Implications of Brexit, Quality, and Environmental Challenges on Rolls-Royce Motor Cars

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This project analyzes the implications of Brexit, quality challenges, and environmental challenges on Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. It discusses the impact on competitive performance and provides recommendations for the company. The study recommends adopting lean practices, managing quality, and following green initiatives to counter these challenges.

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Running head: OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT
Operations Management
[Rolls-Royce Motor Cars]
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author note:

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1OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT
Executive summary
The main purpose of this project is to discuss the implications of a range of issues being faced by
global automakers in the United Kingdom. Brexit is being discussed as one of the issues in this
project. The impacts can be observed in different aspects of the businesses like labour shortage,
increased exports and import tariffs, the unstable political state of the country and instability in
the UK's economy. The study has recommended feasible solutions for Rolls-Royce to counter
these issues. Managing quality is also being presented as one of the challenges to the
automakers. Rolls-Royce is being recommended to follow lean-practices as adopted by Toyota at
the global level. Environmental challenge is a growing burden for auto manufacturing brands.
Rolls-Royce is being recommended to follow “Go Green” to be able to reduce its carbon
footprint impact and also the other forms of wastes. Rolls-Royce is being recommended to
follow the “Lean Thinking” And “Quality Leadership” as adopted by Toyota. Rolls-Royce is
also being recommended to follow “Being Green” and “Being Lean”. These policies as
suggested in this study can be helpful for Rolls-Royce in reducing its adverse environmental
impact.
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Table of Contents
1. Introduction..................................................................................................................................3
2. Key issues being faced by UK car-makers through Brexit, quality and environmental
challenges........................................................................................................................................4
Key issues through Brexit:...........................................................................................................4
Key issues through quality challenges:........................................................................................5
Key issues through environmental challenges:............................................................................8
2.1 Implications of these issues on the competitive performance of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars...8
3. Learning from Japanese car-makers and its implications in setting up operations and supply
chains in BRICS countries for Rolls-Royce Motor Cars...............................................................11
Learning:....................................................................................................................................11
Good Practices related to Operations:...................................................................................12
Good Practices related to supply chain operations:...............................................................14
Implications for Rolls-Royce Motor Cars:................................................................................15
4. The usefulness of "Green business is good business" on the environmental performance of
Rolls-Royce Motor Cars................................................................................................................19
4.1 Identifying a relationship between ‘being green’ and ‘being lean’.....................................20
5. Based on your analysis, list some recommendations to Rolls-Royce Motor Cars....................21
References......................................................................................................................................22
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1. Introduction
The main purpose of this project is to analyse the impact of Brexit, quality of the process
and environmental factors on the UK car industry. As per industry leaders, permanent
devastation can happen to the car industry if a deal is not being made between the UK and
Europe (Fortune, 2019). The trade association for the UK car industry released scary statistics
showing a near-halving of new investments in 2018 (Fortune, 2019). The production rate has
also fallen down by 9.1% (Fortune, 2019). According to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and
Traders (SMMT), a no-deal closure between the EU and UK can affect two-thirds of the global
auto trades in the United Kingdom (Fortune, 2019). These pieces of information suggest that UK
car manufacturers are on the verge to face the adverse impact of Brexit.
Quality is an essential part of operations management. The key principle of operations
management is to bring down the pricing to a maximum possible extent and delivering a quality
product. Quality is required in every single aspect of a business. Revenues can be boosted with
better sales tactics and enhanced pricing. On the other hand, costs can be minimised by
empowered productivity, efficiency and the use of capital. From safety checks to compliance
audits, a robust quality management system (QMS) help car manufacturers perform every aspect
of their business with utmost perfection. QMS helps automakers maintain good sales, avoid and
counter ethical dilemmas and efficient handling of the cost (Ross, 2017). This shows that
maintaining quality in every aspect of the business is important for car manufacturers in the
United Kingdom.
Achieving the appropriate balance of social responsibility, economic progress and
environmental care has been the prime concerns for the automotive industry (Smmt.co.uk, 2019).
