Assignment 1
Assignment 1
Assignment 1
Industry Introduction
India’s consumer durable industry is thriving with the rising demand of the huge and
varied customer base of the country. For over a decade, the consumer durables sector has
grown at a steady rate of 8-10% and it’s expected that by 2025 it will be the 5th largest in the
whole world. The Government of India (GoI) has taken several initiatives to drive the growth
of the consumer durable sector. In 2019, the Ministry of Electronics and Information
Technology passed the National Policy on Electronics Policy. A new Consumer Protection
Bill was passed to make the existing rules more effective. The Foreign Direct Investment
(FDI) permitted in single-brand retail was raised from 51% to 100% thereby enabling the
foreign brands to reach the domestic users. The key players dominating the market are,
Hitachi, Haier, Titan, Voltas, LG, Samsung, Whirlpool, Godrej, Blue star, Bajaj etc. The rural
and urban economy contributes to the growth of this sector, though the major share is
contributed by the former. The consumer durables which include electronic appliances,
gadgets, cleaning equipment, fans, household items, etc. were utilized by the urban and the
semi-urban sectors but to an extent, these amenities have become accessible to the rural
public too with the advent of technology. Approximately two-third of India’s consumer
durables are sold at urban locations including major metropolitan cities. India being a tropical
country with fairly hot summer months, draws a considerable percentage of revenue from the
sale of air coolers, refrigerators, air conditioners, fans, etc.
Source: IBEF
2. Company Introduction
Titan is one company with combination of many brands. The story of Titan began in
the year of 1984. It is a joint project between the Tata Group and The Tamil Nadu Industrial
Development Corporation. The founder of the Company is Xerxes Desai. The headquarters of
the company are located in Bangalore and Karnataka, India. It is one the most recognizable
brand of India which further gave rise to many sub spectacular brands.
It is a goods company of India which manufactures fashion accessories such as watches,
jewellery, eyewear, fragrances and helmets.
For the Titan company, Innovation in thought, process, strategy are the important factors as it
does the business throughout the world. The objective of the company is to develop new and
relevant products and services. Their mission is to foster innovation and to do such
remarkable performance in order to ensure the Highest Global Standard in everything. In
order to achieve these, they strive to maximize the efficiency and value of each of their
business segments. The company’s policy is to foray the markets which are unorganized.
Thus, the company considers it as their mere business responsibility to introduce ethics and
fair play business. The company follows the golden rule of business “PUT YOURSELF IN
YOUR CUSTOMER’S PLACE”. Thus, based on these, their team dedicated and created
innovative customer centric features and offered services that strive to nurture a long-lasting
relationship with every customer.
In 1984, the company brought about a model shift in the Indian Watch Market offering
Quartz technology combined with International styling. In 1995, the company diversified into
jewellery under the brand named Tanishq.
Today, The Titan Company is the fifth largest Integrated Watch Manufacturer in the World.
There are approximately 1480 exclusive stores in 276 cities/ towns. It manufactures 800+
new products every year. The brands launched by the company are Fastrack, Sonata , Tanishq
, Zoya , Raga, etc. Today Titan company is the largest consumer company of the Tata Group.
Thus, the vision of the company is seen in each and every brand that has been undertaken into
it. Though it can be said that it is a company where Elegance meets Excellent, Design meets
Innovation and Transparency meets Trust. These vision makes Titan distinguish from other
brands.
PESTLE Analysis
3. Political Factors:
These are the factors which determine the extent to which a government may influence the
economy or a particular industry. For example, when the government imposes new duties or
taxes it alters the entire revenue generating structures of organizations. Political factors
include economic policy, trade tariffs, tax policies, etc. that a government may levy during
the financial year and that may affect the business (economic) environment to a great extent.
5. Social Factors:
Titan operates all across the world with highest production taking place in India. The
society has observed the growth of company from classic timeless watches to variety of
multiple products in various multiple segments. The product is automatically considered as
reliable when it is associated with the brand name of “TITAN”. Though due to high
expansion (amassing) and reduction in increment had a worse impact resulting in reduced
purchasing capacity. In that view, the company makes sure and tries their best to satisfy all
their customers and each and every one has something within their budget limit to purchase.
