Note: Solve any 4 Cases Study’s
CASE: I ARROW AND THE APPAREL INDUSTRY
Ten years ago, Arvind Clothing Ltd., a subsidiary of Arvind Brands Ltd., a member of the Ahmedabad based Lalbhai Group, signed up with the 150- year old Arrow Company, a division of Cluett Peabody & Co. Inc., US, for licensed manufacture of Arrow shirts in India. What this brought to India was not just another premium dress shirt brand but a new manufacturing philosophy to its garment industry which combined high productivity, stringent in-line quality control, and a conducive factory ambience.
Arrow’s first plant, with a 55,000 sq. ft. area and capacity to make 3,000 to 4,000 shirts a day, was established at Bangalore in 1993 with an investment of Rs 18 crore. The conditions inside—with good lighting on the workbenches, high ceilings, ample elbow room for each worker, and plenty of ventilation, were a decided contrast to the poky, crowded,
subsidiary of Arvind Mills.
Growth Strategy : Arvind Mills has grown through buying-up of sick units, going global and acquisition of German and US brand names.
Questions
1. Why did Arvind Mills choose globalization as the major route to achieve growth when the domestic market was huge?
2. How does lifting of ‘Country-wise quota regime’ help Arvind Mills?
3. What lessons can other Indian businesses learn form the experience of Arvind Mills?
CASE: II THE ECONOMY OF KENYA
Kenya’ economy has been beset by high rates of unemployment and underemployment for many years. But at no time has it been more significant and more politically dangerous than in the late 1990s as an authoritarian beset by corruption, cronyism and economic plunder threatened the economic stability of this once proud nation. Yet Kenya still has great potential. Located in East Africa, it has a diverse geographic and climatic endowment. Three-fifths of the nation is semiarid desert (mostly in the north), and the resulting infertility of this land has dictated the location of 85 per cent of the population (30 million in 2000) and almost all economic activity in the southern two-fifths of the country. Kenya’s rapidly growing population is composed of many tribes and is extremely heterogeneous (including traditional herders, subsistence and commercial farmers, Arab Muslims, and cosmopolitan residents of Nairobi). The standard of living at least in major cities, is
The US France India China
Canada Brazil Cuba
UK North Korea
Questions
1. Is the economic environment of Kenya favourable to international business? Yes or no—substantiate.
2. In the continuum of economic systems (see Fig 1), where do you place Kenya and why?
3. Compare this case with the opening case to this chapter and draw similarities and dissimilarities.
Case III: LATE MOVER ADVANTAGE?
Though a late entrant, Toyota is planning to conquer the Indian car market. The Japanese auto major wants to dispel the notion that the first mover enjoys an edge over the rivals who arrive late into a market.
Toyota entered the Indian market through the joint venture route, the partner being the Bangalore based Kirloskar Electric Co. Know as Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM), the plant was set up in 1998 at Bidadi near Bangalore.
To start with, TKM released its maiden offer—Qualis. Qualis is not a newly conceived, designed, and brought out vehicle. Rather it is the new avatar of Kijang under which brand the vehicle was sold in markets like Indonesia.
Qualis virtually had no competition. Telco’s Sumo was not a multi-utility vehicle like Qualis. Rather, it was mini-truck converted into a rugged all-purpose van. More importantly, Toyota proved that even its old offering, but decked up for India, could offer better quality than its competitor. Backed by a carefully thought out advertising campaign that communicated Toyota’s formidable global reputation, Qualis went on a roll and overtook ….
n up. Besides, China is a large, diverse country. A standardised ad campaign will not do. Luckily, Toyota is learning its lessons.
Competition in the Chinese market is tough, and Toyota’s success in reaching its goal of selling a million cars a year, by 2010, is uncertain. But, its chances are brighter as the company is able to transfer lessons learned in the American market to its operations in China.
Questions
1. Why has the ‘late corner’s strategy’ of Toyota failed in China, though it succeeded in India?
2. Why has Toyota failed to capture the Chinese market? Why is it trailing behind its rivals?
CASE: IV DELVING DEEP INTO USER’S MIND
Whirlpool is an American brand alright, but has succeeded in empowering the Indian housewife with just the tools she would have designed for herself. A washing machine that doesn’t expect her to get ‘ready for the show’ (Videocon’s old jingle), nor adapt her plumbing, power supply, dress sense, values, attitudes and lifestyle to suit American standards.
That, in short, is the reason that Whirlpool ….
ll work the magic, with a little help from some friends… such as Whirlpool.
Questions
1. What product strategy did WOI adopt? And why? Global standardisation? Local customisaton?
2. What pricing strategy did WOI follow? What, according to you, could have been the appropriate strategy?
3. What lessons can other white goods manufacturers learn from WOI?
CASE V: CONSCIENCE OR COMPETITIVE EDGE
The plane touched down at Mumbai airport precisely on time. Olivia Jones made her way through the usual immigration bureaucracy without incident and was finally ushered into a waiting limousine, complete with uniformed chauffeur and soft black leather seats. Her already considerable excitement at being in India for the first time was mounting. As she cruised the dark city streets, she asked her chauffeur why so few cars had their headlights on at night. The driver responded that most drivers believed that headlights use too much petrol! Finally, she arrived at her hotel, a black marble monolith, grandiose and decadent in its splendour, towering above the bay.
The goal of her four-day trip was to sample and select ……
operating in a highly competitive environment. Her dilemma was twofold: Can an ambitious employee afford to exercise a social conscience in his or her career? And can career-minded individuals truly make a difference without jeopardising their future? Answer her.
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