Assignment Sample on LD0474 Strategic Management for Competitive Advantage

Introduction

The report will significantly shed light upon the organisation First Motors and its current business planning and strategies in the market. In this respect, the organisation has found to be having an increase in market share of 1.4%. The organisation’s main vision has been identified to provide green vehicles along with promoting sustainability across the European market.

Furthermore, an idea has been gathered that First Motors are targeting the market segment under 25-40 and 41-55. Adding to this, the organisation is taking several initiatives regarding hybrid engine utilisation which will effectively help to meet all the objectives of the company in upcoming years. In this respect, an overall performance of the company is reflected in the below table.

Table 1: Summary of First Motor’s performance

Company performance

Round 1:

The key performance measures have included different perception factors that are associated with the increment of the organisational products accountability for potential consumers. These include heads up driver display, LED auto headlights and anti-theft system, automatic transmission and adaptive cruise control, hands free tailgate, rain sensors and others. Apart from that, the prospects of keyless entry, wireless charging pad, dynamic sound pack and others can also be summarised as the key performance measures that can differentiate the organisational products as compared with their competitors’ offerings. In this regard, the organisation is also looking in order to invest £ 65 million in automation.

The market forecast for round 1 has highlighted the expected growth of the car market with increasing sales. The small car market is eventually projected to conceptualize a little change where the large car market is likely to grow by around 3%. The inflation rate of this year was standing at 3.84 % which is predicted to stay around 2% in the next year.

Figure 1: Profit and loss breakdown for first motors

The outcome of round 1 highlights a closing bank balance of £ 267.96 million for first motors limited. Round one has eventually highlighted 9.06 % post-tax profit. The gross profit of the company was standing at £ 1538.11 million during the first round where the overall operating profit stood at £ 513.45 million. The aforementioned figure has been highlighting the breakdown of profit and loss consequences on behalf of the organisation in accordance with the prospects of round 1 outcomes.

Apart from that, round one outcome has highlighted distinctive emphasis upon the consideration of product quality improvement with the help of key perception factors and included options. The available options have eventually paid attention to focus on product development due to which adequate research facilities were likely to be provided. The overall research and development projects noticed during the first round reflects relaunching of both small and medium cars. In this case, the small car of the organisation KLAUS has been guaranteed a six-year research and development project for ensuing zero emissions engines. Moreover, the medium car Sail is likely to include a long-range electric facility along with bidirectional charging infrastructure. It is also supported by the conceptualisation of frost-free windows.

With the arrangement of decent financial support obtained through bank loan and positive cash flow, the company is expected to revolutionise their existing offerings and product base under the shape of advanced innovation. It eventually satisfies the organisational decision to consider key perception factors as an integral part of extending their products accountability for potential consumers and the current market. However, the decision of making adequate investment might also play a supportive role in this case.

Round 2:

The market forecast for the second round has highlighted the estimated increase of the car sales volume from 13.2 million to 14.4 million. The inflation rate in this time was standing at 2.40 % which is also estimated to calm down at around 2% in the next year. With regards to this concern, First Motors has been looking to provide adequate financial support for increasing their production as an integral part of coping with the current market demands. In this case, the company has decided to open an imaging factory along with the announcement of a new investment of £90 million in automation. Along with this, the company has eventually issued the forthcoming launch of an emerging model. This feature can efficiently satisfy current market demands. The key performance measures for this round include almost similar consequences as compared with the previous round. Along with the innovative options, extended research and development are also preferred by the organisation for ensuring advanced diesel engines, smart driving controls, fuel efficiency, and others.

However, round 2 has disclosed the achievement of 1.45% and 1.89 % market share for both the organisational products Klaus and Sail respectively. The productivity in this case has stayed around 48.55 and 41.19 for the mentioned products. The closing bank balance during this round has reached up to £ 281.31 million. Moreover, increasing production is also noticed from the organisational perspective that reflects their intention of efficiently mitigating the market requirements.

