Over the last 20 years, US car producers have been focusing on trucks and sports utility vehicles (SUV's). This strategic focus derived from analysis of marketing information on consumers and competitors, which indicated that there was less immediate competition in the truck and SUV market segments than in that for conventional cars, and this was seen as an opportunity for the greatest short term profits. In contrast, India's Tata Motors was moving forward with a strategy focused on small inexpensive cars, even though this was a highly competitive market segment, dominated by Japanese auto makers. The company's aim was to design a small car that would be significantly cheaper to make and buy than any other model, and thus to satisfy India's mass market demand for low— cost transportation. The result was the Nano, with a sales price of 100, 000 rupees (US$2,500), which was half the price of its closest competitor in India. Tata Motors achieved this by designing everything from scratch, deleting features that were taken for granted by other auto makers (for example air conditioning, power brakes, radios), using lightweight steel and an aluminium engine, and building in fuel efficiency. The cars other important feature was its modular design, enabling the Nano to be distributed across the country in kit form and assembled by local businesses. The global reaction to the Nano catapulted the Tata Group into 63' place on Business Week's list of the world's most innovative firms (behind Apply, Google, Toyota, General Electric and Microsoft). Source: Cappelli et al. (2010)

1. Critically discuss the market that Tata was focused on?

2. Discuss the strategy that Tata motors implemented?

3. Demonstrate what you would do as the HR manager for an external analysis and an internal analysis of the challenge that Tata Motors addressed.

4. Compare and contrast the competitive advantage of Tata Motors with that of US car producers as highlighted in the case