Bentley Motors Strategic Management Analysis: SIM336 Report

This report provides a comprehensive strategic management analysis of Bentley Motors. It begins with an introduction to strategic management and its importance, followed by a comparison of theory and practice using Porter's Five Forces model to assess the competitive landscape. A case study approach examines Bentley's performance and the CEO's strategic decisions. The report then details a recovery plan addressing financial, marketing, strategic implementation, and planning issues. Finally, a risk management strategy is presented, focusing on risk identification, assessment, and management. The report aims to provide a holistic view of Bentley's strategic approach and challenges, offering insights into its operations and future strategies.

Strategic
Management

Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY..............................................................................................................................................3
1. Comparison of theory and practice......................................................................................................3
2. Case study approach............................................................................................................................4
3. Recovery plan......................................................................................................................................5
4. Risk management strategy..................................................................................................................6
CONCLUSION...............................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
Strategic management can be defined as the process of managing a business in
strategic manner so that all the objectives could be achieved. In order to manage all the activities
that are performed by an organisation it is very important for the managers to make sure that they
are able to analyse the progress as it helps to form strategies for future. By paying attention
towards it, all the entities will be able to meet the desired goal which is decided to be
accomplished in upcoming period (Ginter, Duncan and Swayne, 2018). The organisation which
is selected for this report is Bentley which is one of the largest automobile companies which are
operating business all around the world. The entity is mainly established in United Kingdom.
This assignment covers various topics such as comparison of theory and practice, application of
case study approach, recovery plan etc. Additionally, this report also covers the risk management
strategy which could be adopted to deal with all the risks.
MAIN BODY
1. Comparison of theory and practice
Bentley is one of the largest companies in the world which is delivering different types of
motor vehicles to the customers in different countries. It is very important or the entity to make
sure that it is able to analyse that all the theories and models are applied by it successfully. In
order to make sure that all the operations are executed by it properly and competition s analysed
within the industry appropriately the entity can use different types of frameworks. One of them
which could be selected by Bentley is Porter’s five force model. There are various elements of it
which are focused below in context of Bentley:
Rivalry within the industry: Automotive industry is very large so the entities which are
operating business within it is also very high. All of them are competitors for each other as they
compete for the purpose of growing business sand accomplishing all the business goals. Some of
the major players in the industry are Volkswagen, Jaguar Land Rover, Aston Martin, Tesla etc.
Due to the large number of competitors for Bentley the rivalry within the industry for the entities
very high. It is very important for the company to make sure that it deals with this force properly.
For this purpose, the organisation will be required to formulate effective policies to attain
competitive advantage (Hitt and Duane Ireland, 2017).
Threat of new entrant: For all the companies it is very important to be aware of all the
new companies which will be launching same products in the industry. The size of automotive
sector is very large so the funding required to enter in it is very high. It is the main barrier which
will be faced while entering in this industry. Due to this, the threat of new entrant for Bentley
will be very low.