Figure 2: Balance sheet of First Motors in round 2

However, the team decided to consider a target production of 75256 for KLAUS. The aspect of automation allocation has been standing at 39 as per the team decision. Slight growth can be pointed out within the organisational production report as compared between the consequences of round 1 and round 2. The second round experienced a productivity of 45.28, which came up from 44.21 in the previous round. The cost of sales experienced increasing growth during the second round which stood at £ 3854.67 million from around £ 2692 million during the previous round. The long-term liabilities of the company have eventually highlighted the consideration of extended loan and total capital employed which also supports the organisational decision of complying with the current market demands with increasing production level. The aforementioned figure has been illustrating the organisational balance sheet during the second round. With increasing production capability, First Motors has eventually experienced £ 5871.05 million revenue generation during the second round that has emerged from £ 3883.16 million in the first round. This extensive growth recognises the efficiency of the organisational decision-making attributes with regards to comply with increasing production limits for efficiently complying with the market demands.

Round 3:

The third round has highlighted a distinctive return on investment on behalf of First Motors. The company insured £ 929.11 million profitability during this period. The production report for the third round has eventually highlighted the inclusion of the new model namely Bolt which was discussed during the second round interpretation. The productivity for the new model has been standing at 40.36. With regards to this concern, the gross margin for the new model had reported 42.63%. Despite experience in the inclusion of a new model, the organisational overall productivity had gone back to 44.15.

On the other hand, the long-term liabilities of the company are eventually recorded as a sound increment as compared with the previous round circumstances. The closing bank balance, in this case, has also reached up to £ 1422.52 million for First Motors. Around £ 2995.15 million total capital was employed by the organisation during the third round that can be observed within the organisational balance sheet for this round.

The team decisions undertaken in this phase have also paid attention to ensure adequate skills and management training as an integral part of coping up with the product quality for efficiently mitigating market demands and thereby, achieving consumer attraction. Due to this reason, an extended concern of the organisation can be notified upon considering research and development projects for their launched models. Adequate training arrangements can be supportive for ensuring successive maintenance and handling of different popularity factors such as the blind spot info system, automatic transmission, and others (Refer to appendix 1).

Figure 3: Profit and loss statement of First Motors during round 3

Along with this, increasing production has also been beneficial for experiencing an increasing cost of sales that amounted to £ 4831.39 million for the 3rd round. The above-attached figure has been highlighting valuable concerns regarding the organisational profit and loss aspects for round 3. Distinctive competitive advantage has been ensured by the company concerning their sales of small and medium cars. Subsequent sales revenue was also conceptualised by the organisation during this period that has efficiently supported their growth and thereby providing positive evidence of financial profitability increment with increasing production. However, increasing raw material expenditure might have resulted in rising operational expenditure from the organisational perspective. Despite experiencing this concern, First Motors has focused on increasing training and development elements as a subsequent part of supporting the growth of skills level from their employees’ end. It eventually reflects the organisational intention of improving their business status along with signifying future growth opportunities with extended financial feasibility.

However, the closing bank balance of the organisation during the third round amounted to £ 1422.52 million. The total sales of the company stood at £ 7333.63 million for this round. The organisational current assets have eventually experienced gradual growth as compared with the previous round circumstances. The organisational total assets after deduction of current liabilities amounted to £ 2995.15 million.

The overall financial facts and simulation game outcomes have highlighted the distinctive focus of the organisation towards enlarging their financial profitability with increasing productivity. In accordance with the market forecast, the entire small, medium, large and luxury car segment is likely to experience profound demand growth. From this viewpoint, the organisational decision of increasing training and development facilities for complying with the quality standards can be justified. Moreover, the significant focus of the company is also kept upon improving their existing financial position in the market along with achieving an extended competitive advantage as compared with the market competitors like Everest Motors, Boyarin Motors, Team 5, G3T4 and others.

Round 4:

The fourth round deliberately paid attention to prioritising the key perception factors in accordance with their priority levels. Distinctive emphasis has been kept upon ensuring comfortable features of the organisational products with the help of leather upholstery, zoned climate control, automatic transmission, heated steering wheel, luxury styling pack, and others.