Following are the social factors impacted Titan: -
Titan is owned by the company named TATA, in the earlier days when TATA started to
work on new interesting projects to increase their profit, they decided to enter watches
segment and did a study on the same. In that study they mentioned that there are very few
Indian players in this segment. There were only 1.5 million watches made for the entire
Indian population. HMT was the biggest player making 1 million watches and there were
several small players. So the company was convinced about the opportunity in front of them
and this is when titan was born.
Titan, from always focused on its premium customers and where in efforts of making Titan a
premium brand, so titan wanted to attract premium customers towards its product and wanted
to sell their products. They weren’t able to do business with the distributors as they only
wated to buy HMT’S watches(competitor). From day one, Titan was projected as a premium
brand but companies at that time didn’t spend money in design and layout of there shops. The
thinking was that anyone who wanted to buy a watch would come to the shop regardless of
the experience. This is when titan decided to launch their own showroom as they wanted to
provide a better experience. They also started a franchise model after sometime. And this is
how they attracted the premium customers towards their product keeping in mind the
mentality of Indian customers.
Another social factor which company overcome very smartly was the trust among the Indian
customers. At that time, people didn’t really trust Quartz watches as they were new. That’s
when titan bring in a new idea of an open service network alongside the showrooms. At that
time, when customers wanted to get there watch repaired, they never really knew who fixed it
because it was happening behind the doors. Titan wanted the repair service to be transparent
so people can see what’s happening. The main goal of the company was not to earn money
but build trust. Once people started trusting them, they started buying more watches
eventually. And the company was successful in building trust among Indian market.
Titan’s most of the revenues come from the jewellery segment. The company keeping in
mind its female customers decided to enter jewellery segment, as the company noticed the
designs and workmanship of other jewellery were ordinary and were not much interesting so
they started making jewellery. However, they didn’t want its name to be Titan jewellery. The
company wanted a more feminine and Indian name which would attract the female
customers, so they came up with the name “Niska” which later became “Tanishq” which
means tan - body and ishq - love. But again, the problem comes of trust issues. Nobody could
be sure about the gold quality they were buying, so customers preferred local craftsperson’s.
Titan came up with a solution and bought machines that could help customers to check the
quality of the gold they had and were allowed to check for free. However, this didn’t really
increase their sales but helped them in building trust across Indian market.
Another major issue that Titan company did was identifying and solving the problems of the
customers that helped the company in increasing their sales and building trust across the
globe. Titan came up with “Impure to Pure scheme”. If the jewellery was lower than 22
carats, it could be exchanged for Tanishq’s 22 carat jewellery of their choice by paying only
manufacturing charges. They also launched other schemes such as “Golden Harvest scheme”
where customers can pay in instalments some time ahead of buying the jewellery and the
company will offer a discount. And this is how the company managed their jewellery
segment to do so well in Indian market.
6. Technological Factors:
Titan believes in foreseeing, altering, extemporizing and overwhelming the various
challenges. In present era, trends are changing speedily. So, it is quite important for the
company to keep up with same execution of recent and productive technology. The only
thing which matters is the way how TITAN company runs to stay advanced in the game of
business. The method by which the company initiates the new valuable technology
determines its stay as a leader in the market.
Following are the Technological Factors that impacted Titan: -
After the Titan Brand came into existence, the company started giving advertisements in the
Times of India, the advertisements only said a large business house was looking for sales
executives and this is how they found Mr. Bhaskar Bhat (next managing director of Titan).
So, until now they got all the license approvals for manufacturing of watches and they also
had a team ready. Now they had to decide the product which will they manufacture. At that
time mainly two categories watches were being sold in an Indian market. The two main
categories of watches are mechanical and Quartz. The market of watches was emerging from
mechanical to Quartz segment. The country was going into a technological advancement
phase, so Titan realized and forecasted that the future of watches lies in the “Quartz”
segment. However, the license issued to Titan was for the manufacture of 2 million watches –
1.6 million mechanical and 0.4 million quartz. This was the issue faced by the company,
Quartz is a battery-based watch. They are cheaper as they have less components but they are
very accurate. Mechanical watches are the opposite. They are very expensive to make and
they have several components and are not battery based. At that time, titan knew that Quartz
is the future of watches but they had to make 1.6 million mechanical watches according to the
license and the luck was on their side, as Mr. Rajiv Gandhi became the prime minister at that
time and the government stopped micro-managing the industry. And the government gave
them the choice to choose freely between “Mechanical” and “Quartz” watches. They went for
Quartz and this was one of the most important decisions of that time which made Titan the
brand which they are today. This is how they leaped towards the future of the watches in the
Indian market.
