...POSITIONING IS INEVITABLE –A CASE STUDY OF TATA NANO Natasha Saqib Assistant Professor Department of Management Studies, University of Kashmir, South Campus Email –natalie81985@gmail.com Correspondence Address Natasha Saqib C/O Jamsheed Saqib United India Insurance Co. Ltd Divisional Office Regal Chowk Srinagar, Jammu & Kasmir Pincode No 190001 POSITIONING IS INEVITABLE –A CASE STUDY OF TATA NANO Abstract The forces of globalization and technological advancement have rendered the market place highly competitive and complex. The customer's needs, wants and expectations are changing at an exponential rate posing great challenges to the companies. For surviving and thriving in this scenario companies need to develop effective brand positioning strategies .Positioning helps customers know the real differences among competing products so that they can choose the one that is most valuable and useful to them.This is a case study of Tata Nano, one of the most ambitious projects of Tata Motor’s, which was started in 2008. It was envisioned by the Tata Group former chairman Ratan Tata himself. The case focuses on how the initial strategies for launching and positioning Tata Nano as a “People’s Car” backfired and how management recognized its shortcomings and mistakes that led to the wrong positioning of Tata Nano as “Worlds Cheapest Car” among the segment it was created for. And how finally after four years of it commercial launch, understanding the inevitability...
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...From the case study, categorize the Nano’s marketing segments that have the greatest influence on its sales. Assume you are the marketing manager at Tata responsible for consumer marketing. In your own words, outline a plan that Tata could implement in order to make the process to purchase the Nano more efficient for potential buyers. Based in India, which has a population of about 1.1 billion – with a median age of just under 25 and a rapidly expanding middle class, is the home of the Nano car. This car company is owned by Tata Motors, the sixth-largest commercial vehicle manufacturer in the world and was among India’s largest automobile companies. The Nano has two major market segment that it aims to penetrate with its line of vehicle that it produces. Nano’s marketing segments that have the greatest influence on its sale are the median age and the middle-class segments. As the marketing manager at Tata who is responsible for consumer marketing, a strategic plan that I would recommend to Tata, if implemented, to make the process of purchasing the Nano more efficient for potential buyers would the based upon the present short-comings of their present ill-fated strategy. My first and foremost objective will be to correct the safety futures of their cars. Reexamine the company’s initial proposition which was to produce and market a lower price point car that is safe and efficient. This idea has become a failure and the blame is being attributed to numerous factors from rising...
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...Both Nissan and Tata wants to increase their sales in India, which I think, is their most important goal. Separately, for Nissan, they corporate with the most popular Bollywood actor, Ranbir Kapoor, to produce a series of TV commercials, which show up the unique and competitive features of Micra to public, to gain the brand awareness of unknown Nissan Micra. In addition to the TV commercials, they also partnered with Kapoor producing a film, The New Star of India, to engage younger consumers and jumpstart sales. During the film producing process, they associated with Facebook to select co-actors, in order to receive a high social media popularity. Furthermore, since Nissan Micra has lots of competitors, such as Maruti Swift, Ford Figo, and Hyundai i10 and i20, Nissan also wanted to become the most popular car in B2 category by using social media. For Tata Nano, because of the long history of Tata company and the exist brand awareness of Tata, their goals are different from Nissan. Tata company wanted to let public use Nano to alter their two wheel motorcycle, because Nano is the cheapest car in the world. In addition, Tata partnered with MTV to conduct a TV show, Nano Drive with MTV, obtain public awareness of Nano. Most importantly, during this process, Nissan also used Facebook to connect people, which led them receive lots of fans(or potential customers). Because of the low price of Nano, the youth of India...
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...CHAPTER: 6 Positioning Strategies Introduction Globalization and technological advancements have made the market place highly competitive and complex. The customer's needs, wants and desires are changing with each passing moment and this poses a great threat to the companies who are to keep pace with the changing scenarios. To sustain, effective brand positioning strategies are required. Positioning allow customers for product differentiation so that they can choose the appropriate product for themselves. This case study of Tata Nano identifies the pitfalls and shortcomings of their prevalent positioning strategy of “People’s Car” and suggests ways in which Tata Motors could reposition its product for glorifying its image once again in-spite of changing industry dynamics. Since the economic liberalization of the 1990s, development of infrastructure within the country has progressed at a rapid pace, and today there is a wide variety of modes of transport by land, water and air. However, India's relatively low GDP has meant that access to these modes of transport has not been uniform. India's rapidly expanding economy has provided the basis for a fundamental change -- the emergence of a "new vanguard" increasingly dictating India's political and economic direction. This group is India's new middle class - mobile, driven, consumer-oriented, and, to some extent, forward-looking. It encompasses prosperous farmers, white-collar workers, business people, military personnel,...
