Part 1: Introduction

Strategic management is associated with formulation and implementation of major goals and initiatives taken by the top management towards fulfilling those goals through the consideration of organizational resources and environmental assessment of an organization (Bettis et al. 2016). The organization chosen for this study is Thaco, which is popular car manufacturing company in Vietnam.The study will analyze the internal and external factors of the organization. Apart from that, the study will also evaluate the current strategies of the organization thorough generic strategy and SWOT analysis. Furthermore, based on the analysis of the organizational environment and evaluation of current organizational strategies, the study will provide some suitable recommendation to the organization through BCG and Ansoff matrix.

Thaco is one of the popular and leading car manufacturing companies in Vietnam. It is the member of Vietnam Automobile Manufacturers Association (VAMA). The organization was established in 29^th April 1997 (Thacogroup.vn 2017). The founder of the organization is Mr. Tran Ba Duong, who is also its recent chairman. Recently, the organization has three administrative offices, which are located in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Chu Lai. The organization recently operates in auto manufacture, assembly, distribution and offers auto spare parts and maintenance service. Furthermore, the organization is associated with manufacturing, trading and distributing commercial vehicles and passenger cars. The most popular brands of this automotive company are Kia, Mazda and Peugeot. As per the survey of 2016, the organization has more than 89 showrooms and 53 dealers nationwide (Thacogroup.vn 2017). Furthermore, the organization has more than 14900 employees, whose dedication level has formed its success ground.

In the recent time, Thaco is the only car company is Vietnam, which manufactures and assembles all the three car lines like trucks, passenger cars and buses having localization rate from 16%-50% (Thacogroup.vn 2017). Thaco is always intended to provide top quality, diversified and affordable cars. The organization has been listed on the top of the sales chart of Vietnam Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (VAMA). The organization has grabbed 38.1% of total automotive car market in Vietnam. Furthermore, the organization is aimed at maintaining its position and expanding its market in ASEAN region. Through this strategy, the organization is aimed at enhancing its international cooperation and join global value chain for creating competitive advantage.  As 2016, the revenue and sales volume of Thaco has increased by 40% and its pre-tax profit has been increased by 15% (Hansen 2016). The affordable price associated with the high quality of the cars contributes to the success level of the organization.

 

Figure 1: Market Share of Thaco

(Source: (Thacogroup.vn 2017))

1. PEST

Political Condition	· Political stability of Vietnam has provided major opportunity to Thaco towards its business growth · Free trade agreement followed Vietnam has assisted Thaco in operating international business · Low corporate tax rate of Vietnam also assists the organization is gaining more profit (Hsu, Choon Tan and Laosirihongthong 2014) · Rare internal conflict within Vietnam can have positive impact of the business of the organization · Government Promise towards industrialization seem to be a great support for the organization · Support from the Government can also have huge positive impact on the success of the organization · Some Government restrictions on freedom of speech in Vietnam can affect the growth of the business · Environmental policies framed by Government can restrict the growth of automobile business of the organization
Economic Condition	· Weak Economic condition of Vietnam can hinder the business growth of Thaco · Fluctuating inflation rate can hinder profit margin of the organization · Fluctuation in currency rate can also impact the international business expansion of the organization · Initiatives of country towards achieving economies of scale can strengthen economic condition of the country · Rapid growth of developing countries can be beneficial for the international business of the organization · Manufacturing industry gets half the foreign direct investment, which can also improve the business condition of Thaco (Doner and Wad 2014)
Social Condition	· Changes in customer predilection from car being as the symbol of status · Modern and sophisticated life style of the customers lead them to have own car as a part of their daily life · Increasing level of per head income of the people in Vietnam can assist them to purchase their own car · Developing transportation infrastructure of Vietnam has enhanced the scope of Thaco’s cars (Tuan et al. 2016) · Increasing industrialization has also enhanced the demand of truck for carrying the business products. It ultimately increased the demand for the trucks of the organization
Technological Condition	· The organization uses high tech and modern technology for manufacturing modern and technically advanced cars · High tech system is used for making comfortable sitting arrangement within the cars · Environment friendly technology is used for protecting the environment from the car emission

Table 1: PEST Analysis of Thaco

(Source: Nishitateno 2015)

The car market of Vietnam has second fastest growth in the world. Hence, the high level of profitability of the market always attracts the new entrants. It automatically reduces the profitability of all the firms in the industry. However the initial capital investment in this industry is quite high, which can be risk for the new entrants to be entered in this market (Pallaro et al. 2015). Moreover, the new entrant faces extreme challenges in beating the competitive advantage created by the company like Thaco. Therefore, Thaco faces low threats of new entrants in the car industry of Vietnam.

