Evaluation of the vehicle after-sales services offered in South Africa by competing brands

The South African automotive industry is the third largest sector in the national economy, This industry employs a significant number of people and it accounts for about 7.6% of the country´s GDP. It operates in a highly competitive and dynamic environment that is growing at a tremendous rate due to international competition and changing demands of the customers. Furthermore, new competitors are countinuously entering the market introducing new competing brands which make it even more difficult for different brands to be competitive and profitable. A combination of a literature review and narrative enquiry was used in this study, that is qualitative and non-statistical in nature. The objective is to evaluate strengths and weaknesses of the servitization strategies adopted by competing brands in the after-sales service industry in South Africa to understand factors that give the competing brands a competitive advantage. The research study particularly focuses on views from a passenger-car dealership perspective.