Business Project of Vauxhall Motors - Assignment Example

Business Project Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 A Project Rationale 3 Internal Situation 4 Strengths of Vauxhall Motors 4 Weaknesses of the Vauxhall Motors 5 Opportunities of the Vauxhall Motors 5 Threats of the Vauxhall Motors 6 External Analysis 6 Political 7 Economic 7 Social 8 Technology 8 Legal 8 Environment 9 The Project Outline 9 The Case for Project Implementation 10 A Feasibility Assessment 11 References 12 Bibliography 14 A Project Rationale General Motors UK Limited is globally renowned as Vauxhall Motors. The company is one of the leading automotive manufacturing companies in global market. It had started operations in London back in 1857 and within a short span of time it has extended its business in the global market. Over the years, the company has operated its business especially in terms of passenger cars as well as light commercial vehicles. As a large multinational enterprise, Vauxhall Motors has emphasized innovation and development of new products for its consumers. Besides, the company has concentrated on vehicle safety and building one team to achieve leadership in the market. Moreover, for maintaining its competitive advantages, the company has focused on satisfaction of its customers, employees and business partners such as its dealers, investors and suppliers among others. The vision and mission of Vauxhall Motors is to expand its business operation around the world with considering its core values of honesty, integrity as well as professionalism. In this regard, it is identified that the company exports a larger proportion of vehicles (80% out overall production) in the global market (General Motors UK Limited, 2014). In the recent years, Vauxhall Motors has been trying to develop new heavy motorcycle in the market place, with the aim of capturing the two wheelers nationally and internationally. The company has identified that two-wheeler market is one of the emerging markets across the globe over the last decade. The two-wheeler industry has witnessed positive volume of growth during the last few years. Simultaneously, the company has identified that the demand of motor cycle has been positively increasing among the consumers in the recent years. At the same time, the company has also recognised that due to high market demand, several existing motor cycle manufacturers are concentrated on the total quality management system with the aim of enhancing the performance and excellence of the motor bikes. Thus, Vauxhall Motors has tried to introduce a new heavy motorcycle with the intention of enhancing the profitability and acquiring high market share in global market place (General Motors UK Limited, 2014). Analysis of the Context Internal Situation In order to determine the internal situation of Vauxhall Motors, it will be vital to apply ‘SWOT’ analysis method for better understanding the current situation of the company. According to the report of Global Data (2012), Vauxhall Motors is one of the leading automotive players in the global market due to its wide range of products. At the same time, it is also witnessed that the company has been globally renowned due to its engines efficiency and powerfulness. It has further maintained its competitive advantages as well as its leadership in the global market place through implementing several strategies. However, Vauxhall Motors has witnessed numerous challenges from its competitors due to its strategic gap, which has hampered the operational procedures of the company. At the same time, the company has also identified provided with a range of opportunities during its operations for future development with the aim of gaining more market share in the global market place. Strengths of Vauxhall Motors It has been recognised that Vauxhall Motors has maintained strong brand equity in the global market place by providing the efficient and effective motor vehicles to its consumers. Correspondingly, the main strength of Vauxhall Motors is its research and development department through which the company has improved its product quality. At the same time, the company has concentrated on the safety issues of the vehicles, with the intention of reducing the flaws in its products. Similarly, the company has also concentrated on innovative aspects to strengthen its business process. Additionally, it can be also claimed that the company has maintained its supply chain management system in an efficient manner. Furthermore, positive working environment has also influenced the performance of the Vauxhall Motors towards attaining substantial development (Global Data, 2012). Weaknesses of the Vauxhall Motors Even after wide range of products and presence of cutting edge technology, Vauxhall Motors has struggled to ensure its leading position in the global market due to intensive competition in the global market place. Apart from this, in order to identify the weaknesses of the Vauxhall Motors, it can be asserted that the company is highly depended on the UK market while it has not able to create its presence emerging markets. Additionally, poor merchandising process and higher level of competition have also created several difficulties and challenges for the Vauxhall Motors (Global Data, 2012). Opportunities of the Vauxhall Motors Expansion in the emerging markets can be identified to be a significant opportunity for Vauxhall Motors. Besides, in recent years, the demand of vehicles has enhanced throughout the world, which has become a potential opportunity for the company. Simultaneously, the continuous innovation in the form of new