INTRODUCTION

Herbal Medicine is the oldest form of healthcare known to mankind and it was used across
different cultures and societies throughout history. This ancient use of herbs has infact laid
the foundation of the modern medicine development. However, over the course of time, the
use of chemicals and other artificial ingredients have found their places in the modern
medicines.

Kangra Herbs is bringing back the ancient wisdom of curing diseases by revisiting the
Himalayas and carefully exploring the wonder herbs. Kangra Herb started its operation in the
year 2005. The company aims at providing people with a healthy lifestyle. By growing herbs
the company wants to save the planet from the ill-effects of industrialization. Today, Kangra
Herbs not only manufactures herbal medicines, it has also diversified itself into herbal health
centres and herbal education. The opportunity to explore and provide solutions is endless.

The company set up its office in Himachal Pradesh where its manufacturing unit is located.
The marketing office of the company is located in Delhi.

Some of the prominent achievements of the company are:-

1. It has the only manufacturing facility of herbal medicines which follows the ancient
Gurukul norms as well as matches the WHO standards together.

2. Its hygienic manufacturing conditions are regarded as the best herbal medicine
manufacturing facility across the world.

3. Organically cultivated herbal farming with more than 514 herbs grown and processed for
using in the Herbal Products.

4. 64000 Sq.Ft. Of AHU Control System Herbal Manufacturing Unit.

5. More than 11000 acres of organically cultivated farms in quality controlled green houses.

The instance which prompted the idea of starting Kangra Herbs

Kangra herb is a one-man company. The man behind its inception and growth is the
clairvoyant entrepreneur Mr. Ra Si Guleria. He enjoys trekking and hunting in his leisure
time. The idea of starting the company crossed his mind when he once went for trekking. He
had a smoky vision and apparently this came to the notice of one of the local person’s
residing in the area. He approached Mr. Guleria and offered him help with his eye-sight.
Initially he was reluctant but then to his surprise he could instantly feel the difference in
vision when he accepted the person’s offer to help. That person took a herb from the nearby
plant, rubbed its leaf against a thin stick and applied it to Mr. Guleria’s eye and hence was the
difference in his eye sight. It was then Mr. Guleria thought that these herbs must be utilised
for the benefit of the people. He was also told by the person that in the same area there are
herbs for curing different diseases. And hence Mr. Guleria also looked at it as a good
business opportunity.

Since then there has been no looking back for Kangra Herb. It started by manufacturing eye-
drops which had multiple benefits like curing conjunctivitis, cataract, reducing dryness of
eyes, improving eyesight etc. And today Kangra Herb has a wide variety of products ranging
from herbal medicines to herbal beauty products.

Unique selling proposition

The USP of Kangra herbs is that all the products manufactured by it are made from
organically cultivated herbs and there is no use of chemicals. It takes care of nitty-gritty’s
even in cultivating the herbs from which the medicines are manufactured. The fertilisers used
in manufacturing the herbs are also natural. For instance if cow dung has to be used as a
fertiliser, then care is taken so much so that the cow whose dung is to be used has been fed
properly as that would dictate the quality of the dung.

Therefore curing diseases the natural way is what Kangra Herbs believes in and it strives to
produce the superior quality medicines in order to live up to its own and its customer’s
expectations.

A belief carried forward

In the ancient times when there were no medicines, hospitals or doctors, the people relied on
Ayurveda and practised natural remedies in order to cure their illness. However with medical
advancement Ayurveda lost its importance and Allopahty and Homeopathy dominated the
medicinal market.

Allopathic medicines provide relief instantly but at the same time they have side effects
which the consumers are oblivious to. But ayurvedic / herbal medicines provide relief
instantaneously and have side benefits too. Therefore Kangra Herb wants to bank upon the
legacy of Ayurveda and provide cure to the ailments sans side effects.

Purity and welfare go hand-in-hand at Kangra Herb

The factories of Kangra Herb are not located in industrial areas like those of other
pharmaceutical companies. This is because those at Kangra Herb believe in purity in its
purest form. They do not want to manufacture medicines or cultivate herbs in an area prone
to pollution or to other pathogenic elements in the environment. The manufacturing unit of
Kangra Herb is located in Himachal Pradesh in the natural environs. Mr. Guleria is a native
of the place and the land purchased for setting up of the manufacturing facility is in a special
economic zone. The land was purchased at a subsidized price by the government and this was
because the coming up of the manufacturing unit provided a lot of employment opportunities
to the local population. There was no clearing of land or felling trees in order to set up the
factory. From the scratch everything has been done keeping the natural resources intact and at
the same time Kangra has left no stone unturned to provide the purest form of medicines.
 Also Kangra Herb’s hygiene technology has been recognised by the World Health
Organisation. The company has also got government grants and has over 42 patents.

In the pipeline...

The company envisages a potential market abroad and hence has plans to export its products.
The company is confident of getting orders due to its product quality. The company has
recently signed a memorandum of understanding with Glitz International which would act as
a mediator in order to promote the products of Kangra Herb in the United States. The product
testing, shipping costs etc will be borne by Glitz International itself. The Global trade
consultants will market the products in the United States.

SWOT ANALYSIS

Strengths Opportunity
 Efficient R&D
 Adopting better
 Best quality products
marketing mix
 Own herbal cultivation
 Adopting better
 Concentrated medicines business level strategy
Weakness
SWOT Threat
 No mass advertising  Competition from
 No defined hierarchical popular Ayurvedic
structure in the brands
organisation  Preference of
consumers for
Allopathy and
Homeopathy
 EXTERNAL ANALYSIS

Unlike the strategies used to promote Ayurvedic products like Himalaya, medicines of
Ramdev etc the strategy adopted by Kangra Herb is that of “Multi Level Marketing”.

