A key measurement of success for JLR was Tata Motors approach to the merger, acquisition and integration process. TATA employed directly opposite methods to Ford. The essence of this method lay in respecting the existing British culture of the brands rather than imposing a foreign culture. Thus this was financially positive for the company as the following graph illustrates the impact such an approach has brought about on JLR success over the years (Kwintessential, 2013).
Figure 2 Financial impact of cultural awareness
JLR’s turnover between 2008-2009 and 2001-2012
2.0 Reasons underpinning Jaguar Land Rover Success
JLR success can be explained by several reasons in which the company has implemented including brand new automotive designs and strong new concept cars that have produced a culture of innovation in the company (Marketline, 2013).
2.1 Unique Automotive designs
Advanced design, engineering and technology have all played a part in JLR’s success over the years. The company invests more in research and development than any other manufacturing company in the UK, which has allowed JLR engineers to develop premium innovations. Thus it is these innovations that JLR can rely on to build better-performing vehicles, lower environmental impact and inspire customers (Jaguar Land Rover, 2014b). Identifying these distinctive designs allows the company to present a unique selling point (USP) enabling JLR to differentiate their offering from competitors in order to gain competitive advantage. JLR continue to invest in new technologies, new architectures and new products in order to drive future growth (Jaguar Land Rover, 2014b).
2.2 Engineered and built in Britain
JLR cars are all engineered and designed in...
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... a culture” (BBC News, 2008).
Sustainability initiatives
Jaguar Land Rover is committed to greatly reducing its environmental impact and growing its business responsibly.
2.5 The Jaguar Brand: Heritage
The origins of Jaguar can be traced back to a company that began by making motorcycle sidecars in 1922. Jaguar is considered by many to be quite essentially British. It is likely Jaguar’s British image stems from a long-standing relationship with both the Royal Family and the British Government. The XJ model in particular has long been a favourite of British politicians with the current Prime Minister, David Cameron most recently taking delivery of all the new XJ (Blvd, 2011). Tata, unlike other foreign owners, has committed JLR to the UK because it recognizes the importance of British heritage to the brands and the quality of British engineers (Ruddick, 2011).
Charles Hughes, president and CEO of Land Rover North America, Inc., needs to determine how to best position the new Land Rover Discovery in the US market. The main items that need to be taken into consideration are the role of Discovery vs. other models in the Land Rover line, the strength's and weaknesses of Land Rover, and strong competition from Japan who were the most well known brand in the U.S. 4x4 leisure market.
Charles Hughes, president and CEO of Land Rover North America (LRNA), and his executive committee want to expand LRNA’s reach within North America. Based on the growing strength of the U.S. SUV market, research which suggests consumers are seeking vehicles that can help them have “experiences” while being practical, safe, reliable and luxurious, the success of the Discovery in the U.K. and near doubling of the Land Rover brand worldwide, LNRA is seeking to become the “world’s premier 4x4 specialty company” through effective brand, product and retail strategies. LNRA’s success hinges on making the correct positioning, marketing mix and retailing decisions.
The soft factors can make or break a successful change process, since new structures and strategies are difficult to build upon inappropriate cultures and values. These problems often come up in the dissatisfying results of spectacular mega-mergers. The lack of success and synergies in such mergers is often based in a clash of completely different cultures, values, and styles, which make it difficult to establish effective common systems and structuresBased on the case study, extensive research and annual reports of AT&T the writer has mapped AT&T in the different domains. AT&T should strive to attain a perfect circle as close to the centre as possible, which indicates total synergy, order and equilibrium. Where the circle is skewed drastic change is needed as it moves closer to the outer ring of chaos:
Land Rover customers value proposition for its luxury travel services will be similar to that of the automobiles it offers. Land Rover will provide a unique travel experience to meet the needs of wealthy customers around the globe. Land Rover is looking to fulfill the following needs that are important to its customers:
Hence production units for example the exports that take place in Europe and its Ukraine therefore they have competitive advantage with value into the technology. It gone through the acquisition by natural resource seeking for example Tata Company has invested in coal mines in different country and ownership advantage the company that enables them to successfully acquire established goal companies (KUMAR, 2008).Location advantage of Tata motors has the nature of the product and the services which the company requires to invest In plant or an office (Neelankavil and Rai,2009).In addition the Tata Company has a manufacturing with joint venture and Thornburg automotive gives which them a location advantage again in the south East Asia region. Internationalization advantage of Tata motors will help them in having better control over the manufacturing units as licensing option which are issues related to transfer of technology or technology theft. The advantages of own production for Tata company which they have done is introducing a new car called Nano an ultra low cost car
BR was sold to Delta Foods in 1996 for US $2 billion. At this time, it was one of the largest fast-food chains in the world generating sales of US $6.8 billion. DF purchase of BR brought in a new cultural paradigm. DF is an individualistic, aggressive growth company with brands they believe are strong enough to support entry into new overseas markets without the need for local partnership. The DF strategy is one of direct acquisition and JV’s were not part of their strong suit. DF strategic implementation is based on hiring local managers directly or transferring seasoned managers from their soft drink and snack food divisions. The DF disdain for JVs is clearly reflected by their participation in only those JVs where local partnering was mandatory (e.g. China) to overcome regulatory barriers to entry. JVs had been the predominant strategy for BR which was unlike the DF outlook. Terralumen’s strategy was misaligned and out of sync with the DF strategy. This was unlike the complementarity that existed with BR’s strategy. This misalignment began to affect the JV relationship that had worked well with BR in the initial years. The failure of Terralumen and DF to recognize this fundamental cultural difference between their operational strategy styles i.e. Individualistic and Collectivism leads to their inability to proactively create steps for better alignment in the early period after acquisition, creating uncertainties and difficulties for both corporations. There is a lack of communication and virtually absence of trust between two new partners. DF appeared to be flexing its muscles in the relationship and using a more masculine approach compared to Terralumen’s more feminine approach. Both the corporations are strategically involved in a complex situation where they appear reluctant to address the issues at stake and move ahead together. The DF strategy of
According to Toyota, they have undertaken a manufacturing revolution that has fundamentally changed established practices; all the way back to the product development and design. They have done this by integrating four areas: design, production engineering, procurement, and component supply. They have achieved higher quality at lower costs by creating standardized, multipurpose components. Also the reduction in cost has heightened the value and fortifies the competitiveness of product. To do this, Toyota has required intensive coordination with its suppliers. Another factor of their Integrated Low Cost is that Toyota steadily feeds cost improvements back into the product to raise their value along with the fact that four Toyota’s seven corporate auditors are outside corporate auditors.
