Search results

This paper aims to analyze whether the domestic policy reforms in India would suffice, or there is a need to conform to stricter international standards as well. The paper is arranged along the following lines. First, the paper offers a brief review of the cooperation in the field of harmonization of vehicle regulations which is provided by the so-called WP.29 Forum. Second, the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) standards and their membership along with Indian participation in the forum are presented. Third, reforms in India through the “Make in India” (MII) initiative and its trade in the auto-component segment are analyzed. Fourth, the possible non-tariff barriers (NTBs) on imports of auto-components in select partner countries is computed and presented. Fifth, the penetration pattern of partner countries in India’s automotive sector export value chain is analyzed. Finally, based on the observations, key policy conclusions are drawn both from global and Indian perspectives.

This paper blends expertise in law and economics and enables readers to have a finer understanding of the automotive sector which is one of the most internationalized product groups in world trade, characterized by not only cross-border movement of final products, but also of intermediate products like auto-parts and components as well as major global investment and relocation decisions. This paper focuses on India for four crucial reasons, which makes India both a key player (and potential disruptor) at global level and the rather complex approach chosen by the country vis-a-vis many regulations (including UNECE and WTO), reflecting its tendency to rely on domestic consolidation through measures such as the 2014 MII initiative.

The data analysis in the current paper indicates that after conforming to the UNECE 1998 standard, India’s relative trade with these countries has increased both in terms of auto-components and automobile products. Moreover, the value contribution from these partner countries in India’s exports is rising. On the other hand, the relative share of the UNECE 1958 countries in India’s trade basket has declined and a mixed trend is noticed for the common contracting parties (CPs). In addition, the share of the countries without accession to any of the UNECE agreements in India’s trade has shown an upward trend. The observation indicates that the divergence in automotive product standards might crucially influence India’s trade flows. It seems that in the short run, an orientation for exporting to UNECE 1998 partners and non-members emerges as a dominant strategy, underlining a specialization in medium-quality segment. Nevertheless, the long-term robustness of such a move deserves closer analysis, particularly by focusing on whether India may need to join the UNECE 1958 agreement to sustain its export growth. Before joining UNECE 1998, the sector has enjoyed protection through high tariff barriers. Given the differing perspective on opening-up, automobile sector earlier emerged as an obstacle in conclusion of EU–India Bilateral Trade and Investment Agreement (BTIA), which is being negotiated since 2007. However, after entry into an regional trade agreement (RTA), tariff preference in itself may not provide a country the requisite market access. The recent standard-setting exercises in ASEAN, a group with which India is deepening trade integration since 2010, may be considered as a case in point.

The analysis so far indicates that absence of participation in UNECE 1958 standard may restrict future options for India. Presently, Indian vehicle exports are reaching UNECE 1998 member countries (e.g., Ford India sending Ecosport to USA). It is also directed towards African and Latin American countries, presently not part of any agreement. However, the ASEAN countries, currently partnering India through free trade agreement (FTA), are increasingly moving towards UNECE 1958 standards. India’s sectoral trade surplus with ASEAN countries over 2009-2013 to 2014-2018 has declined from US$548.44mn to US$529.53mn, respectively. The potential challenges in reaching ASEAN and other UNECE 1958 member countries, in turn, may influence the relocation decisions of global auto majors in India, defeating the core purpose of MII initiative.

Given the scenario, a number of policy choices for India emerge. First, joining UNECE 1958 may not be a short-run option for India, but after evaluating the evolving trade pattern, in the long run, the country may consider adopting certain core 1958 standards, in line with its economic interests. Such a move may facilitate greater export flows from India to UNECE 1958 countries. The experience of Indonesia and Vietnam, who have conformed to select UNECE 1958 standards in spite of not being formally part of any agreement, deserves mention in this regard. Second, it is observed that India’s trade balance (TB) is not improving for several Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) member countries, in spite of obtaining tariff preferences through an existing trade bloc. Part of the poor performance has been explained by Indian exporters often using the most favoured nation route rather than the preferential route, to avoid the associated compliance-related complexities. The standards and mutual recognition agreements (MRAs) conformance provisions in ASEAN–India FTA are also found to be weaker vis-à-vis the comparable provisions for other ASEAN-centric bilateral RTAs with other RCEP members. This underlines the need for both rules of origin (ROO) reforms and agreement on MRAs, which may enhance the trade potential in general and in automotive sector in particular. In the short run, India should therefore attempt to enhance exports to the UNECE 1998 members and CPs, given the commonality in standards. However, in the long run, there is a need to explore harmonization with certain core 1958 standards, to promote exports in general and even within its RTAs in particular.

