Product extension with product and geographical diversification

Abstract

The motivation of this study is to try to find the opportunities in this industry by looking at the portfolio of the industry leader and its key customers. Based on the study of the product offerings of the company we will identify the product line extension opportunities. This will be further augmented by devising a diversification strategy. We try to understand the industry by looking at the product portfolio of the industry and its customer profile. To this effect we will limit ourselves to Muruguppa group and its four biggest customers. The data collected will be analyzed to understand the industry requirements as the current portfolio of products of TPI is already very broad. The attempt will be made to apply the learning’s from the course into real life situation and then build on to develop the strategy. For the same reason we will use SWOT analysis of the firm to identify and define its capabilities. This will be built upon by applying Porter’s five forces framework to understand the balances of bargaining power in the industry and help identify the drivers in the industry. After the company internal evaluation and industry evaluation we will look at the customer requirements by studying the top customers of the TPI. The evaluation of the current requirements will help identify the opportunities for product line extension. Further study of the customers will give indications for the future growth opportunities through diversification. Presently most of the sales of the company are from automotive industry and future growth lies in diversification into other industries. One of the fastest growing industries for the tube is earth-moving equipments sector. Two of the companies which we have selected are into manufacturing earth moving equipment. Caterpillar is one of the world’s largest companies in earth moving equipment and BEML is India top company in this sector. Also these companies have their manufacturing plant near Bangalore which gives us the opportunity to visit them and find out their requirements. Ashok Leyland is one of the major customers of the company and has about 35% of market share. Ashok Leyland could help us in finding out the tube requirement of the truck and tubes which could be develop to substitute the present use of seamless and help in developing a better product. MICO Bosch is a pioneer and a leader in the Indian automotive segment. MICO businesses include industrial equipment. This is different business compare to the above businesses of TI. To have growth for the company it should be able to find out opportunities in other markets and MICO is one of those companies. The study will thus recommend the possible new product introductions and diversification strategy for TPI. The insights will be extrapolated into industrial overview and its growth prospects.