Mission and Vision Statement & Innovation and Industry Description
General Motors in Los Angeles, California is a company that wants to make sure that your transport needs are taken care of. It is a multi-corporation company which has a reputation of providing a state of the art quality services which incorporate safety, quality, time value and simplicity of our function. This is accomplished in order to please the clientele, employees and the partners in the industry.
Mission and Objectives
Having thrived in Florida, where many of the people have cars, the aim is to make sure that each household has access to a reliable automobile at any given time of the day. This takes into consideration the waiting time that one needs and the safety of both the vehicle and the customer are prioritized all the time. It is aimed at making sure that all the emergency and planned transport needs are efficiently taken care of in a sense of urgency manner.
This will be achieved by our partners receiving one-of-a-kind deal to provide the automobiles. The incorporation of state of the art technology devices is to help one get the automobile in the best condition, in time and to continually monitor the travels remotely and providing assistance if need be. The best technology that will be incorporated is a modified GPS tracker which is modified and integrated in the car to guide you on your travel destination and informing you real time updates about the fee that is incurred and also tracking the cars ‘vitals’ for you, to help one return the vehicle in a good condition.
The plan inculcates the provision of best customer services in the industry.. This will make use of our dedicated landline and a dedicated server that will help the partner to track the vehicle at their own volition, and see on real time the ‘vitals of the car, the speed at which it is driven at. He or she can use our dedicated partner line to request the vehicle within a 24-hour deadline and the customer care will update the partner on where to pick the car. The customers also will have a dedicated landline for any emergencies and as there is provision of free and partial repair of the vehicle depending on the payment option of the customer. It is expected that there will be provision of VIP services to the client who will receive no monitoring services from the company but the car’s vitals will also be modified. An app and an online portal is to be utilized to make sure that the car rental service is made very easy where in less than 5 minutes one can rent and pay the vehicle that they want and get it in less than an hour and for premium customers, 25 minutes.
The intention is to make sure that every transport needs in the industry are provided by General Motors California and grow our brand into one of the biggest car hire company in the whole United States of America, by use of innovation, efficiency, crème de la crème customer care and integrated technology to ensure the happiness of both the customer and the partners.
Distinctive Core Competencies
This business idea doesn’t face any significant competition from any of the companies around. The distinctive core competences are:
- Heavy integration of technology into our business.
- Our sense of urgency in delivering requested vehicles making it ideal for both emergency and planned vehicles.
- Our dedicated customer care service that makes sure that all the clients and the business partners are happy.
- Our support activities for the business.
2. Industry Analysis and Trends
Car rental services in the world are very common with companies providing vehicles for short term transportation. The market can be either individuals or even companies. United states had one of the largest market segment, having over 25,000 car rental companies and making billions in annual income. Germany had its fair share of car rental company’s successes in the whole of Europe. Germany has over 47,000 vehicles in 2016 and 165,000 partners in the business making one of the largest in Europe. According to Sullivan & Frost (2010), the market is supposed to grow by 400% up to the year 2016 and the customers to rise by a whopping 600% making it one of the businesses with a growing customer base.
In the U.S.A, the car rental business has grown by the rate of 3% from 2011, generating about $38billion. This still shows that General Motors Los Angeles has a chance of making it as a 3% growth rate is still huge considering that it has more than 25,000 companies in the business. The car rental business is tremendously growing. From top 10 reviews article by Grant Morgan (June, 2016), which analyses the best companies in the United States that provides these services, at the helm is the Enterprise company which has made a revolution in this business. It provides for the following features in its business; GPS services, online checking, it is available in 54 states, child seat rental, options for the disabled in the organization, multilingual website, AAA chat option, email and call support and even an insurance package (Fink, 2006).
From 2016-2021, the market is expected to grow by 5.6% in the United States, making it one of the best market to invest in. The biggest market segment is believed to be in the Airport car rental services, even in the future trend. This is probably because of increase in domestic tourism which is hoped to rise in the time frame given up to year 2021. The trends that will make a company stand out are the green friendly cars, self-hire vehicles which will make it cheaper since there is no driver, enhanced integration of technology in the business and improvement in the customer service all which our plan has taken into consideration (Claire, 2016)
The major competitors in these business are Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Hertz company, Thrifty and Alamo. These companies provide most of the trends that highlighted that were previously mentioned. They are still projected to be the leading companies even in the next five years as they have a lot of money to invest in research to make the companies even better.
The market niche is that all these companies are based in New York and Vegas providing no major threat in Los Angeles, California. In Los Angeles, there are fewer cars that most of these cities, providing a niche in the business where the General Motors company can continue to achieve its mission by using another company with a grasp of the local market knowledge to make sure that all the people who need cars in down town can easily log in into the website and request for a car and get it for short term rental period.
