Yamaha Case Study in Indonesia

A. Should Yamaha change its strategy for Mio, considering the

product’s unexpected popularity among male riders?

The Condition :
According to the case study “Yamaha Indonesia (B) : Nouvo and Mio Market
Position”, page 5 paragraph 5, related to the unexpected popularity among
male riders, as the result of Mio’s campign :
1. Mio was accidentally popular among men;
2. They saw Mio as a comfortable, convinient, practical and very trendy
vehicle;
3. The fact, men purchased half of Mio bikes.

The Analysis :
According to the current condition, eventhough the market did not respon
quite exactly to the brand image campign, which was positioned Mio as a
light, fashionable and trendy bike for female commuters. Is it good or bad?
For the brand image, probably it did not strengthen the brand and even
confuse the brand, which more likely making the positioning of Mio become
irrelevant.

But, we should consider that this phenomenon supported the sales of Mio,
which was the whole idea behind the comprehensive campaigns and efforts
of marketing the brand Mio.

Only that, brand strategy was supposed to build and deliver a positioning to
customer. And then maintain the message being perceived by customer in
order to formulate the marketing strategy in line as the result of strengthen
the brand. When the customer did not perceive the brand as it was meant to,
given the sales fact to it, as much as its benefit in short term periode, still it
may not be good for long term since it influence the sustainability of the
brand.

Should Yamaha change the strategy?

The strategy of Mio for woman I think had already been succesfull, and for
the side effect of popularity among man user, Yamaha should consider this as
a niche market to serve.

Not to confuse the market by repositioning the brand Mio but rather, to grab
this niche market Yamaha should create a positioning for biseksual automatic
motorcycle or making a repositioning of Nouvo instead, considering the facts
in :

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1. Article Yamaha Indonesia (B) : Nouvo and Mio Market Position, exhibit 12,
13 below :

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2. Article Yamaha Indonesia (A) : Positioning and Launching Automatic

Motorcycles in Indonesia, exhibit 16, reasons for not purchasing Nouvo

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From the data above, we can see that people more interested with Mio and
Mio Sporty than Nouvo and the top 3 reasons are : 66% for low price, 37%
for good model and 31% for its automatic. Meanwhile from the research
conducted by MarkPlus&Co, the reasons cited for not buying Nouvo
dominantly is dislike the physical’s aspect (27% + 12%).

The Conclusion:
So, there was a niche market for : man who did not like the physical’s aspect
of Nouvo and prefer Mio’s low price, model and automatic. The strategy that
Yamaha can apply is either one of these :
1. New positioning : an automatic bycycle for all (bisexual) or
2. Repositioning Nouvo with new model and lower price.

B. Plan a defensive strategy in response to the forthcoming Honda and

Suzuki automatic launches.

The Condition :
According to the case study “Yamaha Indonesia (B) : Nouvo and Mio Market
Position” page 1 & page 6, related to the fortcoming launching for Honda and
Suzuki automatic as Yamaha’s competitors, the market situations at that
time being are :
1. By December 2005, Yamaha controlled roughly 95% of automatic
motorcycle category
2. The only Yamaha’s competitor in automatic category in Indonesia was
a low cost Taiwanese manufacturer, with neither promotional
campaigns nor building up consumer awareness as Yamaha did and
they considered being failed due to the sales volumes.
3. Both Honda and Suzuki planned to launch their first automatic bikes to
Indonesian market in the second half of the year, as they did to other
countries.
4. Honda and Suzuki were high quality manufacturers and tough
competitors in manual market.

The Analysis :
According to the current condition, as the first to introduce automatic
motorcycle, Yamaha was the market leader. But the market for automatic
motorcycle itself was not that big of share, only 0,6% in 2003, inclined from
1% (1% x 2.273.038) in year 2002 which meant that though the number of
automatic motorcycle delivered increased (0,6% x 2.789.561) but still below
the increase of number of motorcycle being delivered to the market, as
shown in exhibit 6 in article “Yamaha Indonesia (B) : Nouvo and Mio Market
Position” and exhibit 8 “Yamaha Indonesia (A) : Positioning and Launching
Automatic Motorcycles in Indonesia”.

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And for the market share of motorcycle delivery and manufacturer,

Yamaha market share raised from 15,5% in 2002 to 20,3% in 2003 as shown
in exhibit 7 “Yamaha Indonesia (A) : Positioning and Launching Automatic
Motorcycles in Indonesia” and exhibit 5 in “Yamaha Indonesia (B) : Nouvo and
Mio Market Position” below :

Given to the data above & current condition, as the market leader, what kind
of a defensive strategy plan Yamaha should have in response?

