Jaguar Land Rovers New Market Entry in North America - Essay Example

Management report: Jaguar Land Rover BY YOU YOUR SCHOOL INFO HERE HERE EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Jaguar Land Rover is currently seeking potential new market entry in North America. Research has identified that this is a highly saturated market with major automakers sustaining innovative capacity and considerable consumer brand loyalty. JLR will be forced to incur substantial costs in order to launch a new manufacturing plant in North America that include compliance costs to quality regulations, new technology implementation, modernisation of production equipment and processes, competitive marketing, and labour to support new service systems that are critical for B2B and B2C customers. Based on the high volume of expenditures and internal restructuring, the report recommends postponing market entry into North America and instead pursue market entry in nations with much less competition and less need for high cost technologies and improvements that are vital to competitive success in North America. TABLE OF CONTENTS 1.0 Introduction.................................................................................................................. 2.0 Decision-making.......................................................................................................... 3.0 Supply chain management........................................................................................... 4.0 E-commerce opportunities........................................................................................... 5.0 Conclusion and recommendations............................................................................... References Jaguar Land Rover 1.0 Introduction Jaguar Land Rover, a subsidiary of Tata Motors, experienced a sales volume of 316,000 Land Rovers and 58,600 Jaguars in between 2012 and 2013. JLR has sustained a very difficult history in creating consumer interest in branded automobiles, causing financial burdens to the company’s previous parent company, Ford Motor Company, and also causing credit rating reductions for Tata as a result of significant debt burdens for the acquisition of the company. However, recent business decisions to reposition and strengthen the brand have improved the company’s image in India and China (the firm’s two most profitable markets). As a result of the achievement of sales revenues of £15.784 billion in 2013 (JLR 2013), the company is now considering market entry into North America as a means of expanding revenue production. However, prior to new market entry, Jaguar Land Rover must be considerate of how this decision will impact supply chain management, determine the potential opportunities of e-commerce in this decision, and also consider the potential business decisions that must be enacted to ensure success in North America. This report provides a rationale for market entry into North America, focuses on supply chain and e-commerce challenges and opportunities, and offers recommendations for ensuring success in this new market. 2.0 Decision-making The North American auto industry is a highly saturated market, consisting of major players in the industry as Ford Motor, General Motors, Toyota, Nissan, Honda, Kia and Volkswagen. These long-standing automotive companies have established a very strong brand recognition and brand loyalty with many consumer segments, utilising effective marketing promotion as a means of enhancing consumer demand for these branded products. For instance, in 2012, Ford saw revenues of $134.3 billion USD in 2012 (Ford 2013) as a result of being one of the most recognised brands that is positioned against competition in terms of quality, with an emphasis on product in the marketing mix. Ford is highly adept in using relevant integrated marketing communications to provide consumers with a perception of product superiority over competition, performance and overall product excellence. Figure 1: Product personification in marketing for Ford Source: Coloribus (2010). Ford Mustang “It’s Back” Print Ad by Team Detroit. [online] Available at: http://www.coloribus.com/adsarchive/prints/ford-mustang-its-back-15798355/ (accessed 17 March 2014). According to Ritson (2010), “Ford is now producing cars that consumers and critics are raving about” (Ritson 2010, p.2). Ford, being a highly recognised and respected brand in North America, understands consumer behaviour. Schiffman and Kanuk (2010) iterate that brand attitudes are highly influenced by a phenomenon known as the Halo Effect, a type of cognitive bias in which a consumer’s impression of a brand strongly dictates their perception of its character. Ford has managed to gain considerable loyalty with multiple consumer segments in relation to quality and reliability, making it difficult for competitors to undo this consumer faithfulness in the brand and create motivations to switch to competing products. As a result, in the United States, Ford is the second largest auto producer. Consumer