The Mahindra Company case study

SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The Mahindra Company belongs to the automobile industry and manufactures various types
of vehicles such as cars, tractors, other agriculture related vehicles and many more. The
company’s supply chain will be discussed in this report. The report has discussed about the
company in brief. After that, current situation of the company is analysed by using the
SWOT analysis tool. The supply chain strategies adopted by the company and their
management methods are also discussed. After that, key issues in the supply chain and its
management are identified and key recommendations are made for the company that will
lead the company towards success.
Contents
INTRODUCTION…………………………………………………………………………………………………………..4
SCOPE………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..4
ABOUT COMPANY……………………………………………………………………………………………………….4
CURRENT SITUATION (SWOT ANALYSIS) ………………………………………………………………………..4
SUPPLY CHAIN STRATEGIES…………………………………………………………………………………………..6
MANAGEMENT METHOD……………………………………………………………………………………………..7
ISSUES IDENTIFIED ………………………………………………………………………………………………………7
RECOMMENDATIONS ………………………………………………………………………………………………….7
CONCLUSION………………………………………………………………………………………………………………8
REFERENCES……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….9
INTRODUCTION
The Mahindra and Mahindra limited is an Indian multinational automotive manufacturing
operation which has headquarter in Mumbai, India. The company started operating in the
year 1945. It is one of the largest vehicles manufacture in India as well as the largest
manufacture of the tractors in the world. So, the supply chain of Mahindra Company should
be efficient to lead in the automotive industry. Thus, this report will focus on discussing the
supply chain of Mahindra Company. For analysing the current situation, SWOT (Strength,
weakness, opportunities and threats) will be used. The key issues and management
strategies of the Mahindra Company will be highlighted. The supply chain strategies and
policies of the company will also be highlighted. After proper analysis some key issues in the
supply chain will be identified and their management methods will be discussed. The key
recommendations for improving the supply chain will be provided at the end of the report.
SCOPE
The supply chain of any company plays crucial role in the success or failure of the company.
The supply chain management is the management of the flow of goods and services which
includes all the processes which transforms raw materials into final product (Fernando &
Drury, 2020). The supply chain helps in streamlining various business activities for improving
the customer value and gain a competitive advantage in the industry. So, this report is for
Mahindra Company to describe the current situation of the supply chain of the company
and providing recommendations to resolve key issues associated and improving the supply
chain. This report can also prove to be helpful for other companies belonging to the same
industry.
ABOUT COMPANY
The Mahindra Company was founded in the year 1945 in India and now it become the
multinational company. It has headquarter in Mumbai, India. It operates in nine segments
which are sales of automobile spare parts and associated services, farm equipment
segment, tractor spare parts, information technology services, financial services, steel
trading and some more (business standards, n.d). The company belongs to the automotive
industry. The company is very popular in the country India. The company is largest
manufacture of the tractors in the world. So, the company has reputation and operates in
other countries as well. I selected this company as it is a multinational company and I have
some knowledge of this company as well.
CURRENT SITUATION (SWOT ANALYSIS)
SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis is the great tool for
analysing the current position of the company and deciding about the adoption of new
strategies and practices (mindtools, n.d). The strengths are the things that the organization
do well and lead the organization towards success. The weaknesses are things including
resources, people, processes etc that need improvement for the efficient operations of the
organization. The opportunities are the chances that if the company will adopt then the
company will be headed towards the success. The threats are the things that affect the
functioning of the company negatively. The SWOT analysis of the Mahindra company is
done below:
Strengths: The key strengths of the Mahindra company are identified and listed below:
1. The Mahindra company adopted the complex supply chain in which the Mahindra
company conceptualized and streamlined its operations of the OEM across multiple
geographies and vendors (Mahindra, 2020).
2. The tech Mahindra Company adopted several transformation strategies that is
leading the organization towards success.
3. The organization is performing well at the national as well as the international level.
4. The Mahindra and Mahindra company has highly performing research and
development department that focuses on value addition and value engineering
approach. This department plays important role in adding new features in various
vehicles of the company as well as improving the quality of the vehicles. Thus,
ultimately, the revenue as well as reputation impacted positively.
5. As per the conditions of Indian roads, the vehicles of company are well performing
and popular among people. Some kinds of vehicles like thar is very popular and
unique vehicle of the company.
6. The after-sale cost of Mahindra vehicles is very low due to various reasons such as
easily available spare parts, available in almost every part of the country etc. So, the
large number of people prefer to buy vehicles of the company as compared to other
companies which affects the reputation and profit of company positively.
Weaknesses: the factors that affect the operations of the organization negatively are
identified and listed below:
1. The main revenue (almost 60%) of the company is generated from the country India
only. So, the company is less popular in other countries. So, the revenue of the
Mahindra Company is geographically dependent which affects the growth of the
company negatively.
2. The competition is very high for the company in every country including India. So,
the Mahindra Company need to take several steps to lead in the market.
3. The company need to focus on its brand image and marketing strategies to attract
more people which will lead the company towards growth.
4. The sales of tractors by the company is dependent on the performance of agriculture
sector in India. The sales of tractors in other countries is very less which is a kind of
week point of the company.
