case study

Question 1

current trends

Answer 1

• brexit (add costs for car manufacturers / dealerships esp tariffs, customs, regualtions)
• economic uncertainty (rising interest rate and cost of living has lowered, demand decrease impacting capacity utilisation)
• electric vehicles (ban on sale of new petrol and diesel cars from 2030)
• environmental regulations (UK & EU set emission standards and carbon dioxide targets, manafacturers must invest and meet these- costly)
• online sales & comp (rise of online car sales platforms changes how cars are bought and sold increasing comp. rise of ride sharing affects demand for personal car ownership
• labour shortages (car manufacturers facing labour shortages as EU workers who filled these roles are less likely to work in UK)

Question 2

porters 5 forces on comp environment

Answer 2

rivalry amongst competitors:
- increased in last 40 years as market has become more globalised, esp on cost leadership

threat of new entrants:
- expensive to start up as high capital investment. quality / safety/ reliability is hard to establish. biggest threat is existing companies diversifying into EVs

threat of subs:
- public transport, bikes

buyer bargaining power:
- buyers have lots of power due to wide variety. consumers likely to ship around and find best price between dealerships

supplier bargaining power:
- manufacturers rely heavily on suppliers, and cost of changing can be high, lack of supply and high sales quantity can lead to high supplier power

Question 3

types of quality management

Answer 3

quality control:
checking quality at end of production

quality assurance:
checking quality throughout production

TQM:
where improving quality is embedded into culture

kaizen:
attitude of continuous improvement

Question 4

why staff are important (recruitment, selection and training)

Answer 4

manufacturing- mostly capital intensive so not much

dealership- main selling agents, important as they encourage sales

servicing- must provide good service to gain loyalty. small businesses need retention and positive rs

Question 5

motivation theory

Answer 5

financial motivators: commission likely in dealerships

non financial: job enrichment, rotation

Question 6

leadership styles

Answer 6

autocratic:
leader is in charge, makes all decisions

democratic:
leader makes decisions but consults staff

paternalistic:
decisions made w employees

laissez faire
left to employees

Question 7

entrepreneur roles and characteristics

Answer 7

roles:
- generates business
- generates ideas
- grows business

characteristics:
- risk taking
- communication
- creativity
- vision

Question 8

impacts of protectionism

Answer 8

• imposes trade restriction to disincentivise imports therefore encourage domestic production

trading blocs:
- promotes trade
- removes tariffs / quotas

Question 9

car manufacturers, dealers, services

Answer 9

M:
- large multinational corporations
- benefit from large eos
- many mncs own several brands

D:
- often franchises
- importance of customer loyalty and repeat customers

S:
- often independently owned, small
- comp is usually w larger dealer garages
- local competition
- rs w customers / loyalty so importance of staff