values are considered to be “enduring beliefs” sustainable over time (Tam 2004, p.898), hence Ford’s long-standing brand personality has managed to make meaningful and lasting connections with multiple consumer segments, giving them a substantial competitive edge. Ford spent $3.9 billion USD on advertising in 2010 (Laya 2011). Concurrently, General Motors spent a whopping $4.2 billion USD on advertising in 2010 (Laya 2011), the largest corporate advertiser in North America. General Motors utilises a type of marketing known as lifestyle (psychographics) which aligns brand position on the market with the lifestyle characteristics of consumers and their known attitudes. Figure 2: General Motors Lifestyle Truck Advertising Example Source: Bunkley, N. (2006). Aiming to be the truck of patriots, New York Times. [online] Available at: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/26/business/media/26adco.html?_r=0 (accessed 17 March 2014). There could be substantial difficulty in outperforming the marketing prowess of General Motors and Ford Motor Company. The Land Rover is a four-wheel drive vehicle that will be competing with Ford Trucks, GM trucks and Dodge Ram four-wheel drive vehicles, yet another company with considerable market loyalty in North America for a brand that is positioned in terms of superior quality. Furthermore, many of the domestic manufacturers from North America price their trucks with basic features and SUVs at a suggested selling price between $26,000 and $30,000 USD. This is a much more affordable pricing structure for many non-luxury markets. The Jaguar Land Rover, as a premium product, is reliant on its luxurious products and features that are attractive to higher resource buyers, with starting prices of approximately $38,000, significantly higher than domestic producers of trucks and Sport Utility Vehicles. This is especially important to note as there is a trend for consumers turning toward purchasing light vehicles and fuel-efficient cars, such as those produced by Ford and Toyota, in an effort to combat recessionary impacts on incomes and rising fuel prices in North America (iMotor Times 2012). In the first quarter of 2014, automakers in North America reported slower than expected sales of automobiles (McBride 2014). Hence, there is a concern about the ability of Jaguar Land Rover to ensure high demand for its higher-priced, premium products and a significant change in preference of consumers toward smaller and more efficient vehicles over that of SUVs and trucks. If JLR is to build a new plant in North America, the company must also be considerate of the NAFTA trade agreement that allows free trade between Canada and Mexico. The current exchange rate for the U.S. dollar and the Mexican Peso is 1:13 (Yahoo! Finance 2014). This provides domestic automakers with significant cost advantages competitively as the majority of North American producers have established well-developed and broad supply chain methodologies with Mexican parts producers. Many automakers in North America have adopted lean procurement models and expect just-in-time delivery of products from Mexican suppliers. This has caused capacity issues with Mexican parts suppliers as they scramble to maintain adequate supply whilst also avoiding inventory hold costs and exposures (Trade.gov 2010). It is not likely that the added supply burdens imposed by Jaguar Land Rover to identify new trade partnerships to capitalise on the currency exchange opportunities of Mexican suppliers will be feasible to ensure adequate supply in an environment where domestic automakers in North America are already impacted by capacity issues. Ninety percent of all parts produced in Mexico are shipped directly to Canada and the United States. Furthermore, from a labour cost perspective, manufacturing and specialised talent workers in the auto industry in the United States command higher-than-average wages and benefits packages than in the UK and India. The average salary for automotive manufacturing workers in the UK is £27,700 (AverageSalarySurvey 2014). In the U.S. and Canada, labourers are protected by the United Auto Workers union which has laid the foundation for wages exceeding $30 USD per hour with significant benefits package burdens on firms. In order to launch a new production facility, JLR will be forced to utilise domestic workers in manufacturing and in special services divisions of the entire value chain, imposing substantial labour costs in a business model not accustomed to high wages, strength of labour union representation, and benefits expectations of workers. This disparity in wage provisions for a North American plant could, based on statistics, raise fixed costs by 40 percent as opposed to UK and Indian production facilities as in order to attract motivated and loyal employees will require providing competitive wages compared to the other plethora of domestic auto manufacturers dominating the North American markets. In fact, it is estimated that General Motors is having a significant