Comprehensive Analysis: Magna International Business and Strategy

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Magna International, a leading automotive parts manufacturer. It begins with an introduction and a summary, followed by a detailed SWOT analysis, identifying the company's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. The report examines environmental constraints, including economic, legal, technological, political, and social factors impacting the company. It then identifies and analyzes key stakeholders, including customers, business partners, employees, suppliers, and government agencies. The organizational structure and design are discussed, highlighting the mechanistic structure employed by Magna. The report explores employee motivation using Maslow's hierarchy of needs and career advancement strategies. Recommendations are provided for technology updates, marketing department specialization, and employee training optimization. Finally, control systems, including feedforward, concurrent, and feedback methods, are proposed to monitor and implement the recommendations effectively, ensuring alignment with business objectives and goals. The report concludes with a comprehensive list of references.

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INTRODUCTION OF MANAGEMENT

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Table of Contents
Summary..........................................................................................................................................2
SWOT – formulating strategies.......................................................................................................3
Environmental constraints...............................................................................................................4
Stakeholders.....................................................................................................................................6
Organizational structure and design................................................................................................7
Motivation employees.....................................................................................................................8
Recommendations............................................................................................................................8
Controls and recommendations.......................................................................................................9
References......................................................................................................................................10

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Summary
The company Magna international was founded in the year 1957 and has its headquarters in
Aurora, Ontario, Canada. The company operates its activities in the industry of truck and auto
parts. It has been noticed that in recent times the company Magna has become the largest
manufacturer of automobile parts in the region of North America by selling the original
equipment parts and is considered as one of the largest company in Canada (Mariotti & Glackin,
2015). The Magna International has the capability of designing, testing, engineering, and
manufacturing the exterior, seating, closure, powertrain, vision, roof, chassis & body, electric &
hybrid vehicle systems. Also, the Magna promotes the principle of fair treatments so as to create
a stronger base of opportunities on the basis of the performance level of the employees and is in
against of any discrimination and biases acts related to business.

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SWOT – formulating strategies
Strengths
Reliable suppliers- This strength of reliable suppliers of raw materials will provide an advantage
to the company Magna to overcome any bottlenecks in the supply chain.
A strong community of dealer- The Company has built a culture among dealers and distributors
(Burns & Dewhurst, 2016). This will help Magna to get their products promoted by the dealers
and also they will also invest in the sales team training so as to explain that how the maximum
benefits can be extracted from different products.
Weakness
Improper and inefficient financial planning- The ratio of liquid assets and current asset of the
company Magna shows that the company can use its cash in a more efficient way than it is doing
at the present time (Burns & Dewhurst, 2016). The company can protect the organization from
this weakness by creating effective financial plans for every manufacturing project.
Attrition rate is higher in the workforce- It has been noticed that Magna International Inc. has
more attrition rate as it spends a lot of money in the development and training of employees as
compared to its competitors. The organization can be protected from this weakness by employing
more professional and experienced workers.
Opportunities

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The new emerging trends in consumer behavior can develop a new market for the company
Magna (Mariotti & Glackin 2015). This will build new streams of revenues for the organization
and will help on diversifying the new categories of the products.
The opportunity of new taxation policy will significantly impact the working way of business
which will automatically increase the profitability of the business.
Threats
The company may confront with the lawsuits in the various markets. The company can be
protected through this threat by working as per the laws and legal standards of different markets.
Development of new manufacturing technology is another threat to the organization. The
company Magna can be protected from this threat by conducting marketing research on a regular
basis so as to enable the employee to think for fresh ideas.
Environmental constraints
Environmental factor: The economic factor of Magna International Inc. involves environmental
pollution and laws regulating, recycling, attitude for ecological products, water, and air pollution,
climate change, etc (Gupta, 2013).
Legal factor: The legal factor of Magna will cover discrimination law, employment law, data
protection, safety and health law, anti-trust law related to auto parts industry, e-commerce and
consumer protection, etc.

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Economic factor: The economic factor of Magna will cover unemployment rate, inflation rate,
business cycle, kind of economic system for operating in different countries, exchange rates,
labor costs, etc.
Technological factor: The technological factor will cover the impact of cost structure related to
Auto parts, technological diffusion rate, the impact of technology on product offering,
technological developments by its competitors, etc (Gupta, 2013).
Political factor: The political factor of Magna will include trade regulations, taxation, pricing
regulation, property protection, risks related to military invasion, political stability, etc.
Social factor: The social factor of Magma will include demographics, population skill level,
class structure, education level standard in Magma International, leisure interests, attitudes
related to health and environmental consciousness, etc.
The company Magna International Inc. is facing the influence of environmental factors because
Magna needs to improve its sustainable reputation so as to create a promising brand image and
increasing the interest level. The company is currently addressing these environmental
constraints by developing new cost-cutting and feasible plans. The company is also trying to
understand the true value of achieving different constraints. Also, it is addressing these
constraints by understanding the impact of each factor (Gupta, 2013). The environmental and
legal factorsare the biggest challenge for Magna International Inc. The understanding of
economic and technology constraint will create more opportunity for the business. The
technological constraint will help the business to keep their employees updated about new
technologies used by the competitors and economic elements will help the company in
developing each stage of the business cycle more efficiently.

