Global Sustainability And Key Needs In Future Of Automobile Industry - Research Paper Example

Global Sustainability And Key Needs In Future Of Automobile Industry INTRODUCTION In the recent years, the automobile industry has been progressing rapidly with new technologies emerging every now and then. In contrast to the previous years, the year of 2009 has brought challenges for the automobile industry globally. The international financial crisis is expected to continue which is creating a pressure on the auto manufacturers’ credits in the short term and medium term (Global Automotive Industry Outlook, 2009). The uncertainties faced by the automobile industry due to the negative view of the industry are causing the manufacturers a distress as a result of which they cannot clearly identify a decision to be made (Global Automotive Industry Outlook, 2009). The financial concerns do impact the sustainability of the future of automobile industry, but another factor that has more impact is the increasing environmental concerns surrounding the industry. The global growth in vehicle use has significantly increased the fuel demand, materials and air emissions (Mcauley, 2003). According to the statics provided by Euromonitor International (2007), the global oil consumption for transport was approximately 16.8 billion barrels. In terms of PESTEL analysis for the automobile industry, the use of oil is causing environmental concerns all around the world. As a result of the environmental threat, the automobile industry faces the challenge of reducing the vehicle impact on environment so that it can be sustainable in terms of environment over the next 50 years (Mcauley, 2003). This emphasizes the importance of innovation in terms of technology to achieve greater sustainability in the future. RATIONALES This research will focus on the future of automobile industry by evaluating the present conditions the industry is in and the achievement towards sustainable development while assessing the potential challenges and problems that is causing a hindrance in this regard. The research will take into account two automobile manufacturers: Toyota and General Motors and evaluate its sustainable development goals and assess if they are successful or not. The reason for doing so is to identify the problems and solutions based on the experience of Toyota and General Motors. RESEARCH QUESTIONS: What are the key challenges (obstacles) an automobile industry is facing towards sustainability? How to overcome these obstacles? POTENTIAL PROBLEMS OF THE INDUSTRY WITH REGARDS TO TOYOTA AND GENERAL MOTORS Problems in the UK Automobile Industry According to the Toyota European Sustainability Report (2009), the UK automotive industry is at present facing huge challenges which are becoming more complex given the economic downturn in the region and globally. The automotive industry of UK is facing problems maintaining its global competitive position due to the skills of the industry, its business processes, costly investment in the research and development (Stancich, 2008). When the customers are given a choice between the performance of the car, price, convenience and sustainability, the majority of the customers according to Mann (2002) would choose the starting perimeters and would place sustainability to the bottom of their priorities while purchasing an automobile. The perimeter of sustainability of an automobile is mostly never on the minds of the customers. The result of the behavior and attitude towards purchase of automobiles causes the automobile manufacturers to place least importance to this perimeter and mostly neglect it when devising strategies (Mann, 2002). Therefore many manufacturers in addition to the economic and industrial problems aforementioned are facing sustainability issues causing the future of automobile industry in UK to be in a peril. The sustainability issues faced by the automobile industry are dependent upon the life cycle stage of the car. The life cycle stages in which major issues are occurring are (Mcgown, 2005): Production & Distribution of car: Use of water Quality of Air Waste and energy resources. Usage of Car: Waste from tyres and servicing traffic emissions CO2 Emissions The UK government in response to the above problems has tightened the rule and regulations and policies that are causing another challenge to the automotive sector (Success and Sustainability in the UK Automotive Industry, 2006) particularly the environmental concerns and continuous need for improvement in the safety standards are the main drivers behind the automobile industry failures in certain cases. Environmental sustainability according to the Toyota European Sustainability Report (2009) has become a major issue for the automobile industry in this 21st century. Hammerschmidt (2008) also pointed out that the climatic changes in the world and lack of energy resources will cause the emission regulations to be more tight and rigid for the UK automobile industry. In order to respond to the environmental challenges