CASE ANALYSIS

KALA RAKSHA TRUST, KUTCH

Submitted to:

Prof. Pradeep Kumar Mishra

Associate Professor, School of Rural Management
XIM University, Bhubaneswar

Submitted by:

Group No. 12

Names: Animesh Biswal, Apoorva Vardhan, Prateek Kumar Das, Rakshita Singh

Roll No: UR21007, UR21012, UR21035, UR21041

CASE FACTS:

● Kala Raksha is a 10-year-old NGO with over 600 products that has been facing
stagnating sales despite the remarkable growth from Rs. 27,000 (1993) to Rs. 49.5 Lakhs
(2001).
● It aims to protect the traditional arts, primarily by establishing community centers and
assisting artisan cooperatives.
● It started with 25 women embroiderers and an initial capital of Rs. 43,000. Currently, the
trust has over 600 artisans in 14 villages.
● They have developed a unique product line in local designs for customers in the domestic
metropolitan markets.
● Exhibitions are the primary source of sales and direct sales through the Centre’s outlet in
Kutch and orders from several clients.
● Seven different communities do work in nine different styles - the Sindh-Kutch regional
style of Suf, Paako, and Khareek, ethnic styles of Rabari, Mutava, and Garasia Jat.
● Production Process: there is an annual meet to set targets for the Delhi solo exhibition;
the next phase is dependent on the stock sold earlier.
● The production process starts with distributing raw materials to the village coordinators
(employees), who supply them to the artisans in their villages. These semi-finished
products are given back to the trust who send them to the workshop.
● The human element in the production process - the availability of artisans, depends on
factors like labor work availability and rains in nearby towns.
● The marketing executive is focused on software implemented by the students of a
Management School through a project of Kala Raksha.
● Findings - the products (having the highest sales/demand in the market) are not
adequately produced. Moreover, there is a gap between production and marketing.
● The design philosophy at Kala Raksha - artisans are taken to exhibitions and exposed to
design workshops at the Resource Centre.
● The artisans are the primary stakeholders of the Trust, and two of the families have been
interviewed.
● The trust runs an education program that was previously linked to income generation.
However, the work conditions have been de-linked, and the classes are still conducted
weekly.
● Results of the interviews: average artisan works 3-6 hours per day, older women work on
craftwork while younger women work on the intricate designs.
● Pricing Mechanism: there are pricing committees in each village that include one
representative from the Trust and 3-4 local artisans. There aren’t several fluctuations and
the prices have been stable for 3-4 years.
● Employees are paid salaries (not commission) and 30% of the price paid by the customers
reaches the artisans.

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● Initial problems in their pricing policy - price is the same whether the product is
purchased from the center or the exhibition, and there were no discounts on bulk
purchases.
● Currently, the selling price at the Centre’s shop is 10% lower than the exhibition prices.
Moreover, a discount of 20% is offered for orders of more than rupees 10,000.
● 3 modes of sales: exhibitions across 3 cities, orders from specific customers, and through
the Centre’s Shop in Sumrsar in Kutch.
● Kala Raksha organizes exhibitions in groups as well as solo ones in Bangalore, Delhi,
and Mumbai in fixed venues for 4-7 days.
● Kala Raksha has increased dependence on exhibitions over the years, due to lack of
orders and decreased sales.
● The business orders have been sidelined due to the increasing focus on exhibitions.
● Customers of the exhibitions are more forgiving of the imperfect finishing of the
products. Order customers cancel orders even if there is a slight deviation, especially the
international buyers.
● Kala Raksha’s response to export orders has not been good as they expect identical work
in bulk using the factory model of production.
● The Chief Executive believes that exhibition sales provide constant work and flexibility
to the artisans.
● The Trust needs a better system in place as they have been unable to handle order sales
and exhibitions simultaneously.
● There is an increased risk factor with exhibitions including disruption of work at the
center and extensive stock of leftovers.
● The Centre’s shop contributes 5%-15% in overall sales, which is unsatisfactory.
● There is inadequate publicity for the Trust in Bhuj. Tourists that visit Kutch avoid Kala
Raksha because the trust didn’t offer commissions until recently.
● The Trust has recently established franchises in the United States of America but the
overall sales from exports are very low.
● The Trust opened two shops last year in the Garha Safari camp on RudraMata Dam
(Kutch) and Rann Riders Safari Camp at Dasada (Surendranagar).
● The Trust uses a mailing list for the exhibitions and mails invitations to customers, which
is their main promotional tool, apart from some limited advertisements in the local
newspapers.
● They haven’t maintained the customer database in a long time because of lending it to an
external agency that used FoxPro. No staff member learned this procedure due to which
they are unable to connect and reward the current loyal customers.
● Purchases cannot be made on their website and it is extremely outdated. However, a grant
has been received to upgrade it.
● The trust believes that it shouldn’t take subsidies for income generation.

