Global Strategic Immersion project on Beam micromobility submitted at S.P.Jain
Manjari Gupta
Hindustan Unilever | S.P.Jain MBA Marketing , operations/ Reliance Retail: Mod.Tr mktg & cat mangmnt. Middle east: Mktg @ Lamcy Plaza & Swiss Arabian Perfumes. ex Cadburry Schweppes, Zandu Pharma, IFF.
?Currently, BEAM is operating in seven Asian – European Countries , like :
???????? Singapore.
???????? Australia.
???????? Malaysia.
???????? South Korea.
???????? Thailand.
???????? Taiwan.
???????? New Zealand.
???????? Japan – New Country to be launched.
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7.The strategic goals for the company can be broadly categorized in the below:
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1.?????? Affordable Transportation : This would give a ride which will be very economical as compared to the fuel charges spent.
2.????? Safety: In a e-scooter the biking speed is limited to 20km/pr which means there will be no speeding.
3.????? Increase Tourism: We have seen that the locals in Japan feel shy to speak in English which makes it difficult for tourist to visit the place without the translator or a local guide. Here, with the help or the app and online booking service this would be attracting more tourist to explore the city without any help.
4.????? Boost Local Business : this is directly proportional to increase in tourism which would enhance the local market.
5.????? Reduce Carbon Footprint: this the most important factor and here we have the government support where they want citizens to GO-Green and reduce the consumption of fuel which is harming the environment.
6.????? Virtual Docking and Data Sharing : we can help the users let their relatives know the current location and can be used as a safety measure as well.
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As per industry expert Mr Jason Geramia? whom our Team interviewed (he has spent many years in EV industries had supported our preliminary findings? that Asia ( Japan in particular ) has bigger opportunity than USA for Beam Micromobility. Simply because the? EV industry? is growing very fast, early adopters want to start using Beam Saturn & Beam Apollo in Tokyo and Kyoto and how these initiatives can help the city of Japan curb carbon emissions.. Currently consumers are bogged down with lower quality rideshare experience ( Poor Maps , congestion )
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8.Recommended strategies : a Short Term/ Immediate Strategy proposed by Team 6
???????? Launch of Beam Saturn? ?&?????????Launch of Beam Apollo.
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???????? Launch cities Tokyo – population size : 8,336,599???? Kyoto – population size : 1,459,640.
?Price per minute?with no unlocking fee, is 0.05 euros ($0.06)?undercutting prices charged by competitors that typically charge 1 euro per trip plus 15-25 euro cents a minute
??? Competition Analysis ( Neuron )- highlighting Technology
We also wanted to point out the performance of Beam and The Neuron from the rider’s point of view ( one of the key reasons why we wanted to support Beam Micromobility in Japan )
???????? Beam scooters have telescopic fork front suspension, which gave a noticeably better ride than the Neuron, particularly on rough roads. The Beam's head tube angle was more relaxed than the Neuron's. This means that the Beam bicycle is more stable when riding along.
???????? Beam also plans to develop its safety technology, including MARS – micro mobility augmented riding safety.
?9.Medium Term Strategy? ?With the weakening Yen due to stagflation in the Japanese economy ?we are also proposing that Japan should become a manufacturing hub for Beam Saturn and ?Beam Apollo? so that they can readily supply these vehicles to neighbouring countries in Asia Pacific- South Korea, Thailand , Malaysia? and? to Australia, New Zealand? where Beam is?? operating
??????? ?At this stage the Fleet management and operations of Beam Apollo and Saturn have stabilized in Kyoto ???
??????? and Tokya we want to kickstart promotions after ensuring that enough Beam Saturn and Beam Apollo, electric bicycles and scooters are available??????????????
????????? Our Target Market would be tourists and commuters , students who would avail the first-mile and last-mile transportation using micro-mobility.
???????? We would further put up kiosks and marketing booths at airports, railway and metro stations to raise awareness.
???????? Our primary driver would be a multi-language mobile application where users would be awarded discounts for being early adopters of the RIDEBEAM eco-system. This would further help increase awareness of our products and in return increase our customer base; and also help us collect data to better our customer experience. The application would also bridge the cultural gap between the native Japanese and the tourists who often face trouble as language is a barrier in Japan.
???????? In order to boost the BEAM E-bike and scooters revenues suggestion from Team 6 is to launch discount card ( via app? on the Beam site ) for students? so that they can use the monthly subscription model and also? tie up with restaurants where the delivery boys will deliver food on Beam Saturn and Beam Apollo electric vehicles to households
???????? Uber Eats was the leading food delivery service? with approximately 20.5 million people had downloaded the application.