There is no way to escape away from this aspect of the external business environment as there is
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increased consumer and media awareness of environmental issues. Therefore, the main purpose
of this project is to analyse the global car manufacturers in the United Kingdom from various
aspects and identify challenges being faced by them. Moreover, learning from global car
manufacturers such as Toyota, and applying its lean thinking and quality management in the
operations of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars in BRICS countries.
2. Key issues being faced by UK car-makers through Brexit, quality and environmental
challenges
Key issues through Brexit:
The car manufacturers in the United Kingdom rely hugely on their connection with the
European Union. Both imports and exports of finished goods are exchanged between the EU and
the UK. It is very difficult to ascertain about what will happen to the car manufacturers once the
UK separates out from the EU. Some facts denoting the dependency of the UK car manufacturers
for a healthy business can help to understand the expected impact on the car manufacturers. It is
expected that a no-deal situation after Brexit will have a severe impact on the UK automotive
industry. It is understandable also as there is no other industry than the automotive industry,
which has such a tight integration between the EU and the UK. They share a highly complex
supply chain. Moreover, the production of cars relies on just-in-time delivery (Acea.be, 2019).
What will happen to these complex supply chains and how all those things will be
managed if there is no deal between the UK and EU to keep things going as it is now. Notably,
51% of the total cars manufactured in the United Kingdom were exported to the European Union
in 2017 (Acea.be, 2019). These were bought by customers residing in different parts of the
European Union. In fact, passenger cars made in the UK and exported to other parts of the
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European Union is 85% (Acea.be, 2019). These figures suggest strong trading between the UK
car manufacturers and the European Union.
The impact of Brexit on labour supply will also be greatly realised. Things may become
challenging for those who are from other continents, and live and work in the United Kingdom.
Additionally, few of those who are already living in the United Kingdom may opt to repatriate. If
such a situation arises this will definitely have an impact on the labour supply. This is to be noted
that about 7% of the entire workforce in the United Kingdom are from the EU nationals
(Hantzsche, Kara & Young, 2019).
These are the jobs that do not have any alternatives in the UK citizens. The UK citizens
cannot be the replacement for the positions occupied by workers from EU nations as they lack
the required skills or appropriate training. It is also that these positions generate low incomes and
provide poor working conditions (Hantzsche, Kara & Young, 2019). It appears as if the affected
supply of labours post-Brexit will have a significant impact on the UK automotive industry.
Moreover, UK car manufacturers will be challenged for attracting and retaining talents. This will
have implications in the core HRM practices like training and development, HR planning, job
design, and rewards and recognition (Orazulike, 2018).
Key issues through quality challenges:
Quality is an utmost part of the automotive industry. Quality means appropriate
utilisation of various resources being used in the organisations. Quality in the context of the
automotive companies in the United Kingdom would mean the facts listed as under (Sabbagha et
al., 2016);
Efficient forecasting:

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Figure 1: Car Registrations, 20020-2018
(Source: Bbc.com, 2019)
The above figure shows a year-wise comparison of car registrations. The fall in
registrations is the second biggest drop since 2008 (Bbc.com, 2019). This indicates a decreasing
demand for new cars in the United Kingdom. Such a situation can be devastating to any car
manufacturer until they ensure an efficient forecast capability. Lean thinking can be extremely
helpful in this regard. Lean thinking follows Pull manufacturing rather than Push. Pull-
manufacturing also is known as a Make-To-Order process encourages to base manufacturing on
actual demand (Singla, Ahuja & Sethi, 2017).
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Managing adequate skills in the workplace:
Figure 2: Impact of Brexit on Economic Forecasts for the Labour Market for 2017 (%)
(Source: Cipd.co.uk, 2019)
The above figure shows the scenario for both Pre-Brexit and Post-Brexit in regards to
GDP growth, Inflation (CPI), Average Earnings, Unemployment rate and Employment growth. It
clearly indicates a drop in employment growth. On the other hand, the unemployment rate is
increasing. This means increased spending will need to be made over recruiting and training the
professionals. Notably, the automotive sector requires professionals having the excellent
innovative and technological capability. As observed by Alniaçik et al., (2014), these
requirements can be fulfilled through attaining the high employee retention rate and attracting
more fresh talents. This is also what lean thinking encourages. Lean thinking encourages to
reduce the wastes be in any form. Unproductive employees are also a kind of wastes. Employee
retention and fresh recruitment will both influence spending (Alniaçik et al., 2014).