problem with sustaining legacy costs related to the pension payouts of retired employees. It is iterated that GM, a business sustaining approximately 300,000 employees worldwide, is actually paying legacy costs that are equivalent to a company sustaining 800,000 employees (Mandel 2005). Pensions for retired employees are equivalent to $16 to $18 per hour that is payed to each individual retiree. Hence, when considering the long-term obligations of launching a North American plant, the business will have to consider how to properly invest to offset future pension payments that could pose long-term burdens equivalent to General Motors’ problem that ultimately led to a multi-billion dollar bailout from the United States federal government when legacy costs began to over-burden budget capacity. In the United States, Toyota overtook Ford and General Motors as the number one revenue producing firm. However, in recent years, Toyota has come under significant consumer scrutiny for producing low quality vehicles; a company that has always maintained dominance for having top quality automobiles as part of brand identity. The company was forced to recall 350,000 Prius auto models for having faulty water pumps and electrical circuit issues which actually caused cars to shut off while driving (Siu 2009). In total, Toyota recalled 20 million different branded vehicles in just three years as a result of faulty parts and structural problems. Why is this a potential opportunity for Jaguar Land Rover? A 2011 study involving disparate consumer segments indicated that Toyota had experienced a significant erosion of its brand reputation related to quality focus. Utilising statistical models, it was determined that Toyota had sustained a 35 percent decrease in its brand identity which resulted from significant negative assessments from media sources and consumers (Fan, Geddes and Flory 2011). Even in North America, the Jaguar brand maintains a reputation for top quality vehicle production with premium benefits and features. The main automaker in the country is being inundated with reputational problems that provide an excellent marketing opportunity for JLR to outperform this top player by emphasising quality, reliability and excellence as a premium brand. As part of long-term strategy to gain competitive edge and seize market share once launching a new facility, reiterating to consumers that domestic producers have failed their quality and safety needs could give JLR a very potent and trust-focused brand identity in this new market. Outside of the challenges of significantly-higher labour costs in North America, a strained Mexican parts supply chain, the prowess and success of competitive marketing activities and expenditures, and consumer behaviour characteristics, competitive failures are the only legitimate advantage to pursuing the North American marketplace. 3.0 Supply chain management The majority of auto parts that service JLR are produced in the United Kingdom, along an established and well-developed supply chain that is built on strategic alliances and partnerships. Procurement of product is largely handled by logistics carrier DHS, which provides low-cost land transportation for these products produced by UK suppliers. In order to enter the North American market, the company will require adoption of a broader, international supply chain, attempting to take advantage of U.S.-based, Mexican- and Canadian-based suppliers in an environment where there is already a strong supply chain structure with a plethora of potential suppliers. However, it was previously acknowledged that Mexican parts suppliers are over-capacity and struggling to maintain demand in this saturated market by domestic auto manufacturers. Though the exchange rate between US and Canadian currency are advantageous for UK manufacturers, currently at a rate of 1 to $1.66, there are many rigorous, industry and governmentally-mandated quality concerns that could impact cost controls and capability of North American parts suppliers to maintain adequate delivery timelines and volumes. The North American auto industry suppliers are forced to comply with ISO 9000 standards, standards that define and guarantee implementation of rigorous quality assurance standards and inspection practices on finished products (Poksinska, Dahlgaard and Antoni 2002). Domestic suppliers in North America must ensure that specific standards of quality and durability have been achieved for parts in a specific category used in vehicle construction before delivering these products to auto producers. Inability to meet these standards can delay deliveries as manufacturing is revamped or new processes implemented. JLR is heavily reliant on receiving timely deliveries in order to avoid production hindrances and achieve expected output volumes. Though ISO 9000 serves as a risk management function for auto producers, such as avoiding potential litigation, ISO 9000 provides for a burdensome plethora of paperwork, costs of registration, and significant managerial time