Threat of substitute: The products which are providing same benefits to the users are
known as substitutes for each other. In order to be the first choice of customers it is very
important for all the sellers to make sure that they are able to deal with all the substitutes. Some
of them which may create threat for cars are kick scooters, motorcycles, public transport etc. the
level of threat of them is very low because a luxury class individual will not prefer public
transport of scooter. It shows that for Bentley the threat of substitute is very low.
Bargaining power of suppliers: The bargaining power of suppliers depends upon their
number in the industry. If it is very high then the power will be low and in opposite situation the
power will be high. The size of automobile industry is very large so the number of suppliers for
Bentley is large. It reduces the bargaining power of them if the organisation will analyse that one
of them is delivering parts of vehicles on high cost then the management can contact to a new
party for the same job (Lasserre, 2017).
Bargaining power of customers: Bargaining power of all the purchasers depends upon
options that are available to them. If the sellers are high then their bargaining will be high if the
seller is having monopoly then their power to bargain will be low. There are various car sellers in
UK and other countries so the audiences have various options to choose one from all of them.
Due to this, their bargaining power will be high and they will select such seller who is selling the
car of lower cost. Bentley can also have to deal with this force as it is having end number of
competitors.
The theory of Porter’s five force model is practiced by Bentley properly which helps the
entity to attain success in determining the impact of different factors upon its business. With the
help of all the five forces of the model the manages try to formulate future policies so that
possibility of negative situations in future could be ignored. All the aspects of the model are
applied by strategic managers properly so that they can reach to a conclusion of formulating the
decisions (Rothaermel, 2016).
2. Case study approach
Bentley is a large organisation which is having headquarter in United Kingdom. The
CEO of it is Wolfgang Durheimer who is responsible to deal with all the issues that are faced by
the enterprise. In year 2018 different issues were faced by the enterprise. These are electric
window failure, brake light failure, suspension and electrical problems. Wolfgang formulated
effective decisions to deal with all the issues that are faced by the organisation. At the time of
difficulties, the CEO made strategic decisions so that the negative impacts of the problems could
be reduced for the business (Issues faced by Bentley, 2020).
CEO managed the business properly and it resulted in good market image of company and
enhanced its performance. In last two years Bentley has attained growth because of effective
strategic management skills of Wolfgang who is handling all the issues of entity in systematic
manner. In order to find the causes of issues the CEO analysed actual performance of company

during the year 2018 and then formulated effective decisions so that the issues could be
responded systematically. The improved performance of Bentley since 2018 shows that business
was managed properly by Wolfgang as effectively as he might. The strategies which were
adopted by the entity were dealing with all the failures, implementing new policies to deal with
old failures etc. All the efforts which were made by CEO of Bentley resulted in improvement of
performance of company. Apart from this, the profitability as well as liquidity of the entity is
also increased in last two years (Schilling and Shankar, 2019). All the improvements in the
performance of the organisation have took place because o effective decision making of CEO
and the efforts that are made during 2018 to respond all the major issues which were faced by the
enterprise.
3. Recovery plan
A Recovery plan is prepared by the businesses so that they are able to identify the
techniques which they are required to adopt so as to facilitate recovery out of losses effectively
and efficiently (Hansen and Jacobsen, 2016).
Bentley is facing the following issues-
 Financial issues- Bentley is facing various types of financial issues such as low cash
flow, problems related with liquidity, falling value of assets and improper financial
management. Therefore this is impacting the company’s performance.
 Marketing issues- Bentley is facing marketing issues as the marketing strategies which
are adopted by it are not increasing the revenues as expected by the company. Thus this is
impacting the marketing operations of the company leading to creation of issues and
problems.
 Improper implementation of strategies- Bentley is facing problems and issues due to
improper implementation of strategies. Its managers are not able to implement the right
strategies for leading the company towards profitability. Therefore this is impacting the
overall performance of the organization.
 Ineffective planning- Bentley is facing problems and issues because of ineffective
planning. Its managers are not able to plan effectively for the future time period which is
putting the firm behind its competitors.
Thus the managers of Bentley can make use of the following recovery plan so that the
company is able to achieve better performance. The recovery plan is as follows-
 Facilitation of proper auditing- Proper auditing can be facilitated by the companies so
that they are able to sort out their financial issues (Karlik and et.al., 2017). Managers of
Bentley can make sure that they use proper auditing techniques to identify the financial
issues and to solve them effectively and efficiently using the right techniques.
 Framing a marketing plan- A marketing plan can be helpful for the organization to
bring efficiency and effectiveness in their marketing operations (Ocasio, Laamanen and

