Innovation, Enterprise and Society: Automotive Industry Analysis

This essay examines the key process, product, and organizational innovations introduced into the Australian automotive industry, focusing on companies like Ford, Toyota, and GM Holden. It discusses the reasons behind these innovations, including globalization, technological advancements, and government policies. The essay evaluates the impact of these changes on professional practices, such as increased use of computer-aided tools and the introduction of greener initiatives. It also addresses challenges like rising research and development expenditures and the need for stronger policies to drive fuel efficiency. The essay concludes by emphasizing the importance of innovation for the Australian automotive industry to remain competitive in the global market, highlighting the need for improved partnerships, knowledge transfer, and organizational infrastructure.

Running head: INNOVATION AND ENTERPRISE
Innovation and Enterprise
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author note

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Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Discussion and analysis...................................................................................................................2
Critical evaluation............................................................................................................................4
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................6
References........................................................................................................................................8

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Introduction
The Automotive industry in Australia consist oligopolistic producers of vehicle namely
the Ford Motor Company, Toyota Motor Corporation and the GM Holden in Australia (Chou et
al. 2015). Over the past few decades, various procedures and organizational innovations have
been made in the automotive industry of Australia (Xu 2018). The paper illustrates the
Australian automotive industry and the scope of innovation in the industry in the upcoming days.
The key research questions of this study include proper identification of process, product and the
innovations related to the industry, why has been the innovation been introduced and the possible
effects of innovation on the professional practices for anticipating further innovation or change.
The paper will discuss some of the key issues related to the automotive industry and the growing
competition in the market of Australia.
Discussion and analysis
Joining an automotive industry and developing a career in the industry has been my
dream since childhood. I have always been attracted to automobiles and vehicles from my initial
days since the parts and the structures of them use to fascinate me and I developed keen interest
regarding automobiles and their management from that time. Throughout the years, the
government of Australia has enabled great protection towards the Automobile industry of
Australia in many ways like ensuring minimum level of the requirement of local content, import
of tariffs and quotas on the vehicles coming from foreign and more (Rathod and Sardar 2015).
This help from the government has enabled in successful development of the automobile
industry throughout the decades and limited competition from the external forces. But over the
decades it has been found that these over protections by the government have failed in the

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effective growth of the industry to deal with the competition against the large and strong foreign
market (Hashmi and Biesebroeck 2016). Hence in the current era, the Australian government has
decreased its interference to the norms of the local automobile industry of Australia so that they
can adapt with the high level of competitiveness in the global market of Automobiles in
Australia (Rimmer 2017). The Australian automobile market has been steadily rising in the
current years. In the year 2000-2001 the market of automobiles has recovered from 11% down
turn in the middle of the year with the introduction of major reforms related to taxation (Liao,
Rice and Lu 2015). Furthermore, advancements in technology and the environment of
international competitiveness has restructured and shaped the entire industry (Dodgson 2018).
One of the major alteration in the automobile industry of Australia throughout the last few
decades has been the increased use of computer aided tools and related product development.

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Figure: 1 Source: (Mahfooz 2015)
The figure above portrays the rate of sales in the vehicles in the last few decades. More
than two third of the new manufactured vehicles were sold and furthermore the industry
experienced certain economic growth.
One of the current initiate by the automobile industry is the introduction of the plan “new
car plan for the greener future” which helped the industry for the development of the sector and
the production of cost effective vehicle with low carbon emission (Drauz 2014). This initiative
fortified the local supply chain and increased the foreign investments on the automobile market
of the Australia. I have always desired to be a part of this dynamic and growing industry. I
believe that the nations should produce its own vehicles apart from the import from other
countries. This is because this industry has a great effect on the nation’s economy and revenues
by the system of taxation.
Some of the major effects in the automobile industry of Australia in the current era took
place due to the globalization (Dodgson 2018). One of major benefits of the globalization on the
industry has been the reduction in the rate of tariffs and the increased in the trade promotion
among the countries of the globe. Some of the notable positive impacts of globalization includes
increase in the export system, development of the retail, service and the repair sectors and
competitive skilled forces.
Critical evaluation
One of the major drawbacks of the automobile industry in Australia is the increase in the
rate of expenditure from the past few years. The figure below illustrates the increasing rate of
research and development expenditure in the automobile market.