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Stakeholders
Customers: The most important stakeholders of any company is customers. The customers will
increase the sales of auto and truck parts of Magna International and will increase the
profitability bar (Crilly & Sloan, 2012). The customers are important for the sustainable
activities of the business as if there will be no customer, the company will get shut down.
Business partners: The business partners are also considered as an important stakeholder
because they invest into the different operations of the business partially. Also, they are
important for investing in new technologies and products in the company.
Employees: The employees are the most useful asset and stakeholders of the company Magna
(Crilly & Sloan, 2012). The employees are important for carrying out regular business activities
and it will enhance the productivity of the company by increasing the production and cutting
down the cost.
Suppliers and manufacturers: The suppliers and manufacturers are important for playing role
in the automotive value chain and for delivering the transportation solution.
Government agencies: The government agencies are also the main stakeholder of Magna as it
enables the company to carry out its business activities as per the legal standards and is important
for expanding the business activities across the different countries.
The organization Magna International must focus on managing employees and customers and
must be given highest priority because employees will play an important role in carrying out
manufacturing process and customers will increase the profitability of the company along with
sustainability.

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Organizational structure and design
The organizational structure of Magna is mainly authorized by shareholders and then by the
board of directors and directors. The structure has been divided into different departments and
each department has its own diverse managerial areas. The different departments have been
allotted different tasks (Cameron & Green, 2015). Yes, the company uses more mechanistic
structure because the tasks have been divided under different departments so as to bring
specialization and framing a proper hierarchal mechanism. The organization addresses the

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accurate or relevant organizational structure or designs by dividing one department into various
specialization areas and each area is headed by a specific team manager. For example,
investment department has separate research, planning, and engineering teams.
Motivation employees
The company Magna is using Maslow's need hierarchy theory for motivating and encouraging
the employees within the company. Apart from this, the company is using career advancement
strategy so as to enhance the employees' motivation and performance. The Maslow's need
hierarchy theory is based on the needs of the human. The needs of the employees are divided into
five levels that are self-actualization, esteem needs, social needs, safety needs, and psychological
needs (Cameron & Green, 2015). The company follows this pattern in a hierarchal manner for
motivating the employees. Furthermore, use the career advancement strategy by motivating the
employees ensuring that there are opportunities and avenues have been designed so as to enhance
their work and career.
Recommendations
Firstly, the company Magna must focus on updating its technology as per market advancement.
This can be done by doing better market research in a specific area.
Secondly, the company Magna must divide its marketing department more specifically as it will
help in gaining the understanding of market and trends more deeply (Yudhvir & Sunita, 2012).
This can be done by hiring the specialized marketing analysts belonging to different areas.
Lastly, the company must spend less money on the training of employees. This can be done by
hiring more experienced employees.

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Controls and recommendations
The plans and activities of the business Magna can be monitored by using an appropriate
tracking system and by coordinating marketing and business plans. The change management
plan will be used to correct and deal with the changes in plans. The feedback control system will
be used to monitor the activities because it will enable the system in adjusting the performance as
per the desired output response (Yudhvir & Sunita, 2012). The concurrent and feedforward will
be more effective to measure the progress and effectiveness of recommendations. The employee
involvement will be implemented under feedforward control and market control will be
implemented for concurrent control (Hill, et. al., 2014). The accomplishment of goal will be
checked by comparing the current position with the pre-standard budgets and plans.
Feedforward method- It is a term that describes a pathway under a control system which passes a
controlling signal from a specific source in the external source so as to load it somewhere else in
the external environment.
Concurrent method- This is a technique which is used for monitoring the behaviors and
processes so as to ensure that standard and regulation are followed.
Feedback control method- It continuously examines the processes so as to make the changes that
can enhance the efficiency of output.
These methods will be effective in measuring the recommendations as it eliminates the impact of
measured disturbance on the process output (Goetsch & Davis, 2014). Moreover, it helps the
company like Magna to monitor and carry out a smooth manufacturing process. It also ensures
the execution of compatible operations.

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References
Burns, P., & Dewhurst, J. (Eds.). (2016). Small business and entrepreneurship. Macmillan
International Higher Education.
Cameron, E., & Green, M. (2015). Making sense of change management: A complete guide to
the models, tools, and techniques of organizational change. Kogan Page Publishers.
Crilly, D., & Sloan, P. (2012). Enterprise logic: explaining corporate attention to stakeholders
from the ‘inside‐out’. Strategic Management Journal, 33(10), 1174-1193.
Goetsch, D. L., & Davis, S. B. (2014). Quality management for organizational excellence. Upper
Saddle River, NJ: pearson.
Gupta, A. (2013). Environment & PEST analysis: an approach to external business
environment. International Journal of Modern Social Sciences, 2(1), 34-43.
Hill, C. W., Jones, G. R., & Schilling, M. A. (2014). Strategic management: theory: an
integrated approach. Cengage Learning.
Mariotti, S., & Glackin, C. (2015). Entrepreneurship & small business management. Pearson.
Yudhvir, M., & Sunita, M. (2012). Employee’s motivation: theories and perspectives. Asian
Journal of multidimensional research, 1(2), 56-64.