Vaara, 2018). Thus in the context of Bentley this plan can help a lot in achievement of
the required objectives in marketing which will make sure that the firm can maximize its
level of profits without problems and issues.
 Proper implementation of strategies- The managers of a company can achieve a lot by
proper implementation of strategies. For Bentley, it is essential that the firm is able to
properly implement the strategies as and when required to make sure that it achieves its
short-term and long-term goals and objectives helping it in obtaining a strategic edge.
 Using the right planning approach- The managers can benefit a lot by using the right
planning approach. In the context of Bentley, it will make sure that the managers are able
to frame the right plans so that they can achieve the desired outcomes and raise the
overall performance in the company.
4. Risk management strategy
A risk management strategy can be extremely useful for the businesses in reducing the
risks which are being faced by them and making sure that they do not affect the functioning of
the business.
The strategy which Bentley’s managers can use is as follows-
 Identification of risk- The managers of a company are required to identify the risk
which they are facing (Panico, 2017). In the context of Bentley, it is necessary that the
managers are able to identify the risks which the company faces so that a right approach
can be developed for reducing the risks. For the risks due to the issues which the firm is
facing there is a requirement of making sure that the organization can use specific
strategy so that these risks may be reduced. The risks can be specific to a particular
department also like Production, HR, Finance, Sales and Marketing. Thus the
departmental managers can be allowed to frame risk management strategy for their
department.
 Assessment of risk- The management is required to assess the level of risk which the
company is facing. For Bentley, it is important because its managers need to assess the
risk which they face due to the issues of the company so that they can get to know the
impact which it can create. Therefore the managers of company can do a thorough
assessment for identifying the strategies which can be adopted for reducing the overall
level of risks which are present.
 Management of risk- The management is required to manage the risk after assessing it
(Witek-Crabb, 2016). In the context of Bentley, the managers should make sure that they
are able to manage the risk properly after identifying it. Thus it is important for the
company to take a right approach to facilitate management of risk which is present due to
its issues. This will lead it to get ahead of the various competitors prevailing in the
market. Thus a high-level discussion can be held between the departmental managers for
reducing the risks in their respective departments by adopting proper management
techniques and methods which will help the company.

 Monitoring and reviewing- The managers are required to ensure monitoring and
reviewing so that the risks in the business are mitigated effectively. For Bentley, it is
important that it is able to monitor and review the risks which are present due to the
various issues faced by it. Therefore the company can take a right approach to ensure that
it is able to reduce these risks and achieve higher level of efficiency and effectiveness in
its operations allowing it to achieve sustainable level of success in the market and taking
it ahead of the competitors.
CONCLUSION
From the above report, it can be concluded that strategic management is essential for the
organizations. It helps them in getting the work done to achieve the goals and objectives. Porter’s
5 forces help the company to get an overview of the market. Case Study analysis can be used by
the companies for using the right strategies. Recovery plan helps the firms in making recovery
from the issues faced by them. Risk Management Strategies are helpful for the organizations in
reducing the level of risk present in its operation to achieve higher level of efficiency and
effectiveness and sustainable success in the market.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals:
Ginter, P. M., Duncan, W. J. and Swayne, L. E., 2018. The strategic management of health care
organizations. John Wiley & Sons.
Hansen, J. R. and Jacobsen, C. B., 2016. Changing strategy processes and strategy content in
public sector organizations? A longitudinal case study of npm reforms’ influence on strategic
management. British Journal of Management. 27(2). pp.373-389.
Hitt, M. and Duane Ireland, R., 2017. The intersection of entrepreneurship and strategic
management research. The Blackwell handbook of entrepreneurship. pp.45-63.
Karlik, A. E. and et.al., 2017, May. A model of a strategic economy management system.
In 2017 XX IEEE International Conference on Soft Computing and Measurements (SCM) (pp.
678-680). IEEE.
Lasserre, P., 2017. Global strategic management. Macmillan International Higher Education.
Ocasio, W., Laamanen, T. and Vaara, E., 2018. Communication and attention dynamics: An
attention‐based view of strategic change. Strategic Management Journal. 39(1). pp.155-167.
Panico, C., 2017. Strategic interaction in alliances. Strategic Management Journal. 38(8).
pp.1646-1667.
Rothaermel, F. T., 2016. Strategic management: concepts (Vol. 2). McGraw-Hill Education.
Schilling, M. A. and Shankar, R., 2019. Strategic management of technological innovation.
McGraw-Hill Education.
Witek-Crabb, A., 2016. Maturity of strategic management in organizations. Oeconomia
Copernicana. 7(4). pp.669-682.
Online
Issues faced by Bentley. 2020. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.euromotiveperformance.com/blog/common-problems-with-bentley-continental-
gt/>