The Automobile Industry - Ford Sustainability Strategies - Case Study Example

number THE AUTOMOBILE INDUSTRY. The automobile industry has grown within a period of 100 years and it hasevolved over the course of its growth in terms of its designs, the development of the industry, the marketing and the selling of the motor vehicles. From history, it started in the 1890s where the horseless carriage was pioneered (Ackerman, p19). The United States in particular had the largest automobile industry and it produced the most significant percentage of the major motor vehicles until after the World War II. However, the United States was overtaken by Japan, in production and the competition between the two has always been stiff as they try to overrun each other over the years. There are a large number of automobile companies in the United States such as Ford, Chrysler and the General Motors which has led the increase in production of major car brands, steered by their strategic plans and their production levels as well as their integration with other essential aspects of business, such as the suppliers and the customers. Their trends keep changing everyday customer preferences keep changing. They have goals, objectives and strategies that they put in place so that they can be able to deliver to their customers according to their preferences as well as maintaining the right income for the stakeholders (Bauer, R.A, p97). Therefore, it is necessary to determine how these companies can point out their focus in terms of business, create their objectives and in the end, strategies so that they can achieve those goals and objectives. In the automobile industry, various companies have evolved their simple goals and objectives that seemed attainable given the times, and they have maintained or improved their status over the years by integrating the social and the environmental conditions of the business in order to deliver according to their production levels. There is tough competition in the industry, and therefore it is necessary to strategize their objectives to continue being relevant while at the same time maintaining their production levels. An inner look at some of the companies in the industry, such as Ford, General Motors and the BMW, their focus, goals and objectives can be compared and contrasted. This is because each of the companies has its goals and objectives, as well as its strategic plans that help it to deliver to its customers. They integrate the social performance of the company as well as the environmental performance to promote its production, innovative and marketing levels while at the same time remaining competitive. Therefore a need to compare and contrast each of these companies goals and objectives in their social performances as well as their environmental performances is important in order to determine how far each goal and objective makes them useful in what they are doing or how that goal and objective lays them back in terms of production, marketing and innovational trends. FORD SUSTAINABILITY STRATEGIES.\ SOCIAL PERFORMANCE. Ford Company has grown over the years and its ability to tightly integrate its social environment with its production and marketing conditions has enabled it to maintain its competitiveness in the industry as well as setting new trends for the automobile industry. Their goals, which includes; maintaining a conducive employee environment, seeking customer advice and producing according to the requirements of the clienteles has assisted the company to maintain its competition over other automobile companies (Bauer, R.A p33). These goals are derived from the m1ajor stakeholders in the company and are set in place in order to boost the companys production levels while at the same time maintaining a relative marketing level. Also the goals and the objectives of the stakeholders are integrated with the companies’ objectives such that they are achievable and that they change as the trends in the industry changes. In order to maintain the proper employee relations, the company reduced the amount of hours the employees in a day, they also increased their wages. This enabled the employees to maintain above average income, and they can buy vehicles from the same companies they work in. The health of the workers has also been looked up to as they are not exposed to the more hazardous technical jobs in the manufacturing plants. This employee environment enables them to work efficiently in the industry, and hence they improve the company’s production levels. The corporation also stays in touch with its customers. This is done by collecting background information from the customers on their preferences that are dependent on their location, their climatic conditions, their social status as well as their choice in general. They have online platforms where they look at customer comments for a particular automobile. Its flaws and its excellent features and this helps them to come up with better ideas on how to improve their vehicles. Also, they interact with people from diverse cultures through social media and them, they are further exposed to more information about customer preferences as well creating a base to showcase and advertise their automobiles. The prices of their cars are also standardized so that it covers a majority of the low-income earners to the high-income earners. Therefore, Ford maintains their competitiveness by providing according to their customer preferences, maintaining an affordable price for their products, which, however, favours the stakeholders goals, and as well maintaining a real employee relation with the company. ENVIRONMENTAL PERFORMANCE. Ford maintains an excellent environmental conservation program such as the minimizing the amount of carbon emitted by the manufacturing unit to the environment. This is entailed in the objectives as they seek to maintain high productivity with minimal alteration in the amount of carbon in the environment. The green target is, therefore, one of their goals as they have also put measures that minimize the water quantity that