Business Case Studies & Business Publications

Mahindra Trucks & Bus Division: Building...

Sahay, Arvind

Case

Mahindra Trucks & Bus Division: Building a Marketing Plan

Sahay, Arvind

IIMA-MAR0503 | Published May 7, 2019 | 41 pages Case

Collection: Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad

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Learning Objectives

Mahindra Trucks and Bus Division (MTBD) of Mahindra & Mahindra is at an interesting stage of its evolution. Having gone through a bad patch with a product that was not quite up to the mark, it appears to have got the product right by early 2018 and truck sales had been going up in the country for the previous four years. While Mahindra & Mahindra as a company is a large firm with revenues of more than USD 15 billion, MTBD itself is a small player (INR 2400 crore , USD 350 million) within the firm and in an Indian truck industry that is dominated by goliaths, Tata Motors and Ashok Leyland that between them had more than 81% market share and a customer mindset that was loath to leave the comfort of a known brand. The case provides data on product specifications, prices, marketing communication, channels, positioning, the context and competition. The intention is to use the case to go through the steps involved in evaluating and developing and creating a marketing plan for MTBD to increase its market share from the 4% in 2018 to an intended 8% in 2022.

To understand the Indian truck market; its evolution over the 5-10 years to 2018 and the situation in 2018 To understand customer behavior of the truck buyer; the buyer is resistant to change and is in a comfort zone with known brands, the risk of change is high, but value consciousness is quite high. To evaluate the current market and competitive position of MTBD in general and the Blazo line of trucks in particular given the current product design and specifications, the price levels, the channel management and the marketing communication and positioning, approach and actions. To validate the current marketing approach or develop a modified and new granular marketing plan that is designed to achieve the market share objective.