???????? BEAM needs to tie up with Grab, local competitors like Demaecan and Kura Sushi, Rakuten to provide the E bike at discount fare to rider of Grab Rakuten which will mean additional revenues from increased share rides opted for by these strategic partners
???????? We want to do city specific advertisements restricted to Tokyo and Kyoto and appoint a celebrity brand ambassador from sport, health and environment industries endorsing features of Apollo and Saturn like cleanliness, use of technology to ensure rider safety .
???????? ?Brand Ambassadors can also be Happy Consumers who will proclaim that Beam is? zero emission certified . ????
???????? ?Beam will have an Increased spend on Digital Advertising - reasons can be clearly obtained from the Graph below.
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????????? Japanese consumers can be targeted via Social Media advertising, Search advertising and Banner advertisements at petrol pumps .
Advertising in Digital Advertising market has reached US$15,875m in 2020 and will touch $18,740 by 2025, an increase by 18% according to Statista.
In order to be successful in the communication plan for Beam in Japan it is important that there is an on ground ?Japanese? traditional and digital marketing Agency that will take care of
·??????? Local execution of Beam brand messaging, advertisements, and processes. Strategic thinking that is long term in nature ?which will help Beam to scale their advertising and promotion activities confidently
·??????? Along with this, we would advertise in schools and colleges and target the younger population to adapt to micro-mobility. We would also advertise in supermarkets and community centres.
If all goes well with the Launch of Saturn and Apollo ?then the intention is to launch Beam Jupiter in March 2024
???????? 10. Balance Scorecard
A.???? Financial Goals In order to reduce unit cost once? Beam operations starts it is important that Beam officials
1. Leverage on the Beam Saturn & Beam Apollo ?distribution system 2 months after operations start
2. Improve on Inventory management , focussed approach to reduction in Inventory Holding costs resorting to Just in Time inventory management / These are means to improve unit cost /manufacturing costs of Beam Saturn & Beam Apollo
????? 3. Adoption of Battery swapping technology is a key market trend
The introduction of swappable batteries has improved the fleet uptime significantly, reducing operational costs, which has ultimately taken the micro-mobility industry in Japan toward profitability. Additionally, with the use of swappable batteries, revenue generation can be improved, as it not only cuts a large part of the charging costs, but also advances the vehicle availability. The swapping of batteries can be achieved in two ways: (a) The rider replaces the discharged battery with a charged one at a dedicated swapping center. (b) A micro-mobility employee or freelancer goes around the city and swaps discharged batteries with charged ones.
4.In the medium and long term : Re-engineering the production process to improve Beam Saturn and Apollo cost structure once operations and supply chain mandates are established .
5.Reducing the demand supply gap to ensure a consistent flow of revenue. We have recommended that Beam needs to tie up with local Japanese agency to collect data regarding operations
Evaluating Demand for Beam EVs :
???????? Will the demand for Beam vehicles increase in certain areas?
???????? ?Is the Demand for Beam Apollo more or is it for Beam Saturn
???????? Trip Searches : Where are the customers looking for Beam vehicles ?
???????? ?Ride Requests per hour : How many ride requests per hour are being received from different areas
???????? ?Unfullfilled demand How many ride requests were not fulfilled .
???????? ?Distance ( Far / near )How far were the consumers that Beam lost? from? vehicles that were lying idle .
???????? Evaluating the Supply of Beam electric vehicles
???????? How many Beam Apollo and Beam Saturn are operational and in good condition ?
???????? How many Beam EVs are busy or idle… real time data is required . Can we trace it to a Time pattern , for example are Beam vehicles idle near coffee shops on a Sunday evening.
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???????? In which areas users are not looking for a? ride ?
???????? Ride searches : In which areas are users looking for? a Beam electric scooter ? Are they dropping off because there are long distances where they would prefer to walk instead of riding ? Worth Pondering about
???????? Ride selected : The customer will put his destination when he sets out. However, midway he jumps off, did he find the ride expensive?
???????? Ride cancelled : When and in which areas are riders cancelling the Ride that they had booked earlier on . What are the reasons for cancellation, do they change with Time and location ?
???????? B. Customer / Consumer marketing strategy ?: The second pillar of a Robust Balance score card is understanding your consumers on the basis of the factors given below
???????? User behaviour and movement in Tokyo and Kyoto : Where do they reside, hail from and what destinations do they choose when booking a Beam Apollo or Saturn .