to ensure that all compliance methods related to these standards have been achieved (Clifford 2014). The UK auto industry is not governed in this fashion, with many companies being able to dictate their own, unique quality standards which are agreed upon with alliance partners along the supply chain. JLR will have to devote more managerial time and cost expenditures to utilise domestic suppliers that must comply with these rigorous standards for the North American industry, perhaps even creating management positions with high salaries to ensure that compliance is met internally and with external supply chain partners. The significant burden of using suppliers that must comply with ISO 9000 and ISO 9001 standards is of considerable concern for establishing a viable and reliable supply chain system outside of the United Kingdom. Furthermore, the business will have to open its doors to auditing teams that measure compliance and report on ISO 9000 adherence. It has been suggested that ISO auditors are not trained to provide consultation to their clients being audited and the reporting structures established for auditing teams, in the event of non-compliance, are seen as a foreign language. Hence, managers often do not understand the terminology illustrating non-compliance and thus are unable to create long-term improvement initiatives that are relevant (Bamford and Deibler 2003). As a result, if the firm is to establish a new production facility in North America, there will be more emphasis on training managers to understand the terminology and standards of compliance of ISO 9000 and to develop cooperative professional behaviours for consulting with auditing agencies, hence placing burden on human resources and mid-level management competency building toward this agenda. Yet another supply chain issue for JLR will be incurring the costs of modernisation that are aligned with major players in the North American industry. General Motors, as one example, spent 8.1 billion USD on research and development in 2011 to remain competitive and viable for changing consumer behaviours. Comparatively, Toyota’s R&D expenditures are much lower. The main competitors in the U.S. are consistently adopting new production technologies, injecting efficiency into their production systems, and generally modernising manufacturing capacity and know-how. Jaguar Land Rover, a company that sustains a much lower net income than GM and Ford, will be hard-pressed to spend the type of research and development capital necessary to maintain a competitive position. Whilst GM and Ford are consistently modernising their facilities and equipment (assets), Jaguar Land Rover could face serious operating costs as a result of attempting to keep up with the pace of technology improvements being implemented and researched by major players. However, it will be absolutely necessary for JLR to devote more financial capital to asset improvement and manufacturing modernisation at the U.S. facilities. The very high and exponentially-growing demand for hybrid vehicles (gas and electric) and more fuel-efficient vehicles will serve as the underpinning for a need for JLR to begin developing these vehicles for income-strapped North American consumers; hence requiring significant R&D expenditures. The main problem is that companies such as Ford and General Motors maintain very strong and well-developed partnerships and alliances with a variety of domestic and international parts suppliers who are regularly involved in research and development efforts and prototyping to prepare suppliers for changes to their production methodologies. JLR, as a company with similar alliances only in the United Kingdom, will be pressed to establish similar cooperatives along the supply chain to prepare potential suppliers in North America (if relevant) to provide adequate parts that fit new modernisation activities. Therefore, there is a high level of cost to maintain production competencies and technologies for a constantly-evolving North American market as well as difficulty in establishing supply chain partner responsiveness when manufacturing systems evolve to meet with competitive production behaviours. North American automakers, additionally, have very well-developed knowledge management systems and extranets that allow for collaboration between distanced internal managers and supply partners. These systems have been operating and have become rather standard B2B practice along the supply chain since the adoption of ISO 9000 as an industry quality standard. Hence, there is a likelihood that suppliers will want similar real-time access to JLR representatives and technology systems to facilitate this knowledge management environment in which suppliers have grown accustomed to operating within. JLR is not accustomed to inter-dependent external knowledge management systems, a methodology that requires significant technological financial investment and managerial prowess to facilitate these important relationships. Knowledge transfer requires collaboration