Business Strategy & Innovation

Frost & Sullivan’s Business Strategy & Innovation program is designed to mirror a corporate strategy division of a Fortune 500 company. Our program provides clients with strategic advisory and implementation support on corporate and business matters related to mergers and acquisitions, new market entry, and best practices benchmarking. We also provide due diligence for markets and vendors, including cost analysis and benchmarking of current as well as future / upcoming technologies, vehicle platforms, and engineering and product development processes.

Latest Research

The program covers wide variety of research topics ranging from futuristic themes such as future of flying cars, industrial internet of things (IIoT), future health and wellness products and technologies to even more near term such as future of retailing, global city truck market to even more current topics such as top 30 suppliers and/or technologies, what women customers want. The program is also responsible for more strategic topics such as global automotive outlook study, regional outlooks for the upcoming year. The program also has emerging market specialists that are stationed in major regional markets who do detailed analysis of the opportunities in the countries over and beyond BRIC nations.

The team has been in the forefront of covering some hot industry topics like Platform strategies, light weighting, R&D Benchmarking, OEM Profiling, Outlook on key themes (self-learning cars, luxury, super luxury, health wellness, women customers, retailing, lightweighting to name a few)

Some of the key topics that the team has recently covered include:

Future trends studies: Combined with the Visionary Innovation Group (VIG) within the company, the team is in the forefront of developing future trends studies and has authored several studies like Mega trends and the opportunities for the Automotive industry, Women in cars, Health Wellness and Well-being, automotive artificial intelligence, Fintech in Automotive, Biometrics in Automotive to name a few.

Industry-wide Trends: Global trends such as (but not limited to) the growth of the luxury and super luxury vehicle segment, success of the subcompact and global CUV/SUVs, new emerging themes with future body styling, cockpit and cabin strategies, and future of used cars in key global markets.

New Market Entry and Development Strategy in Emerging Markets: Identification and analysis of market opportunities in the next frontier, i.e., emerging markets such as those in the ASEAN region, Stan and Jan countries, and the Africa contingent, Iran, Mexico.

Sourcing and Supply Chain: Mapping and analysis of the automotive supply chain; providing insights into innovative sourcing strategies in the supply chain and their effect on the automotive industry. Mapping key global OEMs and suppliers tier-ed sourcing strategies and creating heat maps for better understanding of global hot spots.

Technology and Engineering: Analysis of strategies important to key global OEMs such as light weighting,  3-D Printing, new material strategies, platform strategies, battery/Lithium strategies, and future product portfolio/variant/fleet mix. Including their roadmaps and assessment of innovation index.

Automotive Companies profiling: The program does strategic and detailed profiling of traditional automotive OEMs, new entrants, disruptors, and even suppliers for their corporate, R&D, sales and marketing, product and technology portfolio, manufacturing, purchasing and supply chain strategy to understand their end game. These profiles are often packaged with war gaming or scenario planning workshops.

Auto Show / Key Shows (CES, SEMA) Analysis: The program reports with pre-show expectations report, and also complements it with live autoshow video broadcasts, creates a detailed analysis post the shows, and also public and private briefings to OEMs and suppliers both at the show and off the show.

Other issue based topics: The program covers around themes centric/specific to certain countries/OEM with a far reaching impact. E.g. BREXIT, Dieselgate Scandal, NAFTA Policy, CAFE Compliance, CO2 Emissions.

Mobility: Automotive & Transportation Analyst Briefings

Global Connected Car Market Outlook, 2019
The 2019 version of the connected car outlook covers an overview on the upcoming technologies, features, services and global trends surrounding connected cars and automotive IT. The research includes latest features being introduced by automakers such as Marketplace, features-on demand, in-vehicle…

Selective Profile of Customer Choices in Vehicle Purchasing by Gender, NA and EU, Forecast to 2020
Original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) always strive to provide customers with the features they seek in a new car. However, this becomes complicated when female and male buyers have different vehicle choices. By conducting a survey on customer preferences for new vehicles, OEMs can design vehicles…

2017 European Fleet Managers Desirability and Willingness to Pay for Fleet Management Solutions France, Germany, the UK, Italy, and Poland
The main objective of this study is to investigate typical attitude towards fleet telematics (fleet management system solutions), understand key features and service expectations, explore perceptions and willingness to pay for fleet telematics services, examine vendor satisfaction and brand…

We help our clients; both OEMs and vendors, better understand the macro to micro implications. We also present existing white space opportunities to help optimize and provide an overall sense of direction for the clients’ current and future positioning with respect to group, brand, segment, vehicles, and even technology-based strategies. We develop and implement growth opportunities for resources focused on such niche topics to help clients evaluate and thereby provide tailored solutions along every step of the collaboration process.

