1.

The environment in which whirpool entered the Indian market was recently
liberalized economically. The environment then can be described briefly as
follows:

 The manual washers were the biggest sellers.

 Small-scale manufacturers dominated the market.
 Videocon had already launched a washing machine in the market.
 At the same time when TVS Whirpool world washer was launched , a joint
venture between IFB and BOSH of Germany began marketing fully
automatic front loading machine.

2. India was recently liberalized when Whirpool entered the market. So, it
gave the customers a lot of choices. Not jut whirpool. When it entered the
market small-scale manufacturers already dominated the market. Japanese
and European manufacturers were also eyeing the same market. The
purchasing power of the Indian customers was high in comparison to its
international exchange value. Surprisingly, the consumption pattern did not
match and justify the income classification. This made it difficult to identify
target market and forecast the sale. The most unique fact which
characterizes the environment was the areas of concern of the customers.
Generally, price is considered as the main success factor. But, in Indian
market it almost ranked 2nd. People were more concerned about water
consumption, water conservation, variability in electric supply, voltage
fluctuation, domestic help issues and detergent saving. These were the
issues which even “rich” were concerned about. The quality of components
 varied as per the suppliers and machine were damaged while being
delivered to the dealer’s showroom due to careless handling. Another
factor in this environment was the culture of the people in the market. This
included the clothing pattern of them.

3. The 1st competition competition of whirpool was the manual washers

which were the biggest sellers in the market. They were produced by the
small-scale manufactures. These were the ones who dominated the Indian
market. Videocon was also a name of concern which introduced india’s 1st
washing machine. The IFB-BOSCH joint venture of Germany became the
head-on competitors when they started marketing fully automatic front
loading washers at the same time when TVS Whirpool World washer was
launched in india. Japanese and European manufactures also gave
Whirpool tuf competition as they also wanted to leverage the potential
market. But most critical competition was the customer itself. Indian
culture is very different from others. Its also versatile within it self. It gives a
company a tuf fight while trying to understand its need and try to build a
fitting product for everyone.

4. Whirpool strategy was of world domination. This strategy was based on the
platform strategy. Under this strategy a basic framework or platform of
actual design is established that is common to all th versions of the product
manufactured by the company. Features can be added or deleted
depending on individual market or even individual customer tastes. The aim
was to bring a $200 million annual savings by the year 2000. Whirpool
decided to enter the market through joint venture as they would allow the
company to quickly establish a manufacturing presence. Therefore, it
joined hands with TVS under the name TVS Whirpool. Whirpool believed in
customer focused product development and extensive user research using
right ethnographic tools as its measure for growth and sustainance.