A Comparative study of Mahindra and Toyota

By
Shashank Agrawal
SY BBA(IB)-C
233

A Project Report Submitted in the Partial Fulfillment of

the Course Research Methodology for
Trimester VI, SY BBA(IB)

Submitted to

BBA(IB) Programme,
Faculty of Management (UG),
MIT WOU, Kothrud, Pune

April 2019

‘
 Certificate
This is to certify that the thesis entitled “A Comparative
study between Mahindra (domestic company) and Toyota
(International company)” submitted by Shashank Agrawal
under the supervision of Mrs. Shweta Deshpande Ma’am
as per the requirements of the research project of
Bachelor of business administration (International
Business)
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I avail this opportunity to express my deep sense of
gratitude and warm regards to every person who helped
to complete my project. Without your collective support
my work could not have been realized.
It is my pleasure to acknowledge for the critical
suggestions and information given by users of Mahindra
and Toyota vehicle that fueled my energy in each and
every step of my journey.
I feel honored to express my deep sense of gratitude to
my faculty supervisor Mrs. Shweta Deshpande Mam for
her constructive criticism, constant support and expert
advice during the period of research.
I owe special thanks to my friends for the invaluable
timely help.
 Abstract
The project is about the comparative study between
Mahindra (domestic company) and Toyota (International
company). The comparison is done based on 4Ps of
Marketing which are Product, Price, Place, Promotion. A
questionnaire is made, and Information is collected from
45 people. Research is based on the information
collected. There are 24 questions asked to people.
Various comparisons are done based on data collected.
Various findings can be drawn through data and through
observations, the aim of the research is achieved.
Researcher has tried not to be bias or have any
presumption about the company or findings.
Its purely based on the data collected by the researcher.
Table of contents
Vs
 Mahindra
Mahindra & Mahindra Limited is an Indian multinational car manufacturing corporation
headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. It was established in 1945 as Mohammad &
Mahindra and later renamed as Mahindra and Mahindra. It is one of the largest vehicle
manufacturers by production in India and the largest manufacturer of tractors in the world.
It is a part of the Mahindra Group, an Indian conglomerate.

It was ranked 17th on a list of top companies in India by Fortune India 500 in 2018. Its
major competitors in the Indian market include Maruti Suzuki and Tata Motors.

Mahindra & Mahindra, brands its products as "Mahindra", produces SUVs, saloon cars,
pickups, lightweight commercial vehicles, heavyweight commercial vehicles, two wheeled
motorcycles and tractors. Mahindra maintains business relations with foreign companies
like Renault SA, France.[12]

M&M has a global presence and its products are exported to several countries. Its global
subsidiaries include Mahindra Europe S.r.l. based in Italy, Mahindra USA Inc., Mahindra
South Africa and Mahindra (China) Tractor Co. Ltd. In 2015, Mahindra re-entered the
Philippine market after a brief presence in 1990s

The company has built and assembled military vehicles, commencing in 1947 with the
importation of the Willys Jeep that had been widely used in World War II. Its line of
military vehicles include the Axe. It also maintains a joint venture with BAE Systems,
Defence Land Systems India.

Mahindra began manufacturing tractors for the Indian market during the early '60s. It is the
top tractor company in the world (by volume) with annual sales totalling more than
200,000 tractors. Since its inception, the company has sold over 2.1 million tractors.
Mahindra & Mahindra's farm equipment division (Mahindra Tractors) has over 1,000
dealers servicing approx. 1.45 million customers. Mahindra tractors are available in 40
countries, including India, the United States, China, Australia, New Zealand, Africa
(Nigeria, Mali, Chad, Gambia, Angola, Sudan, Ghana, and Morocco), Latin America
(Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Venezuela, Central America, and the Caribbean), South Asia (Sri
Lanka, Bangladesh, and Nepal), the Middle East (Iran and Syria) and Eastern Europe
(Serbia, Turkey, and Macedonia. Mahindra Tractors manufactures its products at four
plants in India, two in Mainland China, three in the United States, and one in Australia. It
has three major subsidiaries: Mahindra USA, Mahindra (China) Tractor Company, and
Mahindra Yueda (Yancheng) Tractor Company (a joint venture with the Jiangsu Yueda
Group).

