Industry Prospects and Challenges-
By : Jagdish Kapur

"Results always exist outside the orgnisation - in the market place.
Only costs and efforts exist inside the organisation". -Peter Drucker

The bicycle industry has been on an upswing in the last few years. Major players are increasingly turning to innovative product features to capture the market. In fact the bicycles have donned a 'new avataar'. After years of sluggish growth and zero innovation, the industry has been witnessing a flurry of activities.

Bicycle manufacturers are flooding the market with sleek, trendy and colourful models. The customers suddenly found that they have a wide choice to meet every need and taste. The fancy bicycle, for that matter new wave bicycle sector, thus began growing. However, the growth rate is indeed dramatic as compared to the growth of conventional bicycles.

Market and customer focus "Wake up every morning terrified", said Jeff Bezos - Time Magazine's 'Person of the year', "not of the competition but of our customers." This profound observation sums up: "Customer is the King". The key to survival is, therefore, the ability to learn and change. The customer profile is changing fast. Resultantly, the market-place today is in a constant state of change and constantly changing markets require a sensitive feel, careful analysis, flexible thinking and rapid action on the part of bicycle industry for survival.

Innovation - the key to success

The customer today is discerning and in fact the only profit centre. That being the case, the bicycle market is demanding innovative and sophisticated designs and models. Given the multiplicity of choices thus available to the customers today, marketing of bicycles assumes crucial importance.

Quality - the 'mantra' of success

Quality has become a central issue in all organisations and bicycle is not an exception. As the core wisdom of Indian philosophy is reflected in this eternal truth: "Dharma rakshati rakshitaah', meaning 'Dharma protect us, when we protect it', 'quality dharma protects' those organisations which protect it. The ultimate Dharma is 'truth'. Quality Dharma is part of that endless quest for 'truth in quality'.

In that scenario, Total Quality Management (TQM) is to be an important approach of Indian bicycle industry for sharpening competitiveness. "A customer who buys a product or service has certain expectations", says Thomas H Berry, a quality Guru. "If the product or service meets or exceeds those expectations time and again, then in the mind of the customer it is a quality product or a quality service.

The importance of quality then is: meeting customer's needs and reasonable expectations". If the Indian bicycle industry has to sustain its growth both at National and International levels, this should be the crux of their quality control philosophy.

Inflation viz-a-viz growth

The bicycle industry is facing an ever growing menace of inflation. The all round increase in the costs of inputs has necessitated the periodical upward revision of rates, much to the dismay of dealers and customers. The unavoidable phenomenon can only be met by increased vigilance in monitoring costs as well as by general diligence in application of technology for improving process efficiency.

Cycle tracks - for safe cycling

India should have found it easier to popularise non-motorised system of transport like bicycle because many still use them out of obvious compulsions. Regrettably, the reverse is happening now - they are getting "marginalised because road space has been increasingly monopolised by motorised vehicles."
Unlike in developed countries, the bicycle users in India are deprived of separate tracks for their exclusive use with the result the bicycle will quite likely be eased out of the road in the towns and cities gradually. It is, therefore, high time for the Government to give a serious thought to it and take steps to provide separate tracks, at least in the important towns and cities.

Such tracks will naturally encourage more and more people to use bicycles in place of other modes of conveyance, which will have a telling positive impact on the sale of bicycles, pollution levels and traffic congestion.

New EXIM policy - Challenges ahead

The new Exim policy announced by the Government of India in tune with the liberalisation policy pursued has put bicycles in the Open General License (OGL) thus paving the way for the presence of foreign brands in the Indian market.
To meet the challenge from the foreign brands, the need of the hour is to make ceaseless efforts for updating the models with stress on strength and optics based on International quality standards. In other words, a dent can be made to take on foreign brands only by faithfully enforcing ISO series quality norms by maintaining rigid quality standards at every stage of production, upgradation of technology, strong Research and Development (R&D) base and effective monitoring.

Once the industry is able to achieve sustained desired quality standards, the industy shall be in a far better position in gaining competitive edge over foreign brands. The earlier it is achieved, the better for the Indian bicycle industry, as the challenge is 'real' and has come to stay.

Interestingly enough, the West is rediscovering the virtues of non-motorised transport, especially bicycle. It is gathered that "countries like Finland have three bicycle for every five persons. In some American States, it is mandatory for companies/firms employing more than 100 persons to provide incentives for using bicycle. In Europe, trains and buses have special space for carrying bicycles and Railway Stations provide more parking area for bicycles than cars."

This explains how well the 'bicycle concept' has caught-up in advanced Western countries. With Government of India putting up priority on 'market economy', it is for the Indian bicycle industry to hold a solid edge in the world market.