Often, our customized consulting work, strategic workshops, and our other strategic deliverables are phased by several workstreams intended to provide continuous monitoring and constant updating of projects before concluding with the implementation of business plans and growth strategies. We use our vast research and industry experience to adequately support inhouse tools and techniques to manage project expectations. On truly global projects, we offer analyst support from every economic region under study, which ensures the project’s success. The true nature of cross-functional team expertise is visible during growth workshop sessions where analysts/consultants perform live face-to-face project briefings preceded by working days with the client personnel to manage expectations.

Often on strategic projects that involve implementation support, our BSIG team’s consultants join hands with our Growth Implementation Services division to help implement the vision and support in transformation consulting.

Frost & Sullivan Mobility team can support your organisation on each of the following areas:
  • Developing your internationalisation strategy and entering new growth regional markets
  • Mergers and acquisitions support including market and vendor due diligence for financial industry
  • Customer Analysis: “Voice of customer” assignments focusing on your customers current and future needs
  • Benchmarking you against your competitors across functions in R&D, Product development, Design and engineering, sales and marketing and logistics and supply chain
  • Supporting  Tier 1 suppliers to understand  OEMs acceptance of new technologies and creating business cases including cost benefit analysis
  • Evaluating sourcing strategies of major OEMs including evaluating their cost value drivers for new technology acceptance
Advisory services projects:
  • Supporting a leading Japanese client in Analysis of OEM’s Global Vehicle Platform Strategies With Detailed Analysis and Benchmarking of key Global European OEMs
  • Helping a North American client understand Purchasing Process and Sourcing Criteria of Automotive OEMs for Seats
  • Benchmarking Luxury vehicles with a focus on systems and technologies
  • Supporting a Japanese client in understanding European Automotive Suppliers Technology Innovation
  • Creating a business case for a European client on the Global Taxi Market
  • Developing a deep dive analysis on Knowledge Transfer and Knowledge Acquisition in key global organizations for a Japanese client
  • Synthesizing, via a comparative analysis, the product development process of Key Global OEMs for a Japanese client

Frost & Sullivan can deliver a bespoke workshop to your organization designed to highlight the various business opportunities defined by organizational strategies and to identify the white space opportunities defined by the innovation that exists within as a way to determine the impact on your organization. This model is flexible around your needs. We can attend your strategy day or workshop as an external expert keynote speaker, offering complete facilitation of a workshop to ensure your delegates are fully engaged with business intelligence and its relevance to their department/team. Comprehensive written follow-up reports and actionable strategies are provided thereafter. We have presented our workshops to leading providers across the entire automotive spectrum including passenger car OEMs and commercial vehicle OEMs as well as their vendors (available on request).

The BSIG team can tailor workshops around either long term future trends, macro to micro workshops or facilitate a tailored strategic market entry or market due diligence type workshop. The team is also well equipped to offer war gaming workshops for analysing competitive behaviours. Workshops can be one to 3 days and are facilitated by trained and experienced facilitators.

We have been very impressed by Frost & Sullivan. The team showed deep knowledge and understanding of the automotive industry and the international business development environment, the focus of our company. They have literally read our minds and after recommending a strategy that leverages our capabilities to solve market needs, they delivered a business plan that perfectly brings our vision to concrete, clear goals and actions.

Foresight

Frost & Sullivan’s team helped us in considering current and future mobility trends, their impact to the UK, and future growth potential…Their detailed insight has been utilised by my team both internally and externally, and I would not hesitate in considering them for future mobility related assignments

IM, Rail & Marine, and Technology Strategy Board

Frost & Sullivan facilitated a Mega Trend, “macro to micro” workshop with the corporate strategy group of SMMT which comprises some of the most senior executives of vehicle manufacturers suppliers in UK. The feedback from all participants was terrific and they were particularly impressed by both the scope and depth of Frost & Sullivan’s knowledge. We will be working with Frost & Sullivan further to implement some of the new initiatives identified.