Stable productivity growth can also be noticed from the organisational perspective that signifies the organisational capability of efficiently coping with the current market consumer demands. In this context, it can be highlighted that the cost of sales for the company went up to £ 6380.46 million for the fourth round. However, the consequences of increasing market demand can also be forecasted during the fourth round that has positively influenced the organisational financial standings. Their closing bank balance stood at £2545.34 million during the fourth round. Moreover, the organisational revenue generation had also experienced a profound growth during the fourth round, which amounted to £9,453.51 million. It reflects improved cash flow position from the organisational perspective during this round. The long-term liabilities for the fourth round have highlighted only the prospects of total capital employed which stood at £ 3869.09 million.

Figure 4: Return on investment

On the other hand, the financial indicators highlight a 38.75% return on shareholders’ funds from the organisational perspective. No outstanding debt can be noticed in this round. The organisational overall profitability had eventually reported a huge growth as compared with the previous round’s positions. First Motors achieved £ 1499.30 million in profitability with an extended turnover. From the measure of achieving a return on investment, First Motors has taken the leading spot ahead of their respective market competitors. The aforementioned figure has demonstrated a distinctive competitive advantage from the organisational perspective with the leading return on investment. However, respective predictions made by the economists highlighted the consideration of a 3.42 % inflation rate in the next year. This increasing inflation rate might provide a negative influence on organisational profitability and financial stability (Refer to appendix 2).

This extended financial growth highlights the organisational strategy of increasing their productivity and thereby efficiently responding to the changing consumer demands. The organisational production for the fourth round has highlighted average productivity growth for all the mentioned models of First Motors. The provision of popularity factors with relational prioritisation methods has eventually been significant from the organisational perspective to experience adequate consumer attraction and thereby positively influencing their purchasing intention. However, significant online research and development projects are eventually considered by the organisation.

As per the balance sheet for round 4, the organisational overall cost was reflected to be £ 2284.25 million with total shareholder funds of £3869.09 million. A slight increase can also be pointed out regarding the material costs in the fourth round that has eventually contributed to increasing the organisational expenses.

However, the overall aspects signify distinctive maintenance of profitability from the perspective of First Motors that can significantly act for enlarging the organisational future growth and brand recognition over the market.

Learning

This section of this report will reflect the learning of the above analysis from which First Motors will be examined on the basis of their strategy, financial, marketing, operations, and human resource decisions. The organisation is found to be having excellent service while maintaining an eco-friendly atmosphere. The organisation has been found to be very responsible about what the consumer wants as well as caring about their demands and interest.

Strategy

The complexity of automobile manufacturing operations, along with rapidly expanding pressure on existing automobiles, has resulted in unprecedented levels of productivity as well as competitiveness in the international market. As mentioned by Rabetino & Kohtamäki (2018), developing successful and influential positioning advantages might be recognized as a must for ensuring the company’s long-term profitability and longevity. In this respect, Porter’s generic strategy has been considered. Furthermore, to meet the desired expectation of the stakeholders, the organisation has focused on shedding emphasis on differentiation strategy.

Figure 5: Porter’s generic strategy

(Source: Islami, Mustafa & Latkovikj, 2020)

The reason behind acquiring a differentiation strategy is to exploit the requirements and needs between the age group of 25-40 as well as 41-55. A differentiated marketing strategy incorporates techniques for analysing companies and their competitors (Liu & Atuahene-Gima, 2018). Addressing a specific set of consumers with distinctive items is what a targeted marketing approach entail. Comprehensive marketing plan with differentiation approach applies to manufacturing product differentiation that distinguishes a service or brand from its counterparts. The capacity to develop stronger customer commitment by adapting the organisation to the objectives is at the centre of a differentiation strategy approach. As suggested by Antipov et al. (2017), when the organisation will provide items with the characteristics that the specialised target market values the most, it will automatically develop a high level of quality, dependability, and efficiency based on individual need. While succeeding in delivering a specific growing market, the organisation will be able to charge competitive prices, leading to significant company profits (Täuscher & Kietzmann, 2017). Shoppers, on the other hand, are frequently prepared to spend premiums, as they believe company reputation and items being of better status as well as quality.

