Porter's five forces model on Automobile Industry

1. Barriers to Entry - It's true that the average person can't come along and start manufacturing automobiles. The emergence of foreign competitors with the capital, required technologies and management skills began to undermine the market share of many automobile companies. Globalization the tendency of world investment and businesses to move from national and domestic markets to a worldwide environment, is a huge factor affecting the auto market. More than ever, itis becoming easier for foreign automakers to enter the Domestic market .Automobiles depend heavily on consumer trends and tastes. While car companies do sell a large proportion of vehicles to businesses and car rental companies (fleet sales), consumer sales is the largest source of revenue. For this reason, taking consumer and business confidence into accountshould be ahigher priority than considering the regular factors like earnings growth anddebt load . 2. Threat of Substitutes - Rather than looking at the threat of someone buying a different car, there is also need to also look at the likelihood of people taking the bus, train or airplane to their destination. The higher the cost of operating a vehicle, the more likely people will seek alternative transportation options. The price of gasoline has a large effect on consumers' decisions to buy vehicles. Trucks and sport utility vehicles have higher profit margins, but they also guzzle gas compared to smaller sedans and light trucks. When determining the availability of substitutes you should also consider time, money, personal preference and convenience in the auto travel industry. Then decide if one car maker poses a big threat as a substitute. 3. Competitive Rivalry - Highly competitive industries generally earn low returns because the cost of competition is high. The auto industry is considered to be an oligopoly (A market condition in which sellers are so few that the actions of any one of them will materially affect price) which helps to minimize the effects of price-based competition. The automakers understand that price-based competition does not necessarily lead to increases in the size of the marketplace, historically they have tried to avoid price-based competition, but more recently the competition has intensified - rebates, preferred financing and long-term warranties have helped to lure in customers, but they also put pressure on the profit margins for vehicle sales. Every year, car companies update their cars. This is a part of normal operations, but there can be a problem when a company decides to significantly change the design of a car. These changes can cause massive delays and glitches, which result in increased costs and slower revenue growth. While a new design may pay off significantly in the long run, it's always a risky proposition 4. Bargaining Power of Suppliers - The automobile supply business is quite fragmented (there are many firms). Many suppliers rely on one or two automakers to buy a majority of their products. If an automaker decided to switch suppliers, it could be devastating to the previous supplier's business. As a result, suppliers are extremely susceptible to the demands and requirements of the automobile manufacturer and hold very little power. For parts suppliers, the life span of an automobile is very important. The longer a car stays operational, thegreater theneed for replacement parts. On the other hand, new parts are lasting longer, which is great for consumers, but is not suchgood news for parts makers. When, for example, most car makers moved from using rolled steel to stainless steel, the change extended the life of parts by several years.

5. Bargaining Power of Buyers -The bargaining power of automakers are unchallenged. Consumers may become dissatisfied with many of the products being offered by certain automakers and began looking for alternatives, namely foreign cars. On the other hand, while consumers are very price sensitive, they don't have much buying power as they never purchase huge volumes of cars.

Example : Porter's 5 Forces Model of the NANO car

There is continuing interest in the study of the forces that impact on an organisation, particularly those that can be harnessed to provide competitive advantage. The ideas and models which emerged during the period from 1979 to the mid-1980s were based on the idea that competitive advantage came from the ability to earn a return on investment that was better than the average for the industry sector. As Porter's 5 Forces analysis deals with factors outside an industry that influence the nature of competition within it, the forces inside the industry (microenvironment) that influence the way in which firms compete .

SWOT ANALYSIS

Strengths Investments by foreign car manufacturers Increase in the export levels Low cost and cheap labor Rise in the working and middle class income Increasing demand for European quality Expert skills in producing small cars good for environment Large pool of engineers

Weaknesses Low quality compared to other automotive countries Low labour productivity High interest rate and overhead level Production cost are generally higher than some othe Asian states, such as China Low investment in R&D area Local demand is still towards low cost vehicles, due to low income levels

Opportunities

Growing population in the country Focus from the government in improving the road infrastructure Rising living standards Increase in income level Better car technology is demanded Rising rural demand The car is a status symbol Women drivers have increased

Threats Less skilled labor Lack of technologies for Indian companies Increase in the import tariff and technology cost Imports of two wheelers from the Chinese market in India Smaller players that do not fulfill international standards Increased congestion in the urban areas