Efficiency to reduce the cost:
After the Brexit, the cost of manufacturing parts imported from the EU will be costlier
leading to increased overall production cost. The output prices for the UK automotive industry is
expected to go up by 10% of the existing production cost (Hantzsche, Kara & Young, 2019).
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However, by applying lean thinking cost of production can be reduced considerably. This will
help to save money on inventory management and product storage. This will generate additional
cash flow in the company.
Minimising wastes:
The automotive industry is under high regulations for waste management. The industry
generates wastes in a variety of forms such as waste oil, waste brake fluid, solvents,
contaminated fuels and much more (Bhasin, 2015). Lean management as according to Bhasin
(2015) can help to minimise the wastes by improving the quality and process speed.
Key issues through environmental challenges:
The automotive industry in the UK is under strict regulations for CO2 emissions.
According to the 2018 Automotive Sustainability Report as submitted by SMMT, the average
CO2 emissions from new cars has gone up by 0.8% to 121g/km (Smmt.co.uk, 2019). Investors
are putting increasing pressure on car makers for producing low-emission cars. This has created
an urgency to hire someone who is a specialist in dealing with climate change issues. Such a
business specialist will assist in constructing better policy to enhance their clients’ efficiency to
deliver low-emission cars (Galea, 2017).
2.1 Implications of these issues on the competitive performance of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars
The impact of Brexit will be severed on Rolls-Royce. The process being followed in
Rolls-Royce to manufacture cars will become less competent if there is no deal between the
European Union and the United Kingdom. The manufacturing process in Rolls-Royce follows
just-in-time manufacturing philosophy. This means materials are not stocked rather received
from across the globe on an instant basis or on an on-demand basis. It receives raw materials

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from across 600 global suppliers of the company. Most of these orders come by sea (Rolls-
Royce.com, 2019). Post-Brexit things will expectedly change leading to reduced supply of
materials by sea. Expectedly, imported materials could be slowed down. Definitely, stocking
materials for a week are not the solution to this rising challenge. This is also not in line with just-
in-time production philosophy. Additionally, if the logistics chain breaks or is affected will
severely impact on the efficiency to deliver products on time (Hugos, 2018).
Quality-related factors are also putting pressure on the Rolls-Royce to follow the ongoing
trend for nature-friendly cars. In BRICS countries such as in China, there is a growing demand
for electric cars (Qian & Soopramanien, 2015).
Figure 3: China’s Electric Vehicle Market Races Ahead
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(Source: Weforum.org, 2019)
The figure clearly indicates a huge gap in demands for electric cars in the United States
of America and China. Hence, to continue operating in China it is becoming imperative to switch
to EVs. Rolls-Royse has now considered switching to electric cars in the future to continue
operating in China. Phantom, the flagship model of Rolls-Royce will be the first to go for electric
cars (Rolls-Royce.com, 2019). Switching to electric cars will require people with an excellent
understanding of this technology. This will require additional spending on recruiting and
nurturing the talents in-line with the emerging technology (Rolls-Royce.com, 2019).
The United Kingdom is falling behind to other major nations in terms of producing
electric cars. The main reason has been the investment, which has reduced severely post-Brexit.
Since 2016, the year of the Brexit referendum, the investment in the UK car industry has fallen
by 80%, which is huge (Ft.com, 2019). Evidently, Rolls-Royce will have to rely on finished
goods imported from its global suppliers. However, due to Brexit, there is a hit on imports. It has
reduced hugely. Considering the situation, Rolls-Royce will be tested for its forecasting
capability and efficiency to manage the supply chain operations. This is perhaps the only way
Rolls-Royce can meet the market demands for and offer electric cars to the UK consumers
without much of a challenge.
