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The 86 Percent Solution: How to Succeed in the Biggest Market Opportunity of the 21st Century

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With regard to the meaning and significance of the title, Mahajan and Banga explain that 86% of the world has a per capita gross national product (GNP) of less than $10,000 per year. So what? Not only do those markets represent the future of global commerce; "they also present rich opportunities for companies that have the imagination and creativity to envision [consumers within those markets]. But you won't recognize these opportunities through the lens of the developed world. You won't reach these consumers through the market strategies that work in the 14 percent markets. Developing markets have no smooth superhighways, no established consumer markets, no distribution networks, and, in many cases, no electricity. Developing markets are younger, behind in technology (but rapidly catching up), and inexperienced as consumers. These markets are very different. Yet with creative solutions tailored to their distinctive characteristics, ...you can realize the rich opportunities of these 86 percent markets."

Mahajan and Banga have carefully organized their material within eleven chapters which range from a rigorous analysis of "the lands of opportunity" to a "Conclusion" in which they explain why the markets in underdeveloping countries "not to be missed." More specifically, they discuss what they describe as a "complex tapestry" of convergent civilizations in which there really do seem to be almost unlimited opportunities to increase both the standard of living and quality of life for hundreds of millions of consumers. The challenge for those companies which attempt to market various goods and services in those markets is to understand their unique characteristics. To me, it seems at east as important to understand what they are not as it is to understand what they are...or can (and will) become.

Here are two brief excerpts and then a checklist which, I hope, indicate the scope and depth of Mahajan and Banga's analysis.

"There is no Chinese market. There is a market in Shanghai, or in a neighborhood in Shanghai. There is no Indian market. There is a market in Mumbai or Chennai, or in their local neighborhoods. Developing countries are a collection of fragmented local markets in a country that is gathered loosely under a single flag." (Page 77)

"Think English is the language to know for business? Maybe not for long. Consider that Mandarin Chinese has the largest number of speakers in the world -- a billion, including second-language speakers. This is followed by English, with about half as many speakers, and then Spanish, Hindi, Arabic, Bengali, and Russian. If you want to work with 86 percent of the world, you need to speak the languages of the 86 percent." (page 83)

Which strategies will be most effective when "taking the market to the people"? Mahajan and Banga suggest seven:

1. Position for the paanwalla (i.e. small shop)

2. Create multiple levels of distribution (e.g. Hindustan Lever's "Project Shakti" based a direct-to-home model involving self-help groups, each comprised of 10-15 underprivileged women)

3. Use distribution bubbles (i.e. carnivals, market days, and vans which come and go) to find customers where they are

4. Take the bank out of the branch (e.g. Citibank's use of vans and a network of 9,000 direct-selling agents, called "Citi Friends," who visit homes)

5. Develop on-the-ground insights (i.e. understand and adapt to local aND even neighborhood regulations and conditions)

6. Create distribution systems from scratch (e.g. a new distribution system, based on grassroots networks, which built a supply chain for a camel's milk dairy in Mauritania)

7. Use existing networks creatively (e.g. the "dabbawala system" in Mumbai, India, probably the world's most efficient lunch delivery system which collects 175,000 home-cooked meals from workers' homes and delivers them to their offices)

Thoughtfully, Mahajan and Banga provide a section at the end of each of the first ten chapters, "The 86 Percent Solution," which summarizes key points and facilitates subsequent review of them. Before concluding their brilliant book, Mahajan and Banga share these thoughts when explaining why numbers are on the side of the developing world: Population Equals Profits. "The transformation is just beginning. There will be hiccups along the way and further surprises over the next two decades as the next `Chinas' and `Indias' emerge. The only certainty is the the 86 percent markets are here to stay. These markets are young and growing. Even though they won't become developed tomorrow,,, they are the future. And the companies that can develop the right solutions to meet their needs will find a rich source of growth."

Who will derive the greatest benefit from Mahajan and Banga's book? In my opinion, they are decision makers in two different categories of companies: Those which now market or are about to market in underdeveloping countries, and, other companies which now do business with -- or plan to do business with -- those in the first category. I also think this book will be of substantial interest and value to public officials who are now actively involved with helping to support global commerce.

Congratulations to Mahajan and Banga on a brilliant achievement!

