With the advantages and benefits HLL attained from the market strategy in competing with the other FMCG companies in urban area while facing the intense situations of shrinking market shares brought by its rivals emulating the market strategy, HLL experienced a hard time of scaling up its attractiveness in products. After gaining the temporary increased sales, the competitors in rural marketing aggregate again. Increasing numbers of companies, heating up competition force HLL to struggle a way to explore a new less competitive market and extend its sales.
Project Shakti initiates under such sharp condition. It weighs the special situation in rural India. Scattered villages and poor transportation stumbling HLL products being reached by its customers; low accessibility and educational level are the results of less consciousness of products and brands. The demands in rural area are limited.
Project Shakti is generated to justify the disadvantages. It has two objectives when it was born. One relates to business that is to extend HLL’s reach into the untapped markets and improve its brands and products awareness among customers in that area. The other involves social factors, which is aiming at creating a sustainable livelihood opportunities for underprivileged rural women. That means women will be involved in operating their own enterprises by themselves. Moreover, this project builds up a bridge of communications among women and entrepreneurship, brands and customers, technology from urban to rural, backward lifestyle and modern lifestyle, short-term economic growth and long-term sustainable strategy.
For the sake of business growth, forming small groups (Self-helped Group) and select one to invest in business is easy to manage, organize and operate, which is also profitable and no need to take too much risks. It targets the segment of rural women because it can easily access to potential customers since women are the