Management of The Jaguar Land Rover Plc - Case Study Example

The Jaguar Land Rover PLC: Management Report I. Executive summary Today the global economy is recovering from the impacts of the recent global recession, and hence governments are really interested in supporting businesses so as to fasten the rebuilding process of the economy. This particular business environment is very much favourable for companies to expand their businesses and to attain wider geographical coverage. JLR’s plan to enter the US automotive market seems to be a potential strategy for the company to take advantages of the current positive consumer behaviour in regards to its classic and luxurious cars. Today the US automotive industry has better proximity to improved logistics facilities, infrastructure, and advanced technology. The increasing number of internet users in the US is also advantageous for JLR to obtain benefit from a fast growing online retail sector. II. Introduction The Jaguar Land Rover PLC is a UK based automobile company headquartered at Whitley in Coventry. The Jaguar Land Rover was established when an Indian company Tata Motors took over Jaguar and Rover businesses from Ford. Currently the company operates profitably despite its financially struggling recent past and is planning to expand its business to United States by opening a new plant. This paper will analyze the feasibility of the firm’s decision to open a new plant in the US using tools like PESTLE and Porter’s Five Forces. The paper will also evaluate the impact of the planned expansion on the firm’s supply chain management. Finally, the paper will come up with the importance of E-retail sector in the current business context. III. Decision making In order to make a potential decision regarding the opening of a new JLR plant in the USA, it is necessary to gather and analyse data and information concerning the US car market and the automobile industry. Market analysis tools like Porter’s Five Forces model, PESTLE analysis, and SWOT analysis can be extremely helpful for the JLR management to think more strategically about the new business expansion plan. Porter’s Five Forces model Porter’s Five Forces model can be best applied to analyse the micro environment of the automobile industry. Degree of competitive rivalry Intensity of the competitive rivalry is very high in the global automotive market (Shimokawa, 2010, p.40). Competition in the automotive industry is characterised with intense price slashes, advertising campaigns, and technological innovations. As part of cut-throat price competition, profit margins are low in the industry. In order to maintain product quality and to improve the brand image, major automobile companies including Toyota have made some significant product recalls over the last decade. Similarly today car manufactures increasingly rely on outsourcing works to take advantages of cheap labour and other operating costs. The US automotive sector is already congested with numerous auto marketers, and therefore high degree of competition raises serious challenges to JLR’s business expansion plan. Threat of new entrants Threat of new entrants is very low in the automotive industry because huge investment, in-depth technical knowledge, long industry experience, and enormous manpower are inevitably essential to operate in the automobile industry successfully (Rainer& Turban 2008, p.37). Strict regulations and new government policies concerning environment protection and sustainable development become a potential barrier for the new market entrants. New entrants lack a strong distribution network, which is one of the primary requirements for running an automobile company successfully. This market situation is beneficial to JLR as the company is already a well established car manufacturer. Threat of substitutes Threat of substitutes is medium in the automotive industry mainly because of high switching costs. To explain, it may not be possible for an individual to sell his brand new car for the same price he/she bought it. In addition, other alternatives of transportation like bus, train, or taxi cannot effectively replace cars that give a greater level of convenience to users. However, the emerging used cars market is becoming a serious threat to the automotive industry as used cars are more affordable to low class and middle class people. Hence the feasibility of the JLR’s expansion plan is a bit uncertain in the perspective of substitution threats. Supplier power Supplier power is low in the US automotive industry because there are numerous potential suppliers offering uninterrupted materials supply to car manufacturers. Moreover, many of the suppliers rely on carmakers to maintain their profitability, and they have probably only one carmaker as client. As a result, suppliers are less likely to bargain over price as they do not want to dissatisfy their client(s) and thereby to face demand crisis. Also it is to be noted that auto unions in US are tremendously powerful, and this situation may pose some level of threats to JLR. In total, bargaining power of suppliers may not be a problem for JLR in the context of the firm’s plan to spread its business to US. Buyer power Buyer power is also low in the automotive industry. It is obvious that people do not generally buy cars in bulk quantities and hence they have no substantial bargaining power. In addition, people are less likely to make frequent car purchases and therefore the