The Automotive business accounts for about 48% of India's utility vehicle market share
and is the number two CV player in India. The business has a presence in almost every
segment of the automobile industry with a portfolio ranging from SUVs, luxury UVs,
sedans, pick-ups, light, medium and heavy commercial vehicles to three-wheelers. Their
customer base spans rural and urban India.

Toyota
Toyota Motor Corporation is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer
headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. In 2017, Toyota's corporate structure consisted
of 364,445 employees worldwide and, as of September 2018, was the sixth-largest
company in the world by revenue. As of 2017, Toyota is the world's second-largest
automotive manufacturer. Toyota was the world's first automobile manufacturer to produce
more than 10 million vehicles per year which it has done since 2012, when it also reported
the production of its 200-millionth vehicle. As of July 2014, Toyota was the largest listed
company in Japan by market capitalization (worth more than twice as much as #2-ranked
SoftBank) and by revenue.

Toyota is the world's market leader in sales of hybrid electric vehicles, and one of the
largest companies to encourage the mass-market adoption of hybrid vehicles across the
globe. Toyota is also a market leader in hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles. Cumulative global
sales of Toyota and Lexus hybrid passenger car models achieved the 10 million milestones
in January 2017. Its Prius family is the world's top selling hybrid nameplate with over 6
million units sold worldwide as of January 2017.

Toyota is headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi. The main headquarters of Toyota is located
in a 4-story building in Toyota. As of 2006, the head office has the "Toyopet" Toyota logo
and the words "Toyota Motor". The Toyota Technical Center, a 14-story building, and the
Honsha plant, Toyota's second plant engaging in mass production and formerly named the
Koromo plant, are adjacent to one another in a location near the headquarters. Vinod Jacob
from The Hindu described the main headquarters building as "modest". In 2013, company
head Akio Toyoda reported that it had difficulties retaining foreign employees at the
headquarters due to the lack of amenities in the city.

Its Tokyo office is located in Bunkyo, Tokyo. Its Nagoya office is located in Nakamura-ku,
Nagoya. In addition to manufacturing automobiles, Toyota provides financial services
through its Toyota Financial Services division, and also builds robots.

Toyota, which earlier was the world's third largest automotive manufacturer behind
American General Motors and Ford, produced for the first time in history more vehicles
than Ford in 2005, and in 2006 even more than General Motors and has been the world's
largest automotive manufacturer since then, except in 2011 when, triggered by the 2011
Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, it fell to the #3 position behind General Motors and
German Volkswagen Group
Overview of the topic
In my management thesis, I analyze the services provided by Mahindra in comparison with
Toyota based on customer perception.

Both companies have their own brand image and customer base. Though the service which
they are providing to their customers we can know how both are competing.

Need for Research:

As we all know automotive sector is challenging industry, by providing the different
services to their regular customers they can build the customer relationship and increase
their business. Also need to study the period from when they are using their products and
features offered by them like comfort, safety, space, maintenance, offers and discounts and
brand loyalty.

Objectives
 To know what different services are provided to the customers by both the
companies.
 To know the perception of customers towards Mahindra and Toyota.
 To know whether the customer is satisfied with the services provided.
 To know whether people preference varies with the services provided.
 To know about the marketing strategies adopted by them
 To know whether they are successful in attracting the customers by marketing
services adopted by them.
 To study the financial assistance provided by Mahindra and Toyota to its customers.
 To know the pricing strategy used by the respective company.
 To study the brand loyalty of customers towards both the company.
 To compare the performance and overall study on both company and
 The findings and observation are the result of the research.
 Limitation
 The response from the customer may be biased.
 Since the sample size is limited, it may lead to the partial true factor about the
research.
 Time constraint
 Area limitation
 Sampling error while collecting, coding and decoding
 Researcher may have his own presumption which may affect the findings.

Methodology
The objective of the present study can be accomplished by conducting a systematic
market research. As marketing research is a systematic and formalized process, it
follows a certain sequence of research actions.

