Page 24 - UDYAMA FINAL final for web

It is indeed a great pleasure to introduce
to you the first issue of “Udyama –
Management Digest”, the official
business magazine of the Faculty of
Management Studies, Sabaragamuwa
University of Sri Lanka. As an “A”
graded management faculty of the Sri
Lankan state university system, we
always attempt to be a knowledge hub
for the nation by connecting to a wider
network. This magazine is an attempt as
part of that extensive vision to connect
and share knowledge and updated
information among the wider com-
munity while bridging the gap between
academia and industry.
“Udyama” is a Sanskrit term that means
“the act of raising”. With the genuine
aim of uplifting society by knowledge
sharing, the magazine covers a wide
range of topics relevant to modern
business management.
The launch of the first issue of
“Udyama – Management Digest” is a
milestone in the 25 years of the journey
of the faculty. Hence, I would like to
congratulate and extend my heartiest
appreciation to all the contributors,
including the authors of articles, the
editorial team, academics, adminis-
trative staff, and academic support staff
of the FMS family.
Future issues of the magazine will
provide a platform for pragmatic dialog
on contemporary issues in the man-
agement discipline.
On this important occasion, I would
like to wish the Magazine and the
Faculty of Management Studies a
brighter future and success in every
aspect.
articulate the turnaround strategy This pushed us to look for key
for the brand S Lon. Of course, consumer insights. While probing
there was a team who believed in in to finding insights, a very
the brand and together we simple insight was uncovered.
achieved the market leadership. When the children were given a
lemon puff, they split the biscuit
Example - 2 sandwich and licked the cream.
Most children licked the cream
Maliban has been the market and threw away the biscuits. That
leader in the biscuit market of Sri was a great insight. Why do
Lanka for decades with a market children lick the cream and throw
dominance of over 80%. Mun- away the biscuit?
chee was trailing in as number 2
purely due to weaknesses in Reason was revealed that since
marketing and lack of marketing taste of the cream is not promi-
orientation of the entire organiza- nent, they just licked the cream
tion. Although Munchee was and threw away the biscuits.
equipped with a high quality Example - 3
innovative product portfolio, they This was the research insight that
were not able to face the stiff was directed to the research Soy Foods Lanka was the pion-
competition. and development team. The eering company in the soy nugget
current Chairman of Munchee manufacturing yet was an unprof-
In the year 2000 when I took over Mr. Ramya Wickramasinghe, itable company. They were
the responsibilities as the head of came up with the solution. He was making soya nuggets as a vegetar-
Sales and marketing of the CBL able to produce a superior Lemon ian food targeted towards the
Group in the year 2000, I realized puff that brought out the taste of consumers who patronized vege-
that having an edge over the the cream even sandwiched in tarian products. The market was
competition in innovation and between the two puff biscuits. very small making the company
technology was not good enough non profitable. The company cou-
to drive the business. We had to This new recipe moved in to ld not survive and was bought
find the missing link to win the commercial production. The new over by CBL in the year 2000,
hearts of the customer and gain product was differentiated even where I was assigned to play the
market share. Changing a brand by the packaging. When the lead role in planning the way
preferences of a loyal customer whole world had established forward.
base is always a challenging task. Lemon Puff in a yellow colour
packaging, Munchee took the Research clearly indicated that
bold step to relaunch lemon puff the majority of the consumers of
new formula in a white pack Soy nuggets consume it as a
backed by a media campaign substitute for meat and not as a
highlighting the insight and the vegetarian food. This finding
solution. This move not only gave birth to a concept of a varie-
drove Munchee Lemon puff from ty of soya nuggets under different
a market share of 18% to a meat and fish flavours under
staggering 67% within two years specific sub brands such as
of launch, but also grew the Chicken flavour under the brand
category by over 10 times. name Chickosoy and seafood
flavor under the brand name Malu
As a prelude, Market research soy.
helped Munchee to elevate its
market share to an impressive Under each specific brand names,
level within a short time span as many flavours of dishes were
explained above. launched. Those activated and
revolutionized the entire category
and the brand Lankasoy reached