caused by the sustainability issues and regulatory framework aforementioned, the automobile industry now relies on the technological aspect of its methods of productions and the production itself (Nieuwenhuis & Wells, 2003). The UK automobile industry has a vision of replacing petroleum based fuels with hydrogen in the future (Hammerschmidt, 2008). But in order to achieve that vision, the UK industry needs to overhaul its current strategies for the sustainability and add new factors to it as urbanization challenges are closing in. According to Hammerschmidt (2008) mechanical approaches used in the production of automobiles must be replaced by electronic controls, software and algorithms. As the UK industry is extremely globalized due to the imports and exports of most of manufacturer’ automobiles, standardization of such electronic approaches have to done. These sorts of regulations will cause the automobiles to invest billions of Euros in research and development for sustainability. Biofuels according to Stancich (2008) are currently the important topic of discussion in the UK government for its automobile industry. The UK government wishes to address the growing environmental and social sustainability concerns of the automobile industry by introducing mandatory criteria for all the biofuels till 2011 (Stancich, 2008). RESEARCH OBJECTIVES The research objectives are defined as the main purpose of the research and identify the goals that can guide the research. If the goals and aims of the research are not clearly identified then the whole research is jeopardize as the researcher will not have any idea in which direction the research should go (Saunders et al 2006). Clear objectives will give the directions for the research design, data collection and analysis and most importantly the final conclusions. Therefore, the aims and objectives of the proposed research topic are given as follows: To assess the current automobile industry trends in sustainability development To assess the current challenges and obstacles in the sustainability development To evaluate the future of automobile industry in terms of sustainability To identify possible solutions to the obstacles in sustainability development All the above objectives are based on the analysis of the UK automobile industry as well as two cases of auto manufacturers Toyota and General Motors and the results will be generalized for the entire automobile industry. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY Methodological approach and design The research methodology and design according to Research Methods Knowledge Base (2006) provides a framework that holds the research together by structuring the major and broad parts of the research in order to analyze the research questions. This is basically a summary of how the research is going to be carried out and what measures will be taken into account (Saunders et al. 2006). This is important for any research because it can give the researcher an overview of how things will be conducted. The future of the automobile industry in terms of sustainability can be analyzed by different persons in different ways making the outcome of the research subjective (Saunders et al 2006). The method of the research will be mostly qualitative but a small amount of quantitative research will also be included to make the research analysis more authenticate and strong. The research will be performed on the basis of interviews, questionnaire and literature review. The literature review will be based on journals and articles relating to the automobile industry and its sustainability with regards to two cases: Toyota and General Motors. The interview will be conducted with at least five management level personnel each of the Toyota and General Motors. Each interviewee will be asked identical questions but may be reframed according to the person. In addition to this, questionnaire will be given out to 10 to 15 management level employees so that a consistent answer can be obtained regarding the research. The interview and questionnaires will be backed by a thorough literature review on the sustainability of automobile industry. The aim behind conducting an extensive collection of data is to gain knowledge on the strategies being implemented for the future of the automobile industry in terms of sustainability. The designing approach of the research will be based on the review of different academic literature as well as articles before designing the questionnaire and the interview questions (Saunders et al 2006). The interview questions and questionnaire will be tested before it is implemented. Research methods Research methods are the design and approach taken by the researcher to acquire the information in order to complete the researcher. The research can be experimental, exploratory, qualitative, quantitative and cross sectional and so on (Saunders et al. 2006). It is important to identify the research method because the collection of data becomes easy and the researcher has a clear idea of what type