Part 2: Company Profile

In most of the cases, the customers can easily shift from Thaco to other substitutes. The common substitutes of the organization include public transportation, bicycle and other mode of transportation. However, substitute mode of transportation is moderately available to the customers. For instance, in some suburban areas, public transportation is not available easily (Daver and Hadgraft 2013). Moreover, such substitutes are less convenient than the cars of Taco. Hence, the customers having sophisticated life style are more likely to have the cars of Thaco towards modern life leading. Therefore, it can be said that Thaco faces moderate threats of substitutes in the industry.  

Thaco faces strong and aggressive force of competition from the competitors. Thaco mostly with competes high variety of firms, which often differentiates through, electronics, cost, fuel efficiency, brand image, style and other factors. However, the unique quality of Thaco’s car product makes them to stand unique in the industry. Moreover, the organization has hold 32% of the overall Vietnam’s automobile car market (Thacogroup.vn. 2017). The organization mostly faces tough competition from GM Vietnam, Toyota Motor Vietnam and Honda Vietnam (Vinh 2016). All the competitor companies are quite capable of provide same qualities in their cars just like Thaco. Therefore, it can be said that Thaco faces high level of competition from its competitors.

The supplier numbers in auto-manufacturing industry are more likely to be smaller than manufacturer. The network of suppliers in auto manufacturing industry is quite diversified and they provide crucial elements for making cars. Automobile car manufacturing car companies are to depend on the quality and time operation of the suppliers (Tran and Nørlund 2015). However, Thaco maintains long-term and strong relationship with the customers towards gaining competitive advantage from the suppliers through reduced cost of materials. Therefore, it can be said that Thaco faces low bargaining power of supplier in this industry.

The trends highlight that customers are more prone to seek out more fuel efficient cars for rising oil prices. Therefore, it is the trends the customers to purchase hybrid cars. Customers can easily switch to other companies getting low price of the cars. However, the high quality, accurate information and moderate availability of substitute products can reduce the bargaining power of customers (De Koning et al. 2015). Therefore, it can be said that the organization face low bargaining power of the customers in the car industry of Vietnam.

 

Figure 2: Porter’s Five Force Analysis of Thaco

(Source: Froud et al. 2014)

VRIO Analysis

Resources/Capabilities	Value	Rare	Costly to Imitate	Organized to Capture Value	Competitive Advantage
The Brand	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Sustainable Competitive advantage
Strong Supply Chain Management	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Sustainable Competitive Advantage
Human Resources	Yes	No	No	Yes	Temporary Competitive Advantage
Technological Resources	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Competitive Parity and Sustainable Competitive Advantage
International Product Distribution	Yes	No	No	Yes	Temporary Competitive Advantage
Differentiation	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Competitive Parity and Sustainable Competitive Advantage
Organizational Structure	Yes	No	No	Yes	Temporary Competitive Advantage

Table 2: Resourced Based Analysis through VRIO

(Source: Created by Author)

From the table, it can be seen that the brand of Thaco is highly important towards gaining competitive advantage. The popularity of Thaco brand attracts huge customer group towards the cars of the organization. Moreover, such brand value is rare and costly to imitate, which is optimally used by the organization. Hence, the organization can gain sustainable competitive advantage through its strong brand name. On the other hand, the organization has strong supply chain management, which is very rare and highly valuable for creating sustainable competitive advantage. The organization has extremely important source of suppliers, who always provide high quality auto parts to the organization (Dinh Nguyen et al. 2017). In this way, the organization can manufacture high quality cars, which creates competitive edge for the organization. Moreover, the organization is quite capable of maintaining long-term relationship with the suppliers. It helps the organization is getting the best price in the market for their auto parts.

Part 3: Analysis

The success of Thaco is largely dependent on the dedication level of the employees. The employees are always dedicated to provide their best efforts in gaining competitive advantage through their unique ideas. However, the employees cannot be the permanent source of competitive advantage in the organization. Moreover, human resources of the organization contribute temporary competitive advantage to the organization. Thaco utilizes the most advanced technological equipments for manufacturing their cars. Modern technology used in the cars of the organization helps in gaining such competitive advantage, which can act as their defensive strategy against fighting the rivals (Ozturk, Joiner and Cavusgil 2015). The organization uses differentiation strategy through adding unique product design and driving experience in their car category. Such differentiation strategy adds to the competitive parity of the organization. Apart from that, the organization has flexible organizational structure, which the employees can contribute their unique ideas in organizational decision. In this way, the organization is capable bringing creativity in all through their car category.