Business is obviously always on the lookout for growth opportunities. In the book The 86% Solution - How To Succeed In the Biggest Market Opportunity of the 21st Century by Vijay Mahajan and Kamini Banga, the argument is made (and quite effectively) that the largest new markets are in the developing countries... 86% of the world. However, the rules are significantly different in those markets...

Contents: The Lands of Opportunity; Don't Build a Car When You Need a Bullock Cart; Aim for the Ricochet Economy; Connect Brands to the Market; Think Young; Grow Big by Thinking Small; Bring Your Own Infrastructure; Look for the Leapfrog; Take the Market to the People; Develop with the Market; An Opportunity Not to Be Missed; Index

Many companies that have tried to move into these developing countries did so by following the same rules that worked in the richest 14% of the world. They more often than not failed miserably. The economies are different, the purchasing power is different, and the market plays by different rules based on culture. The authors do an excellent job in showing how a different approach to these markets are necessary in order to succeed. For instance, in "Grow Big by Thinking Small", they explain that developing country consumers are using to buying what they need when they need it, and only the amount they immediately need. They often don't have either the space to store bulk quantities nor the extra income to stockpile. Trying to sell laundry detergent for 100 loads will fail. Selling enough soap for one load for a few pennies will work. The margins are thin, but the volume is huge. Your company needs to figure out how to make it all work. In "Take the Market to the People", you'll learn that the concept of going to the nearest Wal-Mart is completely unknown. Your "store" may be a stall at a weekly market bazaar or a person cycling your wares from village to village. You better understand that and package/price accordingly. And what do you do when you're marketing electrical items in a country where power is normally unavailable for hours each day? That's your new reality...

For any business or entrepreneur looking to tap into the vastly underserved global markets, this book is required reading. Even if you're just moderately interested in business and markets, the information here is fascinating. What we consider normal, really isn't...

For years the developed world has been viewed as the "mother lode" for worldwide business. Companies poured their resources into serving the 14 per cent of the world's population that is fortunate enough to live there.

According to the authors, Vijay Mahajan, former dean of the Indian School of Business and current holder of the Harbin Centennial Chair in Business at the university of Texas in Austin and Kamini Banga, an independent marketing consultant, these markets are over-saturated, over-competitive and aging.

The growth, they argue, lies in reaching the rest of the world. Focusing on the 86 percent of the world with a per capital gross national product of less than $10,000 year offers a rich opportunity. These markets have been largely invisible to worldwide companies and even some firms operating there. Yes, the authors acknowledge, these countries lack infrastructure and media. They have low literacy rates. Their consumers react in unconventional ways.

Yet with the right solutions, these markets represent staggering opportunities. The authors suggest realizing that potential by:

1. Reaching middle class and the affluent consumers along with the poor. These markets are larger, wealthier and more diverse than you realize.

2. Designing products that reflect local environments and cultures.

3. Using expatriates to ricochet your products into the local economy.

4. Growth big by thinking small.

5. Bringing your own infrastructure with you.

6. Take the market to the people.

To illustrate these strategies, the authors draw on dozens of emerging market examples. They offer actionable strategies and tactics for product design, pricing, packaging, distribution and advertising.

Emerging markets are different. Yet, worldwide companies are already reaping billions of dollars in sales from them.

The 86 percent" here is an estimate of people living in countries with per capita gross national product of less than $10,000. Of the world's six billion-plus inhabitants, only 14 percent live in countries where this measure is over $10,000. According to Vijay Mahajan and Kamini Banga, companies can no longer afford to not pay attention to emerging economies. Their book is a persuasive argument that is full of nitty-gritty advice and practical examples.

The book is likely to appeal to managers trying to expand market reach as well as managers in developing countries who want to think differently about strategies that may succeed in their own environment. This book may also benefit leaders of governments, non-governmental organizations, and other organizations who want to better understand the complexities of the developing world's business environment.

Both authors are well-versed in the challenges of marketing to the poor. Vijay Mahajan holds a chair in business at the University of Texas at Austin and is a former dean of the Indian School of Business. Kamini Banga is an independent marketing consultant and managing director of Dimensions Consultancy Pvt. Ltd. She travels widely conducting training programs on market research and consumer behavior, and writes and edits articles for top Indian business publications.

