Advanced Competitive Position - Ashok Leyland

Introduction

It was right after of India’s independence in 1947, freedom fighter Raghunandan Saran found one of the most trusted brands in the country, Ashok Leyland in 1948. Headquartered in Chennai in Southern India, company started with focus on assembly and distribution passenger cars in India.

Today, it is 2nd biggest automotive manufacturer in India in Commercial Vehicles Segment with more than 11000 employees working across the Globe. With Sales of US$ 2.3 billion in FY 2012-13, its commercial vehicles portfolio consists of Buses, Trucks, Defence Vehicles and other Light Commercial Vehicles. Currently under the aegis of promoters Hinduja Group, Ashok Leyland has come a long way.

Because of increasing demand variety of vehicles, the market pressures, competitive landscape, disruptive technologies in automobile sector, company had to take several steps to counter de-growth. Internationally, it has entered into JV’s, setup manufacturing plants globally, diversified into niche segments to sustainably grow.

Company has consciously opened all avenues to do business on foreign soil while keeping its core values intact. It has completely transformed itself into a successful commercial vehicles manufacturer in the country from simply being an assembler and distributor. New innovations in Commercial Vehicles like Telematics box makes us take a look at Ashok Leyland’s Competitive Landscape, Diversification Strategy, International Strategy & Stakeholder Analysis to see if the company’s growth is sustainable.

Competitive Landscape

India becomes an easy testing ground for conglomerates, foreign companies and even entrepreneurs primarily because of its 1.2+ billion population and therefore heavy demand for transport infrastructure. This in-turn poses a lot of threats to the incumbent companies and forces them to innovate constantly or be expired. Operational efficiency, leaner organization, faster innovation, stronger customer service all become important factors in winning the commercial vehicles game. Moreover, macro-economic issues play a vital role in customer demand.

Currently in the mature phase, Commercial Vehicles segment is slow to grow & disrupt the market. Barriers of entry are also high due to high capital investment and long sales cycle. But in the past two decades there has been a significant change in the way entrepreneurs and other companies are looking at this segment. For example, till 1997 there were only two players in the Indian Market – Ashok Leyland and Tata Motors which have grown consistently. Today, there are at least 10 significant competitors in this space including companies with significant technology expertise like ISUZU, Bharat Benz, Scania etc.,

Exhibit 1 gives you a clear picture of the competition life cycle stages. Competitions´ innovation in capabilities like Scania’s Telematics box in their commercial vehicles causes new s-curve. The incumbent companies still sitting in mature phase have to face these innovations which are still in emergent phase. Consolidation is supposed to take place only after industry agrees on a standard telematics box suitable for all types of commercial vehicles. So, it seems like the emergent phase will be long.

Exhibit 2 illustrates the way timing and severity of the stages. New S-curve can only form on technologically advanced radical disruptions but the industry seems to move to a consolidation phase on the design. Hence it would be a contested market among the competitors. While each of the periods are long, there seems to be no clear first mover advantage primarily because customers tend to look at disruptions with suspicion and it takes a long time for the market to accept such innovations.

Responding to this, Ashok Leyland has itself is going for High-end telematics suite for its select MHCV segments. It has tied up with local State Bus Transport to supply the same for the next set of orders. Its internal Innovation Program called as Ignite helps them to constantly innovate, stay ahead of the competition and build new s-curves themselves.

Diversification Strategy:

Due to a number of macro-economic factors the medium & heavy commercial vehicles (MHCV) industry itself has de-grown in FY 12-13 by 21% and in FY 13-14 by 27%. This presents a massive challenge to incumbents to sustain itself using multiple avenues.

Ashok Leyland’s strategy in diversification has been to tap its internal core values and enter into adjacent industries. This is not limited in terms of same segments but adjacent segments like Construction Equipment. For Example, V Sumantran, VP of Ashok Leyland says “If you see our diversification, there will be a pattern and they are not only related to our core business and strength, but also high margin businesses. For instance, construction equipment got better margins compared to two-wheelers or passenger cars”. This means that Ashok Leyland has been successfully garnering economic rents from its adjacent industries.

Exhibit 3 presents a representation of companies diversified portfolio. They are into Trucks, Buses, Defence Vehicles, Light Vehicles & Power Solutions. Most of the segments that company touched are in line with its core capabilities, For Example: Leyparts is a provider of Autoparts. This gives them the leverage to apply the experience of one segment into the other.

Ashok Leyland also entered in JV with another Automotive manufacturer to enter into LCV which happened to be a good decision according to Mr. Sumantran. They also have Hinduja Tech to supply technology for them thereby reducing technology supplier dependence.

