Marketing Myopia in Royal Ceramic Lanka PLC1. Introduction to Royal Ceramic Lanka PLCRoyal Ceramics Lanka PLC is a public Limited liability company quoted on the Colombo StockExchange. Thecorebusiness of theRoyal Ceramicgroupis themanufactureandretail ofporcelain and ceramic tiles under the brand name Rocell!. The company operates three fullyo"ned subsidiaries# Royal Porcelain $Pri%ate& limited# Rocell 'ath"are Limited and E%er PaintandChemical (ndustries$Pri%ate&Limited. Thegroup)ssanitary"are$bath"are&productsaremarketed under Rocell 'ath"are! and represent the only range of such items manufactured inSri Lanka. Con%ersely# its paint and allied products are marketed under the brand nameColor'rite!. (n *ay +,-. Royal Ceramics Lanka acquired /, 0 stake of the Lanka Ceramic group at a costof Rs. . billion. Through this acquisition, Royal Ceramic gained a controlling stakein LankaCeramicPLCanditssubsidiaries, includingLankaWall tiles, LankaTiles,Horana Plantations,S"isstekand1ni23il Packaging.4ndalso# thisacquisitionresultedinLanka5all tilesandLanka 6loor tiles coming under the Rocell umbrella# gi%ing Royal Ceramics o%er 7,0 marketshareinboththelocal "all andfloor tilemarkets# andplacingthebrandinanundeniablydominant position. 4t present Royal Ceramicgroupholds theleadingpositioninthelocalsurface co%ering $tile and sanitary"are& industry. 2. General background of ceramic industry in Sri LankaCeramic is a one of the most ancient scientific achie%ement of the man. 4ncient man recogni8edthat clay could be made plastic "ith "ater and can be molded. Ceramic in Sri Lanka could betracedaround9,,2+9,'.Cafter introductionof 'uddhismtotheisland. :ldest buildingsconstructed by ancient people of the island "ere dagabas. 'ricks ; tiles burned red clay items#crude ornamental "are had been produced during this period. 1nder 4ct -< of -# 1S4# (taly# China and (ndia&. @o"e%er# Royal ceramic sell