Business model of Dana

Customer Segments

Dana provides a broad range of products to commercial and industrial customers operating within the automotive manufacturing sector. The Company organises its customers primarily into three segments:

• Light Vehicle Market, comprising manufacturers of light trucks, sports utility vehicles, vans, and passenger cars;
• Medium and Heavy Vehicle Market, comprising manufacturers of medium and heavy duty trucks, buses, and specialty vehicles; and
• Off-Highway Market, comprising manufacturers of specialist vehicles used in construction, earth moving, agriculture, mining, forestry, railways, and material handling.

Dana includes a number of high-profile companies among its customers, including Ford Motor Company, Toyota Motor Company, General Motors Company, Deere and Company, AGCO Corporation, Caterpillar, and Volkswagen.

Dana primarily serves customers across its native North American market, which accounted for 53% of its sales in 2015. The Company also serves a range of international customers, through its operations in Europe, Latin America, and Asia Pacific.

Value Propositions

Dana provides value to its customers in the following ways:

• Its industry standing and reputation, with the Company established as a leading manufacturer of automotive drive chain technologies, demonstrated by its ability to attract high-profile customers, such as Volkswagen, Toyota Motor Company, and Deere and Company;
• Its international reach, with the Company serving an extensive international customer base across Latin America, Europe, and Asia Pacific, in addition to its large domestic customer base;
• Its patented technologies, with the Company utilising proprietary technologies across its product portfolio, making its offerings unique within the automotive industry;
• Its extensive manufacturing and distribution infrastructure, with the Company operating an extensive network of manufacturing and distribution facilities across North America, Latin America, Asia Pacific, and Europe, enabling it to serve customers quickly and efficiently; and
• Its industry expertise and experience, with the Company employing specialist technical personnel across its four operating segments, led by a team of experienced industry executives.

Channels

Dana operates a website at www.dana.com, through which it provides information on its products, solutions, end markets, and locations. The Company also operates separate website for its various product brands, including www.spicerparts.com and www.victorreinz.com. The Company does not operate an online sales channel, however, its various brands individually offer certain online services, such as dealer search functions and customer portals.

Dana makes the majority of its sales through its in-house direct sales force, which is organised by segment, brand, and geographic region, with operations spanning 25 countries across North America, Asia Pacific, Europe, and Latin America. Dana additionally makes sales through its network of subsidiaries and affiliates which sell products similar to those produced in the US. The Company operates its own distribution infrastructure, supported by various third party partners.

Customer Relationships

While some of Dana’s brands operate online customer portals that allows clients to manage accounts and track orders without interacting with members of the Company’s sales and support personnel, the Company does not offer products and solutions to its customers on a self-service basis.

Instead, the Company primarily makes sales through its direct sales team, the members of which work closely with clients to establish the details of individual sales contracts. Many of these contracts span multiple years and are often attached to the lifecycle of certain automotive models.

Dana provides ongoing support to its customers through various online and downloadable resources across it brand portfolio, including news releases, technical information, and product catalogues. Customers can also contact members of the Company’s various support teams over the phone or via email in order to receive personalised assistance with queries and complaints.

Additionally, Dana operates social media accounts with Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, and YouTube, through which it can provide updates on its activities and interact directly with customers.

Key Activities

Dana is a provider of high technology driveline, sealing and thermal-management products. The Company serves a broad range of customers across the automotive manufacturing industry, including vehicle manufacturers in the global light vehicle, medium and heavy vehicle, and off-highway markets.

Dana organises its activities into four operating segments: Light Vehicle Driveline Technologies, which produces front axles, rear axles, drive shafts, differentials, torque couplings and modular assemblies for the light vehicle market; Commercial Vehicle Driveline Technologies, which produces drive shafts and tire inflation systems for the medium and heavy vehicles market; Off-Highway segment's which produces front axles, rear axles, drive shafts, transmissions, tire inflation systems and electronic controls for off-highway vehicles such as those used in agriculture and industry; and Power Technologies, which produces gaskets, cover modules among others for the light vehicle market.

Key Partners

Dana works in conjunction with a range of companies and organisations across its four operating segments and throughout the production and distribution of its products. These partners can be categorised broadly as:

• Supplier and Vendor Partners, comprising suppliers of raw materials, equipment, and tools used in the manufacture of the Company’s various products, as well as suppliers of services and technologies that are utilised across the enterprise more generally;
• Channel and Distribution Partners, comprising various distributors and affiliates that assist in extending the Company’s own in-house sales and marketing capabilities, particularly in jurisdictions outside of North America where the Company is not as well served;
• Joint Venture Partners, comprising various companies within the automotive manufacturing industry, with which the Company collaborates on projects and product development through mutually owned entities; and
• Strategic and Alliance Partners, comprising a range of companies with which the Company shares resources and works closely on development and marketing projects.

Dana also has a number of brand partners, including FAG, Textar, Luk, Mahle, and Bosal.

Key Resources

Dana’s key resources are its technologies and intellectual properties, its supply chain and raw materials, its manufacturing and distribution facilities, its sales and marketing channels, its IT and communications infrastructure, its partnerships, and its personnel.

Dana manufactures and sells its products under a number of patents, which it considers to be of significant value to its operations. It also owns a number of brand trademarks under which it sells products. Searches of records published by the US Patent and Trademark Office identified a number of patent applications filed under the names of various Dana companies, including applications entitled ‘Drive axle system having a clutching device’, ‘Tire inflation system’ and ‘Active limited slip differential’.

Dana also owns and or leases a number of physical properties that are key to its activities, notably its network of 89 manufacturing and distribution facilities across the Americas, Europe, and Asia Pacific, as well as its various technical engineering centres.

Cost Structure

Dana incurs costs in relation to the procurement of raw materials and supplies, the operation of its manufacturing and distribution facilities, the operation of its sales and marketing channels, the maintenance of its IT and communications infrastructure, the implementation of marketing and advertising campaigns, the management of its partnerships, and the retention of its personnel.

In 2015 Dana recorded total cost of sales in the amount of $5.67 billion. The Company accrued selling, general, and administrative expenses totalling $411 million, which included the payment of salaries and benefits to its international workforce of 23,100 employees.

Revenue Streams

Dana generates revenue through the manufacture and sale of various automotive driveline products across its four operating segments, including:

• Revenue derived from the sale of front axles, rear axles, drive shafts, differentials, torque couplings and modular assemblies for light vehicles;
• Revenue derived from the sale of drive shafts and tire inflation systems for medium and heavy vehicles;
• Revenue derived from the sale of front axles, rear axles, drive shafts, transmissions, tire inflation systems and electronic controls for off-highway vehicles; and
• Revenue derived from the sale of gaskets, cover modules among others for light vehicle.

In 2015 Dana recorded total external sales in the amount of $6.06 billion, don on the $6.62 billion generated by the Company in 2014. The Company’s Light Vehicle Driveline Technologies segment was its largest revenue generators, recording external sales of $2.48 billion. The Company’s other three operating segments each generated between 1$ billion and $1.5 billion.