Maruti Suzuki 16S517
Maruti Suzuki 16S517
Maruti Suzuki 16S517
Maruti Suzuki began operations in 1981 in India and has been a dominant player in the Indian
automobile industry ever since. After continuous growth in sales volume since inception, it
faced a YoY decline for the first time in fiscal 2011-12 and even by 2014 it had not recovered.
The chairman, R C Bhargava, was deliberating on the prospects of opening a new plant in
Gujarat or of raising prices of the cars to sustain profitability.
Due to increasing competition from new car manufacturers and new car models, the existing
companies need to continuously innovate. This innovation needs to be in design, performance
and most importantly, fuel efficiency. The majority of the Indian population prefers fuel
efficient cars. This is the reason Maruti Suzuki has been able to capture a large market share. To
continue to lead, it has to continue to spend greatly on research and development. These are
some of the issues faced by Maruti Suzuki :-
Total sales of Maruti cars (domestic and exports) has fallen from 1271005 in 2011 to
1133695 in 2012 with not a lot of progress in the coming years of 2013 and 2014
Market was facing fierce competition in the sector
Low purchasing power of the average indian customer and low penetration
International automobile player taking advantage of indian engineers
Fuel prices affecting the demand for automobile
Raw material costs have seen tremendous hikes. In 13 years, steels costs tripled and
inputs like copper, lead and rubber saw an increase of at least 240%.
Using economies of scale, companies like Maruti Suzuki, Tata Motors, Hyundai and
M&M can offset lower profitability per model. They have healthy market positions with
Maruti having about 49% of the domestic car industry and Hyundai having 21%.
Maruti’s parent Suzuki Motor Corporation formed an alliance with Volkswagen AG in
2009. Now Maruti and VW can tap into each other’s strengths in the domestic market.
These kinds of strategic alliances will always be fruitful for all players.
Players can use platform-sharing and advanced and flexible manufacturing technology
to substantially reduce product development and changeover times.
Oligopoly
Based on the data provided in the case, the Indian automobile industry can be classified as an
oligopoly. To justify this, consider the facts below:
1. Only few firms like Maruti, Tata, Mahindra, Hyundai, Honda, Toyota account for most of
the production in the Indian automobile industry, out of which maruti (49%) and
Hyundai(21%) are the big players.
2. There is an intense price completion, any change in price by any of the players cause the
reaction from other firms. When one company reduced its prices, the others were left
with no choice but to sell their cars at reduced/stagnant prices
3. The industry has significant entry and exit barriers, making it difficult for the new players
to enter the market. The customers have existing brand preferences. Setting up a new
plant was a messy affair in India, with regulations related to land acquisition and
obtaining clearances from different ministries
2. Increase the prices of the cars: Since, we are talking about the oligopoly market (as
stated earlier), the market is very price sensitive.
If maruti increases the price from the current price, none of its competitors will follow
suit, so it will lose most of its sales
Fig. 1 Fig. 2
Also the lower middle class, whose budget forces them to stick to two wheelers whose
buying capacity increases and gradually moves to the small car segment. This leads to a
corner solution and hence ruling out this option two (Fig. 2)
Maruti Suzuki can continue to dominate the market and sustain profitability provided it keeps
innovating. It already enjoys economies of scale and opening up a new manufacturing unit may
not turn things around as much. It can instead rely on favorable exchange rates and reduce
input imports while increasing car exports. Since it has a lower price than other players, it can
afford to slightly raise prices and improve its profits. This price raise should not exceed the
average in the particular segment.Maruti has to set up a production plant in Gujrat as it would
be more efficient in making use of the new technology, lowering the cost of production and in
the process help maruti achieve economies of scale. It would also eliminate the opportunity
loss.