Limalenden Longkumer
Don Williams maintains that ‘’all the best things in life are free’’. A moment’s thought reveals a long list of goods my favourite western country singer might have had in mind. But another moment’s thought reveals a longer list of items that comes with a price tag. Almost all tangible and intangible goods and services can be measured in monetary terms. Everything that involves money becomes an economic activity and people engage in economic activities because they get monetary returns. A typical economic activity is the manufacturing and distribution of goods and services to meet the needs and demands of the consumers. Goods are produced at a particular place but consumers are scattered across the face of the earth. These goods are made available to the end users through a system known as the sales chain.
The classic sales chain in simple words refers to the business ‘chain’ that connects the flow of finished products from the primary manufacturer of the product/s to wholesaler to retailer to the ultimate end users i.e. consumers. In most cases, manufacturers normally use intermediaries for taking their products to the users. These intermediaries bear different names like franchisee, marketer, stockiest, distributor, broker, wholesaler, retailer, etc. All these intermediaries constitute the marketing channel and play a pivotal role in marketing. These channels provide distribution efficiency to the manufacturer and at the same time offers assorted products to meet the demands of the consumers.
In India, although a new trend is setting in of late, distributing channels like supermarkets and retail chains are uncommon and conventional wholesalers and retailers dominate the market scene. The same applies to Nagaland. Small time stand-alone wholesalers and retailers are the only channels of product distribution in the market.
Thus, in our case, the ‘sales chain’ classically comprises of the producer to wholesalers to retailers to consumers. Some direct marketing or direct mail selling companies have been successfully penetrating the State’s market in recent times, like that of Oriflame, Amway, Avon etc. But almost all other products especially that of FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods) are distributed through wholesalers to retailers to the final consumers.
Since Nagaland hardly manufactures any product, we depend for almost every single product, both necessity as well as luxury goods, on imports from India and abroad. This in itself is a disturbing economic scenario. In t`he absence of any manufacturing firms, the economic condition of any nation is bound to be depressing. People with high income can afford all of life’s necessities and luxuries. They will enjoy better standard of living and higher purchasing power- better housing, better health care, fancier mobile phones, sleek cars, etc.
The same logic applies to a nation’s overall economic well being. If a nation is faring economically well, the people of that nation will live a better and peaceful life.
Economists will tell us that ‘for an economy as a whole, income must equal expenditure’. For every Rupee of spending by a buyer there is a Rupee of income for the seller. When we buy a product, that amount of money goes to the pocket of the seller. And given the fact that in Nagaland, in most cases, the seller is not a Naga, the money disappears from Nagaland. This in turn reduces the GDP (Gross Domestic Product) of Nagaland which automatically reduces the living standard and purchasing power of the people.
Coming back to the sales chain of a product, the different intermediaries in the chain i.e wholesalers and retailers enjoy certain commissions for involving in the economic activity. They provide their services to the manufacturers and in turn get paid for it. Looking at the market scenario in Nagaland, a negative trend observed is that even the intermediaries involved in bridging the gap between producers and consumers are non-locals. If we look at this from an economic point of view, it is mere suicide. Yes, I said SUICIDE. The economy of our state does not just end at zero percent production but the channels of distribution as well are dominated by ‘outsiders’. We have created such a market environment that some of these ‘outsiders’ enjoy market monopoly which is highly unhealthy for an economy. Another major adverse affect to this is that there is influx of economic-driven illegal migrants into Nagaland. This is a major factor contributing to the alarming rise of population and abnormal demographic composition in Nagaland which pose more socio-politico-economic threats to the indigenous people than the layman can comprehend, the consequence of which we are fully aware of (are we?). It is high time we Nagas wake up from our slumber and take a great leap forward.
Very recently, the apex students’ body of the Ao community – AKM, has directed all ILP holders or non-locals coming into Mokokchung after year 2000 to leave the district for a period of time and those coming before the said year to produce necessary documents as and when asked for. This is a step boldly taken by the students’ body in an attempt to curb the influx of illegal immigrants. This is a positive monumental move and all right thinking Nagas must support and lend helping hands to AKM for the successful execution of the plan, keeping in mind the threat posed by these elements to our culture, customs, and our vulnerable economy.
Through the grapevine, it’s been heard that ignorant Nagas are concerned about the availability of retail goods once the non-locals leave the market. As mentioned earlier, the goods available in Nagaland are all distributed by the manufacturers through wholesalers and retailers. Wholesalers deals in select products in bulk quantities. It is the retailers who buy from the wholesalers in smaller lots and sell them to the ultimate consumers. Since the non-locals in Nagaland are only intermediary agents and not manufacturers or producers, there shouldn’t be any reason for panic.
The exodus of non-locals from Mokokchung, and Nagaland, will not disturb the demand and supply for goods and services in the market. This will not affect the constancy of market demand. In other words, the primary producers and the end users will stay unaffected. This will allow the intermediary functions i.e. wholesaling and retailing to change hands from non-locals to locals, which is a boon for the state’s economy. Once the capital generated from wholesaling and retailing falls into the hands of the locals, our Per Capita Income will be enhanced and the surplus capital generated will directly or indirectly help usher in unprecedented economic development of the state. This is dynamics of marketing explained in layman’s language.
The main source of income for the Nagas is through public sector or in other words, from the central Government of India, for services rendered to the government. This is a disturbing scenario. Since the economic system of India is a liberalized mixed economy, the market environment is most conducive for private sector. There is immense scope and potential for the growth of private sector in Nagaland. It is illogical and stupid to think that public sector (government) would be able to provide employment for the whole population. Our attitude towards private sector should be changed. Private sector jobs are not inferior to public sector jobs. We should think out of the box and realize that private entrepreneurship is something more than just manning a pan shop or a grocery store. The fact that many previously government held banks and other institutions are being privatized is reason enough to recognize that private businesses are far more efficient and productive than that of public sector. For myriad reasons, the Naga economy will be far better if private sector plays a more prominent role in the economic set-up of our state, considering the fact that we are living in the twenty-first century ‘corporate world’.