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...1. Executive Summary India is the sixth largest passenger vehicle manufacturer in the world (Wikipedia Automobile industry). With a population of over 1.2 billion people, India has a huge market potential for automobiles. In the Indian Automobile Industry, India has become a leading center in producing small cars. In the year 2006, Ratan Tata of Tata Motors conceived the idea of a tiny car at an extremely cheap price to capture the potential of the rapidly growing middle class segment. The outcome was the Tata Nano, the world’s cheapest car priced at one lakh INR. Rolled out from Tata Motors as the world’s cheapest car in the year 2009, the indigenous Tata Nano achieved immediate success, fulfilling its promises of a complete car at an affordable price for the middle class masses. The Tata’s had relied rather heavily on the publicity of their product. But rather than leveraging this publicity, Tata became complacent about the communication strategy. The USP of the product, the “cheapest” price tag, had backfired miserably, and actually shunned its sales. The status conscious customer obviously did not want to get associated with the tag of “Poor man’s car”, and would rather opt for slightly pricier rival options. Hence, instead of being perceived as a functional step above the motorcycle as it was intended to be, the Tata Nano started being largely perceived as a cut-price car. The Tata Nano was initially conceived as a safe personal mobility alternative to the huge section...
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...itself in the developing nations such as China and India, Tata’s own home country. Tata’s offering of models such as the Nano and the Indica caters for this segment. This target segment also has been the most widely publicized target of Tata Motors. The other segment Tata targets is on the complete opposite side of the economic spectrum. This target segment also has been the most widely publicized target of Tata’s. Tata’s second target segment is the wealthy individuals and families looking to purchase luxurious cars. Tata targets this group with their offering of Land Rover and Jaguar lines of automobiles. Both of these highly recognized and respected brand name vehicles were recently acquired by Tata from Ford Motors in 2008. In order to cater itself to two such divergent groups, Tata motors offers different value proposition to each. The value proposition it offers to the first group, the low income individuals and families, is to offer a line of vehicles that are affordable while still being safe. This value proposition was clearly evident and communicated when the Nano was announced for release in 2009. However, since then the Nano has become somewhat of publicity nightmare for Tata as it failed to deliver these proposed value propositions and satisfy its consumers. This unfortunate event became widely publisized in front of an eager world audience still awe struck at Tata’s initial daring proposition. In reality, Nano’s market price started at $2900, a whopping 45%...
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...LEGAL ELEMENT West Bengal's Nano Impasse: A Roadblock for Tata The slogans on signs in Singur -- the West Bengal site where Tata Motors plans to manufacture the Nano, its $2,500 small car -- say it all. Most are in Bengali, but the few in English capture the overriding sentiment. "Nano No No," reads one. "Atta not Tata," says another. Atta, which is flour made from whole wheat, refers to the core question of the dispute: Should fertile farmland be requisitioned for industrial purposes? Does food get priority or factories? According to faculty at Wharton and the Indian School of Business, the impasse over the plant in West Bengal threatens to increase the Nano's production costs and could delay its entry into the domestic market. Moreover, they say, it will likely impact investment in the region, as outside companies shy away from antiquated land laws and political disruption. As things stand today, work has been suspended at the Nano plant. Tata has closed shop because, as chairman Ratan Tata told journalists in Kolkata (formerly Calcutta): "I can't bring our managers and their families to West Bengal if they're going to be beaten, if there is going to be violence constantly, if their children are afraid to go to school." Tata has faced trouble ever since it got the go-ahead for the plant on May 18, 2006. Just a week later, there were angry demonstrations by farmers objecting to the "forcible" acquisition of land for the project. The Trinamool Congress, a political party...
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...the Equity Bulls (2010), Tata Motors' total sales (including exports) of Tata commercial and passenger vehicles in January 2010 were 65,478 vehicles, a growth of 77% over 36,931 vehicles sold in January 2009. The company's domestic sales of Tata commercial and passenger vehicles for January 2010 were 62,202 vehicles, a 74% growth over 35,704 sold in January last year. Cumulative sales (including exports) for the company for the fiscal at 498,108 vehicles, recorded a growth of 24% over 400,284 sold last year. 1.2 TATA MOTORS – TATA NANO In January 2008, Tata Motors unveiled its People's Car, the Tata NANO, which India and the world have been looking forward to. Tata’s NANO is a new product with a new technology which promises the market of an efficient car with a very low cost. The Tata NANO has been subsequently launched, as planned, in India in March 2009. A development, which signifies a first for the global automobile industry, the NANO brings the comfort and safety of a car within the reach of thousands of families. The standard version has been priced at USD $2500.00 (TataNANO, 2010). 1.2.1 Tata NANO Market Segment The Tata NANO is launched car for the mass market and it has been labeled as the Model T for the 21st century. Available at just USD $2,500, it is billed as the world's cheapest car. The potential is for a totally new market segment -- first in...