threat of switching providers is low. JLR mainly focuses on luxurious cars which are considered status products, and hence customers are less likely to bargain whatever the prices are. In short, bargaining power of buyers does not seem to be a challenge to JLR. PESTLE analysis PESTLE analysis is a widely accepted tool to analyse the macroeconomic environment of a market. Here this tool is used to evaluate the potentiality of the US automobile sector considering the JLR’s plan to open a new plant in USA. Political factors The US has a strong political landscape that supports innovation and development. Democratic Party and Republican Party represent two major political parties of US and currently the Democratic Party, led by Barack Obama is in power. The US political environment is friendly to multinational corporations and other overseas businesses. Economic factors The economic status of the US seems to be favourable for the JLR because the country is now on the course of economic recovery after the recent global recession. The US Federal government has announced a number of financial packages to encourage business firms and to instill confidence in investors so as to rebuild the economy. Hence, JLR can benefit from trade concessions and liberalised tariff rates. Social factors The fast changing tastes and preferences of US auto customers seem to be a potential threat to JLR. However, US people are relatively wealthy and almost all of them can afford to buy a car. Hence JLR can easily capture the US automotive market if it is able to meet the changing needs of customers. Technological factors Evidently United States is a technologically developed country and the country’s technological landscape offers all advanced facilities to the automotive industry. In addition, information technology is also highly advanced in the US and therefore the JLR can rely on internet and other telecommunication facilities to spread its business in the country. Legal factors The US’ legal environment may appear unfavourable to JLR because the country is never willing to compromise its policies regarding environmental sustainability and worksite safety. Currently the Federal government is considering stricter regulations to reduce CO2 emissions in the country which in turn would make it difficult for the JLR to enter the US automotive market. Environmental factors Today the government and people are increasingly aware of the dreadful environmental impacts of issues like global warming, climate change, and pollution and therefore they are less likely to support any business that does not comply with the Federal policies of sustainable development. Hence the JLR needs to invest additionally in environmental protection. SWOT analysis Finally it is important to conduct an SWOT analysis to form a sound decision on JLR’s plan to open a new plant in USA. Strengths While analysing the internal management strengths of the organisation, it seems that JLR has a strong brand image. In recent years, Jaguar has been known as the automobile brand for prime ministers. In addition, Jaguar holds Royal Warrants from HM Queen Elizabeth II and HRH Prince Charles on the strength of its stylishly designed luxurious cars. Similarly Land Rover has grown into a renowned brand since its establishment in 1948. In addition, the firm has a long experience in the automotive industry so that it can effectively deal with market contingencies and related crises. Weaknesses Although the company has recently come back to profitability after long years’ financial struggles and losses, investors are still doubtful about the long term success of the JLR. It is a challenging task for JLR to regain investor trust and hence to achieve stable growth. Opportunities Evidently the fast recovering US economy offers the most potential opportunity for the organisation because JLR can take advantages of concessional tariff rates and other financial packages. In addition, a growing middle class also raises great opportunities for the company. Finally the popularity of social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, and You Tube can benefit JLR to promote its cars in North America at cheap costs. Threats Fast changing customer expectations in the automobile segment seem to be a potential threat to the business expansion of JLR. In addition, strict environment regulations and other CSR policies may pose many operational challenges to the company. Cost Benefit Analysis Cost benefit analysis is a widely accepted decision making technique that can help corporations to make sound business decisions by analysing the costs and benefits of the proposal or plan. While using this decision making tool, a monetary value is put on the decision under consideration so as to obtain a clear image of the situation (Mahmood, n.d.). If JLR decides to go on with the expansion plan, the company will need to invest hugely in the North American market to establish its plant and grow the business. As mentioned already, the company became profitable very recently, and hence still there is an uncertainty about the future operations of the firm. If the company fails to make profit as much as expected, JLR will certainly face dreadful financial difficulties and probably end up in liquidation. In addition, intensity of competition is very high in the US automotive market and hence it would be a troublesome task for the company to operate successfully in the US market. However, the