From the Logan to the Kwid: The Renault's Entry strategy

Mots-clés:

Résumé:

A detailed comparative analysis of two "low cost" car projects at Renault (Logan and Kwid) illustrates how the Entry strategy has fundamentally transformed the French carmaker. In 2015, the Entry range (Logan and its derivatives, and Kwid) represented 45% of the worldwide production for Renault-Dacia-Samsung group. In most of its overseas plants, this Entry range is dominant if not exclusive. An increasingly explicit reverse innovation approach has emerged, along with systematic adoption of design-to-cost methods, which are at the heart of fractal innovation.
The first part of the paper analyses the conditions under which this strategy has been progressively adopted. It compares the different context in which Logan and Kwid have been launched and their respective role in Renault internationalization strategy. It analyses the progressive building of specific competencies, leading to an explicit methodology for the Entry within the Renault group and the new challenge for the first joint design of an Alliance Renault-Nissan platform (CMF-A).
The second part explains the management of the Entry strategy for these two projects. It analyzes the organizational conditions for ambidextry. It examines changes in the key recipes of the design-to-cost (carry-over vs. fractal innovation), and the conditions for their implementation (intrusive management and concurrent engineering). Finally it discusses the involvement of Indian suppliers in the project.

References:
JULLIEN Bernard, LUNG Yannick, MIDLER Christophe, The Logan Epic. New trajectories for innovation. Dunod, Paris, 2012.
MIDLER Christophe, JULLIEN Bernard, LUNG Yannick, Innover à l’envers. Repenser la stratégie et la conception dans un monde frugal, Dunod, Paris, 2017. English translation: Rethinking Innovation and Design for Emerging Markets. Inside the Renault Kwid Project, CRC Press (forthcoming)