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 ● The plan document of the meeting held for a broad target of Rs. 65 lakhs in 2003-04 went
to cold storage, and the Trust has remained at status quo in sales.

SITUATIONAL ANALYSIS:

Administrative Analysis:

Kala Raksha Trust has been facing several administrative issues, including the maintenance of its
customer database and a restricted hiring process. Moreover, there is an extensive lack of
planning due to which they have been unable to handle their operations at a relatively larger
scale. There is a lack of a stable mechanism to record the observations that can be passed down
to the artisans, followed by the production to ensure their implementation.

In the case of the customer database of the Trust, the list was initially assembled from Dastkar's
and Crafts Council's email lists, among others. It was updated to include details about their show
attendees. The mailing list is utilized by the organization whenever it sets up a display in a
particular location. The problem here is to maintain the database, which Judyben initially
maintained. It was subsequently forwarded to an external agency that uses FoxPro to collate data.
An employee was supposed to learn the program and keep the database updated, but that did not
happen. The obligation was further avoided by a number of sales and marketing personnel.
As a result, the database has not been updated, and the mails have been forwarded to the old
addresses. The changes in the list are yet to be made. To keep track of all sales, raw materials,
unfinished products, and finished things, the Production Team had to enter information into
several systems, which they failed to do.

Due to a lack of planning, there is a widening gap between production and marketing
intelligence. As a result, there were issues in the domains of production, design, and size. For
example, during their recent exhibition at the American Embassy, they would have been able to
increase sales if the simple mistake of the size of garments had been avoided. The same problem
was repeated during their exhibitions in Mumbai. Clearly, the team has been unable to bridge the
gap of what sells in the market.

Moreover, due to limited staff, their dependency on exhibitions for their sales has been
hazardous. Apart from the risk of leftover stock of less successful products, these exhibitions
disrupt entirely the normal working and functioning of the Center and the workshop.

Societal analysis

Kutch is at the border of Gujarat, which is connected with Pakistan. The Rann of Kutch
surrounds it on one side and the other two sides by the Gulf of Kutch and the Arabian Sea. It
houses many indigenous tribes like the nomadic Rabaris, Garasia Jats, Mutava, and a

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significant number of Islamic pastoralists. These groups have retained their culture and
traditions over the years; the traditional embroideries reflect this aspect.

The literacy among the villagers is less, and this is especially true for the women. The villagers
do not have access to health care, better transportation facilities, quality of water, etc. Through
the interview of the two families that we saw in the case, it is evident that the economic status of
the families is not very good as each member is earning not more than Rs 2500. The women of
the villages are engaged in traditional dress and crafts of many sorts, including weaving, dyeing,
printing, bandhani (tie and dye), embroidery, leatherwork, pottery, woodwork, and metalwork. At
the same time, the men involve themselves in informal jobs. The younger women also keep the
intricate designs to give them as dowry. In the early stages, the villagers were not open to selling
their handicrafts and embroideries as they believed that since the time of their ancestors, these
products were only meant for household use and not to be sold outside. The villagers were
initially apprehensive of Kala Raksha Trust as they had previously worked with three other
NGOs, and they were not paid the appropriate price for their products. Kala Raksha Trust
defended the originality of the work produced by the villagers, and the villagers were also paid
the amount they deserved for their products. This was the reason for the upliftment of the
households as the women who were previously not generating income for the family found a
source of earning.