ANALYSIS OF AUTOMOBILE INDUSTRY

Over a period of more than two decades the Indian Automobile industry has been driving its own growth through phases. With comparatively higher rate of economic growth rate index against that of great global powers, India has become a hub of domestic and exports business. The automobile sector has been contributing its share to the shining economic performance of India in the recent years. To understand this industry for the purpose of investment we need to analyze it by following two approaches: 1). Fundamental Analysis (E.I.C Approach) a. Economy b. Industry c. Company 2).Technical Analysis
1)

FUNDAMENTAL ANALYSIS

a). ECONOMY Economic analysis is the analysis of forces operating the overall economy a country. Economic analysis is a process whereby strengths and weaknesses of an economy are analyzed. Economic analysis is important in order to understand exact condition of an economy. GDP and Automobile Industry In absolute terms, India is 16th in the world in terms of nominal factory output. The service sector is growing rapidly in the past few years. This is the pie- chart showing contributions of different sectors in Indian economy. The per capita Income is near about Rs38,000 reflecting improvement in the living standards of an average Indian. Today, automobile sector in India is one of the key sectors of the economy in terms of the employment. Directly and indirectly it employs more than 10 million people and if we add the number of people employed in the auto-component and auto ancillary industry then the number goes even higher.

INDUSTRY ANALYSIS (AUTOMOBILE)

The current trends of the global automobile industry reveal that in the developed countries the automobile industries are stagnating as a result of drooping markets, whereas the automobile industry in the developing nations, have been consistently registering higher growth rates every passing year for their domestic flourishing domestic automobile markets. Being one of the fastest growing sectors in the world its dynamic growth phases are explained by the nature of competition, Product Life Cycle and consumer demand. The industry is at the crossroads with global mergers and relocation of production centers to emerging developing countries. nature of competition, Product Life Cycle and consumer demand. The industry is at the crossroads with global mergers and

relocation of production centers to emerging developing countries. In 2009, estimated rate of growth of India Auto industry is going to be 9% .The Indian automobile sector is far from being saturated, leaving ample opportunity for volume growth.

COMPANY ANALYSIS (Maruti Suzuki & TATA Motors)

The company analysis shows the longterm strenght of the company that what is the financial Position of the company in the market where it stand among its competitors and who are the key drivers of the company, what is the future plans of the company, what are the policies of government towards the company and how the stake of the company divested among different groups of people.

Profile of Maruti Suzuki

Maruti Suzuki is one of India's leading automobile manufacturers and the market leader in the car segment, both in terms of volume of vehicles sold and revenue earned. Until recently, 18.28% of the company was owned by the Indian government, and 54.2% by Suzuki of Japan. As of May 10, 2007, Govt. of India sold its complete share to Indian financial institutions. With this, Govt. of India no longer has stake in Maruti Udyog. The turnover for the fiscal 2008-09 stood at Rs. 203,583 Million & Profit After Tax at Rs. 12,187ml.Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. has sold a total of 84,808 vehicles in August 2009, an increase of 41.6%, compared to 59,908 vehicles in the same period of 2008. The company's domestic sales in August 2009 increased 29.3% to 69,961 vehicles, compared to 54,113 vehicles in August 2008. Total passenger car sales in August 2009 increased 30.5% to 69,629 units, compared to 53,351 units in August 2008 The company's exports increased 156.2% to 14,847 units, compared to 5,795 units in August 2008.

ProfileProfile of Maruti Suzuki

Tata Motors Limited is Indias largest automobile company, reported gross revenue (stand-alone) of Rs.28599.27 crores (2007-08: Rs.33093.93 crores) in 2008-09, a year marked by severe demand contraction in the automobile industry. Revenues (net of excise) for the year were Rs. 25660.79 crores compared to Rs.28739.41 crores in 2007-08, a decline of 10.7%. The Profit before Tax was Rs.1013.76 crores compared to Rs.2576.47 crores in 2007-08, a decline of 60.7%. The Profit after Tax for the year was Rs.1001.26 crores compared to Rs.2028.92 crores, a decline of 50.7%. It is the leader in commercial vehicles in each segment, and among the top three in passenger vehicles with winning products in the compact, midsize car and utility vehicle segments. The company is the worlds fourth largest truck manufacturer, and the worlds second largest bus manufacturer. Following is the financial and Non-Financial analysis of Maruti Suzuki & TATA Motors.