Students need to produce an industry report, (BMW) highlighting their Essay

Students need to produce an industry report, (BMW) highlighting their research on the industry, the main players, their understanding of trends and their suitability - Essay Example activity vehicles; and innovative features such as, dynamic stability control or the integrated driving system introduced by BMW, known as the I-Drive (Fleischmann, Ferber and Henrich, 2006). The growing demands of customers for individual configuration specifically in premium cars have made automobile companies like, BMW, to come up with creative ideas so as to stand apart in this fierce competition and gain significant competitive advantage. Alongside the classical markets in North America, Europe and Japan, newer markets such as, China and the Eastern Europe, are also emerging. The product life cycle in emerging markets are supposed to be dissimilar from the one that is witnessed in already developed markets. This provides big opportunities for companies like, BMW, to sell models, which have been discontinued in the established markets, in these relatively newer markets. BMW has been implementing effective strategies in order to set up their production sites throughout the globe for bringing their production closer to markets and thus, satisfy growing needs and demands of the customer base. This has enabled them to accrue benefits by attaining country specific advantages. Example of such advantages attained by the company include incentives for investments and accessibility to cheap labour that they have obtained by gaining entry into emerging markets such as, India and China (Fleischmann, Ferber and Henrich, 2006). This study involves a thorough analysis of BMW’s strategic management. The following sections will discuss BMW’s strategic planning aspects and their business model will be subsequently explained. Thereafter, the company’s understanding of current trend in the industry will be explained. The report will also include Porter’s five forces analysis of the automobile manufacturer and lastly, a recommendation will be provided. The BMW Group headquartered in Munich, Germany, is primarily engaged in the manufacturing and sales of BMW, Rolls Royce

The European sovereign debt crisis during 2010-2011 Essay

The European sovereign debt crisis during 2010-2011 - Essay Example Historically, when a sovereign nation’s governmental debt exceeds the annual GDP of the country, the risk increases proportionately that the country will default on all or a portion of the debt requirements, particularly in the circumstances where the debt instruments are held by foreigners or in another currency than the national coin. The ability of sovereign nations to generally print money without formal external control is well established and the example of Zimbabwe is an extreme example of this, but the United States has also reached a debt level that is over $15.5 trillion USD or near 100% of the annual GDP outlook, while the economy is also declining and recessionary,. The U.S. Federal Reserve may also print money to bailout banks in the U.S. and abroad, as it has done following the Lehman bankruptcy, but the Eurozone situation is more complex. Nations like Greece now have their debt valued in Euros rather than Drachma and the sovereign is no longer able to print mone y, deflate the currency, and cover government debts in the manner of the U.S. central bank. Instead, it appears as if Greece will either default or be bailed out by other Eurozone members, while Wall Street and stock markets around the world react daily to these events and news stories as they herald serious consequences for the international economy that is interconnected during the era of globalization. Political Dynamics of the Eurozone Economy The Eurozone is a political experiment that involves a common currency (the Euro) and a number of sovereign nations that retain their political autonomy in budgetary and domestic affairs while moving together towards ever greater unity in government on the supra-national level. This dichotomy has led to the nations of the Eurozone abandoning their national currencies, but still operating domestically with differing levels of economic production, taxation, social expenditures, and national debt levels. The U.K. and Switzerland remain outsid e of the Eurozone and under their own traditional currencies, the Pound and Swiss Franc. Germany, France, and other Northern European nations are generally seen as being economically stronger than the Southern European countries, with the acronym â€Å"PIGS† being used for the countries Portugal, Italy, Greece, and Spain with the worst economic outlook, budgetary problems, and largest national debt requirements in comparison to GDP. Ireland has been considered a part of this group by some (PIIGS), as the country experienced generally the same problems in an overheated banking, real estate, and finance sector which formed a bubble and popped, leaving the taxpayers and national government responsible for the bailout. Yet, while Ireland and Iceland have already crashed previously before the 2008-2009 meltdown in their national economies due to the problems in financial regulation and overextension of risk taking via leverage in investment banking, the