Suzlon There Are Several Key

Suzlon

There are several key issues facing Suzlon today. The company's objective is to further expand its operations, encompassing up to forty countries. This means that the company will need to have a strategy not only for market entry into these new countries but will also need strategies for expanding production capacity, for maintaining competitive advantages and for managing the international nature of the business. The company wants to maintain its high margins as well, something that could be more of a challenge as it enters markets with strong competitors. Another objective of the company is to be a technology leader. Technological leadership can be a source of long-term competitive advantage and can help to justify higher margins.

Suzlon is well-positioned with its internal factors to meet these objectives. With respect to technological leadership, 81% of employees work in technical functions. The company is vertically integrated, so it can communicate information from customers directly to development staff, allowing a customer-centric development strategy. Further, Suzlon is taking advantage of development in Europe, where wind power has existed for longer, and where technical competency is high. It can also leverage capabilities in India, but it is worth considering that for some Indian technical staff the ability to go to Europe might be an attraction as well -- this might give Suzlon an edge in human resources.

Suzlon's ability to expand into new global markets is supported by another one of its internal competencies. Suzlon has long been an international company, having hired extensively from its former partners in the Netherlands and Germany. Early, Suzlon entered foreign markets and has gained substantial expertise in foreign market entry that will help them to devise strategies not only to enter new markets but to improve share in existing markets as well.

Vertical integration is another key internal competency. As mentioned, this allows for customer-driven development, but it also has other benefits. Vertical integration allows Suzlon to have greater control of its supply chain, which helps the company to control margins. The home base in India gives Suzlon a large market from which it can draw capital to finance some of its international markets. Such home market advantages often help firms to expand overseas more quickly than companies from small markets. In addition, labor is cheap in India, which gives the company a production cost advantage over many of its competitors.