Avis Europe Good Corporate Citizens of the Society - Essay Example

 Avis Europe – Good Corporate Citizens of the Society Introduction Avis Europe leads in the car rental industry of Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia. It functions there as the world reputed brands of Avis and Budget. Avis Europe possesses a license to function in these two brands for a long run in these zones. It deals in the Avis brand in four continents using a system of over 2800 regions in 109 nations and subsidiaries in 13 states supported by contracts in 96 nations. It has an aggregate 18.2% market share in European car rental market. The company now has entered in a new partnership with British Airways as the airline’s sole global car rental provider. The company is now enjoying around 16% market share in U.K. The company provides rental stations through three business formats such as corporate locations, agency location and franchise location. The Budget variety, belonging to Avis Europe in March 2003, provides for customers in above 1,000 places within 65 countries. These are contract-based firms with corporate offices in Austria and Switzerland, France and the UK. (Avis Europe at a glance, N.D.) Mission and Philosophy – Avis Europe Avis Europe aims to be the leading rental car company while maintaining very high ethical standards. Avis works on the Philosophy of ‘Kaizen’ or Continuous Improvement, which they coin by the phrase “We Try Harder”. A person named Warren Avis founded Avis Europe. He was a war pilot who after being discharged from US war force came out to design his car rental company. He thought of tapping the niche market of Airport Car Rental Service. The first airports the company tapped were Miami and Detroit. The success of the company can be traced from the fact that in about seven years it rose to the second position behind companies like Hertz and Lazard Freres. Keeping in mind the philosophy of continuous improvement their mission is to build a long-term relationship with stakeholders in the business. They also consider customer loyalty as the focus area. According to a survey report prepared by U.S research organization, Avis is one of the top companies from the viewpoint of customer loyalty. Retention of customers in a highly competitive market is always a difficult task. Therefore, they are very much focused on this. In terms of their vision, Avis Europe wants to establish themselves as good corporate citizens of the society. Gaining customer loyalty is their prime goal in this respect. They are also adopting many strategies to project themselves to the society as a good & responsible company. They are equally caring about their employees, suppliers, shareholders, environment community and society. As a part of this strategy, they are encouraging few events like tree planting, charitable fund raising etc. (Avis Europe: Vision and Values, n.d.; Avis Europe at a glance, N.D.). In 2002, Avis Europe launched a major initiative to combat global warming, took concrete steps to ensure that its business is carbon neutral. In partnership with Future Forests, Avis Europe has launched a three-point ‘green plan’ to offset the carbon dioxide emissions from both its own operations and its car rentals, which has been well received by staff, customers and business partners. Avis offers a wide range of products for physically challenged drivers and child safety. They also have introduced services like providing information about weather, city guide, local maps, vehicle guide etc. All these steps are taken from the viewpoint of social responsibility and in creating a favorable public image. Earning a good reputation is necessary for long-term growth and financial rewards for the company. (Corporate Social Leadership in Travel and Tourism, N.D. p.8) The company also has decided to follow cost efficiency, geographical and service diversification strategy along with a flexible business model, reduce peak debt and improve capital efficiency (Avis-Europe annual report, 2009, p. 6). Avis Europe in respect to United Kingdom PEST Analysis of Avis Europe in United Kingdom In order to study the performance of Avis Europe in respect to the United Kingdom it would be helpful to analyze UK in the light of Political, Economic, Social and Technological fronts. Britain’s Political Context has become decentralized than before. It is found to operate on a multi-level system embracing not only the European Union (EU) but also the developed national governments of the world. The economic crisis of 2007-09 led the capitalist economies like the United Kingdom draw confusions between the political leaders and the financial institutions, which led to the crash of the financial system. It was because of the financial doom that the Government regained its position to monitor the economy. The associations between business and government got in a tantrum owing to government’s intervention in the financial system. However, what emerged from the grave was that the big players in the industry got a formidable role to play in the light of the political invasion. The giant firms took the role of structuring economic policies and delivering economic guidelines. Further, the government also started in mass privatization of Public Sector Units like energy, transport and water. The government of Britain only exercised