THE TATA NANO

Our group initially chose to work with Tata Motors, and more specifically the Tata Nano, originally promoted as “The World’s Cheapest Car”. Tata Motors is an interesting company to investigate for several reasons. From a situational perspective, Tata Motors mainly operates in India, a country with considerable growth in recent years and optimistic future prospects. Tata Motors is an automotive company with a broad product depth, focusing on segments as trucks, passenger vehicles, luxury cars, and military vehicles. What we found interesting was the Tata Nano that is creating a new segment in India. No other car manufacturer could match the Tata Nano’s price when it was launched, today some competitors are narrowing the price gap. The Tata Nano was in the introduction stage in the product life cycle, meaning that testing and research were vital to the success. The Tata Nano did not meet expectations, and the product launch failed. With Tata Motors focusing on efficiency, quality, and customer responsiveness as building blocks of competitive advantage, many had expected that the Nano would become a success. In our third marketing plan assignment, we describe why it failed and provide recommendations for a future marketing mix both in India and Western countries. This case is intriguing because of international expansion and the decisions it creates. The point is that marketing is not just advertising as many people think. Marketing is advertising, but marketing also contains many more elements. Marketing research has to be conducted thoroughly, especially when expanding internationally. The corporate strategy of Tata Motors has to fit together with the business model of the Tata Nano. Thus, a fit between a marketing plan and a corporate strategy is vital in creating competitive advantage. This is further described by The Gaps Model, where several gaps existed between the Tata Nano and consumers, manufacturers, company expectations etc. The final video product “The Simplicity of the Tata Nano 2.0” can be viewed here.

TEAMWORK
In developing the marketing plan for Tata Motors and more specifically the Tata Nano, a well-functioning group is important. Overall, our group has functioned well with all people contributing to the project. We were all of the perception that a team effort would create the best result, but perceptions of teamwork differs. Teamwork is about discussions and debates which I think our group lacked. It could have been improved by clearly defining our perceptions of teamwork to each other at the beginning. For me, a great advantage of teamwork is discussions and debates, which I think our group could strongly improve on. Instead of just doing something because that is what one thinks, it should be discussed with the group members so as to make the arguments and overall product even stronger.