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Figure: 2 Source: (Hashmi and Biesebroeck 2016)
This area of concern tends to impact the market of the automobiles in the long run.
The theoretical Framework:
The theoretical framework acts as the foundation of understanding discussion of the
issues and growth opportunity of the automobile industry in the nation. The impact of increased
mechanism in the automobile industry in the current decade has been beneficial (Liao, Rice and
Lu 2015). This is because technological advancement has revolved over the years resulting in
more use of machines in the place of human activity. In the automobile industry of the Australian
market, companies have been striving towards competing the norms of automation for making
the procedure of the employment activity in the company more cost effective and less time
consuming. Another important factor is the impact of public policies and funding by the
Australian government on the automobile industry of Australia (Rimmer 2017). The market of
automobiles has been steadily rising due to the proper funding and investment. The
implementation of the policies has some of the important effects. The increase in the export and

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import of the machineries of the vehicles and maintenance of a perfect standard in the
competitive international market contributes to the positive effects. Furthermore, policies and
laws of the Australian government helps the industry to overcome various of the externalities
that are associated with innovation in the private automobile sector (Chou et al. 2015). Federal
policies enable in improving public benefits and fuel efficacy which are vital to the national
competitiveness. Apart from all the advantages and the good impact of the policies, the new
standards are not strict enough to develop the innovation that is required to remain competitive
globally (Rathod and Sardar 2015). Furthermore, researches have been found that policies to
drive the demand of the consumer for fuel efficient vehicles are comparatively weaker.
Automobiles are some of the complex products and the industry of automobile survives
on the context of frequent innovations of new models and cost-effective vehicles for the people
of the nation.
Conclusion
Innovation is cost effective and it requires long term investments without the expectation
of quick returns on the investments. In case of the automobile market of Australia the cost
incurred for bringing innovation to the market is not sufficient since the nation is not export
oriented. It is required for the automobile industry to improve their partnerships among the
producers and the users, transfer skills and knowledge among the users and improve the
organizational infrastructure by raising standards. From the above discussion it can be concluded
that the Automobile industry in the Australia has tend to develop more export oriented and
competitive over the last few decades. The industry has initiated several innovations in the light

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of advanced technology and gave gained various multi skilled workers for initiating effective
competition against the reliability and the quality of imports. These changes in the Automobile
industry have enabled it to initiate achievement of the profit margins. But still the automobile
industry requires new competencies in intelligent transport systems, purchasing and finance to
broaden up the product basis of the automobiles for raising the standard of the nation in the
automobile global market.

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References
Chou, C.W., Liao, W.C., Wu, S. and Wee, H.M., 2015. The role of technical innovation and
sustainability on energy consumption: A case study on the Taiwanese automobile
industry. Energies, 8(7), pp.6627-6640.
Dodgson, M., 2018. Technological collaboration in industry: strategy, policy and
internationalization in innovation (Vol. 11). Routledge.
Drauz, R., 2014. Re-insourcing as a manufacturing-strategic option during a crisis—Cases from
the automobile industry. Journal of Business Research, 67(3), pp.346-353.
Hashmi, A.R. and Biesebroeck, J.V., 2016. The relationship between market structure and
innovation in industry equilibrium: a case study of the global automobile industry. Review of
Economics and Statistics, 98(1), pp.192-208.
Liao, T.S., Rice, J. and Lu, J.C., 2015. The vicissitudes of competitive advantage: Empirical
evidence from Australian manufacturing SMEs. Journal of Small Business Management, 53(2),
pp.469-481.
Mahfooz, Y., 2015. Brand equity-consequence relationship: Evidence from Automobile
industry. International Journal of Business and Management, 10(3), p.81.
Rathod, S.B. and Sardar, H.C., 2015. CSR Disclosure by Selected Indian Companies of
Automobile Industry during Pre and Post Companies Act, 2013.
Rimmer, M., 2017. Intellectual property and autonomous vehicles in a gridlock economy. A
Submission to the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Industry, Innovation, and

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Science and Resource's inquiry into the social issues relating to land-based driveless vehicles in
Australia.
Xu, Z., 2018. Discussion on innovation system construction of new energy automobile industry
in China.