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r to have taken Titan's breath away as there is one more item to add to its list of achievements. The company, which began as a manufacturer, has over the years become the country's number one speciality retailer with nearly 500 exclusive outlets taking up 600,000 square feet of floor space and doing an annual business of over Rs 3,000 crore (in terms of what the customer pays) through its own or exclusive franchise outlets.

Today, Titan straddles the entire value chain encompassing design, manufacture, distribution and customer-facing sale. What is more, in keeping with the foremost global firms which see the maximum value in brands, intellectual property and processes, outsourcing has come to play a significant role for it. Titan still remains an integrated manufacturer - the way it began in watches - but now outsourcing plays an important role in Tanishq jewellery, and the entire fast rack range of accessories is outsourced

Being the first in various fields has come to Titan almost by default as it has virtually created the field itself. There was no organised jewellery business of any consequence in the country before Titan. It is now the only brand with a truly national footprint, with the rest of the organised sector being made up of local or regional brands or players who are just in metros. Similarly, there was no organised Indian player of any consequence in the sunglasses business before Titan entered the space. And now, in the eye care business, Titan's entry has livened things up and there is keen competition.

OUTSOURCING AT TITAN

Titan began with outsourcing in 1999 with the changes in the trade policy. Titan had no option to move away from manufacturing in longer period.

Outsourcing was not just a random decision but a natural option as cost effective strategy when at that time manufacturing was costly.

Titan's entry into the clock segment in the mid1990s failed badly because its clocks could not face the competition from cheaper imports from China. Moreover, the design of Titan's clocks was also found to be faulty. To correct these problems, the company decided to stop manufacturing clocks; instead it decided to import them from Hong Kong.

The only input in this 'virtual manufacturing 'setup from Titan's side was in the form of design, branding and distribution. The company converted its clock plant into a plastic watch-manufacturing unit to make alarm and travel watches. Outsourcing activities were further strengthened in the next few years due to the problems Titan was facing with the gray market.

According to analysts, Titan's multibillion investments in manufacturing facilities were proving to be a real drain on its profitability in the changed industry. Moreover, since the company relied heavily on its marketing finesse than operational excellence, these investments were deemed to be too high. Though the company had consistently posted yearly profits, in the first quarter of 1999-00, it reported a loss of Rs 52 million

By opting for outsourcing, the company could launch the watches for just Rs 250-本论文由英语论文网提供整理，提供论文代写，英语论文代写，代写论文，代写英语论文，代写留学生论文，代写英文论文，留学生论文代写相关核心关键词搜索。