The companies NTL Electronics (India) and Lemnis Lighting (Netherlands) entered into a partnership in order to promote LED lighting. NTL Electronics India has replaced several millions of incandescent lamps and CFL lamps to LED. NTL Electronics is a major supplier in the lighting market with sales of over 18 million items a month.
In 2012, NTL Electronics and Lemnis Lighting created a venture capital company NTL Lemnis. For NTL Electronics this meant the ability to produce a full line of lighting products under the brand name Pharox. It implied that the perspective mart was sectioned to Europe, Asia, and Africa. However, the establishment of the new collaboration meant that the new company has to consider its structure, organization, and operations to be able to address the needs of the business-to-consumer market effectively.
The aim of the joint venture was to admission to the B2C section. Pharox was planned to meet the needs of the Indian customers as well as of the international ones. The assumed rivals of the venture on the market were three major electrical producers that have been operating in the international market successfully. They were Crompton Greaves, Havells, and Phillips Lighting. All of the competitors were manufacturers and sellers of the electrical commodities that were produced on high-tech manufacturing plants. The distinctive positions of the competitors were linked to their varied assortment (product range), a unique approach to handling the electrical sources, and the customer loyalty due to the high commitment of the primary market.
The leadership of the company was reconsidering the company’s sales force to address the needs of the targeted market, which was to become customer-oriented. They were seeking for the best employees with the specific set of skills and expertise that were experienced in furnishing high-quality service in a highly competitive market; thus, they considered outsourcing able to achieve broader coverage on the national scale. NTL Lemnis was pondering on the ways to boost the accountability of the resources through the multi-tier sales organization.
In addition, they offered field training for the sales employees. In terms of the distribution network, the company faced a number of questions to solve that included concerns about the complexity of approach to ease costs and the level of margins to appeal to distributors. In general, the top management had many questions how to structure the organization and its future performance to operate effectively in the B2C market.