Competitive Advantage in the Marketing Strategy of Suzuki

In order for Suzuki to survive in this highly competitive automobile industry, they need to
distinguish itself differently from their competitors. Their Marketing Strategy focuses more on
identifying Unique Selling Propositions (USPs) of their product. It includes innovative ideas,
lower prices, or in terms of better quality. The company set competitive advantage mainly
based on cost and differentiation.
Cost-based Strategy:

The cost leadership strategy will only be successful if Suzuki managed to cut down their cost
comparatively below that of the industry average and would operate on economies of scale at
their maximum potential. For pricing their vehicles they look for competitors’ production costs
and then try to lower down their cost through the use of the latest technological methods, use
of lean production, and negotiating a good deal with the suppliers often giving them an upper
edge on cost over market competitors. Moreover, Suzuki closely collaborates between its
different functional units and integrates them in a more efficient way. Lastly, Suzuki has their
local production units where they assemble their cars and manufacture their parts. This enables
less cheap prices of the parts resulting in the greater resale value of their cars as well lower
down their cost of production.

Differentiation based Competitive Advantage:

Differentiation-based competitive advantage focuses on creating customer brand loyalty with

the brand and developing long-term consumer retention. Suzuki opts for different ways to
create differentiation leadership such as focusing on vehicles reliability, distinctive features of
the cars, and by developing strong brand recognition through effectively communicating their
product in the local market. Moreover, they spend a great deal of budget on training their
dealership staff. They provide them with physical training on how to deal with customers and
different situations. This not only enhances their sales but also gives them a competitive
advantage over their fellow competitors for providing better customer support service and
even after-sale service as they try to keep customer follow up. Lastly, their wide local network
often results in providing better service and availability of the product. Consumers could more
easily and less costly buy spare parts of Suzuki vehicles as compared to others. This is often a
major factor that influences a buyer’s buying of buying a car and whether its parts will be easily
available in the market or not.