planned business expansion to the US can help the organisation spread its risks and thereby minimise its exposure to unforeseen contingencies. It is clear that the proposed business idea may assist the organisation to improve its volume of revenues so that JLR is less likely to be affected by fund crisis even when there is a need for emergency funding. A strong global presence is assistable for the company to address regional demand decline issues effectively and to maintain profitability. Furthermore market forecasts show that demand for automobiles is likely to increase over the next years, and such a future trend would justify the JLR’s decision to spread its business to the US. To conclude, the benefits of the expansion decision can outweigh its costs and therefore it is recommendable for the company to proceed with its plan. IV. Supply Chain Management Impact of the decision on the supply chain Supply chain management is an integral part of the organisational management and it can be simply referred to the management of flow of goods. “A supply chain is defined as a network of facilities and distribution options that performs the functions of procurement of materials, transformation of these materials into intermediate and finished products, and the distribution of these finished supply chain management” (Lee & Billington, as cited in Srinivasan, 2010, p.14). Supply chain management has mainly three key functions. First is to manage the flow of raw materials into an organisation. Secondly, supply chain management focuses on certain aspects of internal processing whereby raw materials are transformed into finished goods. The third function is to manage the movement of finished goods towards the end consumers. Now it is clear that JLR’s decision to expand to the US market can have a great impact on the firm’s supply chain. When the company opens a new production plant in the US, it must necessarily need to deal with movement of an increased volume of goods and develop additional facilities to distribute the products to ultimate consumers. In the initial stage, the organisation may need to depend on outside agencies or other intermediaries to meet its transportation needs. Furthermore, JLR has to pay particular attention to its logistics management so as to ensure uninterrupted flow of raw materials to the production plant and finished goods to end consumers. As the company is a new player to the US market, JLR must give specific focus to reducing ownership of distribution channels and raw materials sources in order to cut down production costs. However, sometimes such a practice can lead to many pitfalls in the supply chain management. When the organisation operates in more number of countries, it would be a challenging task for the supply chain management to coordinate various value chain activities effectively and to promote the shared interests of the organisation. As the US is an English speaking country, language barriers would not trouble the communication needs of the JLR. At the same time, the US is an agglomeration of numerous cultures, and therefore it may be a difficult task for the JLR management to carry out its supply chain activities in an effective way. In short, JLR’s plan to enter the US market can significantly impact the firm’s supply chain activities. Effects on production processes The firm can attain greater level of efficiency in new facilities in regards to production. According to a Wall Street Journal report by Choudhury (2011), JLR sold a record 425,006 vehicles last year due to increased demand for its luxury vehicles in leading automobile markets including Europe and China. The company should specifically try to take maximum advantages of this high market demand because luxury cars have high profit margins. However, JLR must strive to constantly improve its product quality through technological innovations because people spend huge amount of money on JLR cars only to enjoy superior quality and features. When the company opens its plant in USA, it can gain better proximity to improved transportation facilities, well developed infrastructure, and reputed engineering firms. The company can easily hire experienced and highly qualified personnel when it is operating in the United States because candidates around the globe are interested to work in the US so as to enjoy improved living standards. Evidently, availability of skilled employees and other technologically advanced facilities would assist the organisation to develop high quality products at minimum costs. Corporate taxes are relatively lower in United States and this favourable business situation is beneficial for JLR to cut down its production costs and hence to improve profitability. Facilities like electricity and water are cheaply available in the US and therefore the JLR management can ensure uninterrupted flow of production. Similarly land availability is a major factor influencing production. While compared to dense population countries like China, it is easy for the company to find wide land areas required for establishing production plant in the US. In addition, importing costs are relatively low in the country and hence the company can cost effectively import cheap raw materials from other countries so as to minimise production costs. Finally hard working mentality of American people can positively influence the JLR’s production activities and thereby the company can maintain a better