Assignment 3
Connecting Business Marketing Research & Practice: Innovative product concept Tata Motors: The Tata Ace
For our topic of innovative product concept we chose a case study of Tata Motors from Harvard Business Review, Jan. 2008. It will be simply referred to as ‘the case study’. By that time the company was introducing its new innovative product – the Tata Ace and thus creating a new segment on the car market in India. We included additional information (web site articles, companies’ websites etc.) from that time to make the overview of the case complete. Our analysis is based on the market situation and the impact the innovative product had on it. Introduction Tata Motors is a subsidiary of Tata Group which is an Indian conglomerate, headquartered in Mumbai. It was founded in 1868 by Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata. The conglomerate operates in more than 80 countries and is comprised of more than 100 companies. Tata Motors is one of the biggest vehicleproducing companies in the world and manufactures a wide variety of products including cars, trucks, vans, coaches, buses and military vehicles. According to the official financial statements, the net profit for 2005 was some 304 million dollars. Tata Ace is a small four-wheel commercial vehicle with a payload capacity of 1,000kg. It is one of the biggest company’s successes, for experts claim the small truck changed fundamentally the light commercial vehicle market in India by creating a new segment. Market overview In 2005, the Indian commercial-vehicles sector was comprised of three- and four-wheels vehicles. Mostly, they were used for cargo transport. The market segment was also including vans, cars and nonmotorized transport that were used for the same purpose. The three-wheeler transport is one of the most popular in India with its impressive 307,887 units sold for 2005. It’s suitable for city cargo transportation because of its maneuverability and low acquisition costs of max.
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