The Power of the Customers in the Automobile Industry Essay

The recommendations I would suggest for structuring the supplier relationship process for the Wolf Motors dealership network are Wolf Motors should consider a centralized corporate level Materials Management System to consolidate buying decisions for each of the 4 dealerships. This would facilitate greater leveraging with suppliers for consistent quality-control. They should study, calculate and make effective decisions on the materials that should be brought for each of the four dealerships instead of allowing each dealer to do it on their own. An automated

The Ford Motor Company’s Supply Chain Management ABSTRACT The influx of foreign automobiles that flood the United States market is higher than ever before and American companies are struggling to adapt to this decrease in market share. Ford is one of the organizations that has restructured its supply chain strategy to better integrate suppliers into their system reducing cost and

The automobile industry is a capital intensive industry, the players in the industry need high capital expenditure in order to maintain their market position, but the expected returns in the future is quite high. The industry analysis can be carried out under the following heads:

In this world of technology and innovation even Ford Motor Company is investing in new technologies in order to improvised their supply chain management, build an environment with interaction between each department as well as suppliers in order to reduce the bridging gap between them. As it is a leader in auto market segment, needs to update and coop with time and technology periodically but due to huge competition from the Japanese auto makers like Toyota, Honda, and Nissan, Suzuki etc., who are strong and powerful with references to the supply chain process management due to which Ford market share dip compared to others as well as the sales also declined. During this time, Ford analysed the situation and thought positively and started improvement in the supply chain management.

* Customers – Customers is external stakeholders for all organization or firm. Without any customers a company cannot be process. Customers have power to choose their necessary service and products. Seller and marketing cannot force customer to purchase product and service. Example, insurance customers have many choices when they need to purchase insurance. That mean consumers can buy insurance in different company like Tesco Bank, Lloyd Bank, HSBC and other company.

Just like the other industries such as apparel, electronics, and consumer goods, the automobile industry has accelerated its foreign direct investment, cross border trade and global production. The automobile industry has increased outsourcing and bundled value chain activities in major supplier chains. As a result, more developed countries that serve as suppliers have increased their involvement in trade and FDI. With these increased supplier capabilities, large national suppliers have become global suppliers and are now controlling multinational operations. This is because of their increased capability of providing good and services to various lead firms all over the world. The automotive industry has a distinct firm structure. This

challenges, however, are the most difficult ones to face and overcome. Some environmental issues that

As director of Supply Chain Systems, Teri Takai recommends implementing virtual integration strategies from companies like Dell to portions of Ford’s supply chain strategy. Although there are several key differences between the companies, the restructuring plans of Ford 2000 have set a viable foundation to implement Dell’s virtual integration strategy in inventory management, customer service and support and suppliers’ management. The redesign of the process must include design not only of the supply chain but also of fulfillment, forecasting, purchasing, and a variety of other functions that historically been considered independently within the Ford hierarchy. Teri

The average general supply and average population of supplier’s gives suppliers’ substantial but finite bargaining power on companies like Ford. Plus, many of the suppliers have low forward vertical integration, meaning that they have no stake or controlling power on the dispersion and selling of their products to Ford. The suppliers bargaining ability becomes even weaker due to Fords backward vertical integration by the Ford River Rough Complex. Through the Complex, Ford makes several materials it uses to make cars and colligated completed products. This suggests that Ford needs to understand the substantial but finite outside factors connected with its supplier’s effect on the company.

Although the direct business model of Dell is most attractive, there are several key differences between the computer and auto industries which serve as barriers to Ford‘s implementation of uniform, supply chain virtual integration. Ford must tackle many diverse obstacles that were, simply, not a factor with Dell‘s implementation. These obstacles range down the delivery chain from the supplier to the manufacturer to the dealer and, ultimately, to the customer. Overall, the intricate and historic process of manufacturing and selling automobiles contradicts the technological innovation necessary for a true virtually integrated system to exist.

This Novak dealership was the runt in the litter. There were four other Novak car dealerships in the city. They sold luxury to foreigners and middle-aged men, but this dealership was known for rust, and red numbers. It was also the only one that my dad owned. It was always quiet; yet about an hour ago, Dad had gotten a call, and had gone into his dimly lit back office to talk. From where I sat at the desk, I could hear snippets of the conversation that filtered in through the gap in the door.

One factor that adds to the success of Toyota’s supply chain is their relationship with their suppliers and how they do business with those suppliers. Toyota does not simply give their supply contracts to the highest bidder; instead they work incredibly closely with their suppliers so that they can get the highest quality products possible. Toyota uses long-term, just-in-time contracts with all of their suppliers (Winfield & Hay, 1997). Toyota does not engage in any kind of mutual contracts, such as buy-back or revenue-sharing; however, they do take multiple steps to ensure a mutual benefit when they pair up with a supplier. Toyota invests in their suppliers to help them develop products (Liker & Choi, 2004). They also ensure that they share information with their suppliers in a structured fashion. They believe that targeted information leads to results and they ensure that specific communication is relayed to their suppliers at set times and in set ways (Liker & Choi, 2004). Perhaps the most unique aspect of Toyota’s relationships with their suppliers is that they embark on joint improvement ventures together. They set up study groups with suppliers to help both parties learn how to improve operations and send executives and engineers to the supply plants to help them improve processes (Liker & Choi, 2004). These kinds of benefits are described in the contracts Toyota keeps with their suppliers (Toyota Supplier, 2011). The close relationships that

2) There are significant differences between the traditional Porsche customer and Cayenne and Panamera customers. The traditional Porsche customer is interested in exclusivity, in having a niche car, different than others. The Cayenne and Panamera customers are also interested in the utility of the car. In other words, they are interested in the storage capacity of the car and in the power of its engine. There are also financial differences between these types of customers. The traditional Porsche buyers have greater financial power in comparison with other buyers. This means that the Cayenne and Panamera customers' purchasing decision process is also based on the price of the car. Therefore,

The power of buyers is high because this company depends of the businesses and consumers’ demand. This is because they can decide where to buy

The buyer decision process of a typical Porsche customer focuses on selecting cars that reflect their high social status, their financial power, and their preference for exclusive products. They are not interested in the utility or price of the cars in comparison with other customers that are interested in how much the car costs, its size, or its fuel economy performance. Porsche buyers also take into consideration the car's performance, but they focus on the sensations they have when driving such a car.