HCL Care: harnessing the out of warranty ICT service market

Marketing strategy, Decision making, After sales servicing.

As part of a core marketing course; at post graduate level; marketing strategy courses where competition and co-operation business models are explored.

The case focuses on HCL Care, which had the service competence and reach, but no marketing set up for attracting customers to its ICT products service facilities. The case explores the decision choices faced by the company in deciding its market strategy. The main challenge was the out of warranty offer planned by HCL Care. It was aimed at providing a one stop solution for consumers who owned various ICT devices of different brands that could not be serviced at one point. There was no specific validation of whether this proposed, more convenient and comprehensive offer was compelling enough for the consumer to switch from the service offered by the original equipment manufacturer or from the plethora of low priced offers from independent service providers in the Indian marketplace.

These include: how to organize the different types of market and company information available to segment the market and selecting the target market; developing a positioning platform and developing the market strategy; and choosing between competition versus cooperative business models.

Teaching notes are available. Consult the librarian for access.