product development has enhanced the opportunity of the company in the global market. Moreover, the presence of Vauxhall models in the Asian market place has also offered Vauxhall Motors with the opportunity to expand its market share (Global Data, 2012). Threats of the Vauxhall Motors On the contrary, increasing competition has become one of the key threats for Vauxhall Motors. In addition, it is also recognized that the Japanese automotive manufacturers have applied superior technology in the development of motor vehicles, which has created difficulties for the company. Simultaneously, increasing trend of fuel price has initiated more challenges for the company. On the other hand, it is also witnessed that government policies and regulations have become more rigid, which has initiated more difficulties for the company. Besides, the changing needs and preferences of customers have also imposed radical threat for the company to operate its business profitably and smoothly (Global Data, 2012). External Analysis In order to identify the external environment of Vauxhall Motors, it would be vital to apply the ‘PESTLE’ analysis framework for better understanding the external factors influencing the company. According to the report of European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (2004), external environmental factors are strong determinant for a company particularly those operating in the international market. The most important external factor is market, which has the potential of influencing the performance of a company largely with respect to the preferences and satisfaction level of customers. Market competition can also affect the performance of a company. At the same time, extreme changes in the field of technology and social environment policies have the tendency to adversely influence the performance of a company (Central Intelligence Agency, 2013). Those external environmental factors exerting impact on the operation and performance of Vauxhall Motors are described below. Political Vauxhall Motors operates its business across diverse geographical regions of the world, whereas the company conducts its operational functions primarily in the local market of the UK. Due to its widespread operations, the company has faced several challenges from the political environment of diversified global market such as labour related problems, which has affected the operation of supply chain management. At the same time, trade agreements and business relations have become complicated due to high involvement of the political factors. Thus, in order to reduce the external political threats the company must need to address its strategic gaps (Central Intelligence Agency, 2013). Economic The impact of the economic downfall in the global market has also affected the growth rate of Vauxhall Motors. Simultaneously, inflation and high exchange rates have also affected the purchasing power parity of the global customers. Thus, Vauxhall Motors has cut down the cost of its production in order to stabilize the financial performance of the company in a competitive market position. Additionally, the company has focused towards its international trade with the aim of ensuring its significant contribution towards the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the UK (Central Intelligence Agency, 2013). Social In terms of social context, Vauxhall Motors has incorporated social media as a medium for enhancing the communication with its consumers and stakeholders. The company has also participated in the cultural activities through the help of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) related activities (Central Intelligence Agency, 2013). Technology Technological advancement has become a familiar trend in the contemporary era. In this regard, Vauxhall Motors has incorporated latest technologies to enhance the efficiency and performance of its vehicles. In addition, the company has also emphasised towards research and development along with application of advanced technologies with the intention of improving the quality of vehicles and for addressing the safety concern of the vehicles more accurately (Central Intelligence Agency, 2013). Legal Simultaneously, legal challenges have also become a matter of concern for Vauxhall Motors. In this context, corporate taxes have become higher during the recent days. Apart from this, labour related laws and economic policies have become more complicated than earlier. Thus, the company has concentrated on legality, morality and ethics to ensure a healthy relationship with its employees, stakeholders, consumers and partners with the aim of enhancing its business performance around the global market (Central Intelligence Agency, 2013). Environment In order to ensure environmental protection, Vauxhall Motors has concentrated on its financial stability and ecological environment. At the same time, the organization has also developed healthy and hygienic working environment in the UK market in order to ensure its success within the industry. Moreover, the environmental laws have become quite strict in the present era, which has motivated Vauxhall Motors to cultivate green environmental movement in its business operations (Central Intelligence Agency, 2013). The Project Outline Based on the above analysis it is witnessed that Vauxhall Motors has maintained its competitive advantage with the aim of attaining high market share. Thus, Vauxhall Motors has been determined to develop a new heavy motorcycle with the intention of fulfilling the need and expectation of the consumers. In this regard, the company has taken three years for