Consulting and Enterprise Solutions

Case Study

Business strategy for a leading automotive manufacturer in India

Business Challenge
A billion-dollar automotive company in India recently faced numerous challenges as its entire product category was under severe strain to remain profitable. The company manufactures three-wheelers, pick-up vans, sports utility vehicles and light commercial vehicles (LCVs). It engaged Mahindra Satyam to develop a business strategy for its commercial vehicle line, hoping to create a five-year roadmap and implement an organization-wide business process reengineering (BPR) strategy. The company faced myriad challenges. It was competing against new products introduced by competitors while its own customer satisfaction waned. In addition, growth and revenue in the commercial vehicle segment were stagnant, and it was engaged in an intense price war with competitors, further eroding profit. Moreover, its channel members had not achieved their desired objectives. The company approached Mahindra Satyam for creating a roadmap to increase sales of its commercial vehicle segment, an undertaking that the company called Selling Prosperity. The programs idea was to equate the buying of such a vehicle with prosperity in the mind of the owner. Mahindra Satyam was asked to translate this philosophy into sound business practices that would increase sales. The company sought Mahindra Satyams advice in creating differentiating strategies in the commercial vehicle segment; aligning the strategic direction with corporate objectives; and prioritizing options with respect to predefined parameters. It also wanted to create a business case that could justify investments to its customers and a business plan that included a strategy for high-level migration.

Mahindra Satyams Role

The role involved conducting brainstorming sessions with stakeholders, including employees, dealers and retailers, to produce innovative strategies and ideas. Suggestions were filtered through evaluation parameters, and a differentiating strategy was created, based on input from workshops, industry research studies and corporate goals. Considerable primary and secondary research produced industry-leading benchmarks, against which the companys performance in both the product and service areas was compared. Mahindra Satyam also assigned targets to each performance measurement parameter and laid out an operational plan in line with targets. In the service area, Mahindra Satyam suggested an Environmental Analysis, including customer field surveys, and a Formulation of Differentiation Strategy. Mahindra Satyam also created a gap Analysis and prioritization chart, comparing as-is and to-be scenarios, and assembled an operation plan and business case, which included both impact and risk analysis, as well as cost-benefit analysis.

Consulting and Enterprise Solutions

Case Study
The role also involved identifying and outlining the ways in which the automakers commercial vehicles stood out from the competition (greater overload capacity, insurance benefits, business assistance and 50- kilometer service). Mahindra Satyam then set up guideposts by which to measure the efficacy of these messages in key process performance parameters.

Benefits
The automaker secured engineering buy-in to stretch targets and increase sales in the product category. It also created a special task force, which named specific individuals and groups to oversee projects in the service category, which produced a more cohesive plan and enhanced appeal to customers. Furthermore, because Mahindra Satyam helped create a timetable for implementation, including a clearcut migration plan in line with market dynamics and Manufacturing and Marketing readiness, the company has a much clearer roadmap to increasing its relevance in the commercial vehicle market. Its message of buying prosperity is much more likely to resonate.

About Business Value Enhancement (BVE)

Business Value Enhancement (BVE), the Business Process and Technology Consulting group in Mahindra Satyam, has been constituted with the core mission of engaging with clients on business issues such as competitiveness of business operations and strategic leverage of information technology. BVE teams help clients make smart investments in business process and IT assets in line with the strategic objectives of the enterprise, and manage investments in these assets for optimal business value. BVE strives to make Mahindra Satyam the preferred transformation consulting partner, globally. Business Value Enhancement was established in response to requests from some of its major customers to help improve their service capabilities. From humble beginnings, the group has grown to become one of the worlds largest process consulting practices of its type, coming from an IT services company.

For further information please write to rfi@mahindrasatyam.net