Emerging Markets Case Studies Collection
 

Title – Bharat Petroleum Company Limited's (BPCL), India one-stop truck shop (OSTS) retailing format.

Subject area – Retailing.

Study level/applicability – Undergraduate and Master's level business and management courses.

Case overview – This case looks at the second largest oil company in India (Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL)) and examines an innovative services marketing concept that they introduced into the market in India for the first time, namely, one-stop truck shops. These new format truck-stops were targeted at the highway-based truckers in India who earlier had to stop off at multiple locations to eat and re-fuel increasing their on-road time and reducing their efficiency, much to the chagrin of their truck-fleet owners.

Expected learning outcomes – Students will be expected to build their knowledge of retailing in developing markets using the example of BPCL as a learning tool. The case examines differences in consumer behavior in developed vs developing markets, paying particular attention to the required need to differentiate the retail approach to suit the market.

Supplementary materials – Teaching note (with photographs).