Supermarket for Rural Customers

A Study of a Community-Oriented Social Enterprise in Gujarat

Subrata Dutta‚ Munish Alagh

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About the Book

This book showcases a community-oriented business network which is functioning as a retail/supermarket franchising model in the state of Gujarat in India. The network is operating under the banner of ‘Hearty Mart’—an organisation which is the brainchild of Nadeem Jafri, the franchiser-entrepreneur. Since Nadeem belongs to the family of a sect-head of the Shia Momin community, his religious superior position in his community has given him an opportunity to build a ‘community-oriented’ franchising network (i.e. a network that has engaged his community people as franchisees) of the Hearty Mart supermarket chain in rural areas. Two important dimensions are attached with this new retail model—one, the ‘organisational aspect’ of a small-scale supermarket chain and, two, the concept of ‘social entrepreneurship’. This book delves deeper into these two interesting aspects and comes up with detailed observations. Local customers’ views have also been documented in the book.


Praise for this book

The book is a welcome addition to the growing literature on social entrepreneurship, a rather nascent field of enquiry. It beautifully unravels the intricacies 
involved in emergence, survival and growth of a community based social enterprise, with all its triumphs and tribunals. It is a very interesting reading for academicians and managers alike.
— Dr Dinesh Awasthi 
     Former Director, Entrepreneurship Development Institute 
     of India, Gandhinagar, Gujarat.
 
Scholars and students who are studying organisation of franchisee development, marketing, social enterprise, community network in business development, new brand creation, and rural customer behaviour in India would definitely benefit a lot from this book. Besides, companies reluctant to promote supermarket franchise in rural areas can certainly learn a good lesson from this study.
— Dr C.N. Ray
     Professor, CEPT University, Ahmedabad, Gujarat.



About the Author(s) / Editor(s)

Subrata Dutta is an Associate Professor at the Sardar Patel Institute of Economic and Social Research (an ICSSR Institute) in Ahmedabad, India. His research focuses on entrepreneurship, rural industrialisation, and economics of rural growth linkages, among others. He received his PhD degree in Social Sciences (Economics) from Wageningen University in the Netherlands, and has published papers in national and international journals.
 
Munish Alagh is a Senior Fellow of Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR), based at Sardar Patel Institute of Economic and Social Research, Ahmedabad. He has completed his PhD from University of Mumbai in the area of agricultural markets and price response. He has written three books and numerous articles. His academic papers have been published in reputed Indian journals such as Economic and Political Weekly, Indian Journal of Agricultural Economics etc. He has been teaching and doing research in reputed institutes for the last 20 years, including 10 years as a faculty of Economics in Ahmedabad University’s MBA department.



Contents in Detail

List of Tables and Figures
Foreword
Acknowledgements
 
1. Introduction
    Background
    Some Relevant Issues
    Objectives of the Study
    Method of Investigation
    Chapter Organisation
 
2. The Structure of Hearty Mart
    Introduction
    The Entities in Hearty Mart System
    The Three Entities and their Interrelationships
    The Hearty Mart System
    Inferences about the Relation between the Entities
    Monitoring of the Integrated System
    The Value Chain Model and the Hearty Mart System
 
3. Social Entrepreneurship and Islamic Views of Entrepreneurship
    Introduction
    The Concept, Features and Perspectives of Social Entrepreneurship
    Winning Factors for Social Enterprises
    Social Entrepreneurs: Faith in Markets and Contribution to Poverty Alleviation
    Do Islamic Ethics have anything to do with (Social) Entrepreneurship?
    Islamic Ethics, Livelihood and Entrepreneurship
    The Principles of Islamic Ethics in Building an Enterprise
    Conclusion
 
4. Some Conceptual Issues of a Community-Oriented Franchising Model
    Introduction
    Community-based Franchising
    Community-based Organisation: An Initial Description of Concepts and Themes
    Franchising Model: Some Detailed Theoretical Underpinning
    New Franchising Model: Contracts,Information and Incentives
    Contracts, Ownership and Property Rights
    Issues Related to Information
    Institutional Trust as Social Capital
    Complimentarity between Strategies and Activities
    Conclusion
 