between tacit knowledge holders which must be made explicit through this cooperative team environment and proper dissemination (Nonaka and Von Krogh 2009). Managers involved in this knowledge process with suppliers would require enhanced interpersonal skills development, the ability to build teams, and control conflict. The problem with knowledge management systems is that there is a social element that conflicts defining knowledge. Some organisational members or partners disagree about what is actually relevant knowledge, with some believing it should be based on fact and statistics whilst others believe knowledge is developed through social interactions. Knowledge, in the B2B context, then becomes a political issue. Hislop (2009) iterates that in order to make knowledge management viable and productive, an internal knowledge management culture must be developed where all involved in the process have a mutual respect and positive attitude about the vital collaborations necessary to achieve innovations. It is unlikely that supply chain partners will be motivated to work collaboratively with JLR representatives without knowledge management systems and ongoing, recurring collaboration between experts within JLR and important supplier networks. Building these partnerships necessary to produce innovative products and competitive products aligned with the high resource efforts of main competitors takes time and requires establishment of trust and conviction. Jaguar Land Rover will therefore be forced to radically alter human resources strategies internally and invest considerable financial capital into building important collaborative supply chain partnerships, a competency currently lacking with JLR in its current operating environments in Asia and Europe. Furthermore, the costs of transportation of auto parts, when using suppliers in Canada, the United States and Mexico (where feasible) will involve considerable expenditures over that of the UK supply market. The majority of parts along the supply chain hail directly from UK manufacturers, a country sustaining a land mass of only 244,000 sq. kilometres. Comparatively, the United States, sustaining a land mass of 9.83 million sq. kilometres, maintains disparate supplier networks all over the country (not inclusive of the size of Canada and Mexico). Hence, costs of transportation will far exceed those currently experienced by JLR simply to ensure timely deliveries of products and establish a viable and cost-effective logistics network; an area where competition excels as a result of decades of collaboration, supplier subsidiaries (such as GM’s Delphi division) and strategic alliance development. JLR may incur high costs of air transport, land and sea transport if the business seeks domestic North American supply chain partners to fill production needs. 4.0 E-commerce opportunities With the potential new venture in North America, there are ample opportunities to establish an e-commerce presence. Especially important is establishment of a B2B e-commerce system that can facilitate greater trust and cooperation between Jaguar and its suppliers that create a more worthwhile brand in the minds of important business customers and partners. Business-to-business customers are largely concerned with the dynamics of the business relationship and its development as the primary motivation for selecting one customer over another (Temporal 2006). The most important elements in a B2B relationship is compliance to quality expectations, dependability of the supplier and the pricing structure that guides products and services. E-commerce maintains the potential to build a customer relationship management system, as a viable marketing approach, that serves as the foundation of trustworthiness occurring between business partners. Why e-commerce maintains such important opportunities is that business-to-business marketing is significantly different from B2C marketing. Whereas consumer psychology is an important element of achieving brand loyalty in the B2C market, trust is a fundamental aspect of sustaining customers in B2B (Moment 2001; Burkert 1994). However, trust in these relationships must be built over time, a critical aspect of gaining business customer commitment and willingness to make recurrent purchases without defecting to competitors. The pharmaceutical company, Pfizer, a multi-national organisation, allows its B2B customers to have unique log-in information related to their e-commerce website. This feature allows customers to track shipments, track invoicing and other important business activities (Pfizer 2013). This critical access to internal e-commerce technologies builds a sense of trust in Pfizer and greatly enhances the quality of B2B communications with important business customers and suppliers. This e-commerce system allowing access to Pfizer’s internal technologies also reduces the costs of scheduling meetings with important suppliers and provides real-time access to support and customer service for profitable business customers. Jaguar