is used to manufacture any one of their automobiles. Also, the wastes that are produced by the company have been reduced to avoid pollution of the environment (Brown, J.K, p103). In addition, they have started the manufacture of green vehicles, which utilize less energy as well as emitting less greenhouse gases to the environment. In addition, the safety levels of the vehicles have also been improved to avoid major accidents, as well as providing comfort ability to the customers. Therefore, driver tests are carried out before the cars are put in the real drive scenarios so that they can determine the safety standards of each of their vehicles. Therefore, it is evident that Ford integrated its social performance with its environmental performance so that they can deliver according to the set down goals and objectives. Their strategy employees the two set of goals and this helps them to provide high standard vehicles, which are safe, affordable and the at the same time upbeat with the changing trends in the automobile industry. Therefore for the firm, the social performance is necessary as well as the environmental performance. Hence, they have yearly sustainability reports to determine how far they have achieved each of the two objectives. GENERAL MOTORS SUSTAINABILITY STRATEGIES. SOCIAL PERFORMANCE. General motors have integrated a customer-driven sustainability philosophy where the customer preferences determine how they manufacture, market and advertise their automobiles. The strategies are derived from the current changing trends in the automobile industry, and therefore they seek to create the positive business to the environment (Ackerman, p42). They understand the value of information sharing; as depicted in communication, and therefore they produce vehicles that provide better communication capabilities as well as efficiency when needed and safety. The available trends in all life aspects are determined by how well people are informed and how fast and efficient that information is conveyed to them when it is needed. Therefore, general motors are producing vehicles that not only communicate with the drivers in the cars, but also with the other motorists. This seeks to prevent or minimize the amount of accidents that can occur as well as exposing the drivers to a better driving experience. In addition, they have integrated communications systems such that the drivers are upbeat with congestion in major towns and through this information they can determine where and when to travel. This is also reducing congestion in these towns hence enhancing mobility. In addition, general motors have enabled their vehicles to have better energy conservation remedies since the drivers are exposed to many decision tools that they can use to manage the amount of energy consumption by the vehicles (Bauer, p49). Also, they can drive safely as the car sends communication signals on the level of acceleration, the distance between the vehicle from another and the risks at each driving speed. Therefore, their cars are safer, more efficient, and they are in full control of the driver with minimal energy consumption levels and provide a better grid. ENVIRONMENTAL PERFORMANCE. Automobiles from the General Motors are build I such a manner that they emit minimal carbon gases to the environment while at the same time keeping upbeat with the customers’ requirements such as speed and class. At the manufacturing level, the waste products are disposed off properly to avoid contamination of the environment or are recycled. Also, there are various studies that are offered freely by the company to its customers on how they can conserve the environment while using their automobiles. In addition, the technology that they are using to manufacture their cars is in the bracket of minimal contamination of the environment. Also, the sound system of the car is built to prevent pollution of the environment through sound. Therefore, all manufacturing plants are subject to the laws governing how the nature can be maintained as well as minimal scales of the impacts of environmental activities, products or services. There the company recognizes the importance of complying with all environmental regulation policies that each region has put in place (Brown, J.K, p55). They also employ a scheme where they are committed to continuous improvement and pollution prevention. In additionally, the corporation has set up a framework where they review environmental objectives and targets that are further documented, implemented, and communicated to all manufacturing plants in the company. However for the company the social performance of its plants is their primary goal while at the same time trying to integrate the environmental aspects that are necessary. However, they maintain a yearly sustainability report that helps them to determine how far they achieved their goals and the measures or improvements they need in the future. TOYOTA SUSTAINABILITY STRATEGIES. SOCIAL PERFORMANCE. Based on the company’s global vision, which includes serving the customer according to their preferences and likes, it is evident that the company is sensitive to what the customer preferences are and they, therefore, deliver excellent quality vehicles that are both affordable and reliable. They listen to their customers through on-line platforms and social websites such as Facebook, and twitter. They also apply customer feedback strategy in order to create better products and services. They offer vehicles that are better features suited to provide safety, and quality performances while at the same time maintaining a fair price. Their keep the customer smiling is the driving force of all their innovations as they seek to manufacture and put on offer vehicles that are suited to each and every customer diversely (Bauer, p38). They keep contact with their customers through their toll free numbers, where they receive comments, requests, complaints and compliments and hence they can know where they have done better and where they need to improve for the future. They have also established a