The automotive sector is one of the most internationalized product groups in world trade. It is known that harmonization of product standards with partner countries can facilitate bilateral trade flows. Presently, three agreements exist for harmonization of automotive standards relating to passenger and vehicle safety under the aegis of UNECE – UNECE 1958, UNECE 1997 and UNECE 1998. Through a series of reforms and launch of the MII initiative in 2014, India has deepened its presence in world automotive sector trade and aspires to play a bigger role in coming days. Moreover, India is a WTO member and has joined the UNECE 1998 standard in 2006, which means that several important conventions regulate and bind the country. The current paper intends to analyze whether the domestic policy reforms in India would suffice in promoting the exports from this sector, or there is a need to conform to stricter international standards. The data analysis reveals that India’s relative trade orientation is deepening towards the UNECE 1998 members and countries not part of any UNECE agreements. On the other hand, the relative trade share of the UNECE 1958 countries in India’s trade basket has declined and a mixed trend is noticed for the common CPs. The analysis indicates that the divergence in automotive product standards might crucially influence India’s trade flows in general and participation in international production networks in particular. The paper argues that in the long run, India needs to consider adherence to certain UNECE 1958 standards as well as speeding up the pending domestic reforms.

In this paper, the authors aim to investigate the return, volatility and correlation spillover effects between the crude oil market and the various Indian industrial sectors (automobile, financial, service, energy, metal and mining, and commodities sectors) in order to investigate optimal portfolio construction and to estimate risk minimizing hedge ratios.

The authors compare bivariate generalized autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity models (diagonal, constant conditional correlation and dynamic conditional correlation) with the vector autoregressive model as a conditional mean equation and the vector autoregressive moving average generalized autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity model as a conditional variance equation with the error terms following the Student's t distribution so as to identify the model that would be appropriate for optimal portfolio construction and to estimate risk minimizing hedge ratios.

The authors’ results indicate that the dynamic conditional correlation bivariate generalized autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity model is better able to capture time‐dynamics in comparison to other models, based on which the authors find evidence of return and volatility spillover effects from the crude oil market to the Indian industrial sectors. In addition, the authors find that the conditional correlations between the crude oil market and the Indian industrial sectors change dynamically over time and that they reach their highest values during the period of the global financial crisis (2008‐2009). The authors also estimate risk minimizing hedge ratios and oil‐stock optimal portfolio holdings.

This paper has empirical originality in investigating the return, volatility and correlation spillover effects from the crude oil market to the various Indian industrial sectors using BVGARCH models with the error terms assumed to follow the Student's t distribution.

In today’s highly competitive business scenario, advertising symbolizes one of the key marketing activities. The purpose of this paper is to understand the relationship between advertisement effectiveness and consumer buying behavior for major automobile companies of central India.

A judicious mix of qualitative (focus group and Delphi technique) and quantitative (structured questionnaire survey) research methods was used for the present study.

Study found that for automobile sector, effective advertisements have a positive impact on consumer buying behavior. It suggests that customer’s attitude can be shaped favorably through effective advertising. Automobile companies must arrange special training sessions and learning programs for their sales force to ensure supportive customer purchasing behavior.

The scope of the present study is limited to major automobile companies of central India only. Although, the findings can be interpreted and generalized in a global business scenario.

