Forecasting Technological And Social Change -Myassignmenthelp.Com

Question: Discuss About The Forecasting Technological And Social Change? Answer: Introduction Industries all around the world are facing several kinds of challenges irrespective of their current positions in the market (Aghion, Dechezleprtre, Hemous, Martin and Van Reenen, 2016). This is due to various types of reason and may have occurred because of improper management of operations. In the age of globalisation, it has become important for the organisations to manage its work properly so as to have competitive edge over the other competitors (Neffke, Henning and Boschma, 2011). This can only be possible when there will be clear understanding of the environment prevailing for the industry. There are several internal and external factors that are affecting the future of many industries and it is essential for the firm to understand all those. There are several issues faced by the industries and the firms in it (Ahern, 2012). It is the role of the leadership and the management to make plan for tackling all these issues that arise in this regard. Automobile industry was once the most profitable industry of all. From the discovery of powered engines the growth of this industry was unmatched and was considered as one of the golden business in the early 20th century. But after the innovation that took place in the technology, IT superseded Automobile Industry. The downfall of the Automobile industry and the rise of IT industry were seen in last two decades. There are several factors that were responsible for this situation. Policies, improper decisions are some of the reasons that are responsible for the downfall of this industry. Automobile industry has taken many kinds of decisions for surviving in the demands of the market (Castillod, 2016). This industry has a long experience of working in different kinds of environmental conditions especially in political and economic scenarios. This field has experienced innovations at much faster rate as compared to many other industries. Automobile industry has become backbone of many nations all around the world since they are employing a huge number of people as well as providing larger amount of financial support to the economy. Apart from this it is also to be understood that there are many strategies that have been adopted by the Automobile manufacturers in the past years so as to enhance the sale of their products (Chakravartty and Schiller, 2011). This industry is one of the prime example s of how the firms survived in the great depressions of 20th century. Companies like Ford have given new working methodologies to many other industries and which is prevalent till date. This report revolves around the decisions made by the Automobile industry as well as the concepts that they have developed over the years so as to ensure sustainable growth of the firms. Individual components There are several issues in the management of the Automobile firms can be seen in the last century (Newman and Kenworthy, 2015). They have applied various types of strategies for combating these situations. Some of the issues and challenges faced by the Automobile companies are as follows: Larger cost of production: Limited amount of resources and the rising inflation all over the world has increased the cost of production for the companies. There is high price war in between the competitors and hence (Cunningham and Frschl, 2013). Technological advancements speed: In the global market with the emergence of smart cars it has become difficult for the firm to compete with each other in terms of technological advancements in their products. This is due to the fact that technology gets enhanced by two folds in every six months and IT firms are also coming in the global automobile market. It reduces the chances of the firms to expand their reach in the market. Heavy research burden: Cost of fuels is increasing everyday which is forcing companies to invest heavily on the research of the engines that are fuel efficient. They also have to fulfil the demands of the global market which cannot be possible without doing heavy research (Davies, 2012). Marketing: In the past 100 years, the importance of marketing has increased considerably (Pavlnek, 2012). The competition in marketing has risen to the levels where they require larger amount of the investment. Bringing work to the worker There are many strategies developed by many Automobile companies. They were innovative as well as brought new cultures of operations within the firms. Henry ford was known for his excellent ideas of working. One of the primary examples of his idea was to work in assembly line. This methodology promoted team culture which has become one of the most essential parts of the modern day business (Alonso, Sherman, Wallington, Everson, Field, Roth and Kirchain, 2012). Apart from this it has also increased the productivity of the workers which was the need of Industrialisation. Assembly line concept has not only changed the shape of working but also reduced the burden on each employee. Bringing work to the worker was the concept that revolutionised the whole Automobile industry in terms of production and consumption of goods. Since that was the phase when automation was not in the existence hence companies were highly dependent on their workers for their production (Pinto, 2015). It was one o f the reasons that companies wanted to find some new methods of raising the production speed as well as reducing their overall cost of operations. Ford was forerunners among industrialist who worked for social policy and hence he was considered to be one of the important welfare capitalist in United States. This reduced the amount of energy invested by the workers in their work while ensuring that the speed of production also increases. His Model T shaped working process reduces the efforts of workers and ensured that they do not have to spend a lot on their mobility. This was due to the reason that conveyer belts helped them by bringing the parts to them while they have been assigned a significant task which they have to perform every time (Gross, 2018). This is one of the