Just a few days back we reported on how the Hero Group has been recruiting ex-employees of Bajaj and TVS to their R&D center. Now its Honda that is doing the same and has hired Hero Honda’s senior general manager strategic sourcing to become the vice president of purchase for the Japanese automaker in India. Mukesh Malhotra’s responsibility at Honda would include the identifying of new vendors and expand supply base of the Japanese automaker.
Honda has been looking at extensively ramping up its supply as well as distribution base. The company wants to become the number 1 in two-wheeler sales by 2012. The new supplier base will help Honda to reduce its dependency on Hero Honda suppliers, post the break up of the joint venture between the two motorcycle companies. The new supplier base will also help Honda in increasing local content on its bike, which would help the company in reducing input costs. This would further help Honda in aggressively pricing its bikes as it seeks to enter every segment in the high growth motorcycle sector of the country.