Formulating the problem and developing objectives of

research
Problem formulation based on hypothesis. The objective of research is to collect
relevant information from the targeted sample and use that for further study.

Hypothesis
Customer are more satisfied with Toyota in terms of quality, durability, services and
various other factors in compare to Mahindra
Sources of data
 Primary data
 Secondary data
Primary data is first hand data collected from respondents. Information is collected
regarding the research from individual customer using questionnaire.

Data collection techniques

Primary data is collected by surveying the sample units or the elements of the
sampling units. Survey will be conducted with the use of structured questionnaire.
The questionnaire will contain close ended questions.

Sampling plan
There are total 45 customers responded to the questionnaire. Questionnaire will help
to gain information regarding topic. Sample is selected at random, there is no fix
pattern.

Analyze the collected information

This involves converting raw material into useful information. It involves tabulation
of data and using statistical measures on them for developing frequency distribution
and calculating the averages and dispersions.

Report research findings

This phase will mark the culmination of the marketing research effort. The report
with the research findings is a formal written document. The research findings and
personal experience will be used to propose recommendations.
 4 P’s of Marketing -Marketing Mix
4 P’s of marketing is also called the marketing mix
What is the marketing Mix?
The marketing mix has been defined as the “set of marketing tools that the firm uses
to pursue its marketing objectives in the target market“.
In simple words
It is a marketing tool that combines a number of components in order to strengthen a
product’s brand and helps to sell the product or service. Basically, it’s a set of 4
decisions that need to be taken before launching any product. These 4 Variables
become the basic building blocks for the strategic decisions which will help in
selling the product.
So what are these basic building blocks?
Basically, these are of 4 types
1. Product – What is the company manufacturing?
2. Price – What is the pricing strategy of the company?
3. Place – Where is the company selling?
4. Promotions – How company promotes its products?
 1.Product: -

Any business needs to have a product to start with. Product is basically an item that
satisfies customer’s needs or wants.it can be tangible in the form of goods or
intangible in the form of services. In ideal scenario, product needs to meet a certain
consumer demand, or must be so compelling that consumers believe they need it.
There are certain product decisions that need to be taken before making any
marketing plan
 What are the features of your product?
 What would be the quality of your product?
 How the product features are different from the market?
 What will be the product range, product mix & product line?
 How will you package the product?
 What is the USP of the product?
 Whether the product will be branded as sub brand or completely new?
 What are the secondary products which can be sold along with primary (warranty
services)?
 Is there a return for product & how they will be managed?
 How will you deal with product in each stage of the product life cycle?
Based on these questions several decisions need to be made. These decisions will
also affect other variables of the mix.
For Example: – if you decide to launch a high-quality chocolate then basis the
product all the other variables will get impacted
But if you find out that the product you want is not fitting into overall marketing
mix, then you need to rework on the product so that it fits in the mix
2.Price: -

Once you understand the product, price comes into the mix. Price is the amount
customer pays or is willing to pay for the product. Major consideration in pricing is
the costing of the product, advertising and marketing expenses, any price
fluctuations in the market, distribution costs etc. Another important factor is the
competition pricing. All these changes dynamically and hence pricing would need to
factor the same. Pricing also affect the targeting & positioning of the product.
Hence sales promotions would need a different strategy in form of discounts. Below
are some of decisions that you would need to make here
What is the current price in market for same product?
Is customer willing to pay a premium if more features can be added?
What is the cost & margin allowances in pricing structure to make desired margin?
What are the margins for distributors, retailers at different levels in distribution
channel?
What are the payment terms for the product?
3.Place: -
Place refers to the place where customer gets access to your product. This is
basically the distribution channel of the product. There are a lot of decisions that
need to be taken here
How wide you want the product to be distributed?
Is it a product that need to be in select stores?
How fast should material reach customer?
What should be inventory level?
How will material be transported?
Which channel will distribute your product to the customer?
Do you want to deliver product yourself or you want to franchise?
What is the ideal lot size of packets that trade needs in case of FMCG products?
Distribution does affect the profitability to great extent. In case of a telecom
company dealing with paper recharges, an increase in transport cost will bring in
drastic changes in profitability. Hence a vital logistics & supply chain is a must to
ensure optimal distribution & correct pricing
4.Promotion: -