Thaco has strong network of supplier source for getting high quality auto parts towards manufacturing high quality cars. Moreover, the organization keeps long term contract with the suppliers, transporters and agents for getting best price for the raw materials and transportation of those materials from suppliers to manufacturing units (Chen, Delmas and Lieberman 2015). The organization has deployed IT for monitoring the inbound logistics and maintaining transparency in logistic process.

The organization utilizes highly technical equipments for manufacturing top quality cars. Moreover, the organization utilizes automated manufacturing process for manufacturing the cars. The apprentice trainee course ensures stable source of skilled and talented manpower in the organization for efficient car manufacturing (Trigeorgis and Reuer 2017).

The organization has strong has strong nationwide distribution and has targeted to create global value chain through international conglomerate. The organization mostly uses ships, tugboats and road transportation for their transportation. The vehicle dispatch section and regional sales office are linked with SAP for controlled and secured monitoring of product transportation (Vogel and Güttel 2013). Moreover, the organization keeps close relationship with the transporters for ensuring competitive price.

The organization uses quality function deployment (QFD) for understanding specific requirement of the customers and providing cars as per those requirements of the customers. Clear identification of customer requirements assists the organization towards developing innovative products (Harrison et al. 2017). Moreover, the organization has large network of nationwide deals and has targeted towards creating wide network of international dealers.

The organization ensures effective functioning of the cars after it is delivered to the customers. The customers can find it easy to avail the spare parts for repairing any damage of the cars. The customers can easily collect the data from the field and communicate to the respective plants (Simon, Fischbach and Schoder 2014). Furthermore, wide network of workshop like dealer workshop is beneficial service for the customers. The training facilities for the dealers can also help the customers for the effective functioning of the cars. They can easily approach to their respective dealers for any kind of issues in their cars.

A. External Factor

The organization mostly uses domestic source of suppliers for manufacturing their cars. However, the organization aims at global sourcing of the suppliers. Moreover, the organization maintains long term and loyal pool of suppliers for efficient procurement process of the suppliers. Furthermore, the organization uses technology driven procurement for procuring quality cars.

The organization generally invests 2% of their annual profit in their research and development department (Greco, Cricelli and Grimaldi 2013). Moreover, the knowledge portal of the organization keeps the employee up-to-date with the current technologies. Extensive testing and prototype building assist in ensuring the quality of the cars.

Thaco has vast pool of technically competent managers and engineers, who always focuses in developing technical capabilities in all the car categories. High level of dedication from the employees has contributed to the success of the organization (Boyd et al. 2013). The employees often employ their unique ideas towards manufacturing unique quality cars.

The organization has strong leadership qualities for ensuring the quality of the cars. Furthermore, Thaco uses best class prototype building facilities for manufacturing top quality cars. Moreover, the organization has adequate product portfolio for meeting all types of needs of the customers.

 

Figure 3: Value Chain Analysis

(Source: Boyd et al. 2013)

An important detriment of an organization’s profitability is the attractiveness of the industry in which it operates. On the other hand, the second detriment is the profitability is the position of the organization in the industry. An organization can position itself within the industry through leveraging its strengths. In this extent, Michel Porter has suggested three generic strategies for leveraging its strength on creating well position in the industry.

Cost leadership strategy suggests an organization towards being low cost producer for a certain level of quality in the industry. An organization can sell its products at average industry prices for gaining more profit over the rivals. On the other hand, an organization can also sell products at below the industry prices of the industry for gaining huge market share. Thaco uses the last strategy for gaining high level of market share. The organization is quite capable of producing its cars at lowest. It is the second lowest cost automotive manufacturing company in Vietnam (Stead and Stead 2013). Therefore, it is capable providing its products at affordable and lowest cost. Through this strategy, the organization has targeted broad markets. Moreover, the organization has recently captured 35% of total automobile market of Vietnam (Larrañeta, Zahra and Galán González 2014). Moreover, Thaco is capable of recuing its operation cost through improved process efficiency and unique access to huge source of raw materials. Furthermore, the organization also has high level of expertise in manufacturing process, who can efficiently manufacture the cars with lowest cost. On the other hand, strong distribution channel of the organization can also help in lowering its production cost towards gaining competitive advantage.

