Making India a more greener place: IM case study on Schneider-
Electric’s entry into the Indian market
Overview of the Sector:
Schneider-Electric as a company works in
the electrical domain with automation as its
main focus. My focus was on entry of
Schneider-Electric in India in the domain of
building automation. Talking about the
industry BA industry is pegged at 2000
Crores and growing at a CAGR of 10% YoY
with key Drivers for this Industry being rising
real estate sector and increasing need by
companies to automate and become
energy conscious.
Creating connect and developing
Competitive advantage:
If we apply the 3 C concept here to better
understand the connect and competitive
advantage aspect we see that the consumer
Authored By: Kunal Deshmukh,M-13
need over here can be segmented into
Industrial Customers, IT parks and malls
Governmental organization. The company
has been divided into 3 parts projects team,
SPG and Services to better suit the
consumer needs and the solutions it
provides has been divided into individual
systems solutions and one platform
solutions. These type of solutions provide
competitive advantage over players like
Honeywell and Johnson controls.
Wealth and Respect Creation:
The company believes in creating wealth
and respect by providing solutions which
are economical for clients and also makes
the world a better place to live. The
business architecture of the company has
manufacturing in European region in
countries like Sweden, France, etc. From
here the goods are transferred to the DC in
Hong Kong. This distribution takes 4-5
weeks. Further to this goods are transferred
to Mumbai DC where goods are stored for
orders to be executed in India. This
architecture is a bit of problem for Schneider
as its competitor has its Asia-Pacific DC in
India, thus it enjoys smaller lead times.
 Making India a more greener place: IM case study on Schneider-
Electric’s entry into the Indian market
Going the Indian way:
The company entered India in 2004.
However initially its operations were
restricted and its approach was not
glocalised. In 2010 with the change in
management, Schneider saw some
aggressive moves. First was the acquisition
of a company called Zicom. Zicom was a
local company which was into providing
Building automation solutions by buying
products from other companies. With the
acquisition of Zicom, Schneider got some
ready-made clients which it started
servicing. It also underwent internal
restructuring.
If we analyse the major factors which
affected Schneider’s entry, we find that
Economic factors played a major role which
compelled Schneider to introduce lower end
products of many brands. Also its pricing
was very India-Specific.
Also technologically many of its products
were modified to suit the Indian power
scenario. Another major change in its
business model came in the form of bringing
more off role employees than on-role.
Way Ahead for Schneider-Electric:
What is the way ahead for Schneider-
Electric? Schneider is clearly a market
challenger right now. So it has to launch
more India-specific products to enhance
connect. Focus has to be on increasing
volumes to become market leader. I
recommend construction of a DC in India to
reduce delivery times.
Focus also has to be on maximising the up-
gradation of Existing Zicom customers to
Schneider-Electric.
Further References:
www.schneider-electric.com
http://www.business-standard.com/
article/companies/schneider-electric-
india-buys-two-units-of-zicom-
110030600042_1.html
http://
articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/
2010-03-06/news/
28467627_1_manohar-bidaye-zicom-
electronic-security-systems-business