best tactics that was used by Henry ford so as to ensure that there is less error in the work. Bringing work to the worker helped company in reforming the whole working process which has multiple benefits for bot h industry as well as the stakeholders attached with it. This is due to the reason that most of the people working at the workplace have a specific role to perform and hence reducing the chances that there will be errors in the working process. Distribution of the work ensured that the entire task will be completed as per the requirements without being missed (Feng and Papatla, 2012). The conveyer belts that brought work to the workers also ensured that the work process is smoother. This is also due to implementation of this concept that the cost of production lowered. He got this idea from the meat conveyer belt but was highly effective in his dream of enhancing the production rate while maintain the smoothness of the work (Rawlinson and Wells, 2016). Before the implementation of this process workers also demanded for higher salaries but since the work of the individuals got easier hence ford managed to the maintain their salaries to a significant level. It was the effect of this A ssembly line concept that the cost of production reduced by around $360 and the production also touched new high which was necessary for maintaining the demand of the market. It also boosted the speed and enhanced the efficiency of the firm in the longer run. This was then also adopted by the European car manufacturers. This provided strength to the Automobile industry and ensured that cars which were considered to be the commodity that only rich can afford became the product of the middle class (Garel, 2013). Due to this larger number of people were able to buy cars and hence demand of the products by these company has also enhanced. With the assembly line concept more number of people was able to buy cars while it was possible for the firms to sell their commodities. This became one of the most effective methods using which companies in this business expanded its reach to the new markets. This model was followed in many other industries in the later part of the century. By doing t his they have increased the number of workers that was working in the company and has actually boosted the production field company. This assembly line concept also made employee and the employer interdependent on each other for maintaining the standards of each other (Gordon, 2012). The cash benefits that the car industry got with the introduction of assembly line within the industry was used in the process of innovation and technology development. This made companies to market their products as per the demand of the lower sections of the society which helped them in making higher revenues (Schaltegger, Burritt and Petersen, 2017). With the introduction of conveyer belts in the car manufacturing also reduced the problems related to carrying of the products within the car industry which was necessary for bringing smoothness to the working process. Before the introduction of this concept within the industry companies were unable to meet the demands of the market as was unable to expand their business in the new sectors. At the time when there was economic depression in most part of the European and American markets this concept helped companies in reducing their financial burden and ultimately become one of the reasons for their survival. This also helped company in training of the employees as they do not have to work on many roles rather they have the role of doing any one task. This was highly essential for bringing smoothness to the work process which was the second part of the Industrialisation. This was one of the major reasons why Henry Ford was considered to be as the father of the second industrialisation (Gray, 2014). Similar such revolutionary steps which caused the same impact were not seen in the industry for many years after that. It is one of those reasons that this becomes the worlds biggest industry at that time. Alfred P Sloan: Cost centres In order to understand the concepts of Alfred P Sloan on the issues of cost centres it is essential to understand the presence of cost centres within an organisation. Cost Centre is a department inside the firms that does not sums directly in the profits (Harmon, 2015). Unlike the profit centres, cost centres make indirect contributions to the profit margins of the firm. When a company gets down sized one of the major shutdown is done in these centres due to its operational nature but still the importance of such cost centres cannot be undermined. This concept again revolutionised the automobile industry and helped companies in ensuring their growth in the market for the longer duration. It can be understood as one of the modern day concepts that helped automobile firms in reaching to top among various industries. Alfred P Sloan surpassed the henry fords concepts once for all due to these kinds of concepts as these concepts gave unimaginable results to the Automobile industry (The rational walk, 2018). This concept revolutionised the overall Management system of General motors. In this concept overall organisation were divided into multidivisional corporations where each corporation is having numerous departments. Every department had their own set of responsibilities for its general management as well as product responsibilities. Capital measures such as ROI was used as an indicator for measuring the performance of the cost centres. Implementation of this in the 1920 gave a boost to the sale of the products of General motors. As each unit within the firm is responsible for its own productivity and the general managers had the responsibility of ensuring profits from that unit. This made the operational mechanism as a daily issue where department have to focus on the daily operations of the firm. This concept was highly appreciated in the management process of European automobile manufacturers and where one of the reasons for their success in the colonial markets where they had higher reaches. The relevance of this concept can be seen in every company even till today. Every company