Type Who? What did AL do? Reasons Competitors/Adjacent Horizontal Industry Companies JV with Nissan Financial Hinduja Tech to Build Vertical Suppliers technology Strategic & Operational

Ashok Leyland capitalized on the opportunities present in related markets, reduced the risk of de-growing financially. Operationally they took advantage of economies of scale, leverages on the technology know-how. Stakeholder Analysis:

AL’s tagline when it addresses stakeholders is “Aapki Jeet, Humari Jeet” which means “You Win, I Win”. It believes in the mantra of winning with all the stakeholders together. They have also signed a highly popular Indian cricket team captain M.S. Dhoni for its campaign to bring together all the stakeholders. Ashok Leyland seems to have been in the news for the positive reasons as far as their stakeholders are considered. They have launched Green Mission for reducing carbon footprint, AIDS Awareness campaign for the community. There are programs like the Leadership Program, RISE (Reward for Individual Search for Excellence) for the employees to take advantage of. Ashok Leyland has taken a number of steps to address stakeholder concerns and aligns their needs to create value. This is quite visible in the brand value it has generated over a period of time.

Exhibit 4 identifies all the primary and secondary stakeholders and the activities that Ashok Leyland has done in the past. Ashok Leyland is currently considering a number of opportunities to create value for the stakeholders. We look at how these set of activities impact the stakeholders in Exhibit 5. We see that the company has consciously made sure to keep all the stakeholders even while planning future activities. In all the activities Ashok Leyland has pursued has been with the consent of all the stakeholders and hence we do not see any conflicts arising in the decisions taken. Internationalization Strategy:

Ashok Leyland Exports for the year 2015-16 has grown by an impressive 17% over the previous year, faster than domestic growth of 11.5% in Commercial Vehicles. In volume terms, Total number of commercial vehicles grew from 0.86 lacs to 1 lac this FY 2016-17. This corresponds to a growth of 16% growth in volume of commercial vehicles. So the growth in exports has been consistent.

Ashok Leyland always ponders over an important question before it puts together internationalization strategy: Are we strong in the domestic market in the particular segment that we are planning to go global? Once there is a consensus, then the management plans to look at its internal strengths and try and use them abroad.

Global Exports: Ashok Leyland vehicles are exported to over 30 countries. This suggests the fact that most of the vehicles designed by the company are robust and can be directly exported to foreign countries. But when needed, it has successfully adapted local needs to its commercial vehicles and launched them to suit the local market. For example, they have recently entered into untapped market in Honduras with specially designed buses suited for the country. Company has presence in Bangladesh, Mauritius and Middle-East as well.

International Partnerships & JVs: One of the early JVs formed by Ashok Leyland was in the year 1983 with Lanka Leyland to import commercial vehicles in various forms – fully built or knock-down kits. Company also has presence in UK when it took 75.1% of controlling stake in Optare plc. a leading bus maker known for its innovative buses. It seems well defined approach to running operations as a partnership or simply export. When the company believes that it can garner much value to all the stakeholders by strategic partnerships globally instead of exports, it does not back down.

Ashok Leyland has global manufacturing footprint with bus assembly plant in Ras-Al-Khaimah, UAE which can produce 2000 buses annually. Company on this facility on its website says “Strategically located, this plant will feed the growing demands of the GCC and African markets.” We can see that Ashok Leyland is slowly but smartly increasing its wingspan in the world. Synthesis of Findings:

Ashok Leyland, as we have seen, has strong strategy elements for diversification, internationalization, stakeholders and has so far been able to escape internal and external forces. Ashok Leyland is in a strong position to hold on to its domestic market and expand internationally with its plans to set up manufacturing plants across locations. It is has made a mark as Automotive manufacturing company with diversified interests in adjacent industries only where it can leverage its existing capabilities and create value for itself and its stakeholders.

Its internal process and management practices including rewarding and recognition for employees, Employee Leadership Programs, Knowledge Management, Training and Skill Development have all contributed to trust not just among employees but other stakeholders as well.

Its interaction with external stakeholders have been impressive as well, contributing much to robust growth seen over the past few years. Its community focused initiatives, participant in government programs, improving customer experience has a direct impact on the growth patterns

Here we see a basic SWOT map of the firm in entirety. It if manages to act on the strengths, reduce the weakness’ , keep threats at bay and act on the opportunities, it is sure to grow in the coming years.

Strengths Weaknesses •Incumbent Automotive • Response to disruption by Experience smaller firms should be •Well Diversified Business faster •Strong International Presence •Innovation needs to •High Perceived Brand happen in all segments Value

Opportunities Threats • Can increase International •Increasing number of presence competitiors •Scope to increase presence •Start-ups disrupting the in adjacent industries market •Technology enabled disruption

Ashok Leyland is well placed to take the global stage driven by sustainable growth and innovation. Its current digital adventures including disruptive Telematics still need to take strong shape. Whether it will be Ashok Leyland winning the battle or would it acquire the technology from the ecosystem is a call that will be taken once we have clearer picture of the market response.