The societal structure remained rigid in the villages. There were times when the villagers were
not open to the Trust’s changes, which is visible when the Trust attempted to establish a link
between income generation and education. The villagers believed that they were wasting their
time by attending classes, and they could have stitched more which would have increased their
income. The villagers, especially the women during the monsoon, shift towards agriculture rather
than handicraft, reflecting that there is a lot of uncertainty and irregular mobility, depending upon
the opportunities available during a particular period.

Market Analysis:

There is increased competition in the domain. This has resulted in leveling off of sales.
Currently, there are as many as 39 groups in Kutch working on embroidery products. During the
inception of the Trust, it was among the select few which were providing superior quality
products at reasonable prices. It almost entirely had monopolistic powers in the Kutch-Bhuj
region. Currently, the products that are provided by Kala Raksha are being supplied by several
competitors. The domain has been inundated with the players who are offering products of
comparable or slightly inferior quality at prices comparable with those offered by the Trust. The
ever-increasing competition in the area is a major factor contributing to the stagnating sales and a
lack of accomplishment of their broad target in the past 5 years. An in-depth analysis of the
current market scenario is inevitable to increase their sales, drive growth and shift to efficient

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processes. They have been unable to utilize several strategies to recapture their share in the
market. Had the Trust adopted smart hiring practices, used innovation, and strengthened
customer relationships, they would have been able to maintain, if not increase, their market
share.

Economic Analysis

Kala Raksha Trust offers a unique production method in which craftsmen are heavily involved in
price decisions. Additionally, the human element in all areas, rather than a factory method of
production, has a significant influence on bulk purchases and total sales.

Currently, Kala Raksha Trust sells its items through three channels: exhibitions, sales via orders,
and centre. Kala Raksha Trust generates the majority of its revenue through exhibitions. It can be
done in a group or alone. Solo shows provide more revenue for Kala Raksha than group
exhibitions.

Observations from Table 4:

-In 1999-00, Kala Raksha Trust held its first solo exhibition held in Delhi. In 2000-01, the sales
increased but in subsequent years the Trust only saw a decrease in sales in Delhi.
-In the case of exhibitions in Mumbai, the Trust saw inconsistent sales figures.
-In 2002-03, the Trust increased attaining solo exhibitions and the sales in total were sky-high,
around more than 20 lakh compared to previous solo exhibitions.
-But in 2003-03, the sale saw a slight dip; it only reached up to 19 lakh.

Observations from Table 5:

-In 1999-00, Kala Raksha Trust held group exhibitions chiefly in Delhi and Mumbai, and the
sales reached just a bit over 7 lakh.
-From 2000 to2002, the Trust’s exhibitions were held in similar cities as the previous year, and
the sales showed almost identical figures.
-From 2002 to 2004, the Trust reduced the number of exhibitions held in big cities like Delhi/
Mumbai and held exhibitions in small towns like Jaipur, Mehrauli. It also increased
exhibitions held in cities belonging to the south part of India.
-The sales figures were similar.

Through observing the given tables, we know that the revenue of Kala Raksha Trust comes more
from solo exhibitions held in PAN India and has kept increasing in subsequent years. But in
group exhibitions, the sales figures remain almost the same.