public control on these privatized units through agencies. (Moran, 2009. pp. 59-64). A study of transport economics in the context of United Kingdom states that transport as a medium exerts considerable impact over the lifestyle of people and thus quality as a factor needs to be justly handled. The need for a proper transport mechanism arises from the question of mobility of the commuters to their place of work or of social interactions. In the context of using transport services, a household must plan its budget to it for expenditure on transport turns out to be a key factor. The people belonging to higher income groups have been seen to take resort to owned cars while those in the low income to use inferior means of transport. (Button, 1993, p. 51) From a study of a round table conference on transport it was evident that car is the dominant mode of access to airports. It is attractive from the user’s point of view as well as a source of revenue to the airports and car rental agencies. A statistics reveal that 2.6 million passengers used car hire services in 1998. Heathrow airport ranked first in using the car services. (European Conference of Ministers of Transport. Economic Research Centre, 2005. p.59). Airports in the United Kingdom share a sense of social responsibilities by providing car-hiring facilities to commuters. An example in this context is the Norwich International Airport, which have car rental agencies like Avis, Hertz and Europcar to provide transport services to the terminal passengers. (Norwich International Airport, N.D.). The cause of global warming and environmental awareness of the customers has spurred the debate for technological development in the car rental industry. In regards to the above, the context the use of Bio Fuel cars has increased focusing on a greener environment. The use of Global Positioning Systems in the car rental field has helped the tracking of movement of the hired cars by the rental companies. (Avis, 2008) In regards to the Political, Economic, Social and Technological analysis of the transport and specifically on the car rental industry Avis Europe has a strong foot in Britain. It is for that the company follows the government’s guidelines on Carbon Dioxide emissions and has been on a Carbon Neutral operation since 2000. It has been monitoring and taking actions on its Carbon Dioxide emissions. (Avis and the environment, 2010) From the economic standpoint, it can be said that besides Avis being used by premium airports in Britain to service terminal passengers it has also been keen to give 1500 free car rentals to small business owners in overseas markets. The free rentals are estimated to be more than 175,000 Pounds in value. (Koster & Poulter, 2009). In the social sphere Avis Europe, jointly with British Airways, has commenced a flourishing business enterprise looking forward to expand the airline’s social business ‘ Change for Good’ sustained by UNICEF. The scheme launched encourages the donation for charitable purposes by staffs and customers in rental cars or in Avis Europe’s offices. (Corporate Social Responsibility Report, 2001). In the technological front Avis has been offering customer sophistication through developed technology in use like Global Positioning Systems navigation to track cars, use of phone based navigation systems in connection with Motorola and the use of green technology in car fuels are to name a few. (Avis, 2008). Competition Analysis (Avis Europe Plc, Annual Report 2008) Avis vs. Hertz In making a competition analysis in car rental industry the paper first highlights on Avis and Hertz, a significant competitor of Avis Europe is seen that they are going hand in hand in launching of Hybrid Cars known for their fuel efficiency and optimum performance. Further, Avis Europe and Hertz have also introduced the use of GPS navigation systems for car tracking, mobile maps and as Hertz uses it for getting access to hotels and petrol pumps. (Hertz vs. Avis: Better Rental Car, N.D.). A comparison of financial data obtained from analysis of 2008 and 2009 financial reports state that where Hertz had incurred losses for the two consecutive years Avis Europe made revenues on the positive side. Though Hertz which had made Net Income of -1206.75 million US dollars in 2008 had been able to curb the loss figure to -126.02 million US dollars in 2009 by a margin of 89%; Avis on the other hand had made 1314 million Euros in 2008 which was a bit lower in 2009 i.e. 1162 million Euros a decrease by 11%. (Avis Europe, Annual Report 2009; Avis Europe, Annual report 2008; Hertz Global Holdings Inc. Financial Statement, 2010; Avis Europe, Financial Data, 2010). Graph Showing the comparison of income figures for Year 2008 (Year 1) and 2009 (Year 2) for Avis and Hertz. N.B. 1 Euro = 1.2709 US dollars. (Avis Europe, Annual report 2009 &2008; Hertz Global Holdings Inc. Financial Statement, 2010) Avis vs. Europcar Another significant competitor in the car rental business with Avis Europe is the Europcar. A survey states that Europcar has more than 3000 car rental stations throughout the world in Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America and in the Middle East. It includes around 160 countries. (Europcar, 2010). A comparison drawn on the financial performance of Europcar with Avis Europe for two years 2008 and 2009 states that