of information is needed (Research Methods Knowledge Base, 2006). In order to evaluate the future of automobile industry, the research method will be based on qualitative information which will take into account the primary methods such as interviews and questionnaires (Saunders et al 2006) from the companies under review to have a deeper understanding of the strategies they adopt. The use of primary method is important as it will give the analysis a strong basis for answering the research questions. In addition to this, secondary methods of data collection such as case studies and historical events (Saunders et al 2006) from the journals, periodicals and articles will be taken into consideration. The internet will also be referred to collect the latest reports regarding the literature review. Such an extensive amount of research is necessary to take into account the past and present information on the industry so that the evaluation of future can be objective and not subjective. Data collection and analysis Data collection means the sources from which data will be collected (Saunders et al 2006). This is based on the type of research method selected for the research. Each type of method has different data collection methods. For example quantitative data collection will take into account the numeric data of the past and present and analysis will be based on it where as cross sectional data collection method will consider the data across different regions in a particular time frame (Research Methods Knowledge Base, 2006). The questionnaires and interviews will provide an inside view of the companies: Toyota and General Motors success and failure respectively. The data will be collected from multiple resources such as journals, periodicals, articles, and internet so that different views can be taken into account when developing the solution and recommendations. The data sources will consist of literature review on the automobile industry, sustainability outlook and analysis of auto manufacturers. The analysis of the research will not take into account the scientific processes as it is not needed in qualitative research. Validity According to Research Methods Knowledge Base (2006) validity is described as “the best available approximation to the truth of a given proposition, inference, or conclusion.” This means that the propositions regarding the research have to be justified so that the conclusions can be based on the truth and facts rather than assumptions. The importance of validity is high because if wrong data has been collected it can cause results as opposed to the expected one (Skinner et al. 2000). The validity of the literature and data acquired will be tested for the suitability of data in relation to the research objectives and questions. As the data collection is qualitative, the validity of such data will be based on its relevance with the research objectives (Saunders et al 2006). If not, the data will be discarded. Another way validity of the data will be carried out is to assess the degree of transferability of the central assumptions to any generalized setting (Qualitative Measures, 2006). In addition to this, the data will be validated by using the degree of conformability that is to check and recheck the data throughout the research (Qualitative Measures, 2006). Reliability The term reliability as described by Saunders et al. (2006) is quality of measurement or the data gathered. This is a measurement of the data’s consistency with the overall research background whether it is suitable for the analysis or not. The questionnaire will be based on the literature review so that the secondary information collected on the companies can be verified. Questionnaires will be conducted in controlled manner by ensuring that the participants understand the importance of the research. The questionnaire questions will be further backed up by the interviews to obtain a larger perspective on the topic. LIMITATIONS According to Skinner et al. (2000) limitations mean the boundaries which restrict the scope of the research and cause hindrances in the research. As the research is qualitative certain disadvantages of this method can become the limitations such as ambiguities in the analysis due to human error and so on (Skinner et al 2000). In addition to this, as no scientific analysis is conducted in the qualitative research, there are chances that the results and the conclusion can become subjective. Time constraint is the first limitation as the time required to complete the research is less and if the time is given, much in-depth analysis can be carried out by observing the trends and collecting the latest information. In addition to this, there are many limitations associated with the qualitative research undertaken (Saunders et al 2006). These can be the subjective issues as it requires time and dedicated to collect the required information and then to analyze it. The limitation of the researcher’s ability to understand and describe the data can be compromised causing him to