Land Rover, if entering North America as a viable business plan, can follow the e-commerce model of Pfizer and allow suppliers to have important access to systems that will allow for electronic facilitation of transactions. It was previously identified that North America maintains a substantial land mass, making business customers and suppliers work disparately from one another. By creating an e-commerce system, these self-service tools provide for more convenience and efficiency in carrying out transactions. From a consumer perspective, Jaguar Land Rover can establish an e-commerce system that is inclusive of a social media presence, utilising digital marketing tools to expand brand visibility, and gather important data collection on consumer demographics. A major competitor, BMW, created an interactive website that allowed consumers to design their own vehicles, choosing specific features and colours along with an appropriate suggested retail price pricing structure. In consumer marketing theory, when a brand is able to give consumers a sense of personal self-expansion, in most cases socially, they have a much higher preference for the product or service. Jaguar Land Rover is a premium product and there is a growing phenomenon in consumer markets known as conspicuous consumption: the process of purchasing high cost products as a means of expressing their social status, wealth and success. Jaguar Land Rover can establish a benchmarked consumer e-commerce website, allowing customers to place unique and custom orders on Jaguar vehicles that are aligned with their premium tastes and preferences. Consumers allowed to design their own vehicles enhance relationship development and also facilitates long-run production scheduling in this environment with disparate and unique consumers with wide-ranging needs and motivations. To build brand loyalty, it is necessary to establish potent relationships with desirable consumer segments and improve communications. An e-commerce system can also establish a methodology of customer relationship management, expand brand presence, and enhance the premium benefits of the Jaguar Land Rover company and its branded vehicles. An e-commerce system, such as the aforementioned website, can allow Jaguar Land Rover to collect important quantitative data on consumer demographics. By understanding the socio-economic characteristics of consumers, the company can better align its digital marketing strategies to meet consumer lifestyle characteristics and needs. Data collection is imperative in segmenting markets and targeting them with integrated marketing communications related to the brand. Having this system of consumer log-in can create more effective distribution of e-mail marketing and mobile technology marketing that is targeted at consumer smartphones in an environment where subscription rates to this high quality technology continues to increase exponentially. According to Godfrey et al. (2011), digital marketing success is dependent upon maintaining frequency of communications and ensuring that communications content is aligned with market characteristics. The holistic perceived value of a company’s brand will depend on how frequently a firm communicates. Hence, an e-commerce system that is inclusive of social media will allow internal Jaguar Land Rover representatives to speak with customers in a real-time environment and also use this medium as a public relations tool to entice more consumer sign-up on the company’s interactive website. Social media in an e-commerce system greatly enhances a brand’s identity and allows consumers to engage with the product and the values of the company. The main challenge with this particular element of e-commerce will be the need to restructure customer service to include online support for consumers, hence increasing labour costs for JLR, and facilitate the management and control of communications to ensure they are quality and aligned with corporate mission and vision. The costs of developing inter-linked technological systems, from an IT development perspective, could also be a substantial cost burden that will only be offset by rising sales as a result of better digital marketing, data collection and interactive communications development; a risk to the business that has little guarantees of success. Yet another challenge of e-commerce is fraud. One of the most common types of e-fraud is the card-not-present (CNP) fraud which occurs when the physical card is not needed and a system can facilitate a transaction with only the card number. Stolen cards are often involved with CNP fraud. To best combat fraud, JLR would need to invest in leading technology inclusive of device ID technology that captures the digital fingerprint of the computing devices used to facilitate e-commerce transactions as well as the use of a risk engine to determine the potential level of risk involved with particular transactions. The risk engine, at an approximate cost of $1 million USD, creates a story around the consumer that links