Keeping in mind the safety of their customers, Titan also launched a smartwatch for women
“TITAN WE” that helps them stay connected with their loved ones and stay safe. For
achieving this milestone, Titan further advanced their technology in watches and created a
smart brand. It has a system that allows users to send SOS messages along with their location
in the times of need. This technological advancement helped Titan to maintain and build trust
among its customers which eventually enhanced their sales and revenue.
The company has recently launched the implementation of Schneider electrics IoT platform
across its Tanishq retail stores to manage their data efficiently. It helps the company in
reducing their time and energy as well as helps them in managing their unnecessary cost thus
making the company more profitable.
In this technological advancement era, social media plays a vital role in promoting various
campaigns of a firm. Thus, keeping this in mind, Titan also uses various social media
platforms like FACEBOOK, TWITTER, YOUTUBE to expand their product and attract the
maximum audience. Titan also keeps in mind the festive seasons in India and comes up with
the product accordingly which they advertise on social media platform to gain maximum
attention across its customers. In the timeline may and earlier there are some real
engagements going on in India so the company came up with a product “TITAN
BANDHAN” to attract the young couples towards it, and also to some extended in creating a
premium market. Titan also did celebrity endorsement on social media to expand its market
for some of there premium products like “TITAN RAGA”. RANBIR KAPOOR, KATRINA
KAIF and SHUSHANT SINGH RAJPUT were some of the celebrities with whom Titan did
a commercial to attract its premium customers. Titan also has an online presence through its
websites like Carat lane. Online presence helps the company expand its audience beyond
conventional stores. This is how Titan in the past and even now is dealing with the
technological factors that influences company’s market and which helped Titan to become a
brand which they are today.
7. Legal Factors:
As the company located in India, it has to follow some rules and regulation with
respect to Indian constitution. The company has started its operation in 1984, which was a
joint venture between TATA Group and Tamilnadu government’s venture “Tamilnadu
Industrial Development Corporation”. In 1995 Titan entered in to the business of gems and
jewelry with the brand name TANISHQ.
Initially, the watch industry was dominated by Government owned company HMT
and the situation was same at the time of the launch of Titan, but in 1991, Liberalization and
Globalization implemented and the restriction on export and other trade barriers were
removed and after that company got the boost in its growth. Currently Titan has watch
penetration ratio of 27% in Indian market apart from government has reduced taxes and
duties over the import of watches and important components.
Every institution has their own set of rules regarding the employee behavior, which is
the part of employment law and its overall observation. The world is significantly affected by
globalization, for responsible businesses they need to ensure How to respect and support
human rights in complex social, political and environmental contexts. Particularly where
human rights are being violated by the company or its workers. Titan has pedagogy of TATA
group. So, the employment rules are being properly followed. Even an internal committee is
working on it throughout the whole year. For other issues a separate body was formed and the
team lead by the CEC and HR. They ensure that all employees, new hired and temporary
work force abide by the TCOC through adequate communication and awareness initiatives.
Robust mechanism has put by the company to deal with breaches, unethical conduct as well
as prevention of sexual harassment. Employees’ Ethical behavior is traced through internal
process and its effectiveness and it is validated through some external surveys.
There is a separate shareholder governance committee for shareholders. Complaints received
by the shareholders are posted by SEBI on its website and company is actively resolving the
complaints by uploading the action taken report in a time bound manner. The rights of
employees are raised by freedom and association and trade unions which is an integral part of
employee welfare. At every manufacturing locations and plants, the workers have their own
unions and their problems are represented by the union itself. Indian constitution is followed
by all the companies located in India to prevent unwanted legal issues and actions by
government. The company has to deal with the cases of smuggling and sale of first copies,
which ruins the brand name. The company is trying to keep close eye on all such people who
affect not just on profit margins but also the brand name.
8. Environmental Factors :
Different Industries has its own various standard of environmental protection in their
head as the norm. This norm decides that what a company should target for, to protect our
surroundings and preservation of the environment. Nowadays an educated consumer will
prefer a business that has fewer carbon footprints. Because he knows that at the end of the
day that is the thing which matters the most. He will look into the companies ethically about
the environment in the wake of Global-warming. Here some of the environmental issues
which will impact on companies’ product and its production too.
