The case study details the situation faced by Emerging Market Projects Department of Robert Bosch Engineering and Business Solutions India (RBEI), India in January 2014. RBEI, one of the Bosch group's subsidiaries in India, was established in 1998 at Bangalore, India. In 2004, RBEI had been tasked with designing and engineering mechatronic automotive products tailored specifically to meet the needs of emerging economies. Operations were integrated with two other Bosch entities, one which manufactured its engineered products and another unit which was in charge of regional coordination and external sales of the product.
An important dimension of this success was their dedication to the process of innovative frugal engineering. Their ability to drive out the unnecessary costs and engineer robust and quality products to fit the unique demands of the emerging economies was significant to the needs of the entire automotive value chain. RBEI, had realised that the 'low lying fruit' of frugal engineering had been successfully harvested. To further maintain a commitment to driving down costs, there was a need for new external and internal market based solutions. The question was whether RBEI management was ready for such steps....