Milestone One 3-1 Final Project Milestone One: Draft of Business Problem and Literature Review Milestone One 3-1 Final Project Milestone One: Draft of Business Problem and Literature Review Milestone One 3-1 Final Project Milestone One: Draft of
Final Report -- MSIL
Business Problem and
Literature Review
Milestone One 3-1 Final Project Milestone One: Draft of Business Problem and Literature Review Final Report -- Maruti Suzuki India: Defending Market Leadership in the A-Segment
Southern New Hampshire University
QS0-500 Business Research
Dr. Kevin Van Sloten
May 22, 2022
Final Report - MSIL
3
Introduction
Since inception in 1983, Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. (MSIL), a subsidiary of Suzuki Motor
Corporation Japan, had dominated the Indian automotive industry with an unchallenged
leadership position in the "A-segment", the smallest category of passenger cars. The Indian car
market was normally divided into four product categories: hatch, sedan, sport utility vehicle
(SUV)/multi-utility vehicle (MUV) and van (Mukherjee, 2015). Growth of the overall car market
in India was driven primarily by the A-segment.
During 2008 to 2013, MSIL's A-segment market share declined from 61 percent to 49
percent. The leading automotive company in India, MSIL was now in greater competition with
Hyundai, General Motors, and Honda. If MSIL's market share continued to decline, it would
jeopardize their competitive advantage in India. MSIL reassessed their situation and concluded
that designing appropriate features and benefits were critical components for the success of any
product.