Case Study - Cool King Limited: To be or not to be in Window Air-conditioner Business?

by vinishajames (student)

University Degree Business and Administrative studies

IIMA/BP-291

AHMEDABAD

INDIAN INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT

[1]

Cool King Limited:

To be or not to be in Window Air-conditioner Business?

The window air-conditioner business provides a fabulous business opportunity for us to register high revenue growth and enhanced profitability. However, this new business should be conducted on an entirely new set of rules framed by competition and technology evolution. We need to fundamentally change and reorganise ourselves to effectively compete in this new (product oriented) business. The implications of such a change to our existing portfolio of businesses should be carefully evaluated before we decide to venture on this new business opportunity. It is precisely this trade off required in our approach to business combined with a careful assessment of opportunities and associated risks that would determine our presence or absence in the new business opportunity.

Chairman and CEO, Cool King Limited

Product, Industry Characteristics, and Demand Drivers

Market Size: The Indian air-conditioner market in 2002 was estimated to be Rs. 3,300 crore growing at 20-25 % annually. Of these, central air-conditioner, including packaged and ducted air-conditioner systems, was around Rs.1,300 crore and the window and split air-conditioners market was around Rs.2,000 crore.

Players: The industry consisted of three kinds of companies: MNCs, Indian companies and unit assemblers. The MNCs included Carrier, Hitachi (with Amtrex) and Fedder Llyod. The leading Indian companies were Voltas, Amtrex, Shriram, Godrej, Blue Star and Videocon. While the MNCs sold on brand and premium image, the Indian companies sold on established credibility. The assemblers (usually regional players) competed on price with an acceptable quality. The assemblers accounted for more than 50% market share.

Tax Structure: Air-conditioner (AC) was considered a luxury product, and therefore subjected to high duty structure. The rate of excise duty was (as on 2002) 32% compared to 16% for all other consumer durables and white goods such as televisions, refrigerators, and washing machines.

Demand Composition: The domestic demand for ACs was largely met by window ACs. The demand for room ACs mainly came from institutions with corporates accounting for 80% of it. The government, which accounted for 70% of the institutional purchases, had shown a declining trend in recent times. The higher dependence on the corporate sector implied that the industrial climate exerted a strong influence on the total industry demand. The rest of the demand came from the household sector, which, incidentally, was also the fastest growing segment. Significantly, 20% demand from this segment related to buyers of second units. The demand was generally restricted to major cities and towns. Eight cities, which included the four metropolitan cities, accounted for nearly 65% of the total household demand. Erratic power supply was considered as the single reason for slow growth of rural demand.

Economy: The performance of the economy, in general, had a strong influence on Air-conditioner demand. In a high-growth economy, rising profits would induce the infrastructure and commercial sector to go in for air-conditioner systems. Heavy investments in the information technology and telecom sectors (since 1995) and a renewed governmental initiative on strengthening agricultural infrastructure (cold storage) have contributed to the higher sales growth of air-conditioners. Future growth for central ACs was largely dependent on developments in new user industries like software, telecom, hotels, food processing, multiplexes, etc.

Environment: The deteriorating environmental conditions in the cities and rising awareness of the benefits of working in controlled environment have contributed to a substantial demand increase for Air-conditioners and this trend is expected to continue as of 2002.

Low Penetration Level: The penetration level in India for air-conditioners was a minuscule 1-2%. This figure compared unfavourable to countries like the USA (35%) and Singapore (30%). In addition, the penetration level was low as compared to other consumer durables within the country: refrigerators-11%, TVs-35%, radio-45% and cars-6%.

Income level: With the rising disposable income and the attendant change in consumption patterns, air-conditioner had become an object of aspiration, especially for the emerging Indian middle class. The per capita total expenditure on durable goods and the number of households with monthly incomes above Rs.10, 000 in metros and Rs. 5,000 in non-metros was expected to rise. This would mean that firstly, there would be a perceptible shift towards branded products and secondly, the level of aspiration buying would increase.

Price: Demand for room air-conditioners was price sensitive. A study conducted by Indian Marketing Research Bureau (IMRB) points to a potential sale of 0.35 million units when a unit price is fixed at Rs.18,000. Ideally, prices should fall by 20-25% in the next two years (by 2005) bringing a 1.5 TR AC on par with a CTV priced at around Rs.18,000.