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The Theory , A Defensive Marketing Strategy

According to Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defensive_marketing_warfare_strategies:
Defensive marketing warfare strategies are a type of marketing warfare
strategy designed to protect a company's market share, profitability, product
positioning, or mind share.

There are five fundamental principles involved:

1. Always counter an attack with equal or greater force.
2. Defend every important market.
3. Be forever vigilant in scanning for potential attackers. Assess the strength
of the competitor. Consider the amount of support that the attacker might
muster from allies.
4. The best defense is to attack yourself. Attack your weak spots and rebuild
yourself anew.
5. Defensive strategies should be the exclusive domain of the market leader.

The main types of defensive marketing warfare strategies are:

• Position defense - This involves the defense of a fortified position. This
tends to be a weak defense because you become a “sitting duck”.
• Mobile defense - This involves constantly shifting resources and
developing new strategies and tactics. A mobile defense is intended to
create a moving target that is hard to successfully attack, while
simultaneously, equipping the defender with a flexible response
mechanism should an attack occur.
• Flank position - This involves the re-deployment of your resources to
deter a flanking attack. You protect against potential loss of market share
in a segment, by strengthening your competitive position in this segment
with new products and other tactics.
• Counter offensive - This involves countering an attack with an offense of
your own. If you are attacked, retaliate with an attack on the aggressor’s
weakest point.

The Conclusion:
With the issues of :
1. As the first to introduce automatic motorcycle, Yamaha was the
market leader
2. Due to Market share of motorcycle delivery and manufacturer,
Yamaha market share raised from 15,5% in 2002 to 20,3% in year
2003

With defensive strategy Yamaha should develop a marketing plan as follows :

1. Analysis current situations, TOWS Analysis :
a. Thread
i. Honda and Suzuki, are high quality manufacturer and
tough competitor in manual market

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ii. People is still reluctant for automatic motorcycle, we can

see from its market share compare to manual
b. Opportunity
i. Getting benefit from Honda’s and Suzuki’s participation
in the automatic category for market development.
c. Weakness
i. From 2 type of motorcycle, though sales volume for both
were increased, but we could say that Yamaha Mio was
the one that succeded for grabbing the attention of
people
ii. Yamaha Mio’s positioning for woman was not perceived as
meant to, it was also popular in man user also
d. Strength
i. Yamaha was the market leader, get the established
position
ii. Yamaha had already a population of automatic riders
iii. Yamaha had already reaped the rewards of its marketing
and promotionl activities
2. The Objective is to increase sales volume of Yamaha automatic
motorcycles
3. The Strategy is to keep the positioning as Market Leader in automatic
motorcycle
4. Based on research being conducted in regular basis, for marketing mix
analysis Yamaha should :
a. Product, considering Yamaha’s products consisted of 2 type for
men and woman, but the product for man not quite as succeded
as Mio for woman. So Yamaha should develop new product or
repositioning the product to grab the market which was still
untouched.
b. Price, with the automatic technology, the price for Mio was still
competitive compare to Honda. The price would be as
competitive as possible comparing to Honda or Suzuki.

c. Place, in order to buy Yamaha automatic motorcycle, Yamaha

had all dealers availability to stock. For these strategy, Yamaha
had to keep the strong relationship with all dealers with push
strategy.
d. Promotions, continuing the marketing activities with focus on :
community based marketing and brand activation from city to
city, supporting the integrated marketing communications thru
pull strategy..
5. The initiative projects are :
a. Developing and launching a new products as a respons of the
lag of Nouve sales and unexpected popularity of Mio among man
user
b. To strengthen the brand :

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i. Making a integrated campaign for pull strategy in media

such as : electronic, printed, outdoor.
ii. Initiate a community among Yamaha automatic biker and
getting some insights for product such as : prices, model,
distribution’s channel, etc.
iii. Build emotional bonding thru the community by brand
activation,
c. Build up a partnership relations with all dealers, thru push
strategy, like : gathering, insentif, rewards, etc.
d. Research in regular basis, for :
i. Developing and launching new and existing products
ii. Brand strength, to keep on the positioning as market
leader
iii. Marketing activites, the effectivity and efficiency of push
and pull strategy being implemented

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