Now that we have got right product at right price in the right place, it’s time to
promote the product to the customer
This P in the marketing mix includes the complete integrated marketing
communications which in turn include advertising, sales promotion, public relations,
digital media advertising
1)Advertising- ATL & BTL
ATL or above the line is when the brand communicates to customers directly via
different media like TV, press radio, Outdoor
BTL advertising or below the line advertising happens when brand communication
happens through an external agency interface like activity at hotspots,
2)Sales promotions
These are discounts meant to boost uptake of the products momentarily
3)Public relations
Public relations happen when organization gains exposure to their audiences using
topics of public interest and news items that do not require direct payment. This
differentiates it from advertising as a form of marketing communication. Public
relations are the idea of creating coverage for clients for free, rather than advertising.
4) Digital media advertising
This forms advertising that happens through digital media like SEO, SEM, PPC
This P is dependent on the Ps of product and pricing. There are lot of decisions that
needs to be taken here
What is the message that needs to be communicated?
What is the right media mix that needs to be taken up?
How much frequency should communication go to reach the target audience?
What is the budget for marketing communication?
What stage the product is in?
This P in the 4 P’s of marketing model also decide the segmentation & positioning
of the product. The right mix of promotions affect other 3 Ps –product, place and
price. Ideally if promotions are successful in positively impacting the brand equity
of the brand then you may be able to subsequently able to increase the price of the
brand. Promotions is also considered an operational cost & will affect the costing of
the product
Data Analysis and Interpretation

1. Which brand do you prefer?

a) Mahindra
b) Toyota

41%
mahindra
toyota
59%

Out of the total respondents, 59% respondents preferred Toyota and 41% respondents
preferred Mahindra.
2. For how much time you use a Car?
a) less than 1 year
b) 1-5 years
c) 5-10years
d) more than 10 years

70%

60%

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%
toyota mahindra

less than 1 year 1-5 years 5-10 years more than 10 years
3) what type of car do you buy of this automobile company?
100%

90%

80%

70%

60%

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%
mahindra toyota

Compact Suv Sedan small SUV hatchback

5) what type of car do you buy of this automobile company?

 60%

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%
mahindra Category 2

comfort mileage features price others

6) what type of car do you buy of this automobile company?

Chart Title
120%

100%

80%

60%

40%

20%

0%
Category 1 toyota

very high high medium low very low

7) How far is the showroom and service station from your house?
70%

60%

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%
mahindra toyota

less than 1 km 1-5 km 5-10km more than 10 km

8)who influenced you to buy a car?

Chart Title
80%

70%

60%

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%
toyota mahindra

advertisement family friends own will

9) What is your reason to buy a car?
70%

60%

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%
mahindra toyota

comfort family longtrip

10) what version of car you use?

90%

80%

70%

60%

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%
mahindra toyota

petrol diesel petrol with LPG kit electric

11) for what purpose you use car?
90%

80%

70%

60%

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%
mahindra toyota

personal use domestic use both

12)how is the fuel efficiency of your car?

Chart Title
90%

80%

70%

60%

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%
mahindra toyota

excellent good fair bad

13) How is the durability, style and features of your car?
70%

60%

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%
mahindra toyota

excellent good fair bad

14) Are you satisfied with the offers provided by the company?
90%

80%

70%

60%

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%
mahindra toyota

yes no
15) How do you got to know about the Company?

50%

45%

40%

35%

30%

25%

20%

15%

10%

5%

0%
mahindra toyota

television newspaper radio word of mouth

16) Are you satisfied with the after sales services?

90%

80%

70%

60%

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%
mahindra toyota

yes no
17) If a new Product is Launched in a market, would you change your brand?

80%

70%

60%

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%
mahindra toyota

yes no maybe

18) how would you rate the cars provided by the company?

80%

70%

60%

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%
1 2 3 4 5

mahindra toyota