaining portion in Andhra Pradesh where 64% is with SAB Miller & 6% is with UB. The company should do surrogate advertisement like Kingfisher & others to promote their brand & product.

 The company should target it more as a youth product by sponsoring various events like sports (ICL tournament), fashion shows, concerts etc.

Apart from using only few forms of advertisement means (TV ad, hoardings, sponsoring ) the company should spread positive WOM & can go for developing relationship with the local retailers as they did in UK to serve their beer to the consumers & potential consumers. Kingfisher is having strength in national & regional products. So the company can also look for developing strength in city & some retailer products apart from having strength in national & regional product. Kingfisher has projected its product as a life-style product whereas Cobra can project it as a lifestyle as well as a general product which everyone can have. Cobra can highlight its 0.0% alcohol free beer & can develop a niche market for those who earlier were not taking beer because they think that it contain alcohol. Cobra can also project its low calorie lower carbohydrate beer for those who are health conscious & want to take a low calorie fat free drink. The Cobra beer can also promote its brand by tieing up the various airlines companies where the passengers being provided with the cobra beer.

The company also can back-up its brand by highlighting the various awards won by it in different-2 categories. Thus creating a brand image & a type of impression in the minds of consumers & potential consumers to shift from the existing brand & to start taking Cobra beer.

COMPENSATION STRATEGY-

Customize Compensation Plan for Organization Revisit your salary benchmarking strategy. Start thinking about how can benchmarking be done a bit differently. For example, companys business model has probably changed over the years and it may be wise to look at how your employees compensation compares in some industries beside the one that youre in. Perhaps certain positions at your company are more competitive in another industry and that is why you are having trouble hiring for that position. Salary information from other industries could help you sort out who you should be paid more or less, in accordance with your compensation strategy. Revisit the design of employee pay ranges relative to business goalsNot all jobs are equal, therefore pay targets should not be either. There are software programs available to help you strategize. For example, PayScales compensation tool, Insight, offers a feature called Compensation Strategy Manager. Compensation strategy manager helps to target the market percentile differently for different positions.

Developing a Competitive Compensation StrategyAs you plan your competitive compensation strategy, it can be helpful to review the positions in your company and understand their role in reaching your long-term goals. Some positions may deserve more rewards than others.

Integrating General Business Strategy with CompensationThis artwork is to be smart about regarding compensation strategy.It can include everything from industry to geography to organizational size. One can learn more about compensation planning by this.

Entry Level ExecutiveBase Pay Basic Salary* House Rent Allowance* (40% of Basic) Fixed Benefits Conveyance* Educational* (Rs. 2400 Per Annum) 11000 4400 13500 5400

1250 200

1250 200 583

Medical Allowance 583 (Rs. 15000 Per Annum) TOTAL Leave Travel Allowance ( 1 Month Basic per Annum) TOTAL Long Term Benefits 17433 917

20933 1125

917

1125 1620 19

PF *(12% of Basic) 1320 Group Personal Accident Insurance Medical Insurance Gratuity TOTAL 19

393 529 2261

393 649 2681

Per Month CTC Per Month Take Home * Per Annum CTC

20611 16113 247326

24739 19313 296868 231756

24739 19313 296868 231756

Per Annum Take 193356 Home *