Sales through order have their own problems. The trust experiences, it easier to sell products in
exhibitions rather than sell in orders. With orders, customers’ expectations also come. The

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customers tend to cancel the orders if they find the product not as per their expectations. This is
the main reason for the Trust facing loss in sales. In both international and domestic bulk orders,
the products are expected to be identical. To produce similar products, machinery needs to be
introduced for production. This is against the Kala Raksha Trust principle of keeping the
uniqueness of the handicraft alive. Machinery production will only hamper the quality and
unique design. Due to the regulations of the Trust, it fails to meet the large orders, resulting in
the failure in revenue generation.

The Kala Raksha trust center contributes only (15-20)% of the total sale, which is very little. The
center is also located away from the city. With a lack of publicity, the center fails to attract
tourists to visit the center. The Trust also doesn’t pay commission to the tour guides or hotels;
this results in ignoring the Trust’s center by the tour guides. Exports also form a tiny part of the
overall sales.

Lastly, the pricing policies have been significant bottlenecks in increasing the sales of the
company. There is massive involvement of the artisans through the established mechanism of
‘pricing committees’ that meet at regular intervals. While the changes and fluctuations in the
prices have been stable in recent years, the demand for an increase in salaries has been
increasing. Currently, 30 percent of the price paid by the customer on average goes to the
artisan’s artistry.

Their lack of policies on discounts on bulk purchases has made it difficult for them to get bulk
orders for institutions and bigger retail shops across the country. In December 2003, they made a
change in their pricing policies to overcome this problem. At the moment, the selling price at the
Centre’s shop in Kutch is 10% less than the exhibition prices, and for orders, more than rupees
10,000, a discount of 20% is offered. This has already started showing results.

Effect of Commercialisation

Kutch is a dry region in Gujarat state, India, near the Pakistan border. The district is flanked by
salt marsh Rann on two sides and the Gulf of Kutch and the Arabian Sea on the other two. Thus
Kutchis have always been unique and entrepreneurial. Although Kutch is a unique place to live
in, the socio-economic situation of the natives is still subpar. Most villagers, especially women
are illiterate even today. They suffer from a lack of access to quality healthcare. Most roads are
rugged and in bad shape. Buses connect most communities, however, they are sporadic and
inconsistent. Water supply is normally adequate, however, water is often brackish, and
government lines are often broken, even in cities. Moreover, periodic droughts necessitate water
rationing, often on short notice. In a culture-related way, Kutch is quite wealthy. Many traditional
crafts, like weaving, dyeing, printing, bandhani (tie and dye), embroidery, leatherwork, ceramics,
woodwork, and metallurgy, are preserved here. Prior to becoming widely distributed, these crafts

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were created exclusively for local usage. However, in the present day, as the villagers themself
desire plastic and synthetic fabric, artisanal products have to be exported for the sake of
existence. Small-scale artisans have a difficult time finding the preferences of their global
customers as compared to the local customers. As a result, their efforts have been somewhat
disorganized and have thus failed to provide the most successful results. A mindset of
anticipating financial assistance has hampered the artisans' capacity to work hard and capitalize
on markets. The reality is that a multitude of factors including social views prevents many of
them from enjoying the best of the markets. They have been held up as scapegoats by "social
attitudes" since they wish to keep subsidies that are detrimental to their artisans' talents, which
keeps them from mobilizing their own efforts to the fullest extent.

Craftsmanship quality has been negatively affected due to commercialization in this situation.
Middlemen and merchants offer wages that are lower than average. For these designers,
traditions are only part of the creative process, with no value in and of themselves. On the other
hand, for the artisan, tradition is only a part of the production and has no value in and of itself.
Because of the damage, markets that were formerly important have become less functional.