The capacity to serve the consumer group superior to competition pursuing a broader customer base is important for a successful targeted differentiation strategy. As mentioned by Hoe & Mansori (2018), keeping a comparative benefit necessitates constant monitoring of marketing techniques and shifting consumer expectations. Focused differentiators could much more dynamically adapt to determining the product expectations and demands since they are targeted on addressing the needs of the consumer. To discover what shoppers, appreciate about current markets, user experience, advertising campaigns, and other operational approaches are often used. As stated by Mohammad & Lakshmisri (2018), it is significantly easier for a concentrated enterprise to efficiently address narrow requirements than it is for a broader corporation to understand and adapt to the needs of each customer group.

Financial decisions

Making better financial decisions as per the scenario of the firm is essential and works as the fundamental core of the organisation. Since a company benefits the greatest when the selling price of its stock rises, this is not only a symbol of increased revenue for the company but also increases shareholder capital (Tang & Zhang, 2020). As a result, this has to do with the distribution of the investment portfolio in the debt and equity financing of the company. The pricing of Klaus and Sail is being determined by the competitive strategy. The organisation has opted to implement the most recognized characteristics amongst some of the chosen age demographics in order to achieve the best combination between increasing sales and boosting bottom lines (Girella Zambon & Rossi, 2019). Whenever a capability was shown to have less and less influences on the goal of zero net inventories, it was judged extraneous and removed immediately from the options offered to the ultimate consumers. They seem to have been ready to obtain unrequited attributes out of their production systems by constructing a system at the pricing initial phase. Apart from this, they have brought down the percentage of device costs swallowed up into the overall cost, as an outcome it can benefit customer experience and the company’s revenue growth.

It is very essential for an organisation to have an effective strategy for the financing decisions. Financial management improves operational transparency and promotes a better grasp of the statistics at all levels of the company. As demonstrated by Cao, Duan & Cadden (2019), the advantages of higher management ensure that investors have faith in the company. Shareholders are often on the lookout for evidence of protection in a company’s performance. Corporate finance effectively provides for the proper relationship between the risk as well as maximisation of profit. Great decision is also endorsed by fiscal management. That becomes useful for generating answers based on circumstances of the scenario when basic details are conveniently accessible due to digitalization and standardisation (Abubakar et al. 2019). Apart from that, financial management is a fantastic perk because it helps with tax. Taxes have long been regarded as among the monetary system’s limits. Regarding firms and organisations, there seem to be tax avoidance schemes and allowances that can be exploited if the requirements are being met at the specific period of time.

Marketing decisions

Effective marketing approaches are made up of a variety of elements those businesses should keep in mind while the course of business operations. As mentioned by Lim et al. (2021), three of the most important considerations organisations should make when seeking to promote their products to the right customers are wealth creation, adverse publicity, and the influence of digitalization. Furthermore, regardless of size, firms should implement a clear and sustainable marketing approach. As suggested by Taouab & Issor (2019), expectations of customers must always be considered, as well as a complete review of a firm’s operations will enable enterprises to see their organisation through the perspective of a prospective customer. An organisation’s marketing decisions gives it an advantage over its rivals. Strategic planning enables the generation of commodities with the greatest financial returns.

As demonstrated by Elia et al. (2020), effective marketing decision serves in the discovery of regions affected by business effectiveness along with contributing in the creation of an overall organisational process to achieve customer demand. It facilitates in determining the appropriate pricing for an organisation’s merchandise depending on the market research results. Effective organisational collaboration is ensured by planning (Imm et al. 2020). It promotes a company in making the process more efficient in order to deliver a brand message to its customer base. Through better decisions regarding marketing assists in the predetermination of the marketing spend, as well as the development of information systems for establishing the scope of the program (Canhoto et al. 2021). A marketing decision can allow the company to achieve its desired targets.