together two specific varieties of information: the tangible shipping and billing addresses, the proxy server servicing the transaction, and information about the customer that is publicly available. This risk engine then conducts a digital risk analysis to predict who is making legitimate transactions and who is a fraudster. This system would flag if an individual claims their shipping address is in Canada, but their billing address shows in Mexico. The risk engine determines where the customer is actually placing the order and then searches the social Internet environment to identify whether their information can be legitimised. Risk engines, especially well-developed and high cost systems, are very accurate in conducting inter-linked analyses of each transaction and flags potentially fraudulent activities, thus allowing real-time representatives in finance and billing to contact the buyer or refuse the transaction. Furthermore, since Jaguar Land Rover also has opportunities to sell various products to consumers in relation to their loyalty to JLR products (such as floor mats, cleaning supplies, etc.), giving consumers guarantees that their financial information is protected is a vital business function to gain brand trust and loyalty. For an e-commerce system that sells and distributes products under the Jaguar brand name, the company can invest in a technology known as compromised mobile device detection. This system has the capability of analysing devices that are vulnerable to certain threats such as mobile malware on smartphones. Compromised mobile device detection can restrict access to these devices that are considered high risk. Coupled with maintenance of a fraudster database, a repository of information that sustains known fraud devices used to attempt engaging in fraud and hacking with various business institutions, JLR can be well-established for ensuring consumer safety and denying access to specific devices identified as threats. This is highly important with the B2B environment, as well, who will likely be accessing the self-service technologies to facilitate a variety of mobile transactions. Hence, the largest challenge to ensuring fraud protection for B2B and B2C customers is the expense of implementing the appropriate systems that can handle risk evaluations and analyses of all e-commerce transactions. It could impose a $1 to $2 million expenditure for this new technological asset, as well as increasing costs of payroll for ensuring adequate managerial control and the provision of tangible customer service systems. JLR cannot be completely dependent on technologies, such as risk engines and fraudster databases to ensure that all transactions occurring electronically are protected, thus the business must rely on human capital talent and systems training to provide the necessary risk evaluations and proper customer service techniques. 5.0 Conclusion and recommendations Based on all of the challenges, potential costs, market uncertainty, the need for high cost modernisation of production systems to compete with major players in the North American industry and wide variety of internal restructuring necessary to achieve competitive success in this new market, it is not recommended that Jaguar Land Rover currently enter the North American market. Firstly, the depths of relationship development and trust establishment necessary for B2B and B2C customers has been achieved successfully by companies such as Ford and General Motors. Jaguar Land Rover, not having a strong presence and brand visibility in North America, will have to develop these supply relationships from the ground-up, especially challenging in an environment where suppliers are already at capacity in attempting to properly service North American automakers. Secondly, between fraud protection in e-commerce, establishing new technological systems for knowledge management, customer service, and even social media (to name only a few), the business will be incurring millions of dollars in cost simply to provide adequate customer support and customer relationship management. This is not inclusive of the absolute necessity for high cost, modern production systems with a substantial expenditure, annually, in research and development in this highly saturated and innovative marketplace. Coupled with the high expenditures in marketing to build a positive brand perception in disparate consumer markets, properly segment customers to achieve the most viable consumer interest, and the existing high brand loyalty for companies such as Ford and GM, Jaguar Land Rover may not be able to undo these loyalties even using the most contemporary marketing tactics. Establishing brand recognition could cost JLR upwards of over a billion pounds annually, a substantial capital expenditure in an environment where Jaguar Land Rover sustained significantly less revenues in its existing markets than major automakers with a multi-national presence. Jaguar Land Rover, as a result of the plethora of challenges, should pursue a different international market to achieve success and sustain fewer expenditures for labour, technology implementation, manufacturing capability, and competitive marketing. References AverageSalarySurvey. (2014). Average salary in the United Kingdom. [online] Available at: http://www.averagesalarysurvey.com/article/average-salary-in-united-kingdom/17141530.aspx (accessed 19 March 2014). Bamford, R. and Deibler, W. (2003). ISO 9001: 2000 for software and systems providers: an engineering approach. CRC Press. Bunkley, N. (2006). Aiming to be the truck of patriots, New York Times. [online] Available at: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/26/business/media/26adco.html?