The competitiveness of Rolls-Royce will also be tested for its capability to reduce its
CO2 impact. There are growing concerns for better environment from the UK government and
common people. Due to the availability of public figures on the cars’ environmental impact,
people are increasingly becoming cautious with their selection of cars. The number of consumers
with this concern is growing citing an urgency to produce electric cars, which are more
environment-friendly. According to a free public report as submitted by Bloomberg, the sales of
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electric vehicles is soaring. From 1.1 million worldwide in 2017 the figure for sales will
expectedly reach to 11 million in 2025 and to 30 million by 2030 (Bnef.com, 2019). To be able
to meet the rising demand for EVs will require Rolls-Royce to efficiently manage every barrier
that stops them to produce EVs in the United Kingdom.
3. Learning from Japanese car-makers and its implications in setting up operations and
supply chains in BRICS countries for Rolls-Royce Motor Cars
Learning:
Japanese firms in particularly led by Toyota have been successful in achieving the
highest levels of manufacturing efficiency in the context of the automobile industry. The
physical productivity, in particular, has been significantly higher than in most of the U.S. plants.
Physical productivity reflects the “throughput” speed for the amount of labour required and
completing the products. Japanese auto producers are also known to have demonstrated the rates
of inventory turnover, which is several times than those of the U.S. firms (Nishio & Fujimura,
2017).
Japanese automakers are also capable of reducing the wastes by means of reducing the
parts and the semi-finished goods. They are capable of maintaining rapid inventory turnover,
which allows them to generate mass production of a diverse variety of cars. By being able to
achieve this they are not just answering to market demands but also meeting the diverse needs of
customers. Japanese automakers are efficiently capable of mass production of cars. This is not
just the reflection of skilled workers but also organisational culture in auto making companies in
Japan. The workforce is highly innovative and technically sound (Nishio & Fujimura, 2017).

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Japanese “Good Practices” is practically applicable and feasible to any country; however,
the management team must first understand the positives and negatives of the practice. To be
able to apply good practices successfully following factors should be adhered to (Despeisse et
al., 2015);
Good Practices related to Operations:
Pull manufacturing: One of the reasons that Japanese auto manufacturers, Nissan and
Toyota, were successful was the adoption of Pull-Production system. Pull-manufacturing means
producing cars as per market demands. It means discouraging the stocking of inventory. This
helped Japanese car makers to cut down the cost a bit, which could have been spent overstocking
inventory. Japanese car makers do not follow each and every trend. Rather, they make a
thorough research of the trend, and its related challenges and opportunities. Once, they make up
their mind for going with the trend they are faster than any global auto companies to produce and
meet the rising demand (Toyota-global.com, 2019).
Statistical sampling techniques: Understandably, mass production of cars is a
complicated process to accomplish. Mass production will require several numbers of inspectors
inspecting the operations at various points of the assembly line. This is both times consuming
and cost generating process to follow. Japanese automakers realised the importance to address
this challenge. They did it by applying statistical sampling techniques to the production process
(Toyota-global.com, 2019). It helped them testing a wide array of different parts and thereby
standardising accordingly for different models of cars. Standardisation of the components
resulted in reduced points of testing. This helped to faster the production of cars and reduced the
cost.
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Leadership: Leadership quality as led by Toyota’s Taiichi Ohno is one of the most
important aspects of good practices. The innovation that worked for Toyota is a result of
continuous study of difficulties being faced by the U.S. companies. As a result of the study,
Taiichi Ohno was able to identify ways to sort out labour difficulties. Moreover, the manager
was able to work with workers and get their cooperation on the mission to strive to the
innovation.
Broader job specifications: This helped to allocate diverse job roles to an individual. By
following this policy, Toyota was able to reduce the number of workers. It helped the company
to reduce the overall spending on employee wage (Toyota-global.com, 2019). Moreover, this
also helped to reduce the overall operational cost. Handling this policy could be challenging for
other automotive companies in non-Japan countries. Appropriate handling of this policy requires
workers to be creative and to be able to think of different ways of solving a problem.