With a population of 4 million residents and the young population, our idea to capture young people who can rent these cars for pure fun and later return them presents a competitive advantage over the other companies. Our technology integration is also meant to make sure that they are fascinated by the features and rent our cars. Another niche is the VIP or premium services in which they are provided with good vehicles whereby tracking is not viable for full privacy of their whereabouts which is hoped to attract business men and other people.
3. Strategic Positioning, Strategic Intent
Measurable goals
- Partnering up with a local company with a localized reputation.
- Having at least 40 cars in the fleet among the first six months and 150 cars by the end of the year.
- Successful advertisement within the first three months.
- Make over $500,000 as profits in the first year.
- Bonuses and other activities within the first six months to continue the growth of the company and give it a localized company.
- Strategic position of the business will be determined by use of SWOT analysis of both the General motors company and the Company that will arise out of the General motors and a local company.
Strengths
- The relationship of the local company with the General Motors Company is an advantage as it already has a good reputation in the market. This is a strength because people will easily trust it.
- Another strength is that there is a need in downtown Los Angeles for people looking to rent cars for shorter period of time without needing to take a loan. This kind of monopoly in the market is definitely a strength.
- General Motors company is financially stable. These deep pockets will be an advantage as it will allow the company to do extensive research on the market, provide money for advertisement.
Weaknesses
- It is a completely new idea and will require a lot of funds since it will start from scratch.
- The entry into business by General Motors may attract the already grown companies in Los Angeles to downtown bring in more competition.
- There will be shortcomings in the workers in the first few days as they try to understand the business.
Opportunities
- Los Angeles California downtown people have a significant challenge as most of them lack vehicles and the needs of our time require travelling. There is a great opportunity that this company can take on.
- This company has an aggressive approach, to focus mostly on technology as a solution to most problems, and its image by having an excellent customer care. The major challenge in renting a car from people through a company is the fear by the owners that the automobile will be returned in a bad condition.
- With us, we seized this opportunity by installing sensors in the car’s engine and other vital parts of the vehicle to make sure that it can be monitored and if destroyed, the customers can pay for it (Fink,2006).
Threats
- As GM is a gigantic company, investing in such a small company might make it to lose the current market hold that they have.
- Another threat that the company may face is the pricing of the vehicles for people in the downtown to afford them, and the amount to give the original owners which might be a hard thing to balance.
4. Product / Service
General Motor products have been proven to be worthwhile as they incorporate the latest technology when it comes to the manufacturing aspects. They are also involved in technological features which make them appealing to the clients. Prior to carrying out the manufacturing process, the staff who are assigned investigation tasks carry out market research and the technology at hand so that it can be incorporated in the automobiles. This makes their products worthwhile.
It should be considered that the business life cycle has various impacts on the organization’s activities, especially in marketing. During the introduction phase, it is coherent that there should be heavy promotional and marketing activities being carried out so that awareness can be increased. During the growth phase, the promotional activities will mainly deem to focus on the market expansion which entails identification of the various viable market segments. Market segments involve the demographic and geographic analysis of the markets (Stark, 2011).
At the maturity phase of the product, the company will now embark on producing more as the rewards in terms of money will start to be experienced. The products, however, need to be refreshed each and every time to suit the needs of the clients. For instance, general motors’ ensuring that the latest technologies are incorporated into their vehicles they manufacture as it is coherent that customers like such products. At the decline, marketing will be withdrawn as the company embarks on producing more unique products.
The lifecycle of the industry also has various impacts regarding the activities of the company. During the introduction stage of the lifecycle, it is depicted that the industry is still an infant and thus developing. During this stage, the firm will mainly use the focused strategy so as to tell the customers on the uniqueness of their products. The marketing strategies applied by the firm during this stage entail trying to explain the uses of their products to the consumers. Profits which are generated at this stage are usually reinvested back into the business so as to help them solidify their position. In some cases, the firms may cluster together so that they can access the useful materials which will enable them to reduce operational costs.
During the growth stage, marketing efforts aim at differentiating the products of the firm from the products of the competitors in the industry. This implies that the firm requires a lot of funds to carry out the marketing campaign as well as additional funds for the investments in the property and equipment which will facilitate growth. However, it is at this stage as well that the firm will experience standardization of their products which will seek to encourage the economies of scale and further lead to the development of the line flow layout of the efficiency in production. The lifecycle curve at this stage is seen to be very steep depicting that there is fast growth (Crego et al., 2014).
