The automotive industry is a significant driver in India’s economic development. Also, the industry is one of the productive sectors in which the country has a larger share of the global value chains (GVCs) with larger per cent being contributed by Maruti Suzuki, making the story of Maruti Suzuki intriguing to know about for other automobile industries and as a potential buyer- how it has managed to stay ahead of the competition, catching up on upgrade, digitization, and automation is top-notch.
Brief History of Maruti Suzuki
Maruti Suzuki formerly known as Maruti Udyog Limited was founded by the Government of India in 1981, and went ahead to merge with Japanese automobile company Suzuki in 1982; Maruti brand had its first manufacturing factory established in Gurugram, Haryana, that same year. Maruti Suzuki’s invention brought the Indian automobile to limelight and their innovations together with the other automobile producing company brought India, in 2018, to be the world’s fourth-largest automobile market.
This piece explicitly gives an insight into the structural expansion of Maruti Suzuki automobile as they have taken the path for more success in the coming decades and lastly, their role in the economic development of India. Why Maruti Suzuki brands are the leading automobile producing company in India can be related to the structure and makeup of the organization and the dependency of India’s economy among many others.
Structure and makeup of the Maruti Suzuki automobile industry
Maruti are quite known for a formidable structure, they have a robust corporate system with horizontal ties. There are 29 divisions in Maruti and they are led by one divisional head. The divisions are further divided into 132 sub-departments, led by one departmental director, who is a functional manager of all operations and activities grouped based on the following functions: accounting, marketing, manufacturing and logistics, spare parts, output, supplies, parts testing, quality control, human resource creation, computer technology, business administration. Centralization is quite low in Maruti, as lower-level staffs are allowed to develop their decision-making and leadership abilities, the decision-making authority is quite decentralized and hassle-free across all levels with rapid response to consumer demands.
The structure of the organization is flat. Generally, employees are divided into six functional heads: workers and artisans, administrators, directors, unit heads, department managers and branch managers with a high level of professional formalization.
The Maruti Suzuki and India’s Economy
Over the years, Indians have witnessed strong growth in exports because of the successful introduction of Maruti Suzuki products and are now accepted all over the world by its large customer base. Also, Maruti Suzuki has provided the framework for this growing Indian economy by improving the profile of the Indian automobile industry through the introduction of modern vehicles and new designs that incorporate comprehensive safety standards. They were able to reach the Landmark of 20 Million passenger vehicle Cumulative revenue in the Indian market in less than 37 years after its first car was sold in December 1983- a major quota to the India economy. This achievement makes Maruti Suzuki the only company in India to have shown more commitment to the economic development of India in a way to project their economy to the next level.