Standardise the components: This is another policy that helped Japanese automakers like
Toyota to effectively take care of mass production. Mass production is challenging for various
reasons. First, it needs multiple inspectors inspecting the pieces of equipment at various points of
the assembly line. Hiring so many people at the inspection level would have an impact on
employee spending. Second, the process could be time-consuming as several numbers of parts
for the different model of cars will be required to be inspected (Toyota-global.com, 2019).
Nevertheless, a cost-efficient and time-effective business are necessary to accomplish
mass production while also fulfilling other variables of manufacturing efficiency such as the
quality level and reduced time span. Toyota does follow a similar innovation and has so far been
able to standardise the components.
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Decrease in-house vertical levels: Another policy that helped Toyota in mass
manufacturing is the reduction of in-house vertical levels. This helped Toyota accelerating the
communication between the production area and the final assembly line. Toyota did that by
implementing broader job specifications, which enabled professionals taking care of multiple
tasks (Toyota-global.com, 2019). It helped to reduce the unnecessary in-house levels and
accelerated inter-organisational communication.
Good Practices related to supply chain operations:
Managing the demand: Toyota has created a global link to the production system. It
helps the company to respond to market demands on parts of the world other than Japan. Toyota
has developed innovative systems in its production houses in Japan. The system is capable of
delivering more than normal production. How Toyota manages this innovation is a matter of
learning to most other car makers in the world. For example, when there is a surge in demand in
Europe the Toyota's plant in England will continue with stable production of cars. However, the
surge in demand will be managed through the link plant in Japan (Toyota-global.com, 2019).
The extra requirement of units is fulfilled at the local plants of Toyota. This policy has
helped Toyota in a number of ways. It enables them to be responsive to an urgent situation like
the one mentioned in this paragraph. It helps them to facilitate high capacity utilisation at their
various plants. It helps them to save on spending as they use existing resources in Japan to be
able to balance the varying demand in Toyota's other markets.
Centralised and de-centralised logistics: Toyota ensures significant integration between
Purchasing, logistics Control, Production Control and Manufacturing. The team responsible for
procurement and purchasing of raw materials also possess a sound understanding of packaging

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and purchasing requirements (Toyota-global.com, 2019). They understand the manufacturing
efficiency and accordingly place orders to avoid any errors in manufacturing.
Mapping flows of logistics: Toyota uses a centralised logistics system, which helps them
standardise the systems and processes. This also enables them to possess string managerial
control over operations at various locations.
Trucking routes: Toyota effectively handles its trucking routes. There is a strong
synchronisation between Toyota’s plants in the context of inflow of goods. The synchronisation
is taken care of multiple separation centres that are also called sub-routes. To efficiently handle
the supplies these sub-routes are used to unload the trucks (Toyota-global.com, 2019). Hence,
there is less burden on inbound supplies and increased production efficiency of the plant. They
also use cross docks, which is quite similar to separation centres; however, differing in regards to
the freight that is sorted to meet the requirement of different plants.
Imports: Imports of materials at the overseas location are mainly done from and through
Japan. Each of Toyota's plants has a contractual agreement with freight carriers. Containers are
opened only at the factory dock (Toyota-global.com, 2019).
Rapid changes in the supply chain: Toyota makes rapid changes to its supply chain
operations in a dramatic manner. Earlier, Toyota used to follow three ways of receiving the
inflow of goods. These are direct, cross-docks and separation centres (Toyota-global.com, 2019).
Now, Toyota concentrates mainly on direct transporting and separation centres. This effectively
reduces the time that is required to take care of the entire production process.
Implications for Rolls-Royce Motor Cars:
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Setting up operations and supply chain in BRICS countries can be challenging for
automotive companies for various reasons. These are mentioned as under (Cousins et al., 2018);
Brazil:
Operations: Brazil despite being one of the leading nations for investors offers many
challenges to foreign business operations. The list of challenges includes corruption and bribery,
credit risks, list of taxes, corporate transparency, infrastructural and technological challenges, the
impact of a union on the local labour force, and export and import barriers. The M&A sector is
growing in Brazil (de Sousa Jabbour et al., 2017). Hence, Rolls-Royce before setting up the
operations in Brazil should conduct an external environment analysis of the country. Once they
decide to do business in the country they must ensure collaborating with a local company to have
a good foothold in the country. However, a centralised structure will help to overcome the barrier
in the form of corporate transparency. This may slow down the communication a bit but still, this
is preferable considering the lack of existence of corporate transparency in local businesses.