Substitution: Industry growth was also affected by the presence of cheaper substitutes like air coolers. One reason for the use of air coolers was high maintenance and operational costs associated with owning and using an air-conditioner. With rural households, the problem in using air-conditioners was frequent power cuts and low voltage.

Consumer Finance Schemes: Easy availability of consumer finance from banks and other financial institutions induced purchases during inflationary times. Companies like Carrier Aircon, Voltas, Fedders Llyod and Godrej-GE had introduced zero-interest instalment schemes.

Product: Before 1998, air-conditioners (window and split) were marketed as an engineering product suitable mainly for the corporate and the commercial segments. By 2002, this was slowly changing and air-conditioners were acquiring the status of consumer durables. In India, the room air-conditioner market was dominated by window units. This was in contrast to the world wide scene where mini-splits rule the roost. The dealer’s role in selling and providing after sale service had become critical and significant. The need for rapid product development and launch had increased. Brand-based positioning was fast becoming the norm of the industry. Also, the household sector patronises the unorganised players due to lower price and personalised after sales services.

Cool King Limited

Cool King Limited (originally known as Cool King Engineering (Bombay) Pvt. Ltd. and founded in 1943) became a public limited company in 1969. The Company was initially engaged in reconditioning of refrigerators and air-conditioners. As of 2002, Cool King was India's largest central air-conditioning company with an annual turnover of Rs. 510 crores. It had a network of offices in 29 cities and three modern manufacturing facilities.

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Cool King Limited

Cool King manufactured and marketed a wide range of air-conditioning and refrigeration systems and products. These included large central air-conditioning plants, packaged air-conditioning systems, split and window air-conditioners; commercial refrigeration equipment such as water coolers, bottled water dispensers, ice-cube machines, deep freezers, walk-in cold rooms and commercial kitchen; and laundry equipment. Cool King's other businesses included marketing and maintenance of hi-tech electronic and industrial products such as Testing Machines, Data Communication products, Medical and Analytical Instruments and Special Control Valves (see Appendix 1 for additional details).

Cool King entered into the business of window air-conditioners in 1998. Initially CKL room air-conditioners were sold to government departments along with the other customised projects. Window air-conditioner was a part of the cooling products division in CKL. Its products matched the range and designs of most of the competitors in this segment. The prices started at Rs.18,000 for window and Rs.33,000 for split air-conditioners. It had priced its product in comparison to Carrier and Voltas. LG and Samsung offered the lowest prices (about 7% lower than others). The window air-conditioner business was also perceived to have the potential of creating a public face as room air-conditioners had higher customer visibility and recall value.

Consumer Behaviour: The institutional (commercial and corporate) segments bought the air-conditioner mainly for business requirement. Purchase decision was primarily a top management decision. Most of them considered more than one brand before making a decision. They considered vendors' past performance and reputation as the prime reasons. Quick response from the company and appropriate price were also important purchase consideration. Residential customers bought the products as a consumer durable. They were influenced by (global) brand, product design and appearance, and price. It was bought as a “desirable” product. They considered two or three brands while deciding. They also sought the advice of friends and colleagues. For most of them it was a major purchase.

Dealer Network:

Sales and service dealers: They had strong technical orientation and usually had a strong service team and fully equipped workshops. They typically did not have a front office. Air-conditioner projects that required a great deal of engineering knowledge were handled very well by these people. They were comfortable handling projects worth of Rs.5 lacs or more. Their revenue heavily depended on annual maintenance contracts (AMCs) they entered into with the customers whose air-conditioner plants they supported.

Air-conditioner dealers: Many sales and service dealers graduated into air-conditioner dealers. They had shop and display facilities. They had a very strong service orientation. They were best suited to service the residential segment customers.

White goods dealers: They owned a show room and stocked and sold air-conditioners with other white goods. They had no service orientation or service facilities. They executed a sale and typically had nothing more to do with the appliance.

Sales and service dealers serviced 5% of residential segment. Air-conditioner dealers serviced 20% of the segment and the remaining 75% is serviced by appliance dealers. These percentages are reversed for the corporate segment. Appliances dealers hardly (5-10%) catered to corporate segments.