Exhibits:

Exhibit 1: Competitive Lifecycle Stages

Exhibit 2: Competitive Life Cycle Analysis

Phase Timing Severity Disruption Long Radical Annealing Long Dominant Design Shakeout Long Contested Overall Slowly Evolving No First Mover Advantage

Exhibit 3: Ashok Leyland Diversification Matrix

Exhibit 4: Stakeholder Map

Company time and time again motivates employees with various EMPLOYEES reward and recognition activities. For example: Employees eagerly look forward to the RISE (Reward for Individual Search for Excellence). There is both monetary prize and social recognition. It also encourages to develop their skills by organizing trainings. Primary Stakeholders Product Reliability and Customer Service are the main requirements of the customer. Ashok Leyland's brand value is created because of its reliable products. CUSTOMERS Also, it has one of the biggest service networks in India. And it is trying to transform the services by offering Leyland Direct - A tool for customers and dealers to solve customer issues smoother and faster. Ashok Leyland honors their suppliers every year. "As a technology leader in the commercial vehicle industry, Ashok Leyland is passionate about innovation and quality, and we value WABCO's SUPPLIERS outstanding support through co-location in India," said Anuj Kathuria, executive director, sourcing and supply chain, Ashok Leyland. There are whole of missions and activities undertaken to take care COMMUNITY of Community. For example: Green Mission to reduce Carbon footprint , CSR activities for the well-being of the society have always taken place in Ashok Leyland’s to-do for any financial year. As a publicly traded company, Ashok Leyland is answerable to Shareholders. For all the JV's, there is diligent information SHAREHOLDERS dissemination from the management. Even when Ashok Leyland entered into a JV with Nissan, they opened the shares for the existing shareholders to buy.

Ashok Leyland has recently followed ‘Make in India’ approach to GOVERNMENT start increasing production capacity in the country. This goes along Secondary with government's request. Also, It has not seen any major issue Stakeholders with the government since it started its operations

NGO The Company has tied up with local NGO's for the Green Mission and for AIDS Awareness campaign

Exhibit 5: Stakeholder Analysis:

Primary Secondary Stakeholders Stakeholders SHARE POTENTIAL ACTION EMPLOYEES CUSTOMERS SUPPLIERS COMMUNITY HOLDERS GOVERNMENT NGO Telematics IoT Partner Tie-up 3 3 3 1 5 1 1 Embrace Digital Technologies 5 3 3 3 5 3 1 Online Monitor Vehicle Health 3 5 1 1 3 3 1 Better On ground Service 3 5 3 3 3 3 3 Increase Training Sessions 5 5 5 3 3 3 3 Green Mission 1 1 3 5 5 5 5 Leadership Program 5 3 3 1 5 3 3 JV with Deere 1 1 3 1 5 3 3 Enhanced Product Reliability 1 5 5 3 5 5 1 Rating Definition 5 Very Important to Stakeholder 3 Somewhat Important to Stakeholder 1 Not Important to Stakeholder

References:

Introduction:

1. Ashok Leyland Overview http://www.ashokleyland.com/overview 2. Ashok Leyland History http://www.ashokleyland.com/history

Competitive landscape

1. Ashok Leyland Corporate Presentation http://www.ashokleyland.com/sites/default/files/presentations/corporate- presentation.pdf 2. Annual Report http://www.ashokleyland.com/performance-reports 3. R Seshasayee steered Ashok Leyland to bright future http://www.business- standard.com/article/companies/r-seshasayee-steered-ashok-leyland-to-bright-future- 116073000797_1.html 4. Leadership Team http://www.ashokleyland.com/leadership-team 5. A Pioneers Diamond Jubilee http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-features/tp- metroplus/a-pioneers-diamond-jubilee/article1424031.ece Diversification Strategy

1. Corporate Presentation http://www.ashokleyland.com/sites/default/files/presentations/corporate- presentation.pdf 2. Annual Report http://www.ashokleyland.com/performance-reports 3. Ashok Leyland’s diversification into LCVs begins to pay-off http://www.livemint.com/Money/PoLDgEtrnKduEhS5k3mjjO/Ashok-Leylands- diversification-into-LCVs-begins-to-payoff.html 4. Ashok Leyland bets big on diversification http://www.business- standard.com/article/companies/ashok-leyland-bets-big-on-diversification- 113072201021_1.html 5. Ashok Leyland JV http://www.ashokleyland.com/joint-ventures

Stakeholder Analysis:

1. Ashok Leyland honours Tier 1 Suppliers http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/Ashok-Leyland-honours- Tier-1-supplier/articleshow/14301830.cms 2. Ashok Leyland adopts an inclusive approach to drive greater efficiency http://www.thehindu.com/business/Industry/ashok-leyland-adopts-an-inclusive- approach-to-drive-greater-efficiency/article8887596.ece 3. Leyland builds a bridge with stakeholders through Dhoni http://www.campaignindia.in/video/leyland-builds-a-bridge-with-stakeholders-through- dhoni/416431 4. Ashok Leyland Community Overview http://www.ashokleyland.com/community- overview 5. Ashok Leyland Partners http://www.ashokleyland.com/suppliers-corner 6. Shareholding Pattern http://www.ashokleyland.com/shareholder-pattern 7. Investor Information http://www.ashokleyland.com/chairman-s-speech 8. Green Mission http://www.ashokleyland.com/green-mission International Strategy

1. Ashok Leyland plans big drive in five country clusters http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/companies/ashok-leyland-plans-big-drive-in- five-country-clusters/article3520521.ece 2. Ashok Leyland International operations http://www.ashokleyland.com/international- operations 3. Ashok Leyland Joint Ventures http://www.ashokleyland.com/joint-ventures 4. Annual Report http://www.ashokleyland.com/performance-reports