adopted this concept after GM found a great success through it. Especially the multinational and bigger firms adopted this kind of working culture. It helped companies in ensuring that there will be a person at each level who will be responsible for increasing the production of the firm. With the introduction of this concept the interest of the individuals became secondary and the firms objectives became primary (Hashmi and Biesebroeck, 2016). Every department has to work towards achieving better growth of the firm as well as ensuring highest of profits. Every unit had their significant role in achieving better economies of scale. This concept also helped in reducing the cost of inventory management as well as the overall size of the inventory also got reduced. Since the idea of Henry ford gave significant amount of success to the Automobile companies but after sometime it stagnated the growth o f the firm and hence Sloan model was highly appreciated as he isolated firms from the whims of one man. Present day model of the cost centres are totally different from whats proposed by the Sloan himself (Schermerhorn, Davidson, Poole, Woods, Simon and McBarron, 2014). He was one of the pioneers in using financial statistics for measuring the measuring the performance of the firm and managing diverse operations appropriately. They termed these units as the cost centres as they have been individually contributing to the profit margins of the company. This concept helped to reduce the overall cost of management as smaller units are easier to maintain and lesser amount of cost is required for their maintenance. This system was changed as per the requirements of several industries and the demand of the environment that is present for their operations (Stahl, Bjrkman, Farndale, Morris, Paauwe, Stiles, Trevor and Wright, 2012). There are several strengths and weakness of the Sloan cost c entres. Some of them are as follows: Strengths It enhances measurement of performance. It helped in training of managers in decision making and running their divisions, departments or centres (Thoms and Holden, 2016). It increases optimisation of investments included to the identified centres. The quality of decision made and their accountability also got increased. Enhanced monitoring of returns on investments which helped them in making their future business plans. Better management of information based on profitability earned by the company from their business (Humphrey, 2017). Enhanced monitoring of cost and expenditure which is one of the major concerns of most of the firms. Weakness Improper allocation of overheads leads to over and under estimation of profitability. Enhances paperwork and administration difficulties. Sometimes if not properly managed then it could lead to high running cost of the centres (King, 2018). There was no structural uniformity in this concept and hence everyone had their own view point regarding the usage of this concept. This type of cost centres were highly effective in reducing the issues that was attached with the daily operations of the firm (Wells and Nieuwenhuis, 2012). This reduces the problems such as the inventory management as well as the problems that were linked with financial performance of the company. Financial measures helped in giving appropriate and authenticated report about the performance of the firm. This also enhanced the quality of the overall product that is produced by the firms which is necessary for the survival of the organisation in the amount of competition that is present within the industry. Cost centres were highly productive for the firm as it added extra profits to their revenue and still being practiced in most of the industries. These centres were closed when there were significant amount of loss in their financial markets. The world car concept The world car concept is one of the major engineering strategies that are used in the automobile industry which aimed to design a car that can satisfy the needs of the global automotive market (Kotchen and Moon, 2012). As the name suggests it is globally adopted concept that aims to meet the needs of the market where the company is going to launch their products. This aims to have least changes in each of the market in which they have to sell it. This car concept was designed so as to make uniformity in the car designed that is universally acceptable. This also helped in increasing the quality of products as well as saving the cost by standardising the design of the parts. It also helped in designing single vehicle in a certain class so that cost that is saved can be utilised for delivering a quality product. It helps in satisfying the needs of the worldwide consumers as well as performing as per the expectations from the major automobile manufacturers. This concept made a revolution in the design of the cars made by both American as well as European manufacturers (Wells, 2013). There was long series of cars that was designed after the introduction of such concept in the manufacturing of the vehicles. This also helped firms having production unit in one region of the world to compete with the firms that are producing in some other parts of the world. This has brought balance between the performances of the companies operational in different regions of the world. In the starting phase of the changes that was made in the automobile manufacturing by various manufacturers. Like the T model of Ford helped companies to grow but there was an issues that it was centred towards meeting the needs of buyers of United States. However Model was considered as one of the first world car. Since the bigger companies such as GM and Ford planned to extend their business in many other parts of the world and hence they have adopted such designs that can be accepted in all the types of the market. World car concept helped both the firms in reaching to the new markets where they can sell their different products as per their requirement (Law, 2017). This was one of the major strategies that helped companies in their expansion plans as well as also helped them in enhancing their sale. This concept gained pace in the economic boom after the