???????? Application of marketing concepts – Segmentation Targetting Positioning
???????? Consumer Segmentation : Marketing or creating Promotions for the power customers becomes integral to the concept of Hyperlocal Marketing
???????? ?Targeting the power user Beam officials will need to understand the Power/ Frequent user create promotions to ensure that these consumers stick with regular usage of Apollo and Saturn .
???????? Regular and constant training of Ride by the Beam Rules – Be sure where the rider is allowed to ride a Beam EV. Pedestrians should be given priority.. Parking of Beam EV in a visible public place so that the next rider can find it easily.
???????? Concept of Antifragility – helps Management of Beam by creating an environment where they are not negatively impacted by the corona virus or the falling valuation of the Japanese Yen
???????? As of October 1, 2021 the country's population stood at 125.5 million, down 644,000 from a year earlier. While there were 831,000 births in 2021, there were also 1.44 million deaths. The Pandemic has created an instinctive sense of ensuring personal safety and security among the Japanese people , hence they are looking for ?economical, cleaner and safer micromobility options for? short distance travel? instead of using public transportation options like buses and trains . This creates immense opportunity for Beam Micromobility by partnering with communities making Apollo and Saturn vehicles available with the latest technology harbouring safety of the rider and everyone in the city of Tokyo and Kyoto will have access to Beam electric bicycles and? scooters in a phased and steady manner ?
???????? Japan imports only 4 percent of its oil and 9 percent of its natural gas from Russia, so it is not very dependent on Moscow for energy like Europe. However,stagflation will have a negative impact in Japan. Crude oil prices are soaring.. In January 2022 the country recorded its widest trade deficit since 2014 (source? Financial times ). In mid – march this year the Japanese Yen fell against the US dollar, the lowest in 6 years. ?A weak Japanese Yen can only serve the purpose of exporters.
???????? Hence the recommendation from Group 6 is that Ninebot-Segway, who are already manufacturing electric vehicles for Beam should also ?manufacture ?Solo e-scooters in Japan and export to Asia Pacific and other countries where Beam are operating in .
???????? Japan as a country is extremely Quality conscious and this will improve the micromobility vehicles end product while ensuring through constant testing that the batteries used are of high quality and will not lead to Fires posing a risk to the consumer?????????????
???????? C. Goal? of creating Internal Processes Virtual Docking
???????? Action Plan : fixed parking docks to be created virtually using technology and GPS guiding riders to appropriate spots and incentivising them to park properly?? in Tokyo & Kyoto
???????? D.Learning , Technology and Innovation Set Up Shared Mobility SAAS platform (within 3-8 weeks – Start Date December 15 , 2022, parallelly in both cities )
???????? Reduced costs will be achieved Outsource maintenance and innovation
???????? Latest technology added by Beam is Pedestrian shield uses a? camera that is on board Beam Apollo or Beam Saturn that will immediately pickup signals? when riders are riding on pavements accurately without mapping precision and accuracy and perfect positioning
We have added a Fifth aspect to the Balance scorecard All trips on Beam are carbon free, will not contribute to carbon emissions in Tokyo & Kyoto . Beam aspires to be? carbon negative by 2025
???????????? 11.Gap Analysis What the company is currently doing and what it ought to do
???????? When Beam officials are starting operations in Japan implementing a strong company culture which will lead to an increase in workplace productivity, can reduce the employee turnover rate by 34 percent. All this will lead to Employee happiness in the long run .
???????? 12 As part of Long Term strategy they need to launch inexpensive EV cars in India . Hence let us look at the
The Team is of the combined opinion that Beam along with funding/ investment from Soft Bank can enter the Indian market as a Long Term strategy and manufacture a affordable EV .
This is what Fiscer inc competitor of Tesla set up headquarters at Hyderabad . The Business objective of Fisker Inc is manufacture and sell as part of Make in India , affordable electric SUVs? but also export it to markets like China. In a lighter vein the CEO – Henrik Fisker’s Twitter account disappeared after Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter .( Source Economic Times – 16th. May 2022 )
·??????? Toyota’s investment will also allow indigenous manufacturing facilities to produce electric powertrain parts and components, allowing India to compete in the electrified car market. The Toyota Group of Companies will invest methodically to make India a self-sufficient manufacturing centre as part of the MoU, contributing to the government's Make in India and Atma Nirbhar Bharat missions. Toyota invested 40,000 man-hours per year in upscaling skill levels at suppliers through the system, management, training, and hardware development. A total of 8,500 man-hours are invested annually in the development of suppliers' employees.