in 2008 Europcar had incurred a revenue of 2075 million Euros as compared to Avis Europe, a revenue of 1314 million Euros. For 2009 the figure was 1851 million Euros for Europcar and for Avis Europe it was 1162 million Euros. (Eurazeo, N.D; Avis Europe, 2010). Graph showing comparison between Europcar’s and Avis Europe’s income figures for 2008 and 2009. Here Year 1 corresponds to 2008 and Year 2 to 2009. (Eurazeo, N.D.; Avis Europe, 2010). Avis vs. Sixt In the global car rental market the Sixt group stands out to be a key player offering mobility solutions. The Sixt group with a partnership with over 40 airlines and a large group of hotels it offers its customers to gain points and other benefits. The company has made a name for itself in the global market owing to product and service innovations. Its services are available at 3500 service stations worldwide. (Sixt, 2010). A study of the revenue earned from rental business by Sixt shows that in 2008 it was 788.7 Euro Million which dropped down to 758.0 Euro Million in 2009. Main reason cited was the reduction in fleet. (Preliminary Results 2009, 2010). Graph showing the comparison in rental revenues for Sixt and Avis Europe for 2008 and 2009, which are Year1, and 2 respectively (Preliminary Results 2009, 2010; Avis Europe, 2010). Industry Analysis European Car Rental Industry is constituted by small car rental agencies like Avis Europe, Hertz, Europcar and Sixt. These agencies operate through corporate offices of their own or through franchisee operations. A report given by Datamonitor reveals that in 2009 Europe generated 10.9 billion euro in the car rental revenue segment. The breakup show that Germany contributed to 20%, United Kingdom to 19%, France 17%, Spain 11% and Italy 10% to the total revenue. The major driving factors for revenue in car rental services can be referred to the economic status of the regions, to revenue earned from airports and the increase in volume of passenger growth via airlines. In this regard the car rental operations in Europe in 2009 suffered owing to recession. According to a report generated by Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) the GDP in Europe declined by 4%. Further, a report given by the International Air Transport Association also reflects a decline in airline passenger mobility by 5.3 %. Datamonitor, states the fall in car rental industry had even surpassed the fall in GDP and the decline of passengers using hired car services also is reported to have declined by 9%. The main reason behind the decline of the latter is regarded to the discretionary approach to spending by consumers. In this context Datamonitor predicts the car rental market to decline by 4% in 2010. However, a slight growth of 7% can be expected in 2011 and 2012. In terms of market composition of the car rental industry by consumer groups there are mainly three groups viz. Leisure, Corporate and Insurance. By terms of rental the market can be categorized as airport and non-airport. A 2009 study reveals that about 47% of the market was covered by Leisure or travel oriented consumer groups, the Corporate or Business consumers and Insurance covered 39% or Replacement wanting consumers covered the rest 14%. (Avis Europe, Markets and Customers, 2010) Pie Chart showing the percentage shares of Consumer Groups in Car Rental Market in Europe (Avis Europe, Markets and Customers, 2010) Competition in the European Car Rental Market is between the key players Avis Europe, Hertz, Europcar and Sixt. Europcar here performs in a joint operation with the Vanguard group and holds the leading position in the car rental market with a share of 22.8%. Hertz comes third in terms of market share with a percentage of 12.8. The Sixt group can be seen as an emerging player with only an 8.7 percent market share. Avis Europe the company in context governs the second position with a share of 18.2 percent. (Avis Europe: Markets and Customers, 2010) Graph showing percentage of Market Share covered by the key players in the car rental industry in Europe (Avis Europe: Markets and Consumers, 2010) Avis Europe in context a survey in study reveals that in 2009, 86% of Avis Europe’s revenues came from five major markets in Europe viz. France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom. France contributed the highest revenue to Avis Europe in about 24%, Italy contributed by 17%, United Kingdom and Germany jointly were the third contributors to the revenue making by 16%, countries in the Asia Pacific, Middle East and developing economies like Africa grouped as others were the second last by making a contribution of 14% and Spain came the last by 13% contribution to the company’s revenue in 2009. (Avis Europe: Markets and Customers, 2010) Pie Chart showing the percentage contribution of the different countries in Corporate Rental Revenue in Avis Europe (Avis Europe: Markets and Customers, 2010) Avis Europe – External Audit An external audit conducted on Avis Europe in 2009 reviews the company’s overall working environment, the philosophy of the company towards continuous improvement and the taking of humanitarian measures on health, employee diversity and in developing the people through training and creating an atmosphere of equal opportunity for all. The company aims at developing an efficient and flexible organization. Cost control was