make subjective conclusions to the research objectives (Qualitative Measures, 2006). RESEARCH ETHICS Any good research requires that the research is carried out by protecting the rights of the people involved in the research such as questionnaire participants and interviewees. Ethics ensures that the participants are willing to co-operate in the completion of the research and are not being coerced into it (Saunders et al 2006). In addition to this, it is of important concern that the researcher is objective all the times during the research as it is also part of the ethics. Keeping this in view, the participants of the questionnaire and the interviewees will be provided written description beforehand the purpose of the research and its expected outcomes. The information about the participants and interviewees will be kept confidential and anonymous so that the answers required by the participants can be as objective as possible. The research paper will under no circumstances reveal the names of the participants or interviewees. The interviews and questionnaire will also not ask about confidential information about the company and will only be structured towards the topic of the research. TIMESCALE AND RESOURCES Timescale can give the researcher a boundary line in which different sections of the research have to be completed so that the researcher does not lose track of time. The following is the timescale for the completion of the proposed research. Proposal will be prepared by 14 December 2009 Literature review will be completed by 30 December 2009 Interviews with companies 6 January 2010 Questionnaires 12 January 2010 Analysis will be completed by 25 January 2010 Presentation will be given on 10 February 2010 Final report will be submitted by 15 March 2010 The resources used to complete the literature review and the analysis will be taken from the library and the internet. Word Count: 2664 REFERENCES Dreher, J., Lawler, M., Stewart, J., Strasorier, G. & Thorne, M. “General Motors Metrics for Sustainable Manufacturing.” MIT Sloan Management. 2009. Retrieved from http://actionlearning.mit.edu/s-lab/files/slab_files/Projects/2009/GM,%20report.pdf Hammerschmidt, C. “Automobile Industry Faces Sustainability Challenge”. EE Times Europe. 2008. Retrieved from http://www.fisita.com/media/cuttings/eenews.pdf Macgown, C. “The UK Automotive Sector Towards Sustainability.” Production Consumption and Disposal Industry Report. 2005. Retrieved from http://lib.smmt.co.uk/articles/homepagearticle/HomePageArticles/7th%20Sustainability%20report%20200906.pdf Mann, D. “Changing the Game: Sustainability without Compromise.” Centre for Sustainable Design. 2002. Retrieved from http://www.systematic-innovation.com/Articles/02,%2003,%2004/Aug02-Changing%20The%20Game-%20Sustainability%20Without%20Compromise.pdf Mcauley, J. “Global Sustainability and Key Needs in Future Automotive Design.” Journal of Environmental Science and Technology. Vol.37 (2003). McGinity, B. & Parker, S. “Vision for the UK Automotive Industry in 2020” Ricardo UK Ltd. & Skills4Auto Ltd. 2006. Retrieved from http://ati.nstl.gov.cn/car/baogao/images/2006/8/3/59762.pdf Nieuwenhuis, P. & Wells, P. “The automotive industry and the environment.” Woodhead Publishing Limited. 2003. ISBN: 1855737132 Nuthall, K. “GLOBAL: Auto makers ranked by sustainability.” University World News. 2009. Retrieved from http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20091106115431119 Saunders, M., Lewis, P. & Thornhill, A. “Research Methods for Business Students.” Pearson Education. 2006. ISBN: 8131701158 Skinner, D., Tagg, C. & Holloway, J. “Managers and Research.” Management Learning, Vol. 31, No. 2, (2000) Stancich, R. “Biofuels: Can a global standard solve the sustainability problem?” Climate News for Business. 2008. Retrieved from http://www.climatechangecorp.com/content.asp?ContentID=5604 Turton, H. “Sustainable global automobile transport in the 21st century: An integrated scenario analysis.” Technological Forecasting & Social Change. Vol.73 (2006). “Euromonitor International.” Global Market Information Database, 2007. “Global Automotive Industry Outlook”. Fitch Ratings. 2009 “Leading the development of environmentally friendly technology.” General Motors: Vauxhall. 2009. Retrieved from http://www.vauxhall.co.uk/vaux/pages/global/sustainabilityAndCommunity/index.jsp “Qualitative Measures.” Research Methods Knowledge Base. 2006. Retrieved from http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/qual.php “Success and Sustainability in the UK Automotive Industry.” UK Department for Business Innovation and Skills. 2006. Retrieved from http://www.berr.gov.uk/files/file29165.pdf “Toyota European Sustainability Report” Toyota. 2009. Retrieved from http://www.bcsdportugal.org/files/1906.pdf “Research Methods Knowledge Base.” 2006. Retrieved from http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/design.php “Vauxhall” General Motors. 2009. Retrieved from http://www.vauxhall.co.uk/vaux/pages/global/sustainabilityAndCommunity/index.jsp Read More