SMMT

Frost & Sullivan’s team were a pleasure to work with and exceeded the already high expectations we had for this project. It’s very refreshing to work with a high group that not only ‘get’ your business model but are able to challenge intelligently and help crystallise your thinking…we wouldn’t hesitate to use them again

Frost & Sullivan’s unrivalled research, consulting, and network positions Frost & Sullivan as a leading authority on Mobility, able to support on you on several assignments.

Key areas supported by this program include:

$

Competitive Benchmarking

Assessment for best practices in R&D, product development, technology and product planning, manufacturing, and other supply chain functions essential to an OEM or Tier I supplier, globally.

$

STRATEGIC COST ANALYSIS

Of new vehicle platforms, impact assessment of new segmentation strategies in developing as well as emerging markets, and of retail strategies on vehicle and part supply networks.

$

COMMERCIAL AND / OR VENDOR DUE DILIGENCE

Support for major conglomerate groups, private equity firms, and investment banks on buy-side and sell-side through rigorous analysis of market trends, potential future scenarios, competitive dynamics, and target customers.

$

New market entry

Opportunity analysis, and development strategies in emerging markets for global passenger vehicle and commercial vehicle OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers entering newly developing markets in ASEAN, Africa, Latin America, Iran, and Mexico.

$

Product conceptualization

Testing new passenger vehicles/technology launches.

$

Future trends identification

Spanning the distant, near, and immediate future covering topics: flying cars, the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), health and wellness, future of retailing, top 30 suppliers and/or technologies, and demands of women customers.

$

Annual Outlook

Studies on global, regional and country-specific automotive markets.

$

Future focused studies

Produced in collaboration with the Visionary Innovation Group. We identify opportunities related to artificial intelligence; health, wellness, and wellbeing; fintech; biometrics; and new demographic targets (including women) in the automotive industry.

$

Industry trends analysis

Including global trends in the luxury and super luxury, subcompact and global CUV/SUVs vehicle segments; emerging themes related to future body styling, cockpit and cabin strategies; and used cars in key global markets.

$

Sourcing and supply chain analysis

Covering mapping and analysis of the automotive sourcing and supply chain, including insights into innovative sourcing strategies in the supply chain and their effect on the automotive industry. Detailing key global OEMs and suppliers’ sourcing strategies and creating heat maps for a better understanding of global hot spots.

$

Technology and engineering analysis

Of strategies important to key global OEMs, such as light weighting 3-D printing, new materials, platforms, batteries/lithium, and future product portfolio/variant/fleet mix. Roadmap of technology developments and innovation index.

$

Automotive companies profiling

Comprehensive strategic profiling of traditional automotive OEMs, new entrants, disruptors, including their corporate, R&D, sales & marketing, product & technology portfolios as well as manufacturing, purchasing, and supply chain strategies. These profiles are often packaged with war gaming or scenario planning workshops.

$

Auto Shows / Major Shows (CES, SEMA) analysis

With pre-show reports, live, on-ground video broadcasts, post-show wrap-ups, and public and private briefings for OEMs and suppliers.

$

Theme and event oriented research

Such as on BREXIT, the Dieselgate scandal, NAFTA, CAFE compliance, and CO2 emissions regulations..

Expertise Areas

Frost & Sullivan’s expertise in business strategy & innovation includes work in the following strategic and operational areas.

Industry Trends

Assessment of emerging global trends in the luxury and super luxury, subcompact, and CUV/SUV vehicle segments; the demand for low-cost cars; and micro mobility.

New Market Entry and Development Strategy in Emerging Markets

Identification and analysis of market opportunities in the next frontier, i.e., emerging markets in ASEAN, Stan and Jan countries, and Africa.

Sourcing and Supply Chain

Mapping and analysis of the automotive supply chain, with insights into innovative sourcing strategies in the supply chain and their effect on the automotive industry.

Technology and Engineering

Analysis of strategies important to key global OEMs, such as light weighting and platform strategies.

Meet the Team

Robert Merlotti

Senior Vice President

Veerender Kaul

Vice President

Mohamed Mubarak

Head of Emerging Markets

Vishwas Shankar

Research Manager

Lynne Goulding

Principal Consultant