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...Innovative Practices in Customer Creation Submitted to : Prof. Mithileshwar Jha On 18th October 2013 In partial fulfillment of the requirements of GMITE-VII By |Name |Registration No. | |Gopakumar Nair |GMITE- 22 | |Jijo Mathew |GMITE | |P G Rajesh Nair |GMITE- 63 | |Name |Registration No. | |Gopakumar Nair |GMITE 22 | |Jijo Mathew |GMI | Name Registration no. Gopakumar Nair GMITE 22 Jijo Mathew Rajesh Nair [pic] Executive Summary From the conception level to the launch of a product/service and then to sustain and enhance market acceptability, each product /service follows certain marketing techniques. Marketing strategies decide the futuresucess of a product, be it services or a new product, it is the strategies adopted to identify the customers, positioning and pricing of the product which determines the life of the product in the market. In this paper we have researched on some of the Innovative strategies successfully employed by automobile companies for new customer creation This document is a study about...
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...Management Development Institute, Gurgaon MARKETING PLANNING Study on ‘TATA NANO’ Submitted By : Aabid Bains (15P001) Arti Jain (15P011) Gautam Bindlish (15P021) Mayank Rajput (15P031) Rohit Gupta (15P041) Siddharth Gupta (15P051) INDEX Chapter No. Section-1 1 2 3 Section-2 4 5 Section-3 6 Chapter Name Page Number Preface The Curious Case of Tata Nano SWOT and PEST Analysis 3 4 6 Porter’s Five Forces Analysis Analysis of Consumer Behavior 11 14 Positioning Strategies 20 2 CHAPTER : 1 PREFACE The project aims at building a comprehensive understanding of how a company decides its marketing strategy and answer associated questions such as pricing, promotion and positioning of the product. Post launch, the effectiveness of the marketing strategy and performance of the product is also to be analyzed. The project also aims to analyze the decision-making process, purchase behavior and buying patterns from the perspective of the consumer. We will consider the dynamic market environment and changes at the micro and macro levels in the economy which affect the automobile sector 3 CHAPTER : 2 The Curious Case Of TATA Nano Introduced in January 2008 and launched in March 2009, TATA Nano was the most awaited launch of the year or perhaps the decade for the automobile industry. TATA MOTORS invested heavily in the project, not only financially but also as a brand. They were going to build an affordable “Rs...
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...position NANO to achieve that goal? 3.Why is the recommended positioning strategy superior to other positioning strategies that might reasonably be considered? As I look back at the previous campaigns for the Nano, it suddenly struck me that Nano was a consumer behavior assessment failure. The brand managers positioned the caras the next upgrade for a family of four with a two wheeler. But every such household had an aspiration to move to something better and not necessarily cheaper. Even if the consumer was in that income bracket, he aspired for something cooler. This point was not taken into consideration while the brand managers were coming up with the positioning. The next campaign focused on the tier 2 cities with bad roads and little or no inclination to move things along. This further hit the car sales. Tata Motors to reposition Nano as smart city car BT Online Bureau Mumbai Last Updated: August 22, 2013 | 00:00 IST WE RECOMMEND * ------------------------------------------------- Court relief for firms is setback to coal auction * ------------------------------------------------- Sahara chief faces RBI turbulence in bailout * Budget hotels' story has turned sour in India In a bid to boost Nano sales and woo young customers, Tata Motors on Wednesday said the budget car will be repositioned as 'a smart city car' with added features such as power steering, apart from introducing a CNG version. Tata Group Chairman Cyrus P Mistry said at the 68th...