5. Analysis of the Hearty Mart Model from the Perspectives of Social Entrepreneurship
    Introduction
    Bottom of Pyramid
    Innovative and Creates Social Value
    Financial Self-Sufficiency
    Accessibility, Usability and Affordability for the Customer
    Scalability
    Charismatic and Visionary Leader, and Strong, Committed
           and Value-driven Management Team
    Some Islamic Influences
    Conclusion
 
6. Behavioural, Institutional and Organisational Responses of the
    Hearty Mart Franchiser and Franchisees
    Introduction
    A Supermarket Format in Rural Setting
    Organisation, Coordination and Motivation
    Decision-making and Coordination
    The Motivation Factor and Opportunity
    Property Rights and Transaction Costs in the Hearty Mart Franchising System
    Institutional Trust and Reputation Building
    Issues Related to Information
    Support System
    Franchisee Development in Villages:
          Analysis of Different Characteristics of the Individual Franchisees
    Franchisee Development: Bounded Rationality
    Franchisee Development:
          Religious Bond and Organisation Building through Franchising
    Degree of Autonomy in Hearty Mart Model
    Some Further Observations
    Flexibility in Product Range
    Some Strategies
    Conclusion
 
7. Hearty Mart from the Lenses of the Customers  
    Introduction
    Customer’s Visits (Number of Days in a Month) at Hearty Mart Stores
    Income Pattern of the Customers
    Accessibility to Non-Hearty Mart Stores
    Frequency of Visit to Non-Hearty Mart Store
    Discounts
    Home Delivery Services
    Purchasing Pattern
    Comparison of Services between Hearty Mart Stores and Other Stores
    Quality of Products at Hearty Mart
    Accessibility
    Stock Availability
    Indentifying the Product in the Store
    Range of Brands
    Billing Experience
    Display of the Items and their Cleanliness
    Availability of Credit
    Customers’ Responses about Hearty Mart Staff
    Conclusion
 
8. Concluding Observations
    Introduction
    Social Aspects
    Organisational Aspects
    Institutional Aspects
    Concluding Remarks
 
    References

Publisher AF Press
Publication Date 2017
Number of Pages 174
ISBN 9789332704275
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Academic Foundation (AF), based in New Delhi, is India’s leading independent publisher of academic/scholarly books in Social Sciences, specialising in Economics—Development Economics and Indian Economy in particular, and allied subjects.

About the Book

This book showcases a community-oriented business network which is functioning as a retail/supermarket franchising model in the state of Gujarat in India. The network is operating under the banner of ‘Hearty Mart’—an organisation which is the brainchild of Nadeem Jafri, the franchiser-entrepreneur. Since Nadeem belongs to the family of a sect-head of the Shia Momin community, his religious superior position in his community has given him an opportunity to build a ‘community-oriented’ franchising network (i.e. a network that has engaged his community people as franchisees) of the Hearty Mart supermarket chain in rural areas. Two important dimensions are attached with this new retail model—one, the ‘organisational aspect’ of a small-scale supermarket chain and, two, the concept of ‘social entrepreneurship’. This book delves deeper into these two interesting aspects and comes up with detailed observations. Local customers’ views have also been documented in the book.


Praise for this book

The book is a welcome addition to the growing literature on social entrepreneurship, a rather nascent field of enquiry. It beautifully unravels the intricacies 
involved in emergence, survival and growth of a community based social enterprise, with all its triumphs and tribunals. It is a very interesting reading for academicians and managers alike.
— Dr Dinesh Awasthi 
     Former Director, Entrepreneurship Development Institute 
     of India, Gandhinagar, Gujarat.
 
Scholars and students who are studying organisation of franchisee development, marketing, social enterprise, community network in business development, new brand creation, and rural customer behaviour in India would definitely benefit a lot from this book. Besides, companies reluctant to promote supermarket franchise in rural areas can certainly learn a good lesson from this study.
— Dr C.N. Ray
     Professor, CEPT University, Ahmedabad, Gujarat.



About the Author(s) / Editor(s)

Subrata Dutta is an Associate Professor at the Sardar Patel Institute of Economic and Social Research (an ICSSR Institute) in Ahmedabad, India. His research focuses on entrepreneurship, rural industrialisation, and economics of rural growth linkages, among others. He received his PhD degree in Social Sciences (Economics) from Wageningen University in the Netherlands, and has published papers in national and international journals.
 