A typical Cool King dealer was an extended arm of the company and was trained by the company in system design, installation, and services. The dealers were governed by a well-documented policy and their performance was closely monitored. There was an established quality assurance system to ensure customer satisfaction. The company helped its dealers to set up product display areas and extended assistance in recruitment and training of competent sales and service staff.

After Sales Service: In Cool King, service was a separate profit centre, with its own strategy, resources, and investments. After-sales service offered high gross margins and limited competitive pressure. As part of its After-sales service offerings, Cool King provided regular preventive maintenance and a life-cycle enhancement service.

Cool King had set up a National Parts Centre (NPC) with the objective of delivering genuine spares for any equipment sold by Cool King in the shortest possible time. Another initiative to enhance the customer experience in the area of After-Sales Service was introduction of an “Extended Hour” Service call registering and response facility. The After-sales service was backed by a state-of-the-art Service Operations Management Software at all cities for on-line customer call monitoring, which had resulted in improved response time and operational efficiency.

Issues and Concerns

The senior management team of CKL had deliberated on the issue of CKL's response to the emerging opportunities in the window air-conditioner business. The central issue was, should Cool King reorganise itself to face the challenges in the window air-conditioner business or should it vacate this market segment and concentrate on the project business. While this decision was important, by no means was it easy to decide. Several conflicting factors (some of them were internal to Cool King and some of them external), were complicating the decision making process. The top management had consolidated their thinking related to this decision on several themes.

Opportunity Assessment: The window air-conditioner business in India is likely to have explosive growth. There will be three distinct market segments. Residential, Commercial and Corporate Segment. The residential segment would require standardised product, the commercial and corporate segments would require standard products with low customisation. The market growth opportunity assessments were based on (a) expected availability of quality power as a consequence of government investment on infrastructure and implementation of economic reforms (b) the growth in the need for comfortable work and commercial environments as a consequence of economic liberalisation and enhanced industrialisation. This is expected to boost the commercial demand for window air-conditioners. The increase in disposable income is expected to translate into higher demand growth on window air-conditioners.

The cost of air-conditioners in China is one and half times the average monthly salary. In India as of 2002, the cost of a window air-conditioner is five times the average monthly salary. Growth in volume is a reality. Therefore, prices are expected to fall dramatically. Revenue growth would be driven by volume. Gross Margins would be thin.

The role of competition: Competition would consist of a mix of strong domestic players as well as multinationals. The industry composition will change from technology users to technology generators. The project execution skills of the foreign competitors would not be inferior to domestic players but may be expensive.

Among the competition from multinationals in the window air-conditioner business, the competition from Korean companies has been aggressive. They have expanded the market and gained substantial market share by aggressive pricing, brand positioning, and innovative sales skills. Some of the major changes that have been influenced by Korean competition included

Installation product has been converted to plug-and-use product
Manufacture to order is converted to manufacture to stock and sell
Technology product is being sold on price based competition (for a 1.5 Ton air-conditioner prices are expected to fall from Rs.30,000 to Rs.20,000)
Window air-conditioners are being sold jointly with white goods products undermining the technological differentiation
Branding is an important instrument in sales
Strong influence on selling by distributors

MNCs are likely to continue and duplicate some of these rules established by Korean competition. Individual profitability of the units is replaced by volume based growth and revenue generation. Competition is willing to tolerate short-term losses in anticipation of long term profitability.

Withdrawal from Window Air-conditioners (Implications): Should CKL decide to concentrate on project business and maintain only a token presence in the window air-conditioner business, several financial and operational implications follow.

A very low market share in the window air-conditioner business especially in the residential segment.
The growth and profitability in the cooling product division may severely be affected by aggressive competition.
Commercial and corporate segments of window air-conditioner business, which is being supported by technology and solution platform, would be more vulnerable to competition.
The impact of competition on cold storage business and on large projects would not be severe.
CKL has to work with a limited product portfolio characterised by technological complexity and higher project implementation skills.
Size and profitability would be slow leading to stagnation. Therefore, long term sustainability in the business may be threatened.