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...2015 Marketing Management-1 Project: Tata Motors ------------------------------------------------- Submitted by- ------------------------------------------------- Ranjith Narayanan 0315/52 ------------------------------------------------- Ritesh Kumar 0325/52 ------------------------------------------------- Saahil Nagrani 0335/52 ------------------------------------------------- Sandeep Kumar Pal 0345/52 ------------------------------------------------- Sarthak A Nayak 0355/52 ------------------------------------------------- Shah Yash Virajbhai 0365/52 ------------------------------------------------- Shrey Chaturvedi 0375/52 INDEX Contents | Page no. | Pestel analysis | 2 | porter’s five forces analysis | 9 | STP Analysis | 12 | product portfolio | 16 | Distribution Channels | 22 | curious case of tata nano | 25 | conclusion | 28 | references | 30 | PESTEL ANALYSIS Political ENVIRONMENT:- TATA motors with more than 60,000 employees is plying more than 8million vehicles on Indian roads. It is operating in multiple countries across Europe, Asia, Africa, Middle East and Australia. Because of this it needs to pay a close attention to political climate across the world. Government policies like labor laws, corporate laws, land acquisition, import duties and exports laws have a deep impact on the working of the manufacturing giant, TATA motors. TATA motors has been involved in Singur plant controversy. TATA wanted to build...
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...“Nano” was introduced by Tata Motors, the largest automobile company in India. It is cheapest and smallest car in the world. Its features have captured the sight from the whole world. Some people think the “people’s car” is good but some believe in the vice versa. Nano is expected to improve the Indian’s life, boost the economy, invent entrepreneurial opportunities bring prosperity for the urban. Every company nowadays will encounter external organizational environment no matter what industry it involves with. The external environment consists of general environment and task environment which influenced the company’s business directly and indirectly respectively. The dimensions of the general environment includes international, technological, sociocultural, economic, legal-political, and natural while the task environment includes customers, competitors, suppliers and labor market. At here, I will discuss about the success and failure of Nano based on the sociocultural, economics, natural and customers environment. Although Indian economy showed a healthy growth in the recent years, many people still cannot afford to own a car. Ratan Tata believes that, the Nano car, also known as “people’s car” is an idea to provide a safer but affordable car for the lower-middle class families in four members in the developing world. (For further information, see Appendix 1). In 2009, Nano is first launched in India with the promised and lowest cost in the world which only costs 100,000...
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...Strategic development TATA MOTORS Introduction: Tata Motors Limited (formerly TELCO, short for Tata Engineering and Locomotive Company) is an Indian multinational automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India and a subsidiary of the Tata Group. Its products include passenger cars, trucks, vans, coaches, buses, construction equipment and military vehicles. It is the world's seventeenth-largest motor vehicle manufacturing company, fourth-largest truck manufacturer and second-largest bus manufacturer by volume. Tata Motors has auto manufacturing and assembly plants in Jamshedpur, Pantnagar, Lucknow, Sanand, Dharwad and Pune in India, as well as in Argentina, South Africa, Thailand and the United Kingdom. It has research and development centres in Pune, Jamshedpur, Lucknow and Dharwad, India, and in South Korea, Spain, and the United Kingdom. Tata Motors' principal subsidiaries include the British premium car maker Jaguar Land Rover (the maker of Jaguar, Land Rover and Range Rover cars) and the South Korean commercial vehicle manufacturer Tata Daewoo. Tata Motors has a bus manufacturing joint venture with Marcopolo S.A. (Tata Marcopolo), a construction equipment manufacturing joint venture with Hitachi (Tata Hitachi Construction Machinery), and a joint venture with Fiat which manufactures automotive components and Fiat and Tata branded vehicles. Founded in 1945 as a manufacturer of locomotives...
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...Analysis of consumer behavior in Indian Market The announcement of the car The expectation of the Nano car & its positioning The issues faced when the car came to the market The failure with respect to positioning The re-launch The road ahead Indian Customer perspective Using the Consumer or the Customer brand equity model, let’s try to look at the car from an Indian consumer’s perspective, what are the expectations: When it comes to buying a car, usually it is seen the Indian customer looks for the following in a car; Convienece, Car personality, Fuel efficiency, Power, Econmoic, Smartness of car and Status symbol. So the primary question is whether Tata Nano was able to live up to this expectation? Announcement When Tato Nano was announced in the month of January, 2008 it was over hyped to be the car of every Indian. The price of Nano was said as Rs. 1 lakh or $2500, as said by Ratan Tata, the Chairman of the Tata Group at that point of time. It became a dream car for every person belonging to the lower middle class and even the lower class. However the ministry of transport also raised concerns about the congestion on roads that the car would bring in as people may start to use it regularly for their day to day transportation. Marketing Plan Tata Motors basically Segmented and targeted the following groups of Indian population: 1. The Middle class Mainly the lower middle class Upper lower class 2. Usually the two-wheeler users 3. Family with 3-4 members...
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