Analysis Of Factors Influencing Activities Of Bmw Marketing Essay

Analysis Of Factors Influencing Activities Of Bmw Marketing Essay This text is an analysis of factors influencing the activities of BMW in its efforts to enhance the participation in national and international markets. At the very beginning of the text, the link between profitability and competition is briefly outlined. The nest phase provides a brief insight into the background of the firm, followed by a brief insight into the Mintzberg’s and Whittington’s views on emergent school of strategy formation. The history of the BMW is scrutinised to identify an event which has presented the firm with the strategic paradoxes discussed by Mintzberg. The next chapter of the report consists of an analysis of the external environment with the aid of a PESTLE and Porter’s Diamond Framework and a look into the impact of home market condition on BMW’s international activities. The final chapters of the report outlines the key strategic decisions that BMW will have to take in the near future and the implementation issues related to t he decisions concern. Table of Contents 1.0 Introduction 1 2.0 Organisational background 2 3.0 Scope 3 4.0 Strategy paradoxes in BMW’s history 3 5.0 External environment 5 6.0 Internal strengths and weaknesses 8 7.0 Key strategic decisions or recommendations 10 8.0 Implementation challenges 10 9.0 Conclusion 11 10.0 References 13 12.0 Appendices 14 Appendix A – BMW Group in Figures 14 List of Figures Figure 1: BMW Group Revenues by region 2 Figure 2: BMW Group Deliveries of automobiles by region and market 2 Figure 3: Oil price trend 5 Figure 4: Exchange rates compared to the Euro 6 Figure 5: BMW Group in figures 14 1.0 Introduction An organisation can increase upon its profitability either by locating an attractive industry or by establishing a distinct competitive advantage over its rivals. Over the years with increasing competition across all the industries, very few industries environments guarantee definitive secure returns. Establishing a competitive advantage, t hus, has become the primary goal of devising any strategy within an organisation. A successful organisation makes its balance sheet stronger by establishing and sustaining competitive advantage. The secret of sustaining competitive advantage in a firm lies in its expertise at keeping their competitors away from imitating successful strategies. The greater the difficulty that rivals face in analysing the resources and capabilities required in order to imitate the source of competitive advantage, the greater is the sustainability of the firm’s competitive advantage. Resources and capabilities, thus, are fundamental to a company’s strategy and decision-making. However, in an international context, a firm’s potential for competitive advantage not only lies in its resources and capabilities but also by the government under which it operates, the legal policies in those countries, exchange rates and a number of other factors. Thus, in order to decide whether an organi sation should participate more at national and international level necessitates a thorough analysis of two factors – (i) the industrial attractiveness of the overseas market and (ii) the firm’s capability of effectively transferring its resource and capabilities to the new location. While I put forward my arguments and analysis, I would like to follow a structured approach. I would first provide a brief organisational background followed by the scope of this report. Next, I would touch upon the organisational history and highlight couple of critical incidents to illustrate some of the strategy paradoxes by some of the leading commentators from the emergent school of thought. I would then perform an external environment analysis in order to identify the threats and opportunities in the industry followed by an internal analysis to ascertain the strengths and weaknesses of the organisation. This would lead to the key success factors and finally I would come up with the ke y strategic decisions that the company need to take and the implementation challenges associated with it before concluding this report.