Differentiation strategy suggests for offering unique attribute in the products of an organization. Such unique attributes helps in enhancing the value of the customers and customer perceive the product to be of higher priority over the rival organizations. Thaco offers unique car quality for their products. It is the only organization in Vietnam, with manufactures and assembles all three car lines like trucks, passenger cars and buses having localization rate from 16%-50% (Thacogroup.vn 2017). Towards premium quality, the organization uses unique quality design and painting technology for attracting premium customers. For instance, the design and comfort utilities of Mazada6 have given more emphasis on safety features, operational abilities and feeling of driving towards attracting high class customers (Thacogroup.vn 2017). In this way, the qualities of the cars allow the organization towards charging high price for some of their premium car categories. In this way, the organization is gaining high level of profit over its rival companies.

PEST Analysis

Focus Strategy suggest for narrowing the customer segment and achieving competitive advantage within that segment using either cost leadership or differentiation strategy. The premise for this particular strategy is that an organization can better serve the customer group through entirely focusing on it. In this extent, Thaco used to provide cars at affordable price for moderate income customers towards gaining high market share (Tassabehji and Isherwood 2014). However, recently, the organization has focused on premium customer group through some premium quality of cars. In this way, the differentiation associated with the cars quality has helped them towards gaining competitive advantage and increasing profit level.

 

Figure 4: Generic Strategy of Thaco

(Source: Sharp, Bergh and Li 2013)

Strength	· Thaco is the most well established organization in the automotive industry of Vietnam · Strong brand popularity of Thaco attract wide customer group in national as well as internal market · Thaco has large and extensive service and distribution network · The organization has effective market penetration is truck and family car market · Thaco has expert service professional for producing quality cars · Association with international brand can enhance the international presence in ASEAN region (Newbert, David and Han 2014) · Strong research and development department and dedicated engineering add to the product value · The organization has highly diversified product quality · Dedicated and wide employee base adds to the business success
Weakness	· Thaco has limited international presence in comparison with other international car manufacturing companies · The organization is lagging behind producing wide numbers of luxurious cars · Strong brand name is vulnerable to reduce for even any small reason · The organization is facing tough competition in the automotive car market of Vietnam · It often faces huge controversies due to fuel energy used in the cars (Carlsson-Wall, Kraus and Lind 2015)
Opportunities	· Expanding automotive market of Vietnam can be the boon for the success of Thaco · Increasing per capita income and enhancing purchasing capabilities of the potential customers has increased the business growth potential of the organization · The organization can leverage the customer experiences towards acquiring new customers for their cars · The new aim of capturing more countries in the ASEAN region can increase the international business potential of the organization (Ertek et al. 2017) · The organization can produce more high quality luxurious cars through using more advanced technology for grabbing more premium customers · The organization can boost its business through augmenting the service and distribution network of national as well as international market · Modern and sophisticated life style of the customers can enhance sales potential of the cars of Thaco
Threats	· Increasing fuel cost can de-motivate the potential customers from purchasing their own cars (Payne and Frow 2014) · The organization faced high level of competition from the big automotive companies like GM Vietnam, Toyota Motor Vietnam and Honda Vietnam · High level of competition is directly associated with limited market share for the organization · Competitive organizations are offering same cars having almost same features with lesser prices, which is impacting on the price structure of Thaco (Johnsen 2015) · Frugal engineering and product innovation by the competitors can reduce the business growth potential for Thaco

Table 3: SWOT Analysis of Thaco

(Source: Billings and Buslepp 2016)

D. Recommendation and Conclusion

Considering the business units of Thaco, it can be found that there are 5 units, which are Thaco trucks, Thaco Dealer car Travel, Thaco Bus, Thaco Industrial Park Infrastructure and Thaco Logistics Activities. While considering the BCG Matrix, it can be said that each of the business units of the organization can be displayed with regards to their exact current position in the market. Both the market share and market growth will be displayed for each of the units, Based on the position, it can be further analyzed about the future strategies that the organization needs to quantify for sustainability.

According to Szymaniec-Mlicka (2014), BCG Matrix helps in displaying the product lines of an organization considering its business units, which later helps in product management, brand marketing, portfolio analysis and strategic management. While analyzing the business units of Thaco, figure will justify the BCG matrix.

Question Mark indicates those business units which are having high market growth but low market share. From the figure below, it can be identified that the two business units, park infrastructure and logistics are the latest business units for Thaco and therefore, these units’ results in low market share. However, there are high prospects for such units to gear up in future by increasing more business partners and distributers. For logistics, it can partnership with local small scale manufacturers or even with ship building yards for building own house vehicles.

