Value Chain management - Essay Example

Process Improvement and Relationship Management As far as process improvement and relationship management is concerned, one of the key complementorsin this regard is the need for the automobile industry to align its business goals with those of the society known as corporate social responsibility (Aras & Crowther, 2009). Nissan, in pursuit of strategy, identified 8 key areas (Appendix 1) one of which was the value chain (Nissan, 2011). The CSR Scorecard (Nissan, 2011) (Appendix 2) helps the company balance its short term goals with long term (CSR) goals which has led to the company’s adoption of Kaizen (continuous improvement) and Kanban (used to gain efficiency in terms of short lead time, hence, prompt delivery to customers in ‘real’ time).

Another complementor, with respect to Relationship Management and Process Improvement, is the highly competitive automobile industry with cut throat competition between the company and General Motors, Honda and Toyota as is reflected by the competitive stock market of the respective companies (C.Heckscher & S.Adler, 2006)(Appendix 3). This provides an incentive for Nissan to come up with state of the art technology and new ways of serving customers better (process improvement). Furthermore, relationship management with customers is complemented by state of the art technology of the company, including the Nissan Fleet Communications (NFC) which provides customer support and maintains a customer database (Jha, 2008).

Technology Management/ Relationship Management Perhaps, one of the most recent and core complementor is the Earthquake in Japan (and previously the Tsunami) which has virtually shaken the foundations of major Japanese manufacturers. The company is recently facing supply chain management crisis due to shortages of key parts. In some cases, the supplier was changed, in others; the plant was fixed by the supplier. The Renault/Nissan alliance of 1999 is yet another complementor as far as Technology Management is concerned which was the first of kind industrial partnership involving French and a Japanese company (Aras & Crowther, 2009).

Nissan attained a hallmark turnaround in its financial operations since this synergy which is based on sharing of technology and expertise (defined by David Yoffie and Mary Kwak, the in the Harvard Business Review as “soft” power) (Aras & Crowther, 2009). Furthermore, Nissan’s strong market presence in Asia and U.S was complemented by Renault’s strong market in Europe. Costs were reduced; however, Nissan’s conservative internal culture had the potential to be at clash with Renault’s French culture leading to poor relationship management.

Knowledge Management National culture has a powerful influence(is a complementor) on shaping culture and people’s approach towards “knowledge management” in Nissan so much so that organizational culture may become void. The Japanese culture is a major complementor as it places emphasis on the “application” of knowledge to real life situations (GEMBA) rather than mere acquisition (Temple, 2006). References: Aras, G. & Crowther, D., 2009. Global perspectives on corporate governance and CSR.

Surrey: Gower Publishing Limited. C.Heckscher, C. & S.Adler, P., 2006. The firm as a collaborative community: reconstructing trust in the knowledge Economy. New York: Oxford University Press. Daily Finance, 2011. Top Competitors Performance Comparison: NSANY. Available at: [Accessed 11 May 2011]. Jha, L., 2008. Customer Relationship Management: A Strategic Approach. New Delhi: Global India Publications Pvt Ltd. Nissan, 2011. Corporate Information. [Online] Nissan Available at: HYPERLINK "http://www.

nissan-global.com/EN/COMPANY/CSR/NISSAN/index.html" http://www.nissan-global.com/EN/COMPANY/CSR/NISSAN/index.html [Accessed 11 May 2011]. Nissan, 2011. Eight Key Areas. Available at: [Accessed 12 May 2011]. Nissan, 2011. Nissan CSR Scorecard. Available at: [Accessed 12 May 2011]. Temple, J., 2006. Developing and implementing a knowledge management strategy in a muti-cultural engineering design environment. Cranfield: Cranfield University Press. Appendix 1 Source: Nissan, 2011. Eight Key Areas Appendix 2 Source: Nissan, 2011.

Nissan CSR Scorecard Appendix 3 Source: Daily Finance, 2011. Top Competitors Performance Comparison: NSANY