Beginning even in the first few pages, their practical ideas make sense: Scale down the product size for bulk items to a sachet. Provide built-in cooling for products that are best kept refrigerated. Create mechanisms to allow products purchased by someone in a developed economy to be used or consumed by someone in a different country. These basic concepts mean learning to think small-in terms of package size, installment pay options, and products that fulfill just bare-bones minimal needs; building your own infrastructure to develop and deliver products; and creating a "ricochet economy" that serves the needs of immigrants abroad who maintain strong connections to their country of origin.

It is very important that as companies refocus their strategies they also consider customer needs most appropriately. For example, how could people in villages and cities without reliable sources of electricity be expected to purchase and use products that don't come with a back-up source of energy?

Mahajan and Banga challenge all managers to reevaluate what they believe about customer needs in developing countries and to make them more basic and realistic. If you don't know what an inverter is, then you're not there yet.

“Around the same time that we were engaged in this work, C.K. Prahalad and others were focusing attention on the same areas of the world from a different perspective. In his insightful work ‘The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid,’ he points out the potential of the poorest citizens of the world. But the poorest of the poor are just one segment of these markets. Will you know how to meet the needs of the growing middle class or luxury segments? In 2004, a single Rolls Royce was sold in India for more than $700,000, some 1,500 times the average per capita gross national income in that country. This book focuses on the entire spectrum of business opportunities in these emerging markets, for both very poor and more affluent consumers. It also discusses the characteristics of these markets that must be addressed in market strategies. In addition to the specific strategies explored in this book, we hope the examples in the following chapters will encourage you to think more broadly about the approaches that might work in your part of the world (from the Preface).”

In this context, Vijay Mahajan and Kamini Banga divide this excellent study on emerging markets into ten chapters. They define main idea behind the chapters with the following sentences:

• Chapter 1. The Lands of Opportunity: The rapid development of the 86 percent of the world population in countries with a per capita gross national product (GNP) of less than $10,000 has made these areas the new lands of opportunity. But their complexity and distinctive characteristics will require different market strategies to realize these opportunities.

• Chapter 2. Don’t Build A Car When You Need A Bullock Cart: Product design needs to reflect the challenges of the local environment and the demands of the local culture and religion. When you’re looking for creative solutions to these needs, sometimes a bullock cart is better than an automobile.

• Chapter 3. Aim for the Ricochet Economy: With high rates of immigration to the developed world, the 86 percent market is stretched across zigzagging global diasporas. To reach the developing world, companies sometimes need to ‘ricochet’ off social networks of the developed world.

• Chapter 4. Connect Brands to the Market: Global brands often have been humbled by small, local rivals in fragmented, developing markets. Companies need to find the right balance of global and local brands, or reinterpret these brands, to connect with the market.

• Chapter 5. Think Young: While the developed world is facing a crisis of aging, the 86 percent markets are a fountain of youth-although these youth may be different from their peers in developed countries. To understand this opportunity, companies have to think young.

• Chapter 6. Grow Big By Thinking Small: While the developed world may want to be super-sized, big successes in developing markets often come in small packages. Small payments, sachets, and products tailored to small spaces can create big opportunities.

• Chapter 7. Bring Your Own Infrastructure: With unreliable electric grids, undrinkable water, tangled roads, massive informal economies, and other infrastructure gaps in developing markets, companies often need to creatively build or bring their own infrastructure.

• Chapter 8. Look for the Leapfrog: Lack of infrastructure can sometimes represent a greenfield opportunity that allows 86 percent markets to find opportunities by leapfrogging forward to more advanced technological solutions.

• Chapter 9. Take the Market to the People: With many parts of developing markets virtually inaccessible by traditional distribution systems, companies have had to go out to the market with bicycles, hole-in-the-wall stores, and local knowledge to take the market to the people.

• Chapter 10. Develop With the Market: Developing markets are a moving target, so companies need to evolve their strategies with the market.

Finally, V.Mahajan and K.Banga rightly say that “While Samuel Huntington once presented a view of world civilizations as disconnected islands headed toward a ‘clash of civilizations’ (and there are certainly many opportunities for conflict), there is a countervailing force of connections among different countries, cultures, and economies. These connections are facilitating growth and progress for both developing and developed countries. We cannot limit our thinking with preconceived notions about borders between societies or simple views of gaps between the developed and developing world. Opportunities often emerge across these borders. The developing world can be a source of solutions that are tremendously valuable to the developed world, and vice versa. Even terms such as ‘developing’ and ‘developed’ are an oversimplification of this complex interweaving of cultures and economies that is occurring on a global scale (pp. 211-212).”

