THE INDAIN WATCH INDUSTRY: CHANGING TIMES

CASE STUDY-SUMMARY
The case study deals about the major changes that occurred in the Indian watch industry and the challenges faced by them .The major domestic industries referred in the case study are the HMT, TITAN, TIMEX, and ALLWYN. During the 1990s the watch market in India showed a growth of 8%, but the major domestic players had a little role to play. The market shares of the domestic industries fell by 18%, this was mainly due to the nature of smuggling that prevailed in 1990s in the form of watch movements. The domestic industries asked the government to export back the sized goods or sold legally in world market but not auctioned in India. Domestic majors could not compete with the smuggled watches as they had better quality and low price. The entry of global watch manufacturers added oil to the fire. Now the Domestic industries had to battle with the legal and illegal competitors to sustain in the market. In 1961 HMT in collaboration with Citizen of Japan started manufacturing mechanical watches .They produced sensible watches and became the most profitable companies in India. The companies advertising with its memorable baseline if you have inclination we have time firmly established the HMT brand. Much market researches and surveys where done by the company and took steps to bringing teenagers into buying watches by advertisements showing teenagers wearing watches. The quality of watches was essentially monitored and most where copies of foreign models. The company lacked regular trade audits which made consumers pay more than the company price. Despite the introduction of new marketing strategies, the quartz range introduced was a failure and lacked consumer acceptance. HMT also faced competitions from small scale watch industries like Indo French Time and Jayco brand of watches and the Invisible sector which provided consumers with wide variety, stylish and low priced watches Hyderabad Allwyn entering the watch industry in1981 in collaboration with Seiko, Japan which had the State-of-the-art facility became the major competitor for the HMT. The company introduced low priced polyamide watches targeting the youth and brand named it Allwyn Trendy. The companys success increased with launch of Trendy Co-ordinates suiting ones wardrobe. The government policies had adverse effect on the Indian watch industry. The manufacture of appearance parts like straps and dials was reserved to the small-scale sector but the parts lacked quality. Only the SCL were allowed to produce ECBs and they failed to meet the domestic supply requirement. The government also intervened in the production control of LCDs and ICs which resulted in drastic retreat of Digital
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THE INDAIN WATCH INDUSTRY: CHANGING TIMES

watch production and the smugglers had the opportunity to meet the demand of digital watches. Switzerland was the global leaders in watch production. They mainly produced mechanical watches because they had large base installed for production and high employment opportunity. They used a 2-tier system. They conquered the world market for mechanical watches. The Japanese used the opportunity to become masters of quarts and digital technologies. Seiko and Citizen were the major developers and they were able to produce stylish, quality watches at a lower price than Swiss. Seiko changed the marketing practice by introducing sales subsidiaries in all major markets. Direct consumer interaction was the other major step. They were known for reliable price, brand image, advertising, service and sales. They specialised in miniaturisation .Casio became the brand image of multifunctional watches, which was retailed along with the technical products. US also had a key role to play during the introduction of digital watches but it was not consistent. They produced digital chips initially but, later manufacturing disappeared, but still it continued to be the worlds largest market for watches. Introduction of TATA group changed the face of Indian watch industry. TATA joined hands with TIDCO and named it TITAN which mainly focused on manufacture of quartz watches. They felt that the HMT neglected styling and quartz together.it launched it quartz range with heavy advertising and as an international watch. Their focus was on encouraging ownership of multiple watches and increasing women users. Titans innovations on the retailing front are to be noted. They had thorough study about the customer behaviours and designed there shops to attract the customers in the best way. The company made it possible to be the leader in quartz market. Titan then diversified into manufacturing jewellery and jewellery watches. They launched products branded Tanishq. This effected the HMT growth and they took measures like SWOT analysis to restructure its business. The threat for the Indian brands came from the MNCs. Numerous foreign brandsRado, Omega, Longiness, Citizen, Casio, etc., had already started advertising in the county. Most foreign companies entered India was unlikely to set up manufacturing facilities in India. They were just to assemble and distribute. The solution put forward by TATA group was to build a strong distribution and retailing network. The next plan was to have collaboration with a corporate giant which had strong presence in penetrative distribution network. They also produced variety of watches in low cost to outposition the foreign companies.

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