The company is in its growth stage and is not yet as popular as other Ayurvedic products like
those of Himalaya. Himalaya and similar products use mass advertising and aggressive
marketing strategies contrary to those of Kangra Herb. Therefore the product is facing fierce
competition from these products.

Also the Allopathy and Homeopathy is more popular amongst the mass consumers than
Ayurvedic medicines. They are considered antediluvian and hence are not very popular
amongst the consumers unless they are tried and their benefits are experienced. Hence to get
that share of mind of the consumers is quite a challenge for Kangra Herb. The company faces
fierce competition from other Ayurvedic brands especially Himalaya.

CORPORATE LEVEL STRATEGY

CUSTOMER
Raw materials Component parts Final assembly Multi Level
manufacturing Marketing

Backward vertical integration into Forward vertical

upstream industries integration into
downstream industries

An integrated strategy is followed at Kangra Herb. From the production of the raw material to
the assembling of the final product and then selling it to the customers is well integrated with
each other. The raw materials for the products are the organic herbs which are cultivated by
Kangra Herb itself. The raw material is not purchased from any external supplier. The herbs
are processed and the products are produced in the factories. The final assembling of the
products is also carried out by the company itself and then comes the stage of multi level
marketing where the products are sold via different mediums other than mass advertising or
other such aggressive strategies.

BUSINESS LEVEL STRATEGY

The company follows “Multi Level Marketing” strategy and not the usual modes of
marketing like advertising, aggressive promotional strategies etc. It believes in the word-of-
mouth promotion of the products. This is because it wants that the outcomes of the products
should be such that the customers after experiencing the benefits themselves become the
brand ambassadors of the product and this sort of advertising would be more effective.

The company also follows the strategy of “Related Diversification”. This means that a
company sets up a business unit in a new industry that is related to the company’s existing
business units by some form of linkage. Kangra Herb does so by tying up with the hotels in
Himachal Pradesh. It offers packages to the customers through the hoteliers. The hoteliers
promote the brand and if the customer opts for the package having herbal treatment and
herbal food as a part of his stay then those services are provided by the Kangra Herb. The
company also provides special training to the hotel staff in order to prepare special organic
food etc.

The company also has tie ups with the army and the defence and the products of Kangra Herb
are also supplied to them.

Other than that the company has few franchisees in Delhi like beauty salons, spas etc which
use the beauty range provided by Kangra Herb when a customer asks for a herbal treatment.
The hoardings of such franchisees mention that the herbal treatments products used by that
particular parlour or spa have been sponsored by Kangra Herb.

Therefore the above are the strategies used by Kangra Herb in order to promote its products
other than conventional modes of advertising.
 FOCUS STRATEGIES
Offers products to only Offers products to many
one group of customers kinds of customers

Offers low
priced
products to Focused cost leadership Cost leadership strategy
customers strategy

Offers unique or
distinctive
products to Focused differentiation Differentiation strategy
customers strategy

The above figure shows the different focus strategies followed by different companies.
Specific to Kangra Herb is the “Differentiation strategy”. This is because it satisfies both
the parameters i.e. the products offered by it are distinctive and also it caters to different
kinds of customer.

The products are unique in the sense of the way they are manufactured and also are made out
of fresh and organically cultivated Himalayan herbs. The environs in which the products are
manufactured are fresh and free from pollution. And this makes the products extremely
effective and the results are visible within a very short period of time.

Also there are products for different ailments like fever, migraine, skin problems, acidity,
constipation, genealogical disorders, cancer, stress etc. Other than that, herbal beauty
products like skin creams, face packs, hair oils, body lotions, after shave lotions etc are also
manufactured at Kangra Herb. Different variety of health drinks, amlas, chayawanprash etc
also form a product category at Kangra Herb.

Therefore due to a wide product range to cater to the different needs of the consumer the
company aims to target all the kind of consumers and does not manufacture products for any
one particular segment. Due to the wide product base the customer base of the company is
also spread across different age groups.
 DYNAMICS OF COMPETITIVE POSITIONING

KANGRA HERBS
Differentiation (higher costs/ higher prices)

Innovation
Innovation
Quality as excellence

Responsiveness to customers

Quality as reliability

Efficiency

Cost leadership (lower costs/ lower prices)

On the above curve Kangra Herb lies close to the two parameters of “Innovation” and “Quality as
excellence. The parameter of innovation is relevant here because the herbs used in the manufacturing of the
products are organically cultivated and latest technology comes to aid while processing the herbs. There are rare or
no products which produce the herbs as done by Kangra Herb. Therefore organic cultivation is the prerogative of
Kangra Herb.

The products are of supreme quality and are seconded by none. The consuming of medicines or using of cosmetics
produced by Kangra Herb is as good as consuming the herbs in their purest form. Therefore excellence in quality
of the products is what sets Kangra Herb apart from the other players in the same arena.
RECOMMENDATIONS

 The company should have a formal hierarchy in place which would clearly define the
job duties and responsibilities to the employees.
 There should be an order tracking system in place. This would help to keep a track of
the products in transit. This would especially help when the products are being
couriered to the customers.
 The company has a number of expansion plans and is heading too fast in order to
expand. It is recommended that it should first have a stronghold in the business in
which it is dealing and then plan expansion in order to effectively utilise the working
capital.