developing the product without any technical flaws. During implementation of this project, the company is relied on its stakeholders as well as on the foreign direct investors for ensuring the flow of capital. In this regard, it can be claimed that the company is expected to sell the heavy motorcycle at an estimated cost of around £13,000. It is anticipated that the company can secure a profit margin around 5% (£650). More specifically, it can be claimed that Vauxhall Motors is striving to develop this heavy motorcycle with the aim of ensuring the overall control of the motorcycle market. At the same time, company has laid significant attention on safety concern, through concentrating on the essential element of the motor cycle such as break, gear change lever, wheel among others (Motor Vehicle Administration, 2014; Key Note Ltd, 2002). The Case for Project Implementation In order to implement the above mentioned project outline, Vauxhall Motors will need to implement few measures during the development of new motorcycle in the competitive market situation. In this regard, Vauxhall Motors need to develop motorcycle that will ensure the quality as well as the efficiency of the motor bikes produced. In order to attain performance and sustainability, Vauxhall Motors should incorporate new tools for benchmarking strategy with the assessment of total quality management (TQM). Apart from this, Vauxhall Motors need to consider procurement of human, financial, capital and other resource processes necessary for new product development. Moreover, the company needs to concentrate on several tools and techniques for accomplishing the strategic plan (Ouellette, n. d.). Fig. 1: TQM for Business Excellence Performance (Oluwatoyin & Oluseun, 2008) The company in order to align performance excellence with the business objectives during the process of developing superior quality motorcycles would require focusing on its engineering specification test. At the same time, the company needs to provide facility of training to its engineers and evaluate the efficiency level of its engineers. Moreover, during the business activities, Vauxhall Motors further need to introduce an average purchased part capability (APPC) methodology with the intention of meeting the average production, such as weekly capacity requirement. In addition, the company has to concentrate on the problem aspects for reducing the chances of threats and challenges as a result of internal and external environment (IATF Global Oversight, 2014). According to the observation, it can be apparently asserted that Vauxhall Motors has to review its product designing and development stages through the assistance of system designing specification (SDS). Apart from these, the company has to develop a quality supply chain management system for ensuring the supply of newly developed motorcycle across the global market rapidly and efficiently (IATF Global Oversight, 2014). A Feasibility Assessment In order to measure the feasibility of the implemented project, it is required to identify the opportunities and risk associated with the implementation of the project to Vauxhall. One of the major risks associated with the implementation of this project can be attributed to rising of required funds. Besides, there are already numerous competitors operating in the global market place that produces two wheelers. Hence, it is possible that the new motorcycle developed by the company may not be able to acquire substantial customer base. The company majorly operates in the market of the UK and therefore the success of new motorcycle in outside the domestic market is highly susceptible. References European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions, 2014. The Automotive Cluster in the West Midlands, UK. Euro Found, 1-27. Central Intelligence Agency, 2013. The World Fact book. Skyhorse Publishing General Motors UK Limited, 2014. About Our Company. About Us. [Online] Available at: http://www.vauxhall.co.uk/about-vauxhall/about-us/company.html [Accessed December 01, 2014]. Global Data, 2012. General Motors Company (GM) - Financial and Strategic SWOT Analysis Review. Automotive. [Online] Available at: http://store.globaldata.com/company-reports/automotive/general-motors-company-gm-financial-and-strategic-swot-analysis review#.VHwQ-9I7PfI [Accessed December 01, 2014]. IATF Global Oversight, 2014. Ford Motor Company Customer-specific Requirements. Fords, 1-30. Motor Vehicle Administration, 2014. Motorcycle Operator Manual. Resources, 1-57. Key Note Ltd, 2002. The Motor Industry. Market Review, pp. 1-131. Oluwatoyin, A. & Oluseun, A., 2008. Total Quality Management: A Test of the Effect of TQM on Performance and Stakeholder Satisfaction. Blekinge Institute of Technology, pp. 1-65. Ouellette, S., No Date. Introduction: The Origins and Structure of the Original Model for Business Performance Excellence (BPE). University of Colorado, 1-18. Bibliography Albaum, G. & et. al., 2006. International Marketing and Export Management. Pearson Education India. Belohlavek, P., 2008. Unicist Marketing Mix. Blue Eagle Group. Hoffmann, S., 2008. Are the 4 Ps of International Marketing of Equal Importance to All Firms? What Factors Might Cause Some to More Or Less Important Than Others? GRIN Verlag. Lovelock, C., 2011. Services Marketing, 7/e. Pearson Education India. Richter, T., 2012. International Marketing Mix Management: Theoretical Framework, Contingency Factors and Empirical Findings from World-markets. Logos Verlag Berlin GmbH. Wolf, C. & et. al., 2011. Standardisation vs. Adaptation - International Marketing in Service. GRIN Verlag Firms. Read More