_r=0 (accessed 17 March 2014). Burkert, H. (1994). Electronic trust and the role of law: A European perspective, in K. Brunnestein and E. Raubold (eds.). Applications and Impacts – Information Processing. North Holland: Elsevier. Clifford, S. (2014). So many standards to follow, so little payoff, Inc. Magazine. [online] Available at: http://www.inc.com/magazine/20050501/management.html (accessed 18 March 2014). Fan, D., Geddes, D. and Flory, F. (2011). The Toyota recall crisis: media impact on Toyota’s corporate brand reputation, Joint Statistical Meetings Proceedings, American Association of Public Opinion Research. [online] Available at: http://www.geddesanalytics.com/uploads/2_Toyota_JSM_2011_FINAL.pdf (accessed 19 March 2014). Ford. (2013). Profitable growth for all – Ford Motor Company 2012 Annual Report. [online] Available at: http://corporate.ford.com/doc/ar2012-2012%20Annual%20Report.pdf (accessed 16 March 2014). Godfrey A., Seiders K. & Voss G. (2011). Enough is enough! The fine line in executing multichannel relational communication?, Journal of Marketing , 75(4), p. 94 - 109 Hislop, D. (2009). Knowledge Management in Organizations, 2nd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press. iMotor Times. (2012). Auto sales up as consumer confidence rises. [online] Available at: http://www.imotortimes.com/auto-sales-consumer-confidence-rises-16657 (accessed 15 March 2014). JLR. (2013). Annual Report 2012/2013 – Jaguar Land Rover. [online] Available at: http://www.jaguarlandrover.com/media/14149/jaguar_land_rover_automotive_plc_annual_report_2012-2013.pdf (accessed 17 March 2014). Laya, P. (2011). Do you pay enough for advertising? One big corporation spent a jaw-dropping $4.2 billion last year, Business Insider. [online] Available at: http://www.businessinsider.com/corporations-ad-spending-2011-6?op=1 (accessed 17 March 2014). Mandel, M. (2005). Why GM is so oppressed by legacy costs, Bloomberg Business Week. [online] Available at: http://www.businessweek.com/the_thread/economicsunbound/archives/2005/07/why_gm_is_so_op.html (accessed 18 March 2014). McBride, B. (2014). Vehicle sales forecast: March rebound, Calculated Risk Finance & Economics. [online] Available at: http://www.calculatedriskblog.com/2014/03/vehicle-sales-forecasts-march-rebound.html (accessed 26 March 2014). Moment, R. (2001). Cultivating the trust factor in your business. [online] Available at: http://www.chiff.com/a/business-trust.htm (accessed 15 March 2014). Nonaka, I. & Von Krogh, G. (2009). Tacit Knowledge and Knowledge Conversion: Controversy and Advancement in Organizational Knowledge Creation Theory, Organization Science 20(3), pp. 635–652. Pfizer. (2013). Business to business. [online] Available at: http://www.pfizer.com/b2b/index.jsp (accessed 16 March 2014). Poksinska, B., Dahlgaard, J.J. and Antoni, M. (2002). The state of ISO 9000 certification: a study of Swedish organizations, The TQM Magazine, 14(5), p.297. Ritson, M. (2010). What marketers can learn from Ford, Branding Strategy Insider. [online] Available at: http://www.brandingstrategyinsider.com/2010/08/what-marketers-can-learn-from-ford.html (accessed 15 March 2014). Schiffman, L.G. and Kanuk, L. L. (2010). Consumer behaviour, 10th edn. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall International. Siu, J. (2009). Toyota issues voluntary recalls for 2004-2009 Prius Models. [online] Available at: http://www.autoguide.com/auto-news/2012/11/toyota-issues- voluntary-recalls-for-2004-2009-prius-models.html (accessed 17 March 2014). Tam, J.L.M. (2004). Customer satisfaction, service quality and perceived value: an integrative model, Journal of Marketing Management, 20, pp.897-916. Temporal, P. (2006). B2B branding in Malaysia: a guide to building successful business to business brands. Selangor: Kanyin Publications. Trade.gov. (2010). The American automotive industry supply chain – in the throes of a rattling revolution. [online] Available at: http://trade.gov/static/auto_reports_supplychain.pdf (accessed 18 March 2014). Yahoo! Finance. (2014). Currency converter. [online] Available at: http://finance.yahoo.com/currency-converter/;_ylt=A0SO8x2QBTdTf10AQ.pXNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTEzN3FpM2p0BHNlYwNzcgRwb3MDMQRjb2xvA2dxMQR2dGlkA1ZJUDIyNl8x?amt=1&from=USD&to=MXN&submit=Convert#from=USD;to=MXN;amt=1 (accessed 18 March 2014). Read More