Silvio Napoli needs to alter his 'Swatch'-adopted strategy of focusing on inflexible low-cost elevators in favor of more flexible semi-customizable elevators in order to meet the needs of the Indian market. He also needs to utilize the knowledge of his field salesmen in order to further understand the market demand for what these small customizations should be. Finally, the local manufacturing network needs to be consolidated before any orders begin.
Evidence.
Inflexibility in Product Design.
Napoli's market research clearly showed a customer emphasis on 'price' and 'service' when factoring in a purchase. His decision to opt for low-cost standardized elevators was backed by this analysis. Firstly, These elevators, the Schindler 001 design, would allow for economies of scale since it would involve mass production of every component, thereby saving costs. Secondly, the simplicity in a uniform design would allow for cheaper maintenance. Lastly, it would decrease the amount of time taken to service elevators when broken down. Therefore, Napoli would manage to keep the 'price' down, while keeping the 'service' prompt. However, this came at the expense of flexibility in design.
Although Napoli did carefully take into consideration the 'price' and 'service' factors of his market research, the unexpected demand of elevators with class pods and panels leads me to believe that not enough research was done on the aesthetic preferences of the customers. This unexpected demand resulted in an order being placed for an expensive imported glass-pod elevator without Napoli's permission. This posed two problems. Firstly, this is not a sustainable solution to the demand due to the expensive import-duties. Secondly, this shows a lack of communication from the top management down to the field salesmen. These problems could have been avoided had Napoli used the salesmen's market knowledge and use that information in adapting the design of the Schindler 001.