Analysis of Business Approach

The senior members of the Trust have a particular approach towards business. Operations have
not been able to generate sufficient amounts of money for their essential activities. They have
been unable to successfully implement the bottom-up approach despite the extensive
involvement of the artisans in the decision-making process. However, the Project Coordinator is
still reluctant to implement the top-down approach in specific domains of the organization.
Moreover, despite the demands of the artisans for a salary increase, the regulation of pricing
committees and the plan documents (of yearly targets) are ineffective. They have under-utilized
the grants, and have been unable to tap into the benefits of tourist groups/hotels through
commissions to improve the reach of their Centre Shop in the city (Bhuj). The restrictive
approach of the middle management is the reason for an outdated website and an incomplete
customer database - problems that can be quickly resolved if the focus is shifted on being
financially successful despite being a development organization. Overall, the organization has
been unable to let go of a reasonable level of the human element, which has contributed
significantly to the uncertainty in production. The management has also been unable to tap into
the benefits of readily available technological resources/programs/projects. As a result, the
organization is dangerously removed from the market intelligence domain and cannot grow
dynamically in the last five years.

On the other hand, the single-mindedness of the artisans also poses drastic effects on the
organization’s functioning. In all the seven communities of artisans, there has been extreme
difficulty in explaining the importance of education and training. This is why their education

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program was linked to income generation through a work condition. However, despite the
numerous efforts of the local coordinators, it had to be delinked. This can be why they frequently
shift to different income activities and are unable to fully grasp the requirements and behavior of
the customer base.

DECISION PROBLEM:

The main decision problem for the founders of Kala Raksha Trust lies in the lack of utilization of
accessible resources to increase the overall sales via the three mediums.

The above-mentioned decision problem indicates that the human capital and productive assets
within the reach of the organization have the potential to renew the stagnating sales if tapped into
properly, without any further delay.

LONG TERM OBJECTIVE:

The long-term objective for the Trust is the social and financial empowerment of the local
communities involved in the traditional craft as well as increased sustainability in their
livelihood.

CRITERIA:

1. Preservation of the traditional craft of the local communities in the area.

2. Enhanced standard of living of the artisans.
3. Increased efficiency in the production process and improvement in quality/quantity of
products.
4. Increased awareness of the Trust in nearby locations.

ALTERNATIVE SOLUTIONS:

1. Use of relevant promotional tools for increased publicity to reach the domestic and
international customer base.

The Trust has been unable to create effective levels of publicity in the Bhuj area, due to
which the tourist groups are quite unaware of their center shop in Kutch. This is one of
the reasons for the extremely low contribution of the shop in their overall sales. Secondly,
their website is inefficient and isn’t effectively used for the digital marketing of their
exhibitions. The two new shops that have been set up by the Trust as well as their
recently established franchises in the United States of America also need to be heavily
promoted. Therefore, this alternative has been considered for evaluation.

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2. The hiring of effective managers and experts in marketing intelligence, product
management, data-keeping, and programming.

There is an increasing gap in the production process and the required marketing
intelligence. Experts in the field are required to act as guiding light by collecting and
analyzing contextual data about the customer and industry trends and behaviors. This will
ensure that the artisans gain a holistic understanding of what is working for the Trust’s
domestic and international customers. Similarly, staff that are aware of programs used in
customer database management are needed since they haven’t been able to reach and
reward their loyal customers. The expertise in product management becomes essential
because they have been unable to manage large-scale operations. Experts in product
management will ensure appropriate forecasting, pricing, new product development, and
verification. Therefore, this alternative has been considered for evaluation.

3. Training the artisans on the current market demands and customer behavior in the
metropolitan markets.

The artisans are not aware of the current industry trends and the behavior of potential
customers in the domestic metropolitan market as well as the international market. This is
the reason for direct orders and exports contributing poorly to the overall sales of the
Trust. Moreover, the observations that are made by the artisans during the exhibitions
about the desires of the customers aren’t fully grasped by them or recorded by the team
officially. The problems that arose during their exhibitions at the American Embassy and
in Mumbai are prime examples of the difficulties faced because the artisans were
completely unaware of the market trends. As a result, regular training of the artisans at
the Resource Centre becomes necessary. Therefore, this alternative has been considered.