The research work is first of its kind that attempts to study the impact of effective advertising on consumer buying behavior in Indian automobile context. The findings and recommendations can be used for strategic planning of training sessions and workshops for different stakeholders in automobile industry.

This paper aims to present existence comprehensive analysis of state of implementation of benchmarking concepts in Indian automotive companies.

The research is carried out through a mixed method of research approach comprising of a survey of 300 auto companies in India. Out of 300, 48 valid responses together with three additional case studies were used in the data analysis. Inclusion of case studies was aspired to get deeper insight into the issues pertaining to adoption of best practices, and subsequently the implementation of benchmarking activities.

Benchmarking has been unanimously accepted as an effective performance and productivity improvement tool by Indian auto companies. However, Indian automobile manufacturers still see benchmarking as a tool to compare product attributes, quality attributes, operations, and processes. Moreover, it has been perceived as being less applicable at strategic level. Results also show that benchmarking is in its primary stage in the Indian automotive industry, and it still needs much more commitment from top management for its proliferation. Lesser significance is given to competitor benchmarking due to the fear of losing competitive advantage, and the problem of confidentiality. Reasons identified in this study for not using benchmarking include “lack of human resources” as most important, followed by “financial constraints”, and “lack of internal expertise”.

Research results should be generalized and reproduced with a larger sample size. Owing to the scarce application of benchmarking in small and medium enterprises (SMEs), separate study should be carried out to find ways to encourage benchmarking implementation in Indian auto component manufacturing SMEs.

The paper provides insight into the extent of implementation of benchmarking concepts in Indian automobile industry. This study is the first attempt to understand propagation of benchmarking concepts, exclusively among Indian auto companies.

State‐owned enterprises (SOEs), in general, have not been successful. Their indifferent performance has been at the center of the debate about the role of the state in the economy. To economists, the performance of SOEs is evidence of what is wrong with state intervention. And in recent years privatization has increasingly been regarded as the only way of improving the performance of SOEs. Yet, while unsuccessful SOEs abound, a few high‐performing SOEs such as POSCO (South Korea), Airbus Industrie (France), EMBRAER (Brazil), and MUL (India) can also be found.

The contribution of the Indian Automobile industry in the economic growth of the country is significantly high. Besides catering to a large domestic market, the automobile industry in India has also captured market shares in many foreign countries successfully in the last few decades. Not only is it an important export-oriented industry of the nation but also the fourth largest exporter of automobiles in Asia. However, in the recent years (2018–2019), it has faced an unprecedented slump. This chapter captures this fact by calculating the growth of car selling for the four quarters of the period 2018–2019 across the Indian states. It primarily tries to find out whether the variation in income and tax levied on petrol and diesel has an impact on the variation in the car selling across the states for the abovementioned time period. It has been proven from our study that higher income of a state has a positive impact, whereas higher tax on petrol and diesel which varies across the states has a negative impact on car selling. Apart from this, this study then distinctively tries to find out whether there exists any neighborhood impact on growth rate of car selling and different tax rate on petrol and diesel on the basis of Moran's Index. It is witnessed that there exists a high level of spatial autocorrelation among the different states in case of growth of a car selling and tax imposition on diesel as well as on petrol. This fact necessitates some degree of regional orientation in formulating an effective policy to revive the automobile industry on the part of the Government.

The aim of this research is to assess the key enablers of Industry 4.0 (I4.0) in the context of the Indian automobile industry. It is done to apprehend their comparative effect on executing I4.0 concepts and technology in manufacturing industries, in a developing country context. The progression to I4.0 grants the opportunity for manufacturers to harness the benefits of this industry generation.

The literature related to I4.0 has been reviewed for the identification of key enablers of I4.0. The enablers were further verified by academic professionals. Additionally, key executive insights had been revealed by using interpretive structural modelling (ISM) model for the vital enablers unique to the Indian scenario. The authors have also applied MICMAC analysis to group the enablers of I4.0.