CKL so far: CKL was characterised by wide product range in the air-conditioner business, strong presence enabled by excellent project execution skills and a carefully built reputation in the relevant market segments. Revenue and profitability were enhanced by project execution skills, retrofit business, and after sales service revenue. CKL was accustomed to treating distributors as their business partners. While the products were sold at premium price, the efforts on brand building have been relatively low. Project execution times had been appropriate rather than rapid. The common manufacturing facilities of the company were used to make a small presence in the window air-conditioner market. Technological understanding of air-conditioner business and application engineering skills had been adequate.

Business Model of CKL: CKL's value proposal consisted of three interdependent segments: technological know-how, project execution skills and application engineering talent. A combination of these three skills was used to deliver value to the relevant consumers in the air-conditioner business. The competitive pressure had several implications for the value chain managed by CKL. The technological environment was stable and was expected to be so in the near future. The project implementation skills were inexpensive when engineers were employed from Indian environment. However, there was no restriction for a multi-national player to adopt the same route to effectively reduce the project implementation cost. Application engineering skills were not unique to CKL and is likely to be replaced by technology. Several low-end application engineering products would be replaced by standard technically advanced products. This would be routine when technology used in air-conditioner products becomes more and more sophisticated. However, there would be adequate scope for high-end application engineering skills in terms of designing customised products. CKL's profitability and growth was ensured by inadequate competition (due to negligible market size in India), consumer misconception on technological complexities of air-conditioners, and revenues from after sales service.

Window Air-conditioners - The Past: CKL had little more than a token presence in the market. A portion of the existing manufacturing facility had been used to produce window air-conditioners to generate some additional revenue. Window air-conditioners were seen as complementary product to the main project business. The distribution channel used for selling window air-conditioners was the same as the one used for project businesses. No additional marketing efforts were made in terms of pricing, enhanced volume, or product positioning. Window air-conditioners were never given strategic importance in the overall product portfolio management in CKL.

Preparation needed: For CKL to get into window air-conditioner business, many of the serious handicaps of the past have to be removed. Marketing has to be completely revamped. Brand, aggressive pricing, acurate product positioning, and efficient handling of distributors would be the priority areas. It would be necessary to deal with white goods dealers. Can CKL do it? What are the implications of this transformation for the existing businesses?

Anxiety and Expectations

Should CKL disturb the equilibrium it has developed in the project business for the sake of future prospects in the window air-conditioner business?
The mindset and behaviour of CKL have always been that of a market leader based on the experience in the project business. Can they sustain it in window air-conditioners?
How comfortable would CKL be in a business characterised by aggressive competition?
The new business needs market dynamism and efficient responses to competition. Can CKL respond to this effectively?
Even if this attempt is successful, what are the implications to the contribution margin, growth, and profitability.

Change the rules of the game: Some senior management members within CKL were of the view that CKL would be able to change the rules of the game against Korean competition. They sighted the recent example and experience with the ICICI bank. ICICI Bank wanted to air condition their ATMs across the country. This bid was won by CKL against very tough competition from MNCs. CKL was able to maintain its price but had to pay a higher cost in terms of matching the after sales guarantee (from one year to five years as provided by MNCs). ICICI chose CKL because of its price, product quality and project execution skills. According to several executives in CKL this is an example where a product solution has been sold on a project platform. CKL executives were confident that there was no match for their ability in this domain especially from the multi-nationals.

How to decide? There was tremendous variability among the senior managers of CKL on how to operate in the window air-conditioner market. Some members were of the view that return on investment should be the criteria, others advocated market presence, market share, growth, and profitability as a possible set of indicators. There was also a view that company should look at this decision from a strategic perspective which would mean emphasis on a balanced portfolio of products, and protecting the existing markets. Some argued that the effort level that was necessary to compete effectively in the window air-conditioner market should be the consideration for making the choice.

Future course: Competing in the window air-conditioner market may be a market necessity and a business imperative as of 2003. But, how to ensure that this decision does not trigger a dilution of CKL's business focus? The arguments advanced for promoting window air-conditioner business can also be used to enlarge the scope from window air-conditioner to appliances and subsequently to white goods. Where to stop in terms of this unanticipated inorganic growth?

If CKL decides not to pursue the window air-conditioner business, and to concentrate on projects in the near term, there will be value addition in large and medium projects. How to sustain this advantage in the long run in the context of emerging competition and changes in the technology environment?

