Sustaining Leadership in the Indian Market: Research Proposal

Research Question

The research question is established around the need for the company to sustain and maintain its leadership position in the Indian market. Based on the analysis that was performed in the previous sections, it is evident that the company is facing stiff competition in the region. Other external factors are equally in play and should be considered when making market and management decisions. In this case, regardless of the external challenges being faced, the company is expected to think beyond the ordinary to sustain its presence in the Indian market. Through comprehensive research, it is possible to unravel the effective and essential factors and elements to be modified or incorporated in the company’s current strategy to guarantee their sustainable competitiveness and success in the Indian market. This expert outlines the research design and methods that will be used to address and assess the problem facing the company. The paper also provides a highlight of the primary and secondary variables as well as the ethical considerations for this research.

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Research Method Design and Methods

The process of addressing the identified issue at Maruti Suzuki India Ltd (MSIL) will be based on action research. Action research is an inquiry methodology that entails the collaboration between the researcher and the agency or representative of the agency to address a problem with the sole purpose of establishing a set of sustainable and long-run solutions or interventions (Ferrance, 2000). From the context of an organization, action research is defined as the collaboration between the researcher and the representative of the organization to identify and solve the underpinning critical issue, which in turn will enhance the success and value proposition of that firm (Bryman & Bell, 2011).

Action research is divided into three types based on the approach of analysis. Action research could take a positivist approach where the researcher addresses the problem as a social experiment and goes ahead to test the established hypothesis (Ferrance, 2000; Bryman & Bell, 2011). The second approach is interpretivism where the objective of the action research being carried out is to understand the specifications of the precepts characterizing the business reality as a social construct. The third approach is the critical action research where the researcher collaborates with the organization to critically question the approaches being used and focus on improving the existing frameworks based on the presented dynamics observed in the internal and external environment (Business Research Methodology, 2019).

In this analysis, the use of action research was adopted because it is designed to allow the researcher and Maruti Suzuki India Ltd to work together towards improving the company’s presence in India. Action research presents the opportunity for the researcher to look at Maruti Suzuki India Ltd as a social construct within the dynamic, complex, and ever-changing environment of the automobile industry in India. Therefore, action research is the most preferred methodology because it allows the researcher to visualize the internal and external environment characterizing Maruti Suzuki India Ltd as integrated, shifting, and conflicting entities. At the same time, the use of this method offers the researcher an opportunity to disintegrate the various elements that cumulatively shape and define the success or failure of Maruti Suzuki India Ltd in India.

Furthermore, the researcher will use critical action research, which is a type of action research that focuses on the process or strategy improvement. The reason for selecting critical action research is that it aligns with the objectives as well as the research question associated with this inquiry. The researcher’s focus is to determine the most effective and appropriate elements that Maruti Suzuki India Ltd could consider to guarantee the company’s competitiveness, profitability, and sustainable market controls as factors of market leadership position in the Indian automobile industry. By identifying these elements and factors, the researcher will be in a position to recommend improvement intervention and initiatives that could elevate the current market performance indicators of the company in the country.

Variables: Primary and Secondary

The process of determining the most effective and appropriate elements that Maruti Suzuki India Ltd should consider to maintain its leadership position in the Indian market will require the analysis of different industry variables from primary and secondary sources. In this case, the researcher will examine both internal and external factors defining the problem from the context of the company’s strategic aspirations. The first set of variables that will be examined revolves around the Indian care market performance. In this case, the researcher will focus on market segmentation, targeting, share, and performance characterizing key competitors and make a comparison with the strategy used by Maruti Suzuki India Ltd.

Moreover, the researcher will further examine research and development interventions, customer tastes and preferences dynamics, and product differentiation models, which again will lead to a comparison between the company and its competitors. Lastly, the researcher will assess the emerging trends in the Indian car market, specifically those associated with the dealer network and consumer behaviors, and determine the opportunities and threats.

It is important to highlight that the researcher will access these crucial data associated with the identified variable from reputable secondary sources such as case studies, companies’ official reports, industry performance annual reports, and corporate research publications specific to the Indian car market. These official reports and sources will offer reliable information regarding the problem under investigation, which will give the researcher a strong justification for recommendations.

Dependent and Independent Variables

The dependent variable for this research is the aspect of market leadership in the Indian car market. This variable is independent in this research because it does not change over time. Market leadership is defined as the position that a market holds when it has the largest market share from its strong competitive power and high level of a profit margin due to structure and strategy factors. In this case, from a research perspective, the characteristics of a market leader in the Indian car market is already known; however, the process of how to become that organization that fits the market leadership definition is diverse and keeps changing each year.

On the other hand, the dependent variables for this research are the factors that could be altered to achieve the market leadership position based on the current status of the Indian care market industry. In this case, this research is defined by several dependent variables that will be included in the analysis such as industry competition, research and development, segmentation of the market, targeting of the market, customer behavior, and product differentiation. By investigating these dependent variables, the researcher will have a clear picture of what Maruti Suzuki India Ltd needs to implement to sustain the required market leadership in the Indian market.

Ethical Considerations

Ethical consideration in action research is a complex subject. In this case, researchers are expected to pay attention to the factors that impact the validity and reliability of the findings obtained through action research. Scholarly assessments have identified different issues that adversely impact action research in terms of ethical factors. Gelling and Munn-Giddings (2011) argue that value compromise, limited scientific validity, unfair participation, and power influence impact the process of adhering to ethical standards in action research. Luis and Villacanas (2015) pointed out that the intrinsic ethical dilemma is common in ethical research, which warrants a comprehensive review of the research process and adherence to the principles of validity and reliability. By understanding the role of the partners and their respective scope of operation in the action research process reduces the chances of unethical outcomes (Gelling & Munn-Giddings, 2011; Luis & Villacanas, 2015).

In this study, the researcher will pay attention to some key procedures and elements to ensure that the study meets the required ethical standards from both the corporate and professional perspectives. First, the researcher will ensure that the collaboration process as required in action research is defined and documented to reduce cases of interference during the study process. The study procedures and frameworks will also be outlined and reviewed to ascertain their validity and reliability and consented to by both the parties in this research. Such measures reduced instances of bias and power influence common with action research (Luis & Villacanas, 2015).

References

Bryman, A. & Bell, E. (2011). Business Research Methods. 3rd Ed. Oxford University Press. Available at: https://books.google.co.ke/books/about/Business_Research_Methods_3e.html?id=YnCcAQAAQBAJ&redir_esc=y

Business Research Methodology. (2019). Action Research. The Business Research Methodology. Available at: https://research-methodology.net/research-methods/action-research/#_ftn1

Ferrance, E. (2000). Action Research. Northeast and Islands Regional Educational Laboratory: Brown University. Available at: https://www.brown.edu/academics/education-alliance/sites/brown.edu.academics.education-alliance/files/publications/act_research.pdf

Gelling, L. & Munn-Giddings, C. (2011). Ethical review of action research: the challenges for researchers and research ethics committees. Research Ethics, 7(3); 100–106. Available at: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/174701611100700305

Luis, D. B. & Villacanas, L. C. (2015). A look at ethical issues in action research in education. Argentinian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 3(1); 58-67. Available at: http://www.faapi.org.ar/ajal/issues/301/BanegasAJALVol3(1).pdf