China and India are emerging as the engines of global growth during this century. Rising incomes, launch of new products and retail formats coupled with increased advertising will fuel rapid growth in consumption and changes in the economic, social and cultural dynamics in these countries. Understanding and forecasting these changes is critical in the decision making of many types of organizations: businesses, non-profits, governments and regulatory agencies.
The goal of the China India Consumer Insights (CICI) Program, an initiative of the Yale Center for Customer Insights at the Yale School of Management is to nurture and support multi-disciplinary research on the changing consumption and investment behavior of China and India within the broader context of their rapidly changing societies. The Director of the CICI Program is Professor K. Sudhir, James L. Frank Professor of Private Enterprise and Management. His research focuses on gaining market insights by analyzing consumer and firm actions through econometric modeling. He is currently focused on research on consumers in emerging markets.
Research issues of interest to the program will include:
- Consumption Behavior: How will rising incomes and urbanization affect cultural attitudes and social structures and ultimately consumption? How will consumption of products, services differ across geographies, and social groups? What differential impact will growth have on the really poor, the middle class and rich? What kinds of retail formats will succeed as consumer preferences evolve? What will be the role of brands? How will preferences for domestic and foreign goods evolve?
- Savings and Investment Behavior: How will attitude and behavior evolve for savings and investment products? With the breakdown on family and social networks, will consumers shift to market-based financial instruments to tide over income volatility? How will credit availability constrain and expand the opportunities for consumers of different income and social groups?
- Decision Making in Organizations: How should firms respond to the changing consumption and investment behavior in these markets? How can social entrepreneurs and non-profit organizations adapt their strategies in the fast evolving environment?
- Impact of India and China on the Rest of the World: What impact does the rise of China and India have on other world markets? For example, how will product and cost innovations for Chinese and Indian markets affect developed countries? How will it affect other developing countries in Africa and Asia?