Figure 5: BCG Matrix

(Source: Created by Author)

According to Galvin and Arndt (2014), star indicates those business units, which are matured question mark and is quite reputed in the market generating huge cash with high market share. Similarly, which considering Thaco, it can be found that bus and trucks are those units which are generating highest revenue and market share for the organization. Trucks unit was introduced in the year 2003 and Bus unit was introduced in 2006. However, trucks units took more time to gain market share, which indicates there is more demand and less manufacturer for car unit. Therefore, Thaco needs to allocate more resources in terms of research and development along with marketing strategy for elongating the product life cycle for Car unit. Also, Trucks unit needs to be pushed further for sales through intense dealership partners and through market penetration.

Porter’s Five Forces

Kerr and Patti (2015) pointed out that those units, which lies on the cash cow section indicate market saturation and therefore there is least scope of innovation. While considering the BCG figure, it can be noticed that Dealer Car Travel is the only unit that is generating highest revenue for the organization, however there is least market growth rate. The reason might be that this is the only unit that is operating over 20 years and therefore there is least scope of innovation. However, it must be said that through international marketing there is a scope for Thaco to increase the unit’s life cycle.

The above figure does not indicate any unit to be on the dog section, which indicates none of the units are having least market growth rate and market share. This is a positive scenario for the organization, which must be maintained through intense R&D, marketing and branding.

In Market penetration Strategy, organizations are more likely to achieve business growth through providing existing products in the current market. In the way, the organization can ensure increasing market share in the existing market. Thaco can provide its existing car lines like family cars, buses and trucks in the existing Vietnam market for enhancing the market share in this local market. This strategy can be proved to be less risky, as the organization can leverage its existing resources and capabilities. In this strategy, there may exist opportunities for enhancing market share, if the competitor companies reach their capacity limits. Otherwise, such strategy cannot be so worth for increasing market share.

In Market Development Strategy, organizations seek to grow in business through targeting existing products in the new market. Likewise, in market development strategy, Thaco can offer its existing car categories in ASIAN region, which can also be recent aim of the organization. The organization can gain business growth in new market through existing cars, if the core competency of the organization is based on specific products rather than experience with specific market. However, such strategy can be more risky than market penetration strategy, if new market does not accept the existing car lines of the organization.

In Product Development strategy, organizations seek to achieve business growth through developing new product in the existing market. Likewise, Thaco can develop more luxurious cars for the Vietnam market. This strategy can be effective for the organization, if the strength of the firm is based on its customers rather than the specific customers. In such extent, the organization can leverage its strength through developing new types of cars. However, weak customer group can destroy the effectiveness of product development strategy.

Diversification is the most risky among all the four alternative strategies. It requires development of both new market as well as new product development. It can often go outside of the core competencies of the organization. In this way, Thaco can diversify its car category to more luxurious cars, hybrid vehicles and sports cars. Moreover, the organization should offer all their new cars in the international markets. The risk associated with the diversification strategy of the organization can be compensated with high rate of return. It can often provide high volume profit, if the new product is quickly accepted in the new market.

Figure 6: Ansoff Matrix

(Source: Created by Author)

From the above discussion of four alternative strategies, it can be said that the organization can have option for adopting any of the four strategies. However, successful business growth can only come from market development and diversification strategy. Moreover, the organization is already aimed at adopting market development through offering existing products in the ASEAN region. On the other hand, the diversification of the products and market can also assist the organization towards getting improved business result.  New products and new markets can also minimize the risks associated with the failure of existing products in existing as well as new market.

3. Conclusion

While concluding the study, it can be said that Thaco has quite efficient strategy towards developing its business growth. The organization has wide popularity and growth in its domestic market Vietnam. The Government of Vietnam has huge support towards industrialization of the country. Therefore, the organization gets huge Government support for its business development. On the other hand, the changing life style of the people and adoption of modern lifestyle has increased their purchasing intension for cars. It has actually increased the business scope of the organization. However, the organization has tough competition from other reputed car manufacturing companies in Vietnam. Therefore, the organization needs to adopt some improved strategies for maintaining sustainable competitive advantage for their products. On the other hand, Thaco has strong brand name and distribution channel, which contributes to the success of the organization. Thaco has huge potentiality towards expanding its international market. It can offer its existing products in the new market like ASEAN region for developing its condition. Apart from that, the organization can also develop new products for new market towards gaining high level of return on investment.

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