·??????? ?Incidentally Toyota rolls out first battery electric car last week in Japan on lease only ?. Gasoline- electric hybrid models are more popular in Japan than electric vehicles.EV cars accounted for only 1% of Toyota? passenger car sales sold in Japan last year
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·??????? The charging station of the Toyota Car versus the e-bicycles.
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??????? Having explained the current environment in India? , the demand for electric vehicle grows , India is ?
??????? also the largest 2 wheeler market in the world. Softbank , Japanese investment company is evaluating
???????? the mobility sector in India and wants to enter the two wheeler rentals business . India’s largest
???????? electric two wheeler , Hero Electric is constructing a new plant that will roll out 500, 000 ?2 wheeler ?
???????? vehicles by end of 2022.
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We are also ?recommending that Beam should tie up with Hero Electric with the help of investment from Soft Bank and help Hero electric to expand production capacity to five million electric two wheelers ?in the next 5 years.
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The charging station with e-bicycle and e-scootors.
14.Miscellaneous information regarding Electric Vehicles in India indicates that? along with the Government of India we take Electrification of India very seriously to become? net zero economy by 2070
Sun Mobility? an electric vehicles service provider signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Greaves Electric Mobility (GEM) to arrive at the best solution for EV customers in the battery swapping segment. The Government and key players in the industry understand that Battery as a service will help consumers to adopt electric vehicles in the two wheelers and three wheelers categories by utilising the same charging infrastructure. GEM has a range of electric vehicles across two- wheelers, three wheelers, e-rickshaws and e-loaders ranging from Brands like Ampere, Ele, MLR Auto. Sun Mobility is also equipped with industry leading ????????
???????????? battery technology , GEM will use the infrastructure and? battery for both electric two wheelers and ?
???????????? 3 wheelers???????????????
·??????? Technology startup Matter recently launched multiple technology enabled batteries swapping ecosystems and stationary Lion applications built to Indian geo conditions at the India energy storage week. .Matter’s battery station Swap Me will be quick plug – in- and play docks where batteries can be swapped in less than a minute . The Battery swapping technology will cater to battery packs for two and three wheelers
·??????? Ola electric was India’s top selling escooter maker in April 2022 also supported by Japan’s Soft bank group has recalled more than 1400 escooters since there was a fire in one of its electric vehicles in March this year. After Government inspection revealed an issue with Ola’s battery cells and battery management system. However, Ola did not agree with this assessment. Ola had only one incident of Fire among it fleet of 50,000 electric scooters on the road. ??Ola imports its batteries from South Korea’s LG Energy solution. There have been incidents of fire from ?Indian startups Okinawa and Pure EV which are being investigated by the Government?? ???
In India there is already a body , The Centre for fire explosive and? Environment safety (CFEES) that is probing into the incidents wherein e vehicles have caught Fire . They also have to recommend remedies
???????? 15. Coming? Back to the Question How BEAM will win in APAC: ( According to Jason Geramia)
The winners need to do the following things first in Asia Pacific and later on in other Geographies
·??????? ?Commit to an APAC “E-scooters first” approach - no distractions in other markets or products that can take priority over APAC E-scooters → achieve E-scooter flywheel first.
·??????? ?Execute the fastest - first mover advantage is retained so long as operations are solid.
·??????? Take an Intentional multi-local approach - organisation structure must support localized product and regulatory approach.
·??????? Have the most relevant and experienced leadership - Leaders must have “operator DNA and rapid country expansion experience
???????? As per statisticscs – Global Electric vehicle worldwide sales hit 6.6 million in 2021 which is double of the previous year.
Efficient operations and utilization of Fleet Management , usage of swappable batteries is a? critical mandate for Beam’s success in Tokyo and Kyoto.?
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???????? 16.CONCLUSION :
???????? Along with the short-distance transportation, the general mode of transportation is also required to be more efficient – this is where the e-scooter is expected to develop , globally, the most in the years to come.
???????? Citing the efficiency and the convenience factors, the dock-less category is expected to witness a significant increase.
???????? The trend to adopt battery swapping technology is significantly increasing in the market – this is key for the micro-mobility system to work.
???????? Within the automotive industry, making electric vehicles (EVs ) profitable is a mammoth endeavour: only premium vehicles that are high priced and expensive will ensure positive contribution margins.
???????? Enhancing EBIT with Artificial Intelligence and Analytics Technology is not only a Mandate to develop these ecosystems, but also to optimize efficiency and profitability in the future. Artificial intelligence (AI) ?is a critical example of an essential technology for the automotive industry beyond traditional aspects
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