a key factor addressed during that period. In the light of it recruitment was stopped throughout the company and salaries were not revised. In order to pursue employee morale activities like celebration of success moments, open talks with the staff on company policy and issues, engaging the employees in contact with higher management in times of need, training the employees and rewarding them for better performance were keenly practiced. Avis functions on an underground philosophy of ‘We Try Harder’. The company to avoid complacency uses this term. Each of the different employees is fed by the thought of continuous improvement of themselves while working in the company. Employees working for a multinational like Avis belong to different Diasporas. The company assures that every different people working in the different roles understands the company’s ideology and takes the pride to work for it. The company has employee-highlighting programs like ‘station of the year’ and employees can also bright focus on their colleagues by a program ‘making a difference’ thus increasing employee moral. The company holds annual convention for purposes like brand celebration, encouraging teamwork and in rewarding employees who have done exceptionally well to promote the company’s spirit. A program known as ‘winning of ideas’ where employees are free to give ideas incorporating changes and improvement in the working atmosphere also encourages employee suggestions. Humanitarian approaches of the company can be studied in the light of Disability Policy of The Company. In regards to the stated policy Avis promotes the view of not only recruiting but also in providing training and in retention of disabled people in the company. If a person becomes disabled while working for Avis, the company announces to adopt every possible step for the rehabilitation or needful adjustment of the person within the company. In regards to the function of employee development training programs are conducted by the Human Resource department of the different countries where Avis functions both in the front line as well as of the official employees. The organization believes in letting the employees grow with the growth of the company. In Avis, Operational training is conducted with the help of live case studies. The experienced employees also are encouraged to design training modules as an aid to the new entrants. Avis Europe operates in many countries across the globe. Thus it engages the mingling of different nationalities in it. It ensures that the management of the company should reflect the different nationalities operating within. In view to the above context the Executive Board of the company is stated comprising of six different nationalities. The Barcelona contact center is stated to comprise of 30 nationalities while group headquarters engage 21 different nationalities. Avis mentions of following the ideology of equal opportunity in diverse functions like recruitment, training and development, remuneration and in employee appraisals. The promotion of Health and Safety within the company is one of the key areas in which Avis focuses upon. In many countries Avis has been giving training programs in that respect. Avis France, Avis Europe’s France chapter has encouraged an external body to conduct audit on its Health and Safety program, which is supported by three comprehensive training programs designed in the above context. (Avis Europe: Employee Policies and Practices, 2010). Avis Europe – Internal Audit As regards to Internal Audit Avis Europe has designed an Internal Audit and Risk Management function. The role of the Internal Audit program in Avis Europe can be studied on the grounds that it assesses the design and effectiveness of controls exercised over operational procedures and risk management activities, highlights on the need of having internal control mechanisms over financial systems and processes in practice, helps the board to carry on the function of Corporate Governance and other regulatory functions smoothly and helps to control environment for healthy business performance. In the light of the above context the paper focuses on control of the internal environment and management of risks in Avis Europe. The internal control is exercised in Avis by laying down clearly the organizational structure and the delegation of responsibilities, strategic planning, preparation of annual budgets, conducting monthly reviews of financial reports of the company and taking corrective actions, preparation of financial reports based on accounting policies and procedures adopted and the clear mention of policies regarding code of conduct, business ethics and term of operations. Internal Audit to be conducted aims at making reviews on internal control principles, some of which gas been given above. In the context of Risk Management at Avis the company recognizes the importance of managing business risks as it helps to promote an environment conducive for business performance. The Business Risks underlined by Avis consist of Strategic, Operational, Environmental and Reputation related risks. In the year 2009 an internal audit team The Avis Executive Board headed by the Chief Executive of the company audited the risk management function. In the light of risk management the company conducts annual reviews on the same on all