Munish Alagh is a Senior Fellow of Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR), based at Sardar Patel Institute of Economic and Social Research, Ahmedabad. He has completed his PhD from University of Mumbai in the area of agricultural markets and price response. He has written three books and numerous articles. His academic papers have been published in reputed Indian journals such as Economic and Political Weekly, Indian Journal of Agricultural Economics etc. He has been teaching and doing research in reputed institutes for the last 20 years, including 10 years as a faculty of Economics in Ahmedabad University’s MBA department.



Contents in Detail

List of Tables and Figures
Foreword
Acknowledgements
 
1. Introduction
    Background
    Some Relevant Issues
    Objectives of the Study
    Method of Investigation
    Chapter Organisation
 
2. The Structure of Hearty Mart
    Introduction
    The Entities in Hearty Mart System
    The Three Entities and their Interrelationships
    The Hearty Mart System
    Inferences about the Relation between the Entities
    Monitoring of the Integrated System
    The Value Chain Model and the Hearty Mart System
 
3. Social Entrepreneurship and Islamic Views of Entrepreneurship
    Introduction
    The Concept, Features and Perspectives of Social Entrepreneurship
    Winning Factors for Social Enterprises
    Social Entrepreneurs: Faith in Markets and Contribution to Poverty Alleviation
    Do Islamic Ethics have anything to do with (Social) Entrepreneurship?
    Islamic Ethics, Livelihood and Entrepreneurship
    The Principles of Islamic Ethics in Building an Enterprise
    Conclusion
 
4. Some Conceptual Issues of a Community-Oriented Franchising Model
    Introduction
    Community-based Franchising
    Community-based Organisation: An Initial Description of Concepts and Themes
    Franchising Model: Some Detailed Theoretical Underpinning
    New Franchising Model: Contracts,Information and Incentives
    Contracts, Ownership and Property Rights
    Issues Related to Information
    Institutional Trust as Social Capital
    Complimentarity between Strategies and Activities
    Conclusion
 
5. Analysis of the Hearty Mart Model from the Perspectives of Social Entrepreneurship
    Introduction
    Bottom of Pyramid
    Innovative and Creates Social Value
    Financial Self-Sufficiency
    Accessibility, Usability and Affordability for the Customer
    Scalability
    Charismatic and Visionary Leader, and Strong, Committed
           and Value-driven Management Team
    Some Islamic Influences
    Conclusion
 
6. Behavioural, Institutional and Organisational Responses of the
    Hearty Mart Franchiser and Franchisees
    Introduction
    A Supermarket Format in Rural Setting
    Organisation, Coordination and Motivation
    Decision-making and Coordination
    The Motivation Factor and Opportunity
    Property Rights and Transaction Costs in the Hearty Mart Franchising System
    Institutional Trust and Reputation Building
    Issues Related to Information
    Support System
    Franchisee Development in Villages:
          Analysis of Different Characteristics of the Individual Franchisees
    Franchisee Development: Bounded Rationality
    Franchisee Development:
          Religious Bond and Organisation Building through Franchising
    Degree of Autonomy in Hearty Mart Model
    Some Further Observations
    Flexibility in Product Range
    Some Strategies
    Conclusion
 
7. Hearty Mart from the Lenses of the Customers  
    Introduction
    Customer’s Visits (Number of Days in a Month) at Hearty Mart Stores
    Income Pattern of the Customers
    Accessibility to Non-Hearty Mart Stores
    Frequency of Visit to Non-Hearty Mart Store
    Discounts
    Home Delivery Services
    Purchasing Pattern
    Comparison of Services between Hearty Mart Stores and Other Stores
    Quality of Products at Hearty Mart
    Accessibility
    Stock Availability
    Indentifying the Product in the Store
    Range of Brands
    Billing Experience
    Display of the Items and their Cleanliness
    Availability of Credit
    Customers’ Responses about Hearty Mart Staff
    Conclusion
 
8. Concluding Observations
    Introduction
    Social Aspects
    Organisational Aspects
    Institutional Aspects
    Concluding Remarks
 
    References

Publisher AF Press
Publication Date 2017
Number of Pages 174
ISBN 9789332704275
Expected delivery date:
15 May Usually ready in 2-3 days.

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Supermarket for Rural Customers

Supermarket for Rural Customers

₹ 995.00
₹ 995.00