Esscort Case Study

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JCB, the British manufacturer of construction equipment planned their expansion to India in 1979. The laws at the time required foreign investors to partner with local Indian companies, forcing JCB to enter into a joint venture with Escorts, an Indian engineering company. JCB only had a minority stake in the joint venture, but they saw the potential for growth in the Indian construction market and wanted to gain access before their competitors also realized the potential. Because Escort was one of the largest manufacturers of tractors in India, JCB did not want their technologies leaked into Escorts, who could become a direct competitor and cause JCB to lose its competitive advantage. The Indian economy was flourishing due to years of deregulation and the joint venture proved to be successful. JCB gained 80 percent share of the Indian market, but JCB felt that partnership limited its growth opportunities. The laws relaxed after 2005 which allowed JCB to purchase all of Escorts’ equity and gain full control over the India operations. JCB changed the joint venture into a wholly owned subsidiary. JCB has expanded globally in places such as China and Brazil, and is a major player in
Again, JCB was afraid that by sharing their technological knowledge with Escorts, they would take that knowledge and become a direct competitor to JCB. Another disadvantage of a joint venture is it does not give a firm the control its needs over subsidiaries to realize experience curve or location economies. (Hill, 201??) Because JCB had a minority stake, their control was limited as was their expansion strategy. JCB was afraid that Escorts might share or leak the insight, knowledge and technology that was being used by JCB to give them its competitive advantage, which could ruin their chances of doing business in the Indian market

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