customer’s day, which is held every may of every year so that they can gain first-hand contact with their customers. The experience enables the company to obtain feedback from the customers by using exhibitions and experience seminars and, therefore, this contact drives the company’s goal of maintaining the customer’s satisfaction. In addition, they maintain good relations with automobile dealers who are the major players in determining how the companies selling rate is achieved. Also, the employees in the company are provided with safety precautions that help prevent harm at the manufacturing plants. Their health, as well as their wages, are improved, and this helps to maintain the employee condition at the company’s manufacturing and production units (Ackerman, p44). ENVIRONMENTAL PERFORMANCE. The Toyota company is sensitive to the environment and, therefore, each of its goals is based on the believe that their vehicles can be in harmony with the environment. Therefore, they are producing Eco cars that will be environmental friendly; producing minimal carbon gases to the environment while still maintaining the efficiency of the vehicles in terms of speed and energy consumption. In addition, they want to evolve from using petroleum products as the source of energy for other better and safer means such as hydrogen, electricity and bio-fuels. The safety of the vehicles, the grid and its mobility also are the fundamental goals that drive each and every production level in the company. They have utilized other environmental conservation measures such as recycling of the manufacturing wastes as well as disposing of them appropriately to avoid pollution to the environment. The manufacturing companies also have bio-filters that minimize the amount of carbon that is emitted to the environment. The sound system in the vehicles is also in such a way that it does not pollute the surroundings while at the same time providing better sound qualities suited for the customers (Brown, J.K, p95). For the Toyota Company, the social as well as the environmental performances of the company are important to the company as they help them to strategic on the critical areas that need improvements. This helps them to maintain a positive customer environment (Bauer,p69) while at the same time helping to conserve the environment. Therefore, it is very clear that each of the automobile companies has its strategic agenda that it has put in place ways in which they achieve the objectives. The strategies vary from one company to another but however it is evident that the social and the environmental performances of the companies are in the relation and dependent on one another. To create a better social performance environment for the company, and then the environment at which the company is producing should to be active and in contrast with its social environment. One of the strategies, therefore, cannot help the company to achieve its goals on its own. The social performance of the company determines the also the environment at which the company is to produce at. In addition, the environmental performance of the company also determines how socially the company is going to improve or not. However, the limitations of the social performances and the environmental performance are evident. This is due to the fact that none of the companies has achieved a total 100 percentage in integrating the social and the environmental aspects of the company with the rate of production, manufacture and the eventual sales of the automobiles. Though they diversify the mobility of the vehicles too, there are limitations in terms of customer locations, the affordability of the cars to the customers, and the efficiency at which the customers can acquire the services from each of the companies. Though they use social platforms to gain customer comments and background information on their customer preferences (Aldag, J.K, p46), the companies are not in total control of the information that they gain, such that they can obtain information that suits one particular party while the other party is shut out. This leads to the production of automobiles that are favorite of a particular group while the other group is cut out. This reduces the number of customers that gain access to the services of that particular company. In addition, the conservation measures that the companies put in place to prevent the pollution of the environment are not sufficient enough as they pollute the environment, even though, its at a low rate. This limitation can, however, yield higher levels of carbon in the atmosphere, where given time, they can become harmful to the environment by causing global warming. RECOMMENDATIONS. The companies should put in place measures that enable marginalized people and those with low-income wages to access their automobiles by producing vehicles that suit their prices while at the same time providing the safety, efficiency and better energy consumption capabilities. Also, they should use customized nonlinear platforms where people can access direct help services at any particular place and low or no toll costs. The wastes from the companies should be recycled or dumped at safe dumping sites where they cannot harm nature or the environment in general. Emissions from the companies should be filtered or channeled to other compartments in the company where they can be transformed into other less harmful gases that can be disposed of off in the air without causing much harm to it. Work cited. 1. Ackerman, Bauer, R.A. 1976. Corporate and social responsiveness. Reston, VA: Reston Publishing. 2. Aldag, & Jackson, R.W, D.W, Jr 1975. A managerial framework for social decision-making. MSU Business Topics, Spring: 33-40. 3. Ackerman, R.W, 1975. The social change to the business. Cambridge, MA: Havard University Press. 4. Brown J.K. 1979. This business of issues: coping with the companys environments. 5. 12/04/2015- https://www.ethex.org.uk/social and environmental performance indicators.l gases that can be disposed of off in the air without causing much harm to it. Read More