Provenance Paradox & Reverse of it!

Provenance Paradox is a phenomenon that refers to products and services manufactured in emerging markets where the marketers have a very hard time establishing a reasonable margin for their products because of the place of origin of their products.While listening to Prof. Deshpande from HBS on his work on the topic Provenance Paradox, I could not help but spare a thought for products from India. 

TATA motors had cracked the code few years back when they bought out JLR from Ford to expand into the western markets. However, I was thinking about the reverse of what the professor was explaining. Some of the native products do make a killing because of the country of Origin. 

 

Watch video for more on provenance paradox and examples from real world

Looking at examples from past and the examples quoted by the professor we can conclude that whether a brand will be subjected to Provenance Paradox or not depends on the perception of the utility of product in the target market and the uniqueness of the product/service offering. Yoga training courses, for example, attract thousands of Americans if taught by an Indian guru than anyone else. Similarly, there are scores of Indian products that might make a killing if only someone took them to the western markets. Products/services like Ayurveda, Siddha, Cuisines, Handwoven dress materials etc...

With the whole brouhaha about India becoming the next economic power and so much being said about India in the news, time might be ripe to move and capture the market with our indigenous products that are unique. Go! India Go!