Mahindra & Mahindra in South Africa Harvard Case Solution & Analysis

Alternate Selection

Although Shah Recommendation should be, to opt a wait and watch strategy because it is important that for now M&M should look the industry trends and government rules and regulations after the recession. Once the company analyzes the situation than they should select one of the three remaining options or alternatives. Looking at all the options available the most feasible one for the company is to develop the company’s own manufacturing facility. The reason for this recommendation is simple; if the company will have its own manufacturing plant they will be able to meet the industry requirements. Secondly, the company will have control over the decision making and no restrictions will be managed by the parent company. The idea being having M&M plant will make it easier for the subsidiary to access all the African countries that can be a potential automotive market for M&M SA in the coming years. Another option where the company can develop agreements with local vendors was also a lucrative alternate but since, M&M has been in the industry for more than five years, it does not need to study the market, and these types of alliances or ventures are good when the company is new in the market. Over here, M&M SA has been quite a known entity in the South African region.

Criteria for the four options

While selecting the strategy for future for M&M SA, it is important to understand the credibility and importance of each alternate and in fact evaluate them accordingly. The first option which is the wait and watch strategy is quite a defensive option. Companyoperation at and a large scale should be a risk taker rather than a defensive company. Although no company would want to bear losses, but since the South African market is on the verge of growing therefore wait and watchstrategy cannot be the long term solution for the company. A second option for the company is to form an agreement with local vendor does not give the complete hold to the company (Daniels, 2010).

Although the current method is somewhat similar to this, but eventually the company should switch itself into a manufacturer itself. At the initial period this was not a bad option because M&M SA did not have any idea of the market and its risks and advantages. Since, M&M SA has made a strong now working with them is no more a clever move.The third option is to establish a manufacturing plant in South Africa. This is rather a proactive and a bold move. Although it is costly and can backfire the company, but sooner or later to tap whole of the African market, M&M needs to establish itself as one of the local automotive players. They should portray themselves as a local company so that people can eventually associate themselves. This is a strong and direct alternate. The final option for M&M is to the last and the final option for Shah is to grow the existing business model of importing the completely built units (CBUs) from India by using the South African market as the hub from where the company can sell its vehicles into different markets different countries in the African continent. This can be the most costly move and also the most time consuming. The company will not only have to bear tariffs and taxes, but the customer order will also eventually delay because of the time it will take to deliver a container or a shipment to Africa.

Growth strategy of M&M

The growth strategy of M&M is to expand and diversify itself with new products and new markets. With this philosophy, M&M has entered the South African market and has been trying to blend itself in the local market so that it can compete with the local manufacturers. Until now M&M has been successful in its moving and has actually made a strong presence in the market with its two major brands the Scorpio and the Bolero. Both have been successful in South Africa in spite of the fact that local people do not prefer local products. However, M&M has been able to penetrate the market with a 2.1 percent market share. The company is heading in the right direction and path because it has been able to attract vendors and locals to purchase the goods manufactured by M&M. With the recent recession, sales have declined considerably but it is because of the inflow of money. However, for the past two years, M&M has been gaining back the momentum as one of the most compatible automotives in Africa (Daniels, 2010)....................................

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