The Syngenta Challenge 2012

Implementation of Integrated Crop Solutions (ICS) Strategy in India

Keeping the grower at the center of our new strategy, we have moved from being product sellers to crop solution providers. For the success of this strategy it is essential that we reach out to the growers and deliver effective crop solutions at their doorsteps. With the vast diversity in terms of crops and geographies and over-dependence on monsoon, Indian agriculture offers a number of challenges in delivering crop solutions to the growers.

Teams can pick any number of issues/challenges mentioned below and give their solutions

PRODUCT SELLERS TO SOLUTIONS PROVIDERS

In Feb 2011, Syngenta integrated its Seed and Crop Protection businesses. That involved integration across all functions. For the success of this new strategy of Integrated Crop Solutions (ICS), maintaining a single face to the grower is essential. What steps should we take internally in order to smoothly and effectively implement ICS and operationally move to a steady state? How do we smoothly transition from being product sellers to solution providers for the growers? That might involve changing mindsets and traditions.

INCREASING REACH
In India, more than 110 million households are involved in farming and more than 80% of them are small growers. These small growers have fragmented lands with smaller size of land holdings. Reaching out to these growers for providing Integrated Crop Solutions becomes really difficult. But it is also true that without reaching out to these growers and improving their productivity, we cant make a sizable contribution in food security of the country. How can Syngenta effectively reach out to these small growers and provide them Crop Solutions from seed to harvest in order to improve their productivity and quality of produce? Syngenta has direct accounts with select wholesalers and large retailers, but it doesnt directly deal with the small retailers. In order to reach out to the large grower base in India, it is essential to engage a large number of channel partners. However, there are more than 1,000,000 small retailers all over India. Aligning these channel partners with Syngentas strategy is all the more challenging. Suggest a suitable strategy to engage these retailers and align them with our ICS journey.

CHANGING MINDSETS
Suggest a sustainable roadmap of changing attitudes and mindsets of growers which is still of purchasing crop protection products only when there is a pest pressure on their farm. As per our ICS strategy, we recommend the growers to adopt best crop agronomy practices with detailed protocol regarding when, what and how much to spray so as to get an assured increase in yield as promised. How do we align the growers with our new strategy and bring about this positive change in the farming practices which are still traditional?

SYNGENTA PARENT BRAND

A majority of growers use a number of Syngenta products (both seed and CP) and yet are unaware that those products belong to Syngenta. Many of our individual product brands are very strong, yet there is somewhat lack of awareness of the Syngenta brand among these growers. Suggest ways to strengthen our parent brand which we can leverage when we launch new products in the market.

BAD DEBTS
Indian Agriculture is highly dependent on monsoon. Abrupt variations in climate, especially rainfall and temperature have a drastic impact on agriculture. This makes agriculture a risky affair for the growers. Adding to that, the hike in input prices and labor scarcity in recent years has made farming more challenging for the growers. Due to lack of funds, the growers have to buy agricultural inputs (such as seed and crop protection products) on credit from retailers. So, in a bad agricultural season, quite a few channel partners are unable to recover money from the growers and end up making payment defaults. Suggest a suitable commercial strategy which will help answer the problem of bad debts.

CHANNEL ENGAGEMENT
The distribution channel plays a very important role in delivery of products and services to the end consumers. In the context of Indian agriculture, the channel is even more important as they have a high influence on the purchasing decision of the growers because of their proximity and strong personal relations with them. The channel also provides additional services such as credit and advisory to the farmers at the time of need. Syngenta believes more in working with the growers to create a demand pull than simply pushing its products with the help of channel. On the other hand the retailers have a high influence on the growers and they have a tendency to push generic products which offer them higher margins. Suggest a sustainable and scalable strategy to increase the engagement of channel partners.

MARKET DISCIPLINE
Based on the demand and attractiveness of a market, the pricing schemes for products vary from one market to another. This often results in arbitrage opportunities for traders who involve in trading of products from one region to another. This demotivates the channel partners and sales executives in that region. How can we mitigate this problem of product infiltration? Price undercutting by a channel partner has an adverse effect on the entire market. Once initiated, the other players have to follow the low price in order to remain competitive. Suggest ways to identify these value destroyers and ensure price discipline in the market.