productivity. In short, JLR’s plan to expand to the US can benefit the company to attain greater production efficiencies in regards to quality and cost. Importance of supplier relationships While proceeding with this business expansion plan, it is particularly important for the company to consider the significance of good supplier relationships. Since a company is really dependent on its suppliers, suppliers’ needs must be an integral part of the company’s strategic plan. Majority of the organisations think that they have a dominant position over their suppliers and can exploit them with reasonable demands because they (organisations) place the purchase orders. The JLR management must understand the fact that good supplier relationship is the key to a business’ improved health and growth. The raw materials provided by suppliers can positively or negatively affect the quality of JLR cars. Higher product quality can assist the company to achieve increased customer satisfaction, which in turn can contribute to better sales. In addition, timely delivery of raw materials is inevitably crucial to ensure uninterrupted flow of production processes and to maintain the reliability of the organisation. A quick turnaround is a potential strategy to minimise JLR’s inventory, which in turn is vital to lessen the risk of inventory obsolescence and cash needs. Here JLR cannot achieve a quick turnaround unless it maintains healthy relationship with its suppliers. Suppliers can greatly assist the organisation to improve its competitiveness by providing improved pricing, quality, technological breakthroughs, and a good understanding of the industry trends. They can also significantly contribute to JLR’s product development because suppliers are always working to enhance technological innovations. If JLR maintains close relationship with its suppliers and is proven to be loyal and reliable customer, suppliers may allow the company to take more time to pay its outstanding balance. Suppliers may also offer financial assistance in different forms such as extended terms on new purchases, loans, or an investment in JLR (Reiss, 2010). If the JLR tries to take unfair advantages of its suppliers by making unjustifiable requests, the suppliers would be annoyed and this situation may hurt the long term interests of the company. An integrated operation between JLR and its suppliers is important to assess the existing industry trends and to predict for the future. “A good buyer-seller relationship is a partnership, a win-win situation over the long run” (Purchasing, n.d.). When JLR treats its suppliers with courtesy, honesty, and fairness, they would provide better service and try their best to be responsive to emergency situations and special requests. A supplier who is treated well may be willing to share their industry experiences with JLR, and such a practice can really benefit the organisation to better plan for the future. Importance of quality While spreading its business to the US market, the JLR must pay specific attention to maintaining its product quality because JLR cars are prominent for its superior quality and luxury features. If the organisation becomes willing to compromise its product quality so as to gain short term financial benefits, the situation would lead to customer dissatisfaction and sales declines. As discussed already, recently many leading automobile companies were forced to recall their products due to quality issues and suffered huge losses. Therefore, maintaining quality is important for JLR to avoid such product recalls and minimise its exposure to customer dissatisfaction and huge financial losses. Superior quality is particularly essential for JLR to enhance customer loyalty mainly because the company increasingly targets high class customers who want o publicly express their social status. Improved quality can also assist the organisation to gain accreditation from a widely accepted quality standard like ISO 9001, published by the International Organisation for Standardisation. Evidently such accreditations would make JLR a reputed automobile brand to customers, and hence the company can enjoy high reliability. Evidently, a decline in quality would hurt customer expectations and they will probably switch their demand to other alternatives. When the organisation is able to constantly meet customer expectations by maintaining quality, customers would remain loyal to the company and suggest the brand to their friends and relatives. It is obvious that mouth publicity is really a potential way to improve sales volume without actually involving any promotional cost. This situation can ultimately benefit JLR to achieve long term revenues and profitability. Quality can also influence the firm’s reputation significantly because today customers share their opinions of a product in social networking website and other online product review forums. Higher quality can provide JLR with a well recognised corporate stature, which in turn is inevitable to maintain shareholder confidence and to attract more investors. In addition, meeting quality standards is extremely important for the organisation to comply with legislation and to be an accredited player in the automotive industry. To sum up, product quality would be a substantial factor determining the feasibility of the JLR’s decision to enter the US automobile market. V. E-Commerce Benefits of B2B E-Commerce strategy With the onset of 21st century, information