Supply chain: The supply chain operations for Rolls-Royce can face the barrier in the
form of unskilled workers. On the contrary, Rolls-Royce needs skilled professionals. To be able
to effectively operate, there is a need to do campaigns driving mass recruitment. This can be a
time-consuming process; however, will help to get the skilled talents (de Sousa Jabbour et al.,
2017). Rolls-Royce can also learn from how other global automotive companies like Toyota and
Nissan have managed such things in Brazil.
Russia:
Operations: Some of the challenges of operating in Russia include intellectual property
rights, government transparency, government interference, getting electricity and undeveloped
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infrastructure. Despite these and many other challenges, Rolls-Royce has still something left for
them in the country. The high level of education in Russia in technical, engineering and
programming fields creates opportunities for the global business (Ershova, 2017). Rolls-Royce
can be benefitted from the talents available in the country. Apart from this, there are many
challenges as well, which make it a challenging place for foreign business.
Supply Chain: The supply chain operations of Rolls-Royce will face huge barriers in
their path to developing their foothold in the country. Some of these barriers are (Ershova, 2017);
Due to high growth rate forecasting is a big challenge
Sales data are largely unreliable
The supply chain lacks effective communication throughout
Customer responsiveness is poor due to delay at customs and unreliable deliveries
Unstable legal policies
Sourcing is a crucial issue
Local suppliers lack the reliability
Import duties are unfavourable for imports
Huge staff turnover rate
Lack of warehouse
Poor transport infrastructure
Ports are less modernised
Inland waterways are mostly frozen
India:

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Operations: There are many macro challenges like higher interest rates, weak income
growth and increased fuel prices. Despite these challenges, Rolls-Royce can establish businesses
with India. The business can be done both through exports of finished goods and also by setting
up a manufacturing plant in the country. Exporting can be beneficial due to a continuously
falling rupee. A new manufacturing plant can be established by collaborating with the local
strategic partner such as “Force Motors”. Force Motors has expertise in engine production and is
already creating a production solution for BMW and Mercedes-Benz cars. A joint collaboration
with Force Motors will also help Rolls-Royce to be in a lower tax bracket (Indiatimes.com,
2019).
Supply chain: An integrated third-party logistics is an uncommon topic in India that also
has an impact on the logistics cost. This should be introduced to reduce logistics cost. Warehouse
lacks the adequate space leading to inefficiency in the product reaching to the market.
Additionally, the length of express highways is too long resulting in ineffective connectivity
between warehouses and suppliers (Kumar & Sethi, 2016). Rolls-Royce should focus on creating
separation centres as being run by Toyota. This would not just improve connectivity between the
production plant and suppliers but also enhance the stocking capacity. Moreover, supply and
demand of orders can be effectively met.
China:
Operations: Before establishing a manufacturing facility in China it is advisable to visit
the business that a foreign company intends to work with. This will help to know how things are
being handled in the chosen factory and communicate if there is any quality issue in regards to
any part of the manufacturing process (Mann, 2018). For Rolls-Royce, it is recommended to
know about the suppliers and businesses having a potential relationship with other automotive
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companies in the United Kingdom. This will help them avoid complexity, which could affect a
foreign business.
Supply chain: In China, the feeling is given the preference over rules and policy. Rolls-
Royce should find ways to effectively strike a balance between rules and feeling. Information is
sharing is pathetic in this country (Mann, 2018). For a smooth logistics operation and efficient
management of demand, Rolls-Royce will need to solve this problem. Information sharing can
be improved by creating separation centres at different sub-routes and promoting the use of
“Global Positioning System” to track the truck movements between these points.