Because of climate change, there might be problems in the product’s durability as the
weather become unpredictable. Not recycling or reusing the company waste will increase the
demand for raw material and that will result in a higher cost of raw goods, as well as the
transportation of waste will become a headache and that will be more expensive than
recycling. Relying on renewable resources of energy will become a stress on your financial
planning but it will become a boon for a company after a few years.
Considering above mentioned factors and having a legacy of TATA group (which is
known for its works towards the societal benefits.) Titan has taken so many effective steps to
protect and preserve the environment. From implementing new technologies, for that, to
spreading awareness by advertising via various campaigns.
The company Titan, believes in sustainability and improvement of life style. The
company has adopted the line “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle” in its operations and promotions.
For sustainability actions and initiatives, the company has assigned a cartoon character
named “CHUTKI’. Who acts as a promoter for this.
Titan do consider some major issues and plans its manufacturing units accordingly. In
1983 Titan was about to establish their production facility. Instead of choosing Morbi,
Gujarat (Where already established manufactures Like HMT were there and that will make
easy to get Raw material and Skilled Workers) they started their unit in Hosur, Tamilnadu .
To provide social and economic benefits to the locals. The company follows the statement
“We create elevating experiences for the people we touch and significantly impact the world
we look in”. Through the campaign company is working to ensure the growth of
environmental awareness, reducing carbon footprint. Water, Energy and solid waste
management. The company is continuously improving safety throughout product life cycle
and trying to introduce and implement Clean and Green Operations. 80% - 85% of the total
energy consumed by the manufacturing units is from renewable sources. About 54% of
overall electricity consumption is powered by the wind energy. Investing in solar systems at
Hosur plant has given significant results. Also, Company is planning solar systems for its
stores. The company has reported 0.0002% decrease int its carbon foot-print for the year
2017. This is the signifies that the company is on right track. The company is using automatic
tube cleaning systems and also energy efficient 1E3 motors to save more energy. In order to
water conservation, the company has undertaken a 100% recycle of trace effluence. So that
there is no waste, Harmful water released outside the company premises. They are
monitoring the specific consumption of water and developing minimization initiatives. They
are efficiently reducing harmful compounds from the used water. Most of the treated water is
used again in manufacture process remaining is used in gardening and other activities like
cleaning etc. Company is setting up the reverse osmosis water systems in order to reduce the
fuel level consumption and water consumption by thermal energy storage systems and an
industrial dish washer. And the replacement of trichloroethylene to clean the watches with the
more environment sustainable materials. The company is giving all the efforts to maintain
transparency for its efforts to save environment.
Our Understanding on The Content: -
Political: -
India is the one of the largest democracies in the world. In the past, India was a bit unstable in
political basis but today the politics of India has become strong and capable of reaching the
entire world. In 2004, Indian National Congress (INC) won the elections and formed a new
government. The new government took some steps to improve the rate of gross domestic
product (GDP) to decrease the rate of inflation in India. As Titan is an Indian brand so all the
policies made by the government helped Titan to Maintain its position in the market and to
keeping performing well in the watches segment.
Learnings
Therefore, for running a Business in India the company should maintain good relations with the
political leaders of the country, as what Titan did to maintain and survive in the market. And it
also helped Titan to minimize the risk of DOING BUSINESS IN INDIA.
Economical: -
India has become a populous country and it is one of the fast-emerging economies in the world.
Based on the Times of India (2010), in 2008 the India’s per capital income was Rs.40,141 and
in 2009 it raised 10.5% to Rs.44,345. Increase in the income shows the increase in the
purchasing power of India. This reflects that many people have the ability to purchase the
luxury products. As Titan was already a luxury brand so all the factors helped the company to
attract as many customers towards its products.
Learnings: -
To be stable and to increase the market the company should look over to the country’s
economy and its people’s ability to buy its product. Titans premium products like “TITAN
RAGA” played a very important role in increasing its market strength in India and helped them
DOING BUSINESS IN INDIA.
Social: -
During the beginning of an era of technological advancement, most of the company’s did not
spend much on their shops, resulting in disinterest of the customer, but Titan quickly realized
these issues and they started spending more finance in their showrooms and shops resulting in
increase of the Indian customers. Alongside, when people didn’t trust digital and quartz
watches they started building trust of the customers by giving open service of watches
alongside showroom.
