31-07-2014, 02:47 PM
COMPANY OVERVIEW
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INTRODUCTION
Maruti Suzuki is one of India's leading automobile manufacturers and the market leader in the car segment, both in terms of volume of vehicles sold and revenue earned. Until recently, 18.28% of the company was owned by the Indian, and 54.2% by Suzuki of Japan. The Indian government held an offering of 25% of the company in June 2003. As of May 10, 2007, Govt. of India sold its complete share to Indian financial institutions. With this, Govt. of India no longer has stake in Maruti Udyog. Maruti Udyog Limited (MUL) was established in February 1981, though the actual production commenced in 1983 with the Maruti 800, based on the Suzuki Alto kei car which at the time was the only modern car available in India, its' only competitors- the Hindustan Ambassador and Premier Padmini were both around 25 years out of date at that point. Through 2004, Maruti has produced over 5 Million vehicles.
Maruti are sold in India and various several other countries, depending upon export orders. Cars similar to Maruti (but not manufactured by Maruti Udyog) are sold by Suzuki and manufactured in Pakistan and other South Asian countries. The company annually exports more than 50,000 cars and has an extremely large domestic market in India selling over 730,000 cars annually.
Maruti 800, till 2004, was the India's largest selling compact car ever since it was launched in 1983. More than a million units of this car have been sold worldwide so far. Currently, Maruti Alto tops the sales charts and Maruti Swift is the largest selling in A2 segment. Due to the large number of Maruti 800s sold in the Indian market, the term "Maruti" is commonly used to refer to this compact car model. Till recently the term "Maruti", in popular Indian culture, was associated to the Maruti 800 model.
COMPANY OVERVIEW
Maruti Suzuki India Limited, a subsidiary of Suzuki Motor Corporation of Japan, has been the leader of the Indian car market for over two decades. It’s manufacturing facilities are located at two facilities Gurgaon and Manesar south of New Delhi. Maruti’s Gurgaon facility has an installed capacity of 350,000 units per annum. The Manesar facilities, launched in February 2007 comprise a vehicle assembly plant with a capacity of 100,000 units per year and a Diesel Engine plant with an annual capacity of 100,000 engines and transmissions. Manesar and Gurgaon facilities have a combined capability to produce over 700,000 units annually. More than half the cars sold in India are Maruti cars. The company is a subsidiary of Suzuki Motor Corporation, Japan, which owns 54.2 per cent of Maruti. The rest is owned by the public and financial institutions. It is listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange and National Stock Exchange in India. During 2007-08, Maruti Suzuki sold 764,842 cars, of which 53,024 were exported. In all, over six million Maruti cars are on Indian roads since the first car was rolled out on December 14,1983. Maruti Suzuki offers 12 models, Maruti 800, Omni, Alto, Versa, Gypsy, A Star, WagonR, Zen Estilo, Swift, Swift Dzire, SX4, Grand Vitara. Swift, Swift dzire, A star and SX4are maufactured in Manesar, Grand Vitara is imported from Japan as a completely builtunit (CBU), remaining all models are manufactured in Maruti Suzuki's Gurgaon Plant.Suzuki Motor Corporation, the parent company, is a global leader in mini and compact cars for three decades. Suzuki’s technical superiority lies in its ability to pack power and performance into a compact, lightweight engine that is clean and fuel efficient.
Maruti is clearly an “employer of choice” for automotive engineers and young managers from across the country. Nearly 75,000 people are employed directly by Maruti and its partners. The company vouches for customer satisfaction. For its sincere efforts it has been rated(by customers)first in customer satisfaction among all car makers in India for nine years in a row in annual survey by J D Power Asia Pacific. Maruti Suzuki was born as a government company, with Suzuki as a minor partner to make a people's car for middle class India. Over the years, the product range has widened, ownership has changed hands and the customer has evolved. What remains unchanged, then and now, is Maruti’s mission to motorize India.