4. Adoption of a factory mode of production with a focus on bulk purchases.

Exports form a very small portion of their overall sales. For catering to orders which
usually ask for large quantities of identical work, the Trust needs to be efficient enough to
comply with the factory-model production methods, like embroidery on block printed
patterns. Secondly, the human element has been adding an unreasonable amount of
uncertainty in their production process. Therefore, this alternative has been considered.

5. Introduction of more changes in the pricing policies to add discounts and reward regular
customers.

The trust has been unable to ensure bulk purchases because of their pricing policies, and
that has also contributed to the stagnating sales in the past 5 years. The pricing

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 committees have been unable to grasp the needs of all the external stakeholders. The
needs of a buyer at the exhibition can be entirely different from those at the shops and
from those making bulk purchases offline. This is why they have not been able to
efficiently work with bigger retail shops and institutions across the country. Therefore,
this alternative has been taken into consideration.

EVALUATION OF ALTERNATIVES:

CRITERIA Preservation Enhanced Increased efficiency Increased

of the standard of in the production awareness of the
traditional living of process/Improvement Trust in nearby
ALTERNATIVE craft artisans in quality + quantity locations.
of product
SOLUTIONS

Use of relevant ✔ ✔ ✘ ✔
promotional tools

The hiring of ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔
effective managers
and experts in
various fields.

Training the artisans ✘ ✔ ✔ ✘

about the current
market demands and
the consumer
behavior

Adoption of a ✘ ✔ ✔ ✘
factory mode of
production

Changes in the ✘ ✘ ✘ ✘
pricing policies
(discounts, rewards,
etc.)

SELECTED: Hiring of effective managers and experts in marketing intelligence, product

management, data-keeping, and programming.

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The four criteria selected are focused on the increase in overall sales of the Kala Raksha Trust
while concomitantly making sure of the preservation of the traditional craft and the
socio-economic empowerment of the involved communities.

The first alternative primarily focuses on increasing the reach of the Trust in the area. Successful
implementation of the same would also ensure increased sales and standard of living, but would
not be able to add to the presently ineffective production process.

The second alternative has been able to meet all of the four criteria. If highly efficient and
specialized staff is hired, the gap between the production process and the marketing intelligence
would significantly reduce. Moreover, it would add professionalism to all levels of management
and operations in the trust, ensuring both the social and financial success of this developmental
organization.

The third alternative is focused on the artisans. It will ensure that they are aware of the customer
and industry trends, and this will enhance the quality and quantity of production. However, this
cannot be the primary solution as it doesn’t increase the reach of the Trust, which is currently a
dire necessity due to the increased competition in the area.

The fourth alternative doesn’t align with the mission and vision of Kala Raksha Trust. Factory
mode of production manipulates the authenticity of the traditional craft and hence jeopardizes the
primary objective of the organization. The uniqueness of each product and the human element in
the production process are the unique selling points of this Trust. Moreover, it will not be able to
enhance the quality of the traditional designs.

The fourth alternative is focused on the mechanism of pricing committees followed by the Trust.
While it is able to involve all the internal stakeholders justly in the decision-making process, they
have been unable to work on policies that reward their customer base or give them any incentives
to purchase in greater quantities. Secondly, it is unable to add to the standard of living of the
artisans or contribute to the preservation of the craft. Therefore, this alternative has been unable
to meet any of the criteria and has been discarded.

Hence, the selected alternative based on the above evaluation is the recruitment of effective
managers and experts in marketing intelligence, product management, data-keeping, and
programming. It has been able to meet all the four criteria that align with the long-term objective
of Kala Raksha Trust.

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SELECTED ALTERNATIVE

The Trust should hire effective managers and experts in marketing intelligence, product
management, data keeping, and programming so that they can overcome the shortcomings of
lack of promotion of products, product’s suitability for all clients, inefficient database of
customers, etc. which is essential in increasing the revenue for the Trust. And as the revenue of
the firm increases, the portion of earnings provided to the artisans for their products will go up,
which in turn will improve the standard of living of the artisans. Through hiring the above
shortcomings will be eliminated as experts with appropriate marketing knowledge will be able to
promote the product better as we have seen that the sale at the center shop was less due to lack of
awareness of the tourists and the localities of the Bhuj area.