Second World War. Ford developed one of the first kinds of world car models named model Y that was according to the taste of Europe and had a great success in the market. Similarly they designed cars for the specific markets as per the affordability of the people in it. This also helped companies in having diversification in their products which was necessary for satisfying the needs of the market and was highly essential for surviving in the competition. These also helped automobile firms in making cars that is according to different sections of the society which gave them larger potential market. In the modern times models in the C-segment have usually shared a platform internationally with just a minimum changes in the styles. Most successful C-segment car is the Corolla by Toyota. Ford Mondeo was first modern attempt to design D-segment cars. Despite of the name World car there are some kinds of changes that are made in the car as per the nation for which they are making the cars (Xia and Li-Ping Tang, 2011). This is due to the fact that the laws/regulations, market taste, cultural differences from nation to nation which every company has to comply or follow. For example the prices of fuels differ from nation to nation and hence they have to design fuel efficient cars accordingly. This concept is followed by almost all the automobile manufacturers. With the development of use of IT technologies in the car the development of World car got new dimension. In the middle of 20th century to the modern day manufacturing of automobiles this concept has varied to a larger extent but the basic idea of manufacturing remained the same. This helps in reducing many kinds of issues that is faced by the companies: Without bringing uniformity in the market it cannot be possible that every firm within the industry can achieve greater sales. It reduces problems related to the design of cars as vehicles under this concept were made according to the requirement of market (Lee and Carter, 2011). It also helps in ensuring that the design accepted by different companies is according to the world standards. It is necessary for maintain the quality of the cars that can be acceptable at the world level. In modern times automobile industrys production is not only limited to the areas of America and Europe rather it has shifted to the Japanese and other Asian markets where the cost of production is low. Hence this concept gets more relevant in the modern sense. There is no specific design that comes under the World car concept rather a range of car design models are made so as to have uniformity in the design of the car. This whole concept did not made for revolutionising the industry rather they have adopted it for bringing uniformity in the overall automobile manufacturing industry. This concept also helped companies in designing of cars that were globally accepted by the worldwide consumers and are according to the standards that will match the future need of the industry (Lee, 2011). This was a concept that enabled companies in focusing towards more research work so that their products can do better business irrespective of the market status and environment they are working in. Mergers Mergers is considered as one of the strategy that is used by the company in order to enter into the new market or have greater reach/ share in the market in which it is operational. There are many kinds of strategies that has been utilised by various companies, one of them is merger. It is a part of strategic management. It helps organisation in growing, shrinking and changing the nature of the business as per the requirement of the industry as well as the market. In legal terms it is the legal consolidation of two entities into a single entity (Lee, Olson and Trimi, 2012). This is done in between two organisations that may have same asset value or the smaller entity merging into the larger one. In the modern days there are larger numbers of firms in the Automobile industry which adopted such strategic management approach. The merger between Chrysler Mercedes- Benz and Nissan Renault Chrysler Mercedes-Benz Both the Chrysler Mercedes and Benz are the two bigger firms in the Automobile Industry. When both the companies merged it was stated as the marriage made in heaven or Merger of Equals. This was one of the biggest mergers that took place in the year 1998 in exchange of shares. The merger was contentious with the investor launching lawsuit over whether the transaction was the merger of equals that senior management claimed or it take-over of the Chrysler by Diamler-Benz. This merger was also termed as the way in which Daimer-Benz drove off with Chrysler. Another issue of contention was that whether the merger was able to deliver promised synergies and gave positively integrated the two businesses. In the later part of the merger Diamler agreed to sell the Chrysler unit to Cerberus Capital Management in the mid of the year 2007 which raised further questions on whether the objective of the merger was fulfilled (Time, 2018). The basic idea behind the merger is to have a competitive edge over the market by taking use of the resources they both have. They also joined hands to safeguard the long term competitiveness of the firms involved. One of the primary things that were done in this merger was to launch new model vehicles. They also had new series of truck range which got great success in the American market. It was a result of the merger that both the firms came into the market of commercial cars rather than just producing racing cars. In the year 2007 in the general meeting the name of the merged group was changed to Diamler AG. Approx. 