Learnings: -
Not just India but all around the globe, the most important factor for doing business is the trust
of their customers. And also, the company should take care of the display of their products and
shop. Thus to remain competitive in an Indian market and to increase their sales, Titan kept
their efforts towards gaining trust of Indian customers and thus reducing the risk of DOING
BUSINESS IN INDIA.
Technological: -
Technology can rapidly dismantle the price structure and competitive landscape of an industry
in a very short amount of time. It thus becomes extremely important to constantly and
consistently innovate, not only for the sake of maximizing possible profits and becoming a
market leader, but also to prevent obsolescence in the near future.
Learnings: -
Titan due to its excellent management was successful in adapting the change in the Technology
and went from mechanical to Quartz watches thus attracting more and more customers towards
its product and also using the technology for a good, the company showed concern towards
their customers and launched smart watches for women in India “TITAN WE”. This some of
the smart moves taken by Titan helped them in DOING BUSINESS IN INDIA.
LEGAL: -
In different countries, the legal framework and institutions are different and in some countries
are not tough enough to protect the intellectual property rights of an organization. A firm
should carefully evaluate before entering such markets as it can lead to theft of organization’s
secret researches thus the overall competitive edge.
Learnings: -
Before entering any country for busines the company should look towards all its norms and
guidelines and especially in a democratic country like India. Here the Titan’s one of the big
advantages was that it was an Indian company and was owned by an Indian brand “TATA”
therefore they were very well aware of all the legal aspects of the country thus kept them on top
of the market, and thus helped them in DOING BUSINESS IN INDIA.
Environment: -
Different markets have different norms or environmental standards which can impact the
profitability of an organization in those markets. Even within a country often states can have
different environmental laws and liability laws. For example, in United States – Texas and
Florida have different liability clauses in case of mishaps or environmental disaster. Similarly, a
lot of European countries give healthy tax breaks to companies that operate in the renewable
sector. Before entering new markets or starting a new business in existing market the firm
should carefully evaluate the environmental standards that are required to operate in those
markets.
Learnings: -
India is one of the polluted countries around the globe. So, while doing business the company
should take care of the norms and guidelines of that particular country regarding the pollution
and the factors which damage our nature. While relying, on non-renewable energy would be
expensive so the Titan’s 80%-85% of the total energy consumed by the manufacturing units is
from renewable sources. About 54% of overall electricity consumption is powered by the wind
energy. Thus, it reduced their cost and also were successful in attracting customers who were
willing to pay a premium price for the product that the company produce resulting in increased
sales and increase in efficiency of DOING BUSINESS IN INDIA.
Since more than 34-years Titan Company has dominated the jewellery segment in its market
valuation as well as product presence. Titan is considered as one of the best players in Dalal
Street keeping an eye on the future. It offers utmost quality assurance and a fairly lower hair-
cut as compared to its competitors. Its current revenue contribution stands at 30%
approximately and it aims that it will improve to reach 50% in the forthcoming years. Even as
the industry witnessed a flat to negative growth, Tanishq has managed to maintain its positive
growth trajectory backed by due to high stock valuation, lower returns, and a diverse product
range which starts from 7K. Tanishq, a Titan brand, has mainly benefited by its transparent
exchange value and gold quality and stringent business policies
9. Conclusion
Considering the Indian market and economy, the company, Titan has emerged as faithful
and reliable Indian brand. Started its operation before the globalization since than the
company is continuously putting numerous efforts to maintain its position as market leader
in every segment whether it’s about the product or company policies and ethics. Titan
doesn’t have achievers’ story only in brand valuation and products but as a corporate
company and a brand it has some values which holds the customer’s trust. From a little 8
year old kid who wears a Zoop watches to 60-70 year old who has invested their capital in
the company, Titan is successfully maintain their faith by its product and its growth.
Dealing with the market competition, Fake product market and some legal disputes is not a
easy job, still this was done by the company in very smooth and appropriate manner. The
company’s roots are bond to the Indian culture, understanding its responsibility towards
the society and this unique culture Titan has done some fabulous work related to CSR
activities and Social activities. Even it gave new definition a new perspective to some
traditional practices and rituals via brand advertising Tanishq. Aiming for the welfare of
the employees and implementing some great policies which are beneficial for them. The
company has chosen various technological updates for its production facilities to reach its
sustainable environmental goals. As an individual wants to start a business in India, the
story of titan is very helpful and inspiring. Considering various aspects of PESTLE factors,
how to manage your business is the most important learning from this.