Yamaha Indonesia a Positioning and Launching Automatic Motorcycles in

Indonesia Harvard Case Study

Arvi Nugraha – Aryoko Aditya – Fransiskus Allan G. – Teddy Hartanto – Paul Chemistra
(WM-80)

1. Problem Identification
After the Nouvo motorbike was launched in May 2002, where sales of Motormatic Nouvo was
disappointing, only 1% of total sales. In 2003, Yamaha redesigned Nouvo in terms of its appearance to be
sleeker to make it look more eye-catching. Yamaha also introduced the latest version for young people
namely Nouvo Sporty with more color choices and racing-style decals. Yamaha created a new brand
personality for Nouvo which is positioned for young men (students) and professional male workers namely:
Dynamic, Smart, Modern, and Strong.
Nouvo advertisements and promotions continue to be carried out by Yamaha with a different message,
namely changing the perception of the motorbike where the matic motorbike seems more feminine
(motorcycle for women). Yamaha emphasizes that Nouvo is powerful and masculine. In January 2004
Yamaha launched its new product, Mio, Mio is a 4-stroke automatic motorbike with a 115 cc engine, and
physically Mio is smaller than Nouvo, making it more suitable for female riders. In December 2004
Yamaha launched the second model from Mio, namely Mio Sporty intended to attract young female riders.
Yamaha created the Mio brand the aim was to break the feminine image attached to Nouvo when it was
launched in 2002. Yamaha also created a brand personality towards Mio namely : Dynamic, Smart,
Modern, and Strikingly different (cute and fun loving)
Yamaha uses two approaches when launching Mio which is first to make people around calm / safe when
their daughters, wives and sisters drive automatic motorbikes, and the second builds confidence in the
woman herself. To build the trust of motorists, women and convince people in their families, Yamaha
provides support for women who buy Mio in the form of manual instruction information when driving
available in the VCD.

2. About Brand Positioning of Yamaha MIO and NOUVO.

According to the current condition, even though the market did not respond quite exactly to the brand
image campaign, 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 period, still it may
not be good for long term since it influence the sustainability of the brand.

3. Should Yamaha change the strategy?

The strategy of Mio for woman I think had already been successful, 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 men and woman automatic motorcycle or making a repositioning of Nouvo
instead, considering the facts in:
 Article Yamaha Indonesia (B): Nouvo and Mio Market Position, exhibit 12, 13 below:

4. Plan a defensive strategy in response to the forthcoming Honda and Suzuki automatic launches.
According to the case study “Yamaha Indonesia (B) : Nouvo and Mio Market Position” page 1 & page
6, related to the fort coming 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.
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.

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.
6. Conclusion
Based on our research conducted for increase Yamaha market share among Honda and Suzuki, based
on 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.