Manesar violence July 2012
On 18 July 2012, Maruti's Manesar plant was hit by violence as workers at one of its auto factories attacked supervisors and started a fire that killed a company official and injured 100 managers, including two Japanese expatriates. The violent mob also injured nine policemen. The company's General Manager of Human Resources had both arms and legs broken by his attackers, unable to leave the building that was set ablaze, and was charred to death. The incident is the worst-ever for Suzuki since the company began operations in India in 1983.
Since April 2012, the Manesar union had demanded a three-fold increase in basic salary, a monthly conveyance allowance of 10,000, a laundry allowance of 3,000, a gift with every new car launch, and a house for every worker who wants one or cheaper home loans for those who want to build their own houses.Initial reports claimed wage dispute and a union spokesman alleged the incident may be caste-related. According to the Maruti Suzuki Workers Union a supervisor had abused and made discriminatory comments to a low-caste worker. These claims were denied by the company and the police. The supervisor alleged was found to belong to a tribal heritage and outside of Hindu caste system; further, the numerous workers involved in violence were not affiliated with caste either. Maruti said the unrest began, not over wage discussions, but after the workers' union demanded the reinstatement of a worker who had been suspended for beating a supervisor. The workers claim harsh working conditions and extensive hiring of low-paid contract workers which are paid about $126 a month, about half the minimum wage of permanent employees. Maruti employees currently earn allowances in addition to their base wage. Company executives denied harsh conditions and claim they hired entry-level workers on contracts and made them permanent as they gained experience. It was also claimed that bouncers were deployed by the company.
India Today claimed that its interviews of witnesses present at the plant confirms the dispute was over the suspended worker. The management insisted that they must wait for completion of inquiry underway before they can take any action on the employee suspended for beating up his supervisor. The management was then told, "you will be beaten up after we get a signal." Thereafter, the workers broke up into groups, went on to set the shop floor as well as all offices afire. They searched for management officials and proceeded with a barbaric beating of the officials at the site with iron rods.
The police, in its First Information Report (FIR), claimed on 21 July that Manesar violence may be the result of a planned violence by a section of workers and union leaders. The report claimed the worker's action was recorded on close circuit cameras installed within the company premises. The workers took several managers and high ranked management officials hostage. The responsible Special Investigative Team official claimed, "some union leaders may be aware of the facts, so they burnt down the main
Suggestion
Maruti Suzuki India Ltd is a major player in the Indian automobile industry. With the growth in the Indian economy, consumers are shifting gradually from two wheelers to passenger vehicles which can be seen from the fact that total car production rose by 17.83% in 2009 and 29.39% in 2010. There is still some more space left for Maruti in this segment to compete for and should be penetrated further.
Maruti Suzuki India Ltd currently operates in the passenger vehicles segment and is a market leader with approximately 46.07% market share in its segment. As we have already seen in Fig 3, there is no product in the price range of 10 to 16 lakhs INR offered by Maruti Suzuki India Ltd, it should concentrate on this price segment and further penetrate in the market.
We suggest that Maruti Suzuki should focus on the passenger vehicle segment in the price range of 10 to 14 lakhs INR, as this would reduce the cannibalizing effect on SX4 (approx. 8 lakhs INR) and Kizashi (approx. 16 lakhs INR). Also, it should emphasize on launching a sedan, continuing the legacy of Swift Dzire and SX4, and in lines with the latest high end sedan, Kizashi. In the price range given, four sedans appeared to be the competitors.
Conclusion
The Maruti Suzuki has a huge market and has left no stone unturned to satisfy the customers. It has models in every segment of the automobile market. Maruti Suzuki stands for value as much as it stands for performance. In spite of rising input costs, the company tries their best to keep prices down. Their running costs and resale values are unbeatable too. Competitive strategy of this company facilitated healthy profit and customer satisfaction and its recognition as a company which stands for environmental concerns. Nothing matches the delight their cars deliver. In fact, customer they don’t buy a Maruti Suzuki, they invest in it.