This case depicts about the success stories of the collaboration in the automobile industry by the Japanese and US firm though they were obviously competitors. One significant success story emerging from the alliance involves Ford probe and Mazda MX-6. There were swapping of resources and capabilities between the two firms. Mazda designers design the basic platform, engine and drive train for the cars. Mazda then design the outside of the MX-6 and Ford does same for the probe. Finally both cars are assembled at a factory owned by the two firms. Ford escort was another successful offspring of the alliance where again the Mazda engineers designed the car and Ford made it. But the alliance was not without spots. Mazda Navaho one of the offspring of the alliance which was basically build upon the on of the Ford popular product Ford explorer and build by the Ford makers. Ford made an opposite step by denying to provide the Japanese partners Navaho production to continue production of its own product line. The partner Mazda in addition fell into financial distress and Ford got the effective management control of Mazda and took some bold steps which eventually went against the collaboration.
In 2000, Kia continues to sell a wide range of vehicles. They target a wide range of needs by offering less expensive economic ...
Another car with an interesting past is the Jaguar. During the last part of World War 2 , while the Jaguar employees spent more time putting out fires from Nazi bombing raids than making war material , William Lyons and his chief engineers began designing a new engine to make Jaguars run faster and more smoother than ever. The design was good enough to be used in Jaguars for the next 38 years” ‘(Craven, 10).
middle of paper ... ... doi:http://corporate.ford.com/microsites/sustainability-report-2012-13/blueprint-strategy. Hughes-Cromwick, E. (2011). The 'Standard'.
Another strategy used by BMW to differentiate itself from other automakers in the market is the proactive usage of technology and innovativeness in the development of products. From the early 1990’s, BMW has been on the forefront of incorporating technology in its designs in line with the technological advances of the modern world. This has led to the creation of inventive products. The uniqueness of these auto products put BMW in a position of advantage. The development of the hydrogen car as early as 2000 was an indicator of the company’s innovative strategy. In addition, the company also presents itself as environment friendly creating a whole range of vehicles in this category. This is a differentiation strategy meant to boost the company’s image and reputation amongst customers. In addition, this gives the environment conscious customers a variety of products to choose from giving BMW an upper hand in the industry.
I will finally end with discussing their resource-based view and value chain analysis. Based on that key factor, they were the only automaker that was listed in the top 20 on the initial public offering list (Toyota leads auto industry in innovation, again!, 2016). Toyota’s core competencies seem simplistic, yet they are very powerful. There are two in which they focus on, which is continuous improvement and respect for people.
BMW having high market share in European and U.S luxury car markets, started facing issues with launch product qualities and also facing a fierce competition from Japanese producers. Currently the market share was still stable but the rigorous growth of Japanese producers would affect BMW in future. These Japanese competitors had set higher standards of conformance.
The global company Mercedes-Benz is considered one of the most successful and well-known automotive companies worldwide. Since 1886, the company’s founders Gottlieb Daimler and Carl Benz made history with the invention of the automobile, including the Daimler Group, which is one the biggest producers of premium cars and the world’s biggest manufacturer of commercial vehicles globally (Daimler, 2013). Their main focus is innovation, safety, technology, style, brand image, expansion, and superior automobiles by offering the best of the best to consumers worldwide. The brand’s philosophy is to continuously create radically new products to advance the cause of human mobility. It is also the number one luxury brand in the United States and Germany while continuously expanding in China and Russia as well (Interbrand, 2013). Mercedes-Benz has a great selection on divisions such as cars, trucks, vans, buses, and financial services offered to any consumer or business. Their global reach has increased tremendously by including production facilities in 17 countries on five continents and having 93 locations worldwide. As a pioneer of automotive engineering, their strategy is to continue the same pioneer role with the ongoing development of mobility, especially in the areas of safety and sustainability (Daimler, 2013). It is very essential for the company to focus on consumers’ needs and their highly well known brand in a competitive global economy. That is why the company Mercedes-Benz releases a brand new model every year to stay on top of its competitors by improving previous models. Some strategies practiced are global marketing, global product development, global product pricing, global advertising, global distribution, an...