99 % of the shareholders of 5000 assembled voted for the change. This was done to have a distinction between various products of group and the firm rand name. This merger which was termed as the largest merger in the industry turned out to be a colossal disappointment. This was due to the reason that both the firm have different kind of cultural difference and hence ri ft erupted in between the two firms. Diamler was famous for his luxury brands and did not understand the price worries or concerns of the automakers of United States. The day both the firm broke their tie up it was the start if the modern day crisis in the US auto market. This merger affected the whole industry as it was considered to be one of the primary examples of how cultural difference between the two firms can result in failure in terms of merger (Mayyas, Qattawi, Omar and Shan, 2012). Nissan Renault merger This merger was considered as the biggest merger in the industry as this merger made both the companies as the leader in the market. The result can be easily seen in the Russian as well as many European markets. Due to this merger the alliance surpassed Toyota and Volkswagen in terms of car sales worldwide. The alliance was able to sell around 5,268,079 cars worldwide in just six months. Later in this merger they joined hands with Mitsubishi another big car maker firm who is known for their technology use in their cars. Both the firms hold significant stake in each other (Nissan Motor Corporation, 2018). This made an alliance that has all the types of resources that is required for beating every other competitor. They make it to have larger control on the market as well as seeking each others competencies so as to have better design of the cars that was capable of satisfying global car consumers. Renault itself generated record operating profit of 1.8 billion euros which was approx. 17 % higher than that of the last financial year. At the time of merger both came to conclusion that leads to unique business model that created significant value for both organisations. From 17 years workers of both the firm are working with mutual respect while keeping their personal corporate identities intact and maintaining their brand name. In 2013 the alliance became the market leader in the two largest markets i.e. China and United States. Both the companies in their statements stated that this merger was for wide ranging strategic cooperation that included small design of the car with the highly fuel-efficient gasoline and diesel engines. This collaboration helped them in designing of the light commercial vehicles (Maxcy and Silberston, 2017). There were following principles of alliance: Clear decision-making for speed, accountability and high level of performance. Maximising the efficiency by using combined strengths of both the firms and developing synergies through common firms. Making cross company teams and sharing components and platforms with each other. The alliance was also made to check the issues related to the retaining of best of talents in the industry. They also combined there energy to provide good working condition and face the challenges that was faced in finding opportunities for their shareholders. It also helped people in growing their global and entrepreneurial mind-set. They also aimed to generate attractive returns for the shareholders of each firm as well as implementing the best established standards of corporate governance. They also had the collaboration for contributing to the global sustainable development. The composition of the alliance was in such a manner that Renault holds 43.4% stake in Nissan while Nissan owns 15% of Renaults shares. Each firm has a direct interest in the outcomes of its partners. The common strategic management structure of Renault-Nissan was incorporated under Dutch law. Management of both the firms have equal representation. This helped company in resolving the issues that comes to them in their operations globally. They have their corporate meetings regularly for discussing the problems that is faced by the firms in global context. The alliance was a closed limited liability firm under Dutch law. The directors of the Alliance foster deeper, broader cooperation to increase quality of operations of all the partners. These Directors were responsible for managing operations and functions of both the partners. This was one of the best example of the industry that how mergers can be utilised for strategic benefit (Mayyas, Qattawi, Omar and Shan, 2012). They both joined hands for accelerating best practices in the global market as well as expanding their reach in the competencies that both these firms have. This also provided them with the talent diversity as they had exchange programs for sharing each others talents. Conclusion From the above based report it can be concluded that there are larger numbers of issues faced by the automobiles industries in the past several years. There were larger numbers of strategies and concepts that has been developed by the companies in the industry so as to ensure the long term growth of the industry. It was due to such decisions that they become the leader among all the industries. The world car concept changed brings the uniformity in the working process which was necessary for the several companies that are present within the industry. This concept helped to design cars that are acceptable by the global market irrespective of the local environmental conditions. Apart from this there were many game changing concepts taken by the pioneers in this industry. One of the widely accepted concepts was to bring work to the workers. It was a decision that helped both employers as well as employees. It reduced three major problems of the owners of the firm namely reducing the cos t of operations, bringing efficiency as well as the smoothness of the firm. This helped company in meeting the demands of the market. A few years after that Sloans cost centres gained popularity and ensured a better performance management and monitoring system of the firm. This helped companies in increasing their profit margins which was necessary for the long term growth of the company. There were many other strategic decisions that were taken by the firms from time to time .For example Merger which helped in competing with the market and boosting the business of both the firms participating in it. Despite of such larger numbers of strategic decision it can be seen that considerable amount of challenges are faced by the firms. Management of these firms needs to make some kinds of innovative decisions to overcome such issues in future. 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