Opportunities: following are the opportunities that can lead the company towards success
and the company should gain advantage of these opportunities:
1. The demand for hybrid electric vehicles is increasing all over the world. So, the
company should focus on making such type of products to attract more customers
and increasing revenue of the company.
2. The company can improve its marketing strategies so that products and services
provided by the company can be reached to more people. The marketing
department should be trained and efficient in performing their roles and
responsibilities so that they can help in improving the sales of various products of
the company.
3. The company can focus on creating the brand image in other countries which has
great potential.
Threats: following are some key threats identified for the Mahindra Company that can
affect its functioning and success in negative manner:
1. The competition in the automotive industry is enhancing with time which is one of
the biggest threats for the company (MBAschool, 2020).
2. The company is facing several challenges and issues by the strict government rules
and regulations as well as the environment agencies.
SUPPLY CHAIN STRATEGIES
The management of supply chain is very important for every business. The businesses adopt
several new strategies that help the business to grow by managing its supply chain
efficiently. The supply chain strategies of the Mahindra Company are following:
1. The company source the input materials/ past assembles across the world leading to
a complex supply chain.
2. The company is focusing on reducing the production lead time by 20% (Mahindra,
n.d).
3. The new strategy of the company is the sourcing strategy that will help the company
to reduce the purchasing cost by 2-3% in every year (Hogg, 2014).
4. The company adopted several logistics solutions for transforming its supply chain
(Mahindra, 2021). They provide end to end logistics solutions and services including
transportation, warehousing, in-factory logistics as well as value added services to
Vendors &
suppliers
of spare
parts etc
Engineering
department
Manufacturing
department
Quality
assurance
Marketing
department Mahindra
agencies
Dealers &
retail
customers
the customers. These practices and services improve the efficiency of supply chain of
Mahindra.
MANAGEMENT METHOD
Following are some key management methods that the company adopted for managing the
supply chain:
1. According to Mahindra (2021), they are improving their various business processes
for making their supply chain more efficient.
2. For managing the supply chain, tech Mahindra adopted several new technologies.
For example, high tech transport management system adopted by company allows
transparency, predictability, real time updates that provide the company better
control on the logistics and transport.
3. For improving the supply chain, they also focus on reducing the number of vendors
and suppliers. They work with only good vendors who provide better services.
ISSUES IDENTIFIED
Following are some issues identified in supply chain management of Mahindra Company:
1. One of the issues is the marketing department. In today’s competitive world,
marketing involving sales pitch, advertisement etc plays crucial role in leading the
business towards success. The brand imaging of the Mahindra is very effective in
India. But, they need to focus on marketing and brand imaging in other countries as
well. There is requirement of improving efficiencies in various tasks and activities
performed by the marketing department.
2. Retail customers, vendors, suppliers, dealers also play important role in improving
the reputation as well as the revenue. But, Mahindra is not dealing with multiple
dealers in other countries except India which affects the revenue as well as the
reputation of the company in negative way. So, the company must deal with
different vendors and suppliers in other countries as well so that cheaper and betterquality spare parts, machinery etc can be purchased and efficiency in supply chain
can be improved. In addition to that, the company should approach dealers in
various countries so that sales of various vehicles of the company should be
improved.
RECOMMENDATIONS
After critical analysis of several factors including the SWOT analysis, following
recommendations are made for improving the supply chain management of Mahindra
Company:
1. The company should deal with multiple dealers, vendors, suppliers etc in other
countries as well rather than just being dependent on vendors available in India. This
will give the company better and more options that will help in increasing the
revenue as well as the quality of vehicles manufactured by the company.
2. The company should focus on brand imaging in various countries which will help the
company in enhancing the sales of vehicles worldwide.
3. The technology plays important role in success of the business. in this competitive
world, businesses need to cope up with the latest technologies to gain the
competitive advantage. So, the Mahindra company should be aware of the latest
trends, technologies etc which can improve the value and efficiency of the supply
chain of the company.
CONCLUSION
In a nutshell, it can be concluded that the Mahindra Company is well performing company in
India and some other countries as well. They have adopted complex supply chain and some
strategies for improving the growth of the business as well as managing its supply chain
efficiently. But, still there are some issues that affects the performance of its supply chain.
The company should focus on resolving these issues. The report also provided some key
recommendations which will help the company for managing its supply chain efficiently and
leading the business towards success. The company is performing well in India. But, the
company should now manage its supply chain in a way that it can perform in other countries
worldwide in the similar manner.
REFERENCES
1. Fernando, J & Drury, A. 2020. Supply chain management (SCM). Available at:
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/scm.asp
2. Business standards. N.d. Mahindra & Mahindra ltd – company history. Available at:
https://www.business-standard.com/company/m-m-365/information/companyhistory
3. Mindtools. N.d. SWOT analysis. Available at:
https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTMC_05.htm
4. Mahindra. 2020. Supply chain management. Available at:
https://www.techmahindra.com/en-in/manufacturing/supply-chain-management/
5. MBAschool. 2020. Mahindra & Mahindra SWOT analysis, competitors, segmentation,
target market, positioning and USP. Available at:
https://www.mbaskool.com/brandguide/automobiles/1298-mahindra-amahindra.html
6. Hogg, R. 2014. Mahindra to make supply chain more efficient. Available at:
https://www.automotivelogistics.media/mahindra-to-make-supply-chain-moreefficient/11563.article