The case also talks about an incident when the Trust had held an exhibition in the US Embassy
in Delhi, and the products that were exhibited were of Indian size, which was not suitable for
American customers. The products at the center shops were not up to the required quality
standards, which led to a lot of defection among customers. Through managers who have
expertise in product management, the Trust will be able to eliminate the problems associated
with the quality of the products and the issue of stocks being left over after exhibition. In order to
boost the revenue of the Trust, it is necessary to have a database constituting the information of
the present customers and potential leads along with their contact details and address. Website is
the initial introduction of the Trust to most customers who place orders online, but in this case,
purchases cannot be made on the website of the Trust by the potential leads, which is a
significant drawback. The Trust should hire experts versed with programming languages to
overcome this drawback.

By hiring managers equipped with marketing intelligence, the firm can promote its products and
the traditions of the indigenous tribes. If people start showing interest in their traditional designs,
they do not have to switch to contemporary designs to have their products sold, which will help
them maintain their originality. The case also concerns the lack of implementation of their
feedback from each of their exhibitions which shows a lack of customer feedback survey tools,
which can be solved by hiring experts who are well versed in data-keeping, analytics, and
programming languages. By creating an efficient database, the firm will be able to impart
knowledge of current market trends to the artisans and will be able to figure out from which
source the potential leads are coming from. After identifying the source, the Trust can work on
optimizing its marketing strategies on that platform.

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ACTION PLAN

To resolve the problem of stagnating sales while sustaining the vision and mission of Kala
Raksha Trust, it is imperative that effective hiring of the proper middle-level management and
experts in marketing intelligence, product management, data-keeping, and programming.
Currently, the employees have been unable to handle the increased size of operations, maintain
the database with relevant programming measures, and implement the observations from
previous years in the primary production process. The artisans are also dangerously removed
from the current market trends as well as customer behavior. Effective hiring and training will
ensure the smooth functioning of the information, and these professionals will be able to act as
the guiding light for the team’s decisions and development.

These experts will analyze consumer interactions using relevant tools that hone in data points to
reveal the Trust’s products’ behavior. Kala Raksha’s marketing methods need to be revised to
adopt the new digital resources effectively. Greater is the amount of data at their disposal; more
opportunities to learn from their consumers and producers lead. The case mentions an alarming
gap between the production and marketing intelligence, which their current local staff cannot
tackle. Their Marketing Executive is also aware of this shortcoming. Secondly, a lack of
awareness of programming languages/software applications amidst the team is the primary
reason for their outdated customer database that has contributed significantly to the stagnating
sales and customer loyalty. Experts in database management systems will provide a relevant
framework suitable for the Trust to facilitate data quality initiatives.

Considering the budget constraints, it needs to maximize the resources to make the best hires
cost-efficiently. These are the steps that the Trust can take to overcome its limitations:

1. OUTSOURCE

While there are certainly benefits to having people on your payroll, specific jobs and tasks can be
outsourced much more efficiently. Independent contractors and virtual assistants can be hired for
skill-specific jobs. For example, the Trust can float more projects to involve management
students and consultants in market research. This also mitigates the risk of a wrong hire and the
rates will be very cost-effective.

2. NON-SALARY BENEFITS

In organizational settings like that of Kala Raksha Trust, non-salary benefits must be highly
competitive. This will ensure that experts readily work in the various domains because the
compensations will make up for the lack of payments. This will help to tackle the problems that

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recruitment of a significant number of employees in various functionaries of the Trust will cause
in the initial months.