In the context of First Motors, the differentiation approach was developed to persuade more clients to have productivity with an increased level. The moderate automobile will be fitted using novel features such as a renewable fuels power train that otherwise cuts emissions but also avoids target users from paying parking charges as well as other sustainability fees throughout Europe (Runting et al. 2020). Buyers will have easy access to automobile advertisements with all-important information on channels available, which would be First Motors’ principal channel of distribution. Additionally, the company would save money by not buying a physical store rather than using the facility, where customers will be able to verify the vehicles in real life. First Motors evaluated the most efficient methods of advertisement in order to achieve maximum return on advertising expenditure.

Operations decisions

As mentioned by Kravchenko Pigosso & McAloone (2019), operational decisions assist the company in comprehending certain standard costing relationships connected to the company’s performance. Good operational judgments operate like a superior workforce with the relevant reviewing documents, using data accurately and thoroughly to take the appropriate action. They use this data in order to obtain overview, not just consciousness of the previous event, and to behave more responsibly as a result of that knowledge (Wadhwani et al. 2018). Operational management helps in attracting consumers via micro-segmentation and enhanced personalisation based upon the information concerning them. These decisions help to employ behavioural estimations for each operation or user to guarantee that payoffs are correctly aligned, along with consumer information to improve the customer experience. As suggested by Dyer, Singh & Hesterly (2018), actions and decisions can be quickly updated accordingly for new business opportunities, factors of an organisation, and perceived challenges; alternatively, their value quickly depreciates.

In terms of First Motors, design and alternatives are critical components of any automobile manufacturer considering they define the organisation’s ultimate viability. Many aspects must be considered before acquiring a new vehicle. The automobile should be able to accommodate your lifestyle’s demands and requirements. As a result, the organisation provides a variety of alternatives and layouts in order to fulfil their consumer base and establish a long-term relationship with clients (Radii & Kazak, 2017). According to market research, the percentage of people is beginning to acquire a preference for green vehicles. As a result, the company has chosen to use hybrid fuel systems in its vehicles. The decision to choose equipment and appearance for our automobile models was entirely based on the interests and attractiveness criteria of the target market.

As mentioned by Nagy et al. (2018), in between several decades of business, huge productivity improvements and operational efficiencies, price reduction remains a fundamental factor in an organisation. Wasteful actions and expensive reports can be reduced with effective operation judgments. Better operational decisions help to avoid cheating and punishment. As demonstrated by Verma & Gustafsson (2020), they assist company employees in becoming more active and productive. Furthermore, on the basis of operations management, the company will have an account on productivity, customer satisfaction that will directly influence organisational reputation as well.

Human resource decisions

Identifying the most profitable ways to invest in employees can be done through human resource decision-making. It entails deciding how to spend resources and money to improve organisation and personnel productivity. As mentioned by Aydiner et al. (2019), contributing in the human resource management decision-making procedure consciously can have a favourable effect on a company’s locally and internationally performance. In a global competitive economic outlook, HR decision-making entails adopting policies and programs that will maintain a business running. Processes like personnel development and planning, as well as performance evaluation, are all part of HR procedures (Amrutha & Geetha, 2020). Human resources can integrate new involvement in business, which will make the business operations successful. In this context, First Motors has been identified to be having a fixed set of wages with the weekly rate of £600 as per the industry average. This technique helps the organisation to reduce the chaos across the organisation along with building harmony as well.

As suggested by Graham et al. (2020), the code of social ethics in business cannot be underestimated. Making decisions regarding what is permissible and undesirable in terms of an organisation’s employees are the morals in the human resources department. It is very important to have management in the organisations that are fair and take decisions for organisational benefits along with acknowledging the betterment of the employees as well (Kuntz, Malinen & Näswall, 2017). As First Motors are the organisation who are residing in the automotive organisation and in this industry, safety of the employee is essential and should be looked after by the company. The focus of HR needs to be on building an environment where the workforce feels safe and can see their opportunities as well. In this respect, the culture of the organisation is also one of the factors, which is directly influenced by the HR decisions. As suggested by Irabor & Okolie (2019), the more there will be diversity as well as equality among the members of the organisation, the more, the people and the staff will be motivated and have the sense of attitude to take the organisation to its target goals.

