Silvio Napoli at Schindler India (A) Case Solution And Analysis, HBR Case Study Solution & Analysis of Harvard Case Studies

Introduction

Schindler is a Swiss company that manufactures elevators. The company started off its operations in 1874. The company has recently decided to expand its operations in the Indian market. The major goal of Schindler while entering a new market is to achieve sales target of 50 orders by the end of the following year. Moreover, the company also plans to achieve break even in the next four years.

The company is planning to attain a market share of 20% in the first five years. In order to start the business in a new market, Silvio Napoli has been appointed as the head of the subsidiary company. The idea of sending Silvio is based on his winning strategy at Swatch where he proved his worth in the company by developing a winning strategy.

Key Issues

The three major problems that have been identified in the case “Silvio Napoli at Schindler India (A)” is the fact that Napoli realized that second time in two months the Indian managers have actually committed for a nonstandard product.

Secondly, another problem faced by Napoli in Indian market has been the increase in custom duties and the rise in transfer prices from European factories.

Lastly, since Napoli decided to outsource the elevator components, he has not been receiving the support from the European plants. The over dependence on the introduction of a line of standardized and non-customizable S00 1 & S00 3 elevators was also an issue at the company.

Situation Analysis

The case basically explores the situation where Schindler has been a reputed firm in the market has entered Indian market with the idea of setting up new business. In order to start off the business, an Italian manager, Silvio Napoli, has been appointed who has proved his worth also in previous organization.

In spite of the fact that India is one of the most highly capable and potential markets for the company, the management has been unable to complete one single project after the eight months of its business operations.

There have been quite a few issues that have restricted the company to achieve this target. First of all, when Napoli went back to Italy for the birth of his third child, the marketing team confirmed an order which was not the part of the company strategy. This fumed Napoli when he returned back to India. Secondly, the idea of making Napoli the manager for operations in India was a mistake because he was appointed on his past success at a different firm competing in a different industry.

Moreover, the personality of Silvio is also questionable where he is single minded, impatient and over commits sometimes. He basically has been a decision maker rather than allowing the managers in his team to give their feedback.

Finally, Schindler entering Indian market did not offer new products; in fact Silvio has been keen to offer similar products that are already available in the market. This was again an issue, which led to the problems within the company.

Therefore, it can be said that the idea or the plan devised by Silvio Napoli was a reasonable one. However, the execution was an issue, the homework that had to be done before implementing the plan was not carried as per the Indian market and all the external factors implementing the decision.

Analysis

Laissez-faire:

The leadership style that should be followed by Silvio Napoli is Laissez-faire. The reason is simple, if Napoli can handover the decision making authority to the local managers described in the case, they can achieve better results because those are the Indian people from same culture.

If they would be allowed to make decisions, then the results can turn out in favor of the firm, which at the moment has been unable to gauge in customers or orders within the Indian elevator market.Silvio Napoli at Schindler India (A) Case Solution

Decentralized Organizational Structure:

Another decision, which the management of Schindler needs to take, is to ensure that the company follows a decentralized organizational structure. Once the company has the decision making authority handed over to the team leaders, it will allow Napoli to concentrate on the strategic decision making.

As for now, he is more committed and engaged within the operational aspect of the start-up company. To actually succeed in the market, he needs to ensure that the organizational structure is a decentralized one..........................

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