3. REMOTE EMPLOYEES

A solid virtual team will be significantly beneficial for the Trust. They will tap into technological
resources to connect, collaborate and contribute under flexible work conditions. Experts in
several software applications will be able to provide efficient solutions to their immediate needs.
Remote employees will also benefit their recently established franchises in the United States of
America and other countries. Since exports have not contributed significantly to the overall sales,
such a format of hiring will ensure a cost-efficient medium of understanding the international
market and consumers and reduce last-minute cancellations.

Hiring middle-level managers is a necessity as well. They will be able to coordinate and integrate
the newly recruited employees in different domains efficiently. These middle-level managers will
also interact directly with village coordinators to ensure proper implementation of the steps
recommended by the hired experts in the primary and secondary production process. They can
also be directly involved in the pricing committees to guide the artisans. Moreover, they can act
as a link between all the internal and external stakeholders. This structural format will ensure that
increased sales of operations can generate enough money for basic activities in the short term
and improve the quantity and quality of production in the long term.

CONTINGENCY PLAN

After considering all the factors, an alternate approach that Kala Raksha Trust can use as a
contingency plan to boost its profit margins would be relevant promotional tools and advertising
techniques. Unfortunately, tourists are entirely ignorant of the Kutch Center Shop due to a lack
of publicity from the Trust in the Bhuj area. As a result, the shop's overall sales contribution is
incredibly minimal. Second, their website is slow and neglected in terms of digital promotion of
their items. Both the Trust's new storefronts and the company's recently opened franchises in the
United States of America deserve a great deal of attention.

For frequent visits to the Kala Raksha Trust center in Kutch, the Trust should work intensively
with hotels and tour guides in the Bhuj region. Tourists' loyalty can be considerably increased if
the Trust offers unique deals and gives them one-of-a-kind rewards. Moreover, the Trust's
website has to be improved, and it should look into developing a mobile app to reach new
customers. Online feedback should also be taken into consideration for improving the company's
offerings. The Trust's live project and the management students working on it will provide better
results if more money is invested in them and the project. At the same time, it is time for the
Trust to start thinking about putting on more exhibitions. As a result, the Trust will reach a wider

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audience. Table 2-5 shows that the Trust has made inroads into three major urban areas: New
York, Los Angeles, and Chicago. Other well-known cities should get the focus and a new
customer base instead.

Kala Raksha needs to put more effort into online and offline advertising for its activities and for
the two shops recently established at the Garha Safari Camp on RudraMata Dam in Kutch and
the Rann Riders Safari Camp in Dasada last year in Surendranagar.

Advertisements for the Trust on the internet could make use of social media sites. To direct event
attendees and customers to a specific event and online purchasing page, they can build a pop-up
form on their website after improving their current web presence. They should pay close
attention to their current clients and make full use of email marketing. Advertising via print
media such as posters and newspapers is already utilized by the Trust for offline advertising, but
it should now be utilized even more widely. They might attract a larger audience and increase
their market share by posting exhibition flyers in front of venues or posting posters promoting
both stores' products, such as the game "choupal" or other handicrafts. Flyers are an additional
option that's available to them. A flyer with details on their numerous goods and specialties can
be distributed to attendees during the exhibition. In addition, the flier can be given to the tour
guides, who can then distribute it to any tourists they encounter. They can also hand out fliers to
nearby businesses for better reach.

Promoting an event or business online can be difficult when you do not have the right tools to
reach the right audience. In order to establish a clear picture of their target audience, the Trust
can use free analytical tools. Since such data is fully linked with social networking sites and their
website, they may better target their advertisements. After gathering audience data, the Trust can
import it into Tableau and connect it with relevant tools, giving them access to all of their data in
the process. Tableau will make it easier to build dynamic visuals like bar graphs and heatmaps.
Once created, these images can be exported or integrated into many places around promotion to
illustrate patterns, answer questions, and so much more. In addition, this improvement will make
it easier to obtain information about their intended international consumers. As a result of this,
they will become better prepared to build global marketing strategies.

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