Conclusion

Based on the overall understanding of this entire report, several ideas have been generated about First Motors and its business dealings and operations. The organisation is found to focus on two models namely Klaus and Sail. Furthermore, company performance is briefly discussed in this report for comprehensive understanding of the organisational performance. Adding to this, the entire trend analysis will be discussed on the basis of production, market share, gross margin, and return of investment, sales revenue and many more. Apart from that, the marketing, financing, HR, and operations strategies have been discussed in the above section of this report. Even, the organisation is identified to be having a better productivity in the market place along with focusing on the differentiation strategy for targeting a segment of the population. Furthermore, a personal reflection will be provided as per the context of team performance is being aligned with the study effectively.

Team performance

My team included four members including the marketing and sales manager, the financial manager, the HR manager, and the operational manager. I played the role of the operation manager. During the formation of the team, the Belbin team development theory was undertaken as an integral part of distributing relational responsibilities among team members. The theory has highlighted three different categorisation of the team roles including action oriented, people oriented and thought oriented aspects (LI et al. 2018). With regards to this concern, I was provided people oriented roles and responsibilities where my prime duty was to coordinate between the team members. Apart from that, I was also responsible for resource investigation and resource allocation for relational group activities and operations. In this context, I became also familiar with exploring outside opportunities with this distinctive team effort.

Operating as an operation manager, my prime responsibility in this report was to efficiently highlight the organisational market performance with adequate facts and figures. I initiated in order to have a close look at all the decisions and relational business opportunities of the organisation according to which the overall report has been written. Apart from successive coordination, I was given the role of receiving adequate concerns from the other respective team members’ perspective regarding their late arrival, ineffective time management attributes, and others. In order to ensure systematic progress of the team operations, we considered Tuckman’s team development framework. The theoretical understanding highlights five different stages of team development including forming, storming, norming, performing and adjourning (Super, 2020). During the beginning of teamwork, relational report goals and timeline in was established along with signifying individual roles of the team members.

The sequential progress of the team experienced a potential barrier during the performing stage when a conflict was raised within the team. A point of argument also emerged during the overall teamwork process between me and my respective team member playing the part of financial manager. This situational conflict was effectively handled by me under the shape of prolific negotiation and discussion. Moreover, this process had also added a greater value in order to enlarge my credibility and accountability as an effective team worker. In this manner, I also made justice with my role as a coordinator within the team. My leadership skills were also improved as a result of this incident, which eventually created and enhanced distinct trustworthiness and accountability in front of other respective team members.

The configuration of constructive feedback was highly emphasised by all the team members. It was greatly applauded by me as I noticed significant opportunities of considering future improvements based on these feedbacks. It is also recognised as an integral option of developing team awareness and team skills development along with the consideration of a firm commitment regarding the group unity. However, the overall process went through in a flexible manner apart from the constituent circumstance experienced by us. As a result of this, potential benefits have been obtained by us regarding the development of self-awareness through constructive feedback based on which future improvements may take place.

Personal reflection

Concerning my contribution as a profound team member, I paid attention to consider time management as the most valuable aspect for ensuring team progress. As per the Belbin team roles theory, I was the coordinator, resource investigating and a complete team worker. In this regard, I made sure of the availability of adequate resources required for considering subsequent progress with this business simulation game and report. I also tend to become a perfectionist where I also forced my team members to abide by relational responsibilities provided to them. Conceptual objectives were also established by me as a sequential part of driving the team members with focused progress. The consequences of task delegation had been a challenging circumstance from my perspective. However, I noticed all team members delivering their level best performance in order to make this project successful.

In case of considering future opportunities of doing this similar business game, I would like to consider action-oriented roles. It can also add a greater value to my professional accountability by recognising me as a complete finisher and implementer while considering teamwork.

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