The analysis of this study’s data from respondents using ISM provided us with seven levels of enabler framework. This study adds to the existing literature on I4.0 enablers and findings highlight the specificities of the territories in India context. The results show that top management is the major enabler to I4.0 implementation. Infact, it occupies the 7th layer of the ISM framework. Subsequently, government policies enable substantial support to develop smart factories in India.

The findings of this work provide implementers of I4.0 in the automobile industry in the form of a robust framework. This framework can be followed by the automobile sector in enhancing their competency in the competitive market and ultimately provide a positive outcome for the Indian economic development led by these businesses. Furthermore, this work will guide decision-makers in enabling strategic integration of I4.0, opening doors for the development of new business opportunities as well.

The study proposes a framework for Indian automobile industries. The automobile sector was chosen for this study as it covers a large percentage of the market share of the manufacturing industry in India. The existing literature does not address the broader picture of I4.0 and most papers do not provide validation of the data collected. This study thus addresses this research gap.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relevance of the concept of supply chain performance in developing countries. The research also attempts to identify performance measure sets for supply chain performance in the context of a developing nation.

The research focuses on supply chain practices in the Indian automobile sector. It identifies and discusses the main motives and determinants for the adoption and implementation of supply chain management concepts. It reviews the relevance of the main models to measure the performance of supply chain in developing countries. The research is based on a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods. Primary data were collected through semi‐structured interviews and an exploratory survey. Performance measure sets were identified through factor analysis.

This research proposes that the concept of supply chain performance is not fully embraced by the Indian automobile sector and highlights the difficulties associated with its implementation.

Further research involving other sectors and industries needs to be undertaken in order to gain an in‐depth understanding of the key factors associated with the implementation of supply chain performance practices in India. This could also help develop a generic model to measure supply chain performance.

The paper provides an attempt to adopt the concept of supply chain performance to the Indian context and culture.

Application of Total Quality Management (TQM) approach has played an important role in the survival and growth of many industries. Indian automobile sector has also adopted TQM path but it is still a player of little consequence in the global auto market. One of the major reasons for dismal performance of the Indian automobile sector can be attributed to the fact that it has not been able to prioritize and focus on the key variables, which are instrumental in enhancing TQM index. For the success of the Indian automobile sector, it is equally important to understand the implications of key variables in two different market scenarios and take policy decisions accordingly. TQM initiatives also fail due to lack of understanding of the complex interactions among different TQM variables. To overcome these limitations causal loop diagram has been developed to provide better insight regarding interactions and policy experimentations using system dynamics methodology has been used to prioritize the key variables in two different market scenarios. These experimentations reveal that the main contributing variables to enhance TQM index are leadership, strategic planning, customer and market focus, and human resource focus in both the market scenarios. However, the contribution of each variable and the priority of variables change in two different market scenarios.

This study explains the importance of performance measures and identifies the specific performance measures of sustainable lean manufacturing (SLM) for automobile industries. Awareness towards sustainability and continuous improvement approaches demand monitoring of the sustainable lean impact on organization/industry, and hence, identifying the specific performance metrics is of peak importance.

In this study, specific metrics for social, economic and environmental performance are identified from a systematic literature review of 82 significantly related journal articles. The importance of the identified metrics is assessed with the help of questionnaire responses from a group of industrial experts.

Performance indicators are statistically analyzed category wise and assessed. The key metrics are summarized based on the survey data followed by a discussion with industrial experts. From this study, performance measures have been identified and validated through hypothesis testing for Indian automobile industries. Certification of IATF16949 implementation found an important vertical for SLM implementation. In this study, SLM implementation initiatives are discussed, and reward scheme for outstanding performers are identified as important initiatives are followed by small improvement culture.

The proposed discussion of this study is useful for industrialist and researchers, as SLM performance measures are well explained for Indian automobile industries. In this study, future research direction is also explained related to other industries. These summarized performance measures will help to maintain SLM in industries.

This paper presents the original literature review based on the study of SLM, as no extensive study is available where SLM performance measure explained for automobile industries. Key initiatives and vertical of SLM are well explained for Indian automobile industries. This study proposed a complete framework for SLM implementation considering competitive manufacturing targets.