According to Manish Sharma, Managing Director of Global Consumer Marketing for Panasonic India, the Japanese company is using outsourced engineering resources in the Cochin Special Economic Zone in southern India in order to re-design its offering and make them more relevant to customers in emerging markets.
Take the case of air-conditioners. In the international market, the consumer may not prefer the direct air throw coming to them, but Indian weather conditions are so hot that Indian consumers prefer otherwise,” Sharma explained. “The idea is to create value-for money, to make products affordable and still maintain the deliveries to the Indian consumer,” he added. Such value engineering initiatives can be leveraged for products offered to Africa, Latin America, Southeast Asia and other markets.
