ABSTRACT
India’s economic liberalization in 1991 sparked widespread anxiety among local entrepreneurs that their fledgling enterprises were under threat of being marginalised by the entry of giant transnational corporations. The combined dynamics of structural market asymmetries and the regulatory framework therefore pose a fairly unique challenge to the smooth functioning of foreign and domestic enterprises in India. The chapter deals with an account of the development of the colour television receiver (CTV) industry before and after economic liberalization. It presents the case studies of the three majors in the CTV industry – BPL, Philips and Onida – and examines the differences and similarities in their strategic role. Within the CTV industry, 20 per cent of the buyers constituted the ‘top end’, consisting of seekers of brand image, state of the art technology, status and contemporary designs. In the CTV industry, conventional technology draws heavily on upstream technologies in micro-processors, semi-conductors and displays.