technology and telecommunication facilities have dramatically grown to meet the growing and ever changing needs of businesses. Today most of the leading businesses, regardless of their nature and size, exploit the unimaginable opportunities offered by the E-commerce sector. A Business to Business E-commerce strategy is inevitable for the growing companies to deliver a better online shopping experience to their customers. A well developed B2B E-commerce strategy can assist the JLR management to sell more number of cars at lower costs and to improve sales efficiency. This business strategy can serve as a framework for the JLR’s E-commerce efforts, guide the firm’s choices, and provide continuity of operations. B2B EC strategy is extremely helpful for the organisation to keep its E-commerce goals in focus as this strategy ensures that JLR’s E-commerce efforts are not distracted by recent technological advancements or changes in the competitors’ websites (Kenneth, 2011, p.381). Implementing a well developed B2B EC strategy can benefit JLR to approach the project in phases and which in turn would make it easier for the company to incorporate new and potential technologies to its E-commerce website without causing any delay to the current progress. Another notable benefit of having a clear B2B EC strategy is that it would assist the organisation to budget for additional functionality. Developing a well-structured E-commerce strategy can benefit JLR to prevent ‘scope creep’, which occurs when the scope of a project is not clearly defined or controlled. In today’s business context, a potential E-commerce strategy is necessary for JLR to address competition threats effectively because all of its competitors have a strong presence in the E-commerce sector. Referring to expert views, such a strategy can help the organisation trim down operational costs, improve sales, and strengthen relationship between trading partners. Evidently, this can assist the company to gain wider market coverage to reach even geographically challenging market territories. Another significant advantage is that the B2B EC strategy is beneficial for JLR to minimise its procurement costs even while dealing with huge volume of products. This E-commerce strategy can be a better tool to reduce human intervention, to minimise overhead expenses, and to avoid errors. In total, implementing a well developed B2B EC strategy is better for JLR to take maximum advantages of the opportunities emerging in the online business world. Opportunities and threats in the online retail environment There are numerous opportunities and some threats existing in the online retailing environment and therefore JLR must gain an in-depth knowledge of the peculiar features of the online retail sector. Today the vast majority of the US people have full time access to internet. To illustrate, internet users in North America account for 11.4% of the total internet users worldwide (Internet world stats: Usage and population statistics, 2012). Most of the Americans buy products and services using debit/credit card because online shopping offers great advantages of time and money. Today’s people lead a busy daily life and their strict working schedule allows them to spend little time on activities like shopping. People find it extremely convenient to purchase items online because this practice assists buyers to meet their needs instantly and cost-effectively (Goswami & Khan, 2012). Another advantage of online buying is that buyers obtain a wider choice of selection while purchasing online. Hence the growing popularity of the online retail sector raises potential opportunities to JLR. Today most of the companies have their E-commerce websites designed for smartphones and tablets. It is obvious that nowadays people use tablets and smartphones more often than desktop and laptop computers to purchase items online. Due to significant technological advancements in the recent years, smartphones are now affordable to even daily wage people, and therefore the online retail sector has immense future growth potential. In addition, the fast growing popularity of social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter also contributes to the future scope of online retailing. Many of the leading online retailers have created their Facebook pages and they link their E-commerce websites to those pages to gain wider market coverage and to generate more sales. According to a statistical study, the E-retail industry has immense potential for growth and it will be worth nearly $76 billion by 2021 (Pawar, 2013). In spite of the strong positive forecasts about the future growth of the E-retail industry, it faces a number of serious threats too. System breakdowns and security failures noticeably reduce the scope of online retailing as those issues raise many doubts concerning the reliability of online retail transactions. Today cyber criminals become a strong threat to online retailing industry as they often manage to obtain unauthorised access to users’ credit/debit card details and to deceitfully make purchases on behalf of the actual users. Similarly, maintaining confidentiality of the user information is another challenge to online retailers due to increased spread of malwares, malicious links, and other forms of cyber attacks. Hence it is particularly important for JLR to be informed of the opportunities and threats existing in the online retail environment. Consumer