Evaluation of the necessity of colour banks for textile industry in India and framing of a business model based on the BMC

Abstract

Successful corporates have focused on innovation in products and process through research and development. Research reveals that the competitive advantage as a result of innovation doesn’t last long as a result of competition. Hence, there should be a focus on the innovation with the business model. By modifying three levers such as content, structure and governance, innovation in the Business model could be achieved. There have been recent developments in the business model in the e-business category. The four potential sources of value creation are novelty, lock-in, complementarities and efficiency. In recent times, there have been three areas of business model innovation. They are industry, revenue and enterprise models. The authors have concluded that business model innovation is required as it would be difficult for the competitors to replicate the entire ecosystem. One of the tools used for this purpose is the Business Model Canvas. Introduced by Osterwalder and Pigneur, BMC could be used by managers and entrepreneurs. It consists of nine blocks and promotes understanding of the overall business. Colour forecasting is a fairly unknown field that consists of a process of considerable complexity to reveal the set of colours that would be the driving force in the subsequent period. The process involves collecting a lot of data, analyzing and interpreting the set of colours that might be preferred by the customers in the near future of 1 or 2 years. As a result of the primary research, the colour forecasting industry is quite nonexistent in India. There are several standards in colour but there aren’t any that is India specific. The chips are quite costly in USD. The garment manufacturers contact these companies over phone. It takes times for it to get delivered. Hence, there is a great potential for an India-specific colour forecasting and consulting opportunity for the textile and fashion industry. The colour forecasting industry presents a few challenges. There are several standards to represent colours such as Pantone, RAL, British, Federal etc. There are several International players as well such as Pantone, Archroma, WGSN etc. The BMC is used to map out the entire business model for colour forecasting. The value proposition would be a one stop solution for colour forecasting and delivery of colours. The channel would be own sales force. The customers would be premium garment manufacturers. The customer relationship would be taken forward through dedicated personal assistance. The key activities would involve data collection, analytics and colour sourcing. The key resources would comprise of colour database and intellectual property. The key partners would be institutions, dye manufacturers. The cost structure would involve creation and maintenance of database, research and a sales force. The revenue stream would be through the delivery of colour forecasting and consulting. The entire business is unbundled into three parts such as Relationship management, Infrastructure Business and Product Innovation. Each part of the business would be focused individually.