Strongly recommended.

For most companies, the developed world (the 14%) has been the focus of most product development and marketing, because they have the richest citizens. The poor and developing countries weren't worth looking at, because they couldn't afford to buy things, or so the conventional wisdom went. The 86% Solution takes that conventional wisdom and turns it on its ear, and shows successful companies that have embraced the 86% and the unique challenges that come with serving them. The authors examine the needs and cultural differences of the citizens of developing countries, and provide practical ideas and strategies to serve these large and rapidly growing emerging markets.

The key message of this book is that every obstacle to serving the developing world is an opportunity for an innovative company to overcome that obstacle and reap the rewards of solving it. If you are an entrepreneur, contemplating doing international business in the increasingly global marketplace, or looking for opportunities to grow your business abroad then you need to read The 86 Percent Solution : How to Succeed in the Biggest Market Opportunity of the Next 50 Years by Mahajan and Banga. The book delivers its message strongly and succinctly by providing practical strategies for succeeding in the toughest marketplaces of the developing world, and illustrating each strategy with examples of companies and solutions that are interesting to read and thought-provoking in consequence.

One of the few criticisms of the book is that it presents an overly optimistic view by only looking at companies that have succeeded, not examining some of the great failures of marketing towards the developing world such as Nike's World Shoe and the reasons why those initiatives failed. It is also a very marketing focused look, and doesn't examine some of the more operational and organizational challenges that come with trying to sell in the developing world such as choosing and managing your local partners. For those types of insights, I recommend The Mirage of Global Markets: How Globalizing Companies Can Succeed as Markets Localize by David Arnold. However, the 86% Solution is far and away the best book I've read for taking on the challenges of the developing market and providing insights and strategies on how to succeed. In addition, the tone of the book is perfect and conversational in what could have been an overly academic analysis, simple enough for anyone to pick it up and read it, yet engaging enough to keep MBA students and CEO's turning the pages for the next bit of wisdom.

This book is best appreciated if you have first read C.K. Prahalad's "The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid," William Grieder's "The Soul of Capitalism," and Stuart Hart's "Capitalism at the Crossroads." It is a tactical or foreign neighborhood (both in the Third World and in the immigrant sections of the First World) implementation manual for profiting from sales to the poor.

It makes many obvious points as well as many not so obvious points, and I will not list them here. This is a book that requires patience and careful reading. The author has brought forward a great deal of detail in a very easy to read way.

I will end with thought that the Wharton School's publishing arm has really catalyzed for me with these varied book. The five billion at the bottom of the pyramid are the last remaining super-power on this planet. The good news is that we can profit from enriching them. The bad news is that we still have morons in power that think we can keep them down by using guns. Newsflash: there are not enough guns on the planet to keep the five billion and their off-spring from over-running us. Capitalism, and the rapid nurturing of indigenous self-sustaining wealth that includes the rapid education of women (which leads to saner men, less disease, limited growth) is our only salvation.

This book is one of a handful that could be said to be truly revolutionary in terms of transforming the planet from one beset by poverty, to one inspired by entrepreneurship at the neighborhood level.

The 86 Percent Solution : How to Succeed in the Biggest Market Opportunity of the Next 50 Years (Hardcover)

by Vijay Mahajan, Kamini Banga

ISBN: 0131489070

The authors provide a very unique look into the biggest market for years to come.

The book The 86 Percent Solution provides rich insights into the emerging markets where per capita incomes of individuals is as low as $300 but still provide tremendous scope for growth.

Developing markets offer the greatest potential for gains unheard of in the developed markets. To venture into these markets companies will have to (un)learn all that worked elsewhere. The things that worked in developed economies and the basic presumptions made will not work in most developing nations of today. The concept of consumer is king is a myth in these places, where in fact a consumer is a person with limited purchasing power, bargaining power and storage capacity.

What works for marketing Fast Moving Consumer Goods won't work for Consumer Durables or for Services. Even though developing markets seem risky as there is little or no credit risk monitoring at the dealer level besides the usual problems of lack of infrastructure there will always be a first mover advantage for companies willing to invest in infrastructure.

Products like water filtration systems for individual homes will find a ready market where potable drinking water is unheard of. In the rural markets even with the sweltering heat it is difficult to sell an air conditioner where uninterrupted power supply is neither available nor expected.