the operating units of the company. It makes analysis on the probability of occurrence of such and the immediate actions needed to be taken for such. The risk management group in regards to its operational process grants assurance to the company in identifying and addressing the major risks. (Avis Europe Annual Report 2008 &2009) Avis Europe – SWOT Analysis The Strengths, Weakness, Opportunity and Threat analysis conducted on Avis Europe reveals that the company certainly has advantages on certain parameters like Customer Satisfaction, use of environment friendly car fuels, using of Global Positioning Systems technology for customer sophistication purposes, global presence in 3800 locations to name a few. The company boasts of having strong global brands operating in 2800 locations in 109 countries, has a leading market position of 18.2 %, second to Europcar and a diversified customer base and sales network. Weakness might be found in the compulsion to cut jobs during an economic setback in order to adopt flexibility and low cost. Their cost reduction process is rigorously on the move and this might indicate a weak environment in terms of the employees’ job security. Although this strategy was not specific to Avis yet it has done damage to its reputation as well. (Leroux, 2008) Opportunities are immense in that the global car rental market is rapidly increasing in the post recession stage and the popularity of the second hand car market in United Kingdom is also seen to increase. The threats exists for the setbacks like the global recession in 2009 which caused a change in customer spending habits, the low car rental market in Spain of only a 13% contributor to rental revenue and the force of intense competition from key players like Europcar. The fall in revenue was mostly from the corporate clients owing to lesser purchasing power in the hands of potential clients. (Avis Europe Plc, Annual report 2009) Marketing Strategy of Avis Europe The marketing strategies taken by Avis Europe can be analyzed in the light of Ansoff’s Matrix. Ansoff’s Matrix places different strategies for combination of existing markets with market penetration and product development activities on one hand. On the other hand it judges new markets in the light of market development and product diversification. Avis began functioning in Scandinavia 50 years ago and has the widest marketing network in the region. The Middle East market of Avis is also a case of Market Penetration. It started its operation out there 40 years ago and gas been serving a market base of over 120 million. This is a clear case of Market penetration by Avis. In the light of market development activities Avis has been focusing on its expansion programs to markets of Russia. In emerging markets like Africa and Asia, Avis has been able to tap new market sources, which give Avis the potential to grow in key markets of Africa like Southern Africa, Morocco, Tunisia and Nigeria. In Asia, Avis has been able to tap the uncovered market of India by opening Avis India in 1999. China was also identified as an emerging territory and commenced trading there from 2003. (Avis Europe: Markets and Customers, 2010). These are the key pictures of Market Development by Avis. Avis by launching a program known as “Avis Access” has helped cater to the disabled market base of America. This initiative of Avis in an existing market base can be termed as the Product Development taken by Avis. The “ Avis Access” provides customers with a 24 hour toll free number to cater to their immediate needs. (Society for Accessible Travel and Hospitality, 2010) To cater to the needs of the new markets Avis Europe has been using newer technology models like GPS enabled cars, which can provide the customer with on-line road maps. It has also designed the green fuel cars in order to cater to the environment needs. Thus in a nutshell Avis Europe is making headway to gain more market competence by promoting customer loyalty and addressing to the market changes. The company’s “ We Try Harder” harder approach gains ground on its endeavor to capture newer markets and in designing newer services. Conclusion Car rental industry is one of the most labor-intensive industries in the world. It is a multibillion-dollar industry. It is also very important from the employment point of view and thousands of people are employed in this industry. In European context, the car rental industry provides the business and residents with facilities like being affordable in terms of availability and cost, sustainable and a ‘pay as you travel’ means of road transport. With relevance to a modern and sophisticated service the nature of service offerings of car rental in Europe includes providing commuters with handy information and traveling in green vehicles, helping in the reduction of use of own cars and encouraging use of rent a car system, thereby curtailing problems of parking. It also helps in promoting use of green vehicles for a safer environment and fuelling the growth in tourism industry by addressing remote areas not covered by public transport. (Car Rental, 2010) In this light, Avis Europe has been providing a burning example within its industry and is a role model despite its areas of concerns and attributed which need improvement. References 1. 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