South Africa:
Operations: Some of the operations challenges are low economic growth, access to
financing and poor education system. This means accessing skilled workers is a challenge in the
country.
Supply chain: There is a lack of centralisation in business infrastructure. This means a
lack of control on suppliers, retailers and carriers. Such things will make supply chain operations
complicated. This means forecasting is not very healthy in this country. This can impact the
delivery and lead to not fulfilling the demands. The country has unskilled workers in significant
numbers (Hamann et al., 2017). Hence, labour supply can be a challenge for Rolls-Royce. Theft
and hijacking of trucks may add an additional cost burden on the overall cost of the supply chain
operations.
4. The usefulness of "Green business is good business" on the environmental performance
of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars
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“Green business is good business” means that it is benefitting for the businesses, the
people and the environment. An increasingly growing concern of the world of governments on
the green laws will soon make it compulsory for the businesses to reduce their adverse
environmental impacts. The 2020 Action Agenda of "The Environmental Protection Agency" has
comprehensive plans to reduce carbon emissions and promote sustainability (Ravetz, 2016). This
can be beneficial for Rolls-Royce in a number of ways. Rolls-Royce like Toyota will have
opportunities in the form of electric vehicles (EVs). Using a low-carbon and renewable fuel
instead of traditional fuel will be cost-saving for the company (Ehsani et al., 2018). Rolls-Royce
can be benefitted from advertising its intent to go green. This will help to gain consumers’ trust
in the business. This will help to attract more new customers and will also improve its customer
loyalty level (Ng & Rezaee, 2015). Employees will feel that they care for their health issues.
Some of the most popular businesses in green practice are auto manufacturer Honda and
Unilever (Schaltegger & Burritt, 2018).
4.1 Identifying a relationship between ‘being green’ and ‘being lean’
Manufacturing practices such as lean manufacturing and sustainability have similarities
on a conceptual perspective. Both of these seek to increase organisational efficiency. Being
green means understanding the adverse consequences of the businesses and applying techniques
to reduce it. While being lean means practicing a business, which constantly seek to reduce the
waste and in this sense promote sustainability. In recent time, global companies have started
identifying goals and establishing action plans to reduce their adverse environmental impact.
Lean manufacturing helps such action plan by reducing the wastes of all kinds and thereby
reducing its environmental impact like carbon footprint (Zokaei et al., 2016). Some of the wastes
of a lean organisation are as below (Fercoq, Lamouri & Carbone, 2016);

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Waste of overproduction
Waste of waiting
Waste of transport
Waste due to defects
Waste from inappropriate processing
Waste due to the unnecessary motion
Waste due to the excess inventory
5. Based on your analysis, list some recommendations to Rolls-Royce Motor Cars
On a concluding note, it can be said that Brexit will impact the price of the cars due to
increased spending on recruiting new employees, infrastructural development, increased import
tariffs and much more. To address these challenges it is recommended that Rolls-Royce should
promote its intent to “Go Green”. This will help to sell its cars to global locations and incur a
good profit margin despite increased export tariffs. Moreover, UK consumers may also show
their increased interest to purchase these cars.
Lean manufacturing is a necessity for Rolls-Royce considering the post-Brexit
uncertainty for the trades. It is recommended to follow the footsteps of Toyota to apply lean
practices. Many automotive companies in Australia have failed to gain the benefits due to their
ignorance towards the workplace culture, which is one of the keys to success with lean practices.
Environmental challenges will keep creating pressure on automotive companies. It is
recommended for Rolls-Royce to also focus on producing Electric Vehicles (EVs).
In BRICS countries, Russia, Brazil and South Africa are more problematic than China
and India. It is recommended to follow the footsteps of global automakers operating in BRICS
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nations. To some country exporting can be the dominant strategy whereas in some others
establishing the manufacturing plants.
“Being Green” and “Being Lean” is both conceptually alike. It is recommended for
Rolls-Royce to apply green and lean strategy to be able to reduce its wastes and its adverse
environmental impact. Being green is an emerging resource for value creation with the business.
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