To sell in these markets region specific plans rather then country specific ones will need to be formulated and implemented, due to the fragmented nature of the markets having their own special needs.

Through various example the authors explain all that works and doesn't work and why.

This book is a must read for all those who wish to tap this market and also all those who always wondered why all their wining strategies which worked so well for them for so many years everywhere else, just don't work in these markets.

The coauthor Vijay Mahajan is a former dean of the Indian School of Business and holds the John P. Harbin Centennial Chair in Business at McCombs School of Business, University of Texas at Austin.

The coauthor Kamini Banga is an independent marketing consultant and managing director of Dimensions Consultancy Pvt. Ltd.

There have been several solid books recently published on how to capitalize on the evolving economies of developing nations, but this one is the most practical. The title refers to the 86 percent of the world's six billion-plus inhabitants that live in developing countries where the per capita GNP is less than $10K per year. According to authors Vijay Mahajan and Kamini Banga, much of the world's future economic growth and enduring market opportunities reside in this expansive bracket. They appear to have the credentials to be well versed in such matters - Mahajan holds a chair in business at the University of Texas at Austin and is a former dean of the Indian School of Business, while Banga is a managing director of Dimensions Consultancy Pvt. Ltd., a firm focused on helping develop economic survival strategies for companies in developing countries.

Thus far, the authors say that most companies have too often focused their marketing disproportionately on the 14 percent of the world's population living in developed economies. They look at market strategies in developing countries more broadly than C.K. Prahalad does in his recently published and similarly themed book, "The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid: Eradicating Poverty Through Profits". Rather than focusing on just the bottom of the pyramid, Mahajan and Banga examine every level of that pyramid and identify other ways that companies need to challenge the established Western models for marketing in approaching these emerging markets.

The strength of the 256-page book is simply that the authors provide practical ideas that make good business sense. For example, they advise manufacturers to scale down the product size for bulk items to packets if possible, and they encourage providing built-in cooling for products that are best kept refrigerated. In brief, in order to succeed with the 86% segment, companies need to create mechanisms that allow products purchased by someone in a developed economy to be used or consumed by someone in a different country. This means thinking "small" in terms of not only package size but also installment pay options, and investing in products that fulfill just fundamental consumer needs versus establishing a product niche that may not be there much less appreciated.

From this change in thinking, the authors provide valuable guidance on how to build an infrastructure to develop and deliver products. Most interestingly, Mahajan and Banga discuss the creation of a "ricochet economy" that serves the needs of immigrants abroad who maintain strong connections to their country of origin. A key example cited is a Los Angeles electronics and furniture retailer named La Curacao, where a customer in the US can purchase products and have them delivered to relatives in Mexico. The formula also works inversely where countries have taken products established in developed countries and successfully adapted them to local sensibilities. For instance, MTV has a global presence that is sensitive on a localized level with Bollywood music in India, calls to prayer broadcast five times daily in Indonesia and the infusion of a "salsa flavor" into its Brazilian programming.

Another fascinating insight is the absence of legacy systems in developing countries which would have otherwise slowed them down in adopting new technologies. As a matter of fact, these countries adapt even faster than developed countries to convenience products such as cell phones because they have not invested in large-scale telecommunications systems with land lines. On the other hand, there are certain realities to consider when putting customer needs first, such as the fact that people in villages without reliable sources of electricity cannot be expected to purchase and use products without a back-up source of energy. Mahajan and Banga recognize with acuity the fact that companies need to refocus their strategies to consider customer needs specifically in order to make the headway necessary to reap the economic benefits of the 86%.

As others write of China's looming dominance and the outsourcing power of India, these authors take a constructive step toward identifying key market opportunities available to companies to offset such trends. More than Prahalad's book, this tome provides an ideal complement to Stuart L. Hart's "Capitalism at the Crossroads: The Unlimited Business Opportunities in Solving the World's Most Difficult Problems", which identifies the need for companies to move beyond transparency towards "radical transactiveness", i.e., a willingness to engage and learn from people who hold fundamentally different world views Mahajan and Banga provide smart, practical-minded reading for those seeking a fresh perspective in conquering the future global economy.