behaviour While analysing the consumer behaviour in relation to JLR and its products, it seems that now consumers have a positive attitude towards the products and services delivered by the company. JLR management has invested heavily in research and development in response to its declining sales and poor brand image. This brand rebuilding efforts greatly assisted the company to launch classic and luxurious Jaguar XF and XK models successfully. Official data indicate that the company invested over £1 billion per annum over the five forthcoming years to develop innovative models that can effectively meet modern consumer expectations and to strengthen JLR’s position internationally. Consumers positively responded to these changes and as a result the firm’s sales grew up 95% and 25% for the XF and XK models respectively. This change in the consumer behaviour more visibly reflected in emerging markets like India and China posting a 43% sales increase in China. Recently the company’s sales volume increased by 51% from £6.6 billion to £9.9 billion and JLR recorded annual profits of more than £1.1 billion. Considering this positive consumer behaviour in relation to JLR products, the company has set car production target at 300,000 by 2015. In short, the company has competitive advantages in terms of consumer behaviour in relation to its products. However, the company needs to take additional efforts to satisfy consumer preferences within the E-commerce world. First, the company should design its E-commerce website suitable for smartphones and tablets because today most of the people use such mobile devices to purchase items online. In addition, JLR must be up to date with recent technological advancements so as to gain a competitive edge over its market rivals. The organisation may also think about offering customised product specification facilities to online customers because consumer tastes and preferences may be different from individual to individual. Finally, JLR can conduct periodical online surveys to be in line with changing consumer preferences and hence to achieve greater level of customer satisfaction. Fraud in the E-commerce world Fraudulent practices pose serious threats to the E-commerce world because EC transactions involve transfer of money through internet. In E-commerce transactions, money is transferred through online electronic payments, such as the use of debit cards, credit cards, or online fund transfers. Since there is no globally accepted system for verifying the integrity and accuracy of information that flow through internet, online buyers need to make judgment calls to ensure the reliability of the information displayed in websites. However a very few people do it to secure their transaction as people are not really aware of the security threats existing in internet. Cyber laws are vague in many jurisdictions and therefore law enforcement agencies find it difficult to take strong actions against cyber criminals. There are many types of frauds in E-commerce world. When regulators take effective steps to prevent a particular type of fraudulent practice, hackers and other fraud people develop new methods to intrude into others’ privacy. Hacking does not mean a computer expert sitting all the time before a computer and doing coding to get unauthorised access to a server or to crack a security system. Today even people who have a little programming knowledge intrude into firms’ security networks and steal passwords and other sensitive information. Phishing, vishing, and smishing are some of the major techniques used by hackers to defraud security systems and to gain unauthorised access to an account. JLR must be aware of these serious security threats existing in the E-commerce world to promote reliability of online transactions and to maintain customer loyalty. The company can avoid security threats in the E-retail industry to some extent by giving particular focus to its features. JLR may also insist its clients to change their passwords frequently to prevent the theft of data and information. In addition, there are many fraud detection software available in the market and therefore JLR can use such a software to secure its online transactions. Finally, the company may also seek the assistance of outside IT firms to support its security systems and networks. VI. Recommendations and Conclusions From the above discussion, it is clear that the JLR’s plan to expand its business to the United States can offer the company numerous advantages in the long term. The strategic analysis tools like Porter’s Five Forces, SWOT, and PESTLE suggest that the US automobile industry and the country’s macro-economic environment provide a favourable environment to the company to spread its business in the country. It is also identified that this business decision can have many positive impacts on the firm’s supply chain. Specifically, this business expansion plan can assist the company to produce technologically advanced and quality cars at relatively cheap costs. It is strongly recommendable for the company to focus particularly on product quality in order to meet customer satisfaction and thereby to keep them loyal in the long term. In addition, the company has to pay specific attention to better supplier relationships because suppliers can significantly aid the company with higher quality, cheap prices, quick delivery, and credit sales. 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