During the maturity stage, the life cycle curve becomes flattered which indicates that the growth is slow. This means that a firm at this stage will have excess cash and thus will pay dividends to the shareholders. The decline then sets in which the products will be deemed to be obsolete by the customers due to the emergence of the new technological products in the industry. It is worth noting that the sales decreases at an accelerating rate
5. Management Plan
Key managers of the General Motors include Mary T. Barra who is the Chairman as well as the Chief Executive Officer of the General Motors Company. He was elected chairman of the General Motors during the Board of Directors meeting on January 4, 2016, and moreover served as CEO of General Motors since January 15, 2014. Dan Ammann also another key manager. He is the President and has the responsibilities of managing the company’s operations globally. Alan Bateym is the Executive Vice President as well as being the President of North America. He was appointed executive vice president and president in January 2014 (Chandler, 2013).
The plans that have been put in place to attract develop, and most importantly to retain key personnel by General Motors entails providing the positive environment to the workers so that they can feel free to work hard and explore all their talents. This will be a progressive work environment in which will produce friendly benefits which keep the turnover to be very high for the employees. By doing this, it will well cultivate an environment where the employees are free to interact with their managers and discuss the way forward in the functions of the organization. This will make them feel appreciated, and they will not wish to leave the company. Monetary benefits as well should be given to such employees to show appreciation for the continuous work they have done for the company. This should be competitive so that they will not think of leaving the company to work for the competitors.
The future possible addition to the current management team of the General Motors company is the diagnostic manager who will offer free service check up to the clients who cars are develops problems while having a warranty. This will ensure that no such cases are reported as the one will be responsible; for ensuring that the automobiles will be mechanically fit and will not give problems to the clients.
The compensation plan which is available in the General Motors is the hourly wage in which the employees are paid based on the hours they worked. This is mainly calculated by the hourly rate and the hours an individual works to get the total payment for the day. Annual salary is also adopted by the company. In this method, the company pays the salaried employees a whole work over time and thus paid the overtime salaries which are as well given during the end of the year after it has accumulated. Retirement savings is another method of the compensation plan where the company pays the retired employees who had been working for them from the savings they have been making on the monthly basis on the company for their retirements. This is mainly dependent on the percentage they have been contributing. Bonuses and incentives are the most common incentives, and the company has as well adopted it. This entails looking for those who have worked very hard and giving them presents so that they can continue the good work as well as encourage others (Singer & Francisco, 2010).
The company as well has adopted the insurance plans for the employees. The insurance plans include the accident insurance and the health insurance. This is aimed at ensuring that the employees are working safely, and their safety is guaranteed. Most importantly, the company follows the government rules and the regulations which include ensuring that the pollution is not witnessed from the company’s operations. The company this ensures that the effluents are recycled and treated before being discharged.
6. Marketing Plan
The competitive advantage with regards to the innovations which are being created by the company will lead to the improvement of the automobiles performance regarding efficiency and fuel consumption which will be deemed to be economical and thus appealing to the customers. The characteristics of the target market of the general motors are the working class individuals and the companies who need the automobiles to use in their operations. In this, the investigation on what the customers are looking for in automobiles they wish to buy as well as wishing to rent for their personal purposes will be investigated, and they manufactured exactly like their needs. From the studies carried out, the demand market for the automobiles approximately thirty percent in a single country. In this in this regards, the general motors’ have ventured into international markets.
The demographic competitors are companies such as Ford which are targeting the same demography the general motors are targeting. Consequently, various strategies ought to be put in place so that the competitors can be defeated. The approximate total sales for the geographic area chosen will be approximately three hundred million dollars per year. This will make a total of one billion and five hundred million in five years. In the years with will make a total of three billion dollars. With the adoption of the innovation, the company is seeking to capture an additional fifteen percent of the market so as to make a total of forty-five percent in a geographic region (Abbing, 2010).
The 4Ps which are applied by the company is the pricing which is deemed to be very friendly to the customers so that they can be attracted and buy the automobiles from the company. Additionally, the products which are being produced ought to be of good quality which will provide the services the clients want from their automobile without so many problems caused by the automobiles. Promotions as well another P in which the company seeks to advertise their products and carry out promotional activities to boost their awareness of the products so that the targeted customers can be aware. Place as well is very important so that the customers can get what they want at the right place and at the right time.
The overall marketing strategy for the general motors’ is to ensure that they manufacture automobiles which are technologically updated as that is what the customers want. Moreover, by providing the car hire services, they will be able to increase the customer base accessing their automobiles. The specific marketing mix is to manufacture exactly what the customers want. This is known trough is interviewing the customers regarding what they want. The strength of the target market is that the individuals have been proven to be loyal to the automobiles from the general motors’ since it is technologically updated and no problems ever reported by the people having the same automobiles. Notably, the weakness is the emergence of the competitors selling their automobiles cheaply such as Ford (Chaston, 2011). Communication thus should be continuous so that the customers can get what they want.