Exhibit-1

Market Trends (Units)

Source: Published industry reports

Exhibit-2

Segment wise Sales (in percentage)

Source: Published industry reports

Exhibit-3

Competitors' Profile

Source: Published industry reports and Company website

Exhibit-4

Financial Highlights for Cool King Limited

1 Excluding Revaluation Reserve in %

Excluding Revaluation Reserve in %

Source: Annual reports and published information

Exhibit-5

To be or not to be in Window Air-conditioner Business

Decision

Should CKL be in Window air-conditioner business or not?

Assumption about Technology, Product, Competition, Consumer, and Channel
Social, Political and Economic Environment

Yes

What internal

changes are needed?

What are the risks?
What are the criteria?
What are the opportunities?

What are the consequences?
How to protect the existing businesses?
Impact on the value chain

CKL Value Proposal

Appendix-1

Cool King Limited: Business Segments and Divisions

Cool King’s business focus is on corporate and commercial sectors. These include institutional and commercial establishments, industry and government organizations. In accordance with the nature of products and markets, business drivers and competitive positioning, Cool King is organised as several business units.

Central Air-conditioner Systems: This segment involves manufacturing, system design, installation, commissioning and support of large central air-conditioning plants, packaged air-conditioners and ducted split air-conditioners. CKL manufactured a wide range of chillers, including centrifugal, screw, reciprocating and scroll. The packaged air-conditioning range included floor and ceiling mounted packaged air-conditioners and ducted split air-conditioners. This line of business contributed 63% of the CKL’s revenue in 2002.

Cooling Products: Cool King offered a wide range of contemporary window and split air-conditioners, apart from manufacturing and marketing a wide range of commercial refrigeration products and services that cater to the industrial and commercial sectors.

Commercial Refrigeration: This segment includes a wide range of products such as cold storages, water coolers, bottled water dispensers, deep freezers, visi coolers and ice cubers. In the storage-type water cooler market CKL was the leader with a market share of 45%.

Professional Electronics and Industrial Equipment: Cool King is the exclusive distributor in India for many internationally renowned manufacturers of hi-tech, professional electronic equipment and services, as well as industrial products and systems. The electronics division comprise several products and services, catering to diverse markets, such as Analytical Instruments, Medical Electronics, Industrial Products & Systems, Data Communication Products and Systems, Material Testing Machines & Systems, Test & Measuring Instruments, and Servicing of professional Electronics Equipment. This line of business contributed 8% of the company’s revenue in 2002.

Business Divisions: CKL is structured as six strategic business units primarily to address each market segment effectively.

Special Projects Division (SPD) handles large comfort and industrial air-conditioning projects in the domestic and export markets, each through a self-contained project team.

The Air-conditioning Projects Division (ACPD) caters to the medium sized central air-conditioning business for industrial and comfort applications.

The Packaged Air-conditioner Division (PAD) offers custom-designed packaged comfort air-conditioning solutions for commercial establishments through a well-trained dealer network. These jobs generally involve standard, floor-mounted Packaged AC units and Ducted Split units, as well as small chillers. They are short duration projects.

The Central Air-conditioner Service Division (CASD) managed the after-sales service and promoted various service products including maintenance, energy audit, retrofitting and revamping.

The Refrigeration and Air-conditioning Products Division (RAPID) has four departments: (a) Cooling Products Department: Offered window and split air-conditioners, water coolers, deep freezers, visi coolers, bottled water dispensers and ice cubers. These are standard products and are marketed through a wide spread dealer network. (b) Cold Storage Department: Marketed customised pre-fabricated cold storages to a wide range of industries such as horticulture, dairy, food, poultry, hospitality and pharmaceuticals. (c) Commercial Kitchen & Laundry Equipment Department offers a wide range of commercial kitchen and laundry equipment to the hospitality industry. (d) Customer Service Department: Handled after-sales service for all the products of this division.

Source: Company website

[1]Prepared by Professors P.K. Sinha and N. Ravichandran. The research support by Nilmadhab Mandal's's during the preparation of this case is greatly appreciated.

Teaching material of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, is prepared as a basis for class discussion. Cases are not designed to present illustrations of either correct or incorrect handling of administrative problems.