In the late seventies and early eighties when India was deemed both by foreigners and Indians themselves as a decrepit, dilapidated and depressing `developing' nation, three of the most popular reasons cited for our condition were: people having too many children; smart and able young Indians migrating to developed countries; rapacious smugglers that weakened the nation by selling foreign goods illegally in India. Many thought leaders suggested forcible contraception, denial of passports for graduates and death for smugglers who were the arch villains in Bollywood action flicks. Thanks to our legislator's farsighted design or sheer lassitude, none of these were implemented.

Man, what difference twenty years can make to one's thinking.

Now, the youthful mass of Indians is cited as the core strength of India (while most other prominent countries are expected to suffer gradual economic decay due to their aging population.) The Indian diaspora is credited with not only jumpstarting the whole outsourcing boom but also pumping up the foreign exchange reserves. And the opening of borders has led to Indians enjoying a wide variety of goods and services at low costs, no matter what congenital Cassandras like the fiction writer Arundhati Roy may have to say.

Another myth that has prevailed for long is that there is money to be made only by selling to the lucrative demographic: the 14% of the population or countries where the per capita GDP is $10,000 or higher. The other 86% was considered by major corporations to be unworthy of serious attention or marketing effort. This reminds us of a shoe company that sent two salesmen to Africa to evaluate the potential of the market for selling shoes. The first one writes back: "Nobody here wears any shoes. This is a useless market." Soon thereafter arrives the missive from the other: "Nobody here wears any shoes. This is a terrific market."

The second salesman would feel vindicated and thrilled to read Dr. Vijay Mahajan's new book 86% Solution: How to Succeed in the Biggest Market Opportunity of the Next 50 Years (Wharton School Publishing, 2005) that presents a powerful argument for businesses worldwide to achieve growth by targeting the 86% of the world population in developing countries. The shoeless population may not buy $100 tasseled loafers, but, hey, there is good money to be made by selling them Rs. 10 rubber sandals...says Mahajan. In fact, he adds, many MNCs can only show revenue and profitability growth by effectively selling to this 86%.

Mahajan exhorts companies to recalibrate the two multipliers in the overall sales equation: number of sales x revenue per sale. 10000 x $1 is more than 100 x $10. Google stands as an outstanding example of a company that figured out how to do small dollar sales to thousands of small businesses instead of the usual model of selling high dollar advertising campaigns to a few large companies.

86% Solution makes for both a fascinating and satisfying read as it masterfully weaves between a plethora of compelling examples and an enumeration of principles for success in the demographic. The numerous examples trot the globe highlighting sparkling successes and glorious disasters in marketing to the 86%.

Take the example of shampoo and detergent sales. The thrust in US is to sell large bottles of shampoo at a lower cost per ounce; the small bottles are sold at a far higher unit cost because the customer is willing to pay a premium for the convenience. In India, the model is inverted, as successfully shown by the trailblazing leadership of Hindustan Lever which makes nearly Rs. 5000 Crores (> $1 billion) by focusing on sales of small packets that retail for a rupee or two. In many cases, the cost per ounce of shampoo is lower in a small packet than in a big bottle. The insight here is that HLL figured out that the only way to create the market and build market share is to think small in selling to a customer who is both short of money and space at home.

The key, therefore, is for businesses to understand the idiosyncrasies of marketing to the 86%: lower disposable incomes, poor infrastructure, tight quarters, close-knit families, relatively immobile population...so on. Mahajan says the average household in Bhutan has 13 members and some livestock. So McDonalds and Nike needs to reflect on how it can sell to this household. What seems to be a problem could turn out to be golden opportunities...just ask Pepsi that took widespread lack of potable water in India into a blockbuster, growing business for Aquafina by selling a one liter bottle for $0.20 whereas in the US it retails for more than $1.

One reassuring aspect of this globalization is that it is not bleaching the world white with a uniform, undifferentiated culture. Local colors and hues dominate the global landscape. In fact, Mahajan provides numerous examples of products that failed spectacularly until they factored in regional culture and taste. MTV and McDonalds are striking examples of companies that had to submit and subordinate to the local idiom to make it in India.

Two powerful forces are at work today, one new and one old. The new paradigm of a flat, borderless world where companies can compete. And then the age-old imperative and quest for profitable growth. Both of these demand companies to crack the 86% market.

Prof. Mahajan, a world renowed marketing teacher and researcher, summons his vast experience as an academician, consultant and as ex-Dean of ISB, Hyderabad to provide a roadmap for businesses to the 86% market.