Nissan Operations: Business Environment Impact & Strategy Linkage

This report analyzes the operations management strategies of Nissan Motor Co. Ltd., focusing on the impact of the business environment and the relationship between business and operations strategies. It highlights how changes in the global environment, consumer demands, and economic policies influence Nissan's production processes and product development. The report also explores the implementation of cross-functionality and the 'Stretch' concept within Nissan to align business objectives with operational activities. Furthermore, it discusses how Nissan's global strategy, particularly its partnerships, affects its operations, emphasizing key factors such as quality, speed, dependability, flexibility, and cost management. The analysis concludes that Nissan's success is attributed to the alignment of its business and operating processes, enabling effective employee positioning and strategic production processes.

Running head: OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT IN NISSAN
OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT IN NISSAN
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1OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT IN NISSAN
Table of Contents
Introduction....................................................................................................................2
Three impacts of business environment on operations of Nissan..................................2
Relationship between business strategy and operations strategy of Nissan...................3
Conclusion......................................................................................................................5
References......................................................................................................................6

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Introduction
Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. is a multinational car manufacturing based organizations that
has its origins in Japan. The headquarter of Nissan is located in Nishi-ku Yokohama. The
organization provides the cars to customers under different brands that include, Nissan,
Datsun and Infiniti. The organization has been a part of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi
Alliance that was a partnership developed between Nissan of Japan, Renault of France and
Mitsubishi Motors of Japan. The organization has been able to gain the position of the sixth
biggest automaker in the world based after the major companies like, Toyota, Volkswagen
Group, General Motors, Ford and Hyundai Motor Group (NISSAN MOTOR Co. 2019).
The vision statement of Nissan is based on the ways by which the organization is able
to enrich the lives of people and develop trust levels with the employees, dealers,
shareholders and customers. The mission statement on the other hand is based on
development of innovative and unique automotive based services and products which can
deliver superior levels of measurable values to the stakeholders. The objectives are based on
the ways by which the company is able to provide vehicles to customers. The company offers
high quality based and genuine parts (NISSAN MOTOR Co. 2019).
Three impacts of business environment on operations of Nissan
The external business based environment is able to affect the operating procedures of
Nissan. The three major impacts of the environment on Nissan are as follows,
 The changes that have taken place in the global environment has led to the
development of products of Nissan in such a manner that emit lower amounts
of CO2. The production process of the organization is thereby affected in a
huge manner by the changes in external environment (Afy-Shararah and Rich
2018).

3OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT IN NISSAN
 The changes that have taken place in the needs and demands of consumers
have an impact on the products that are offered by Nissan. The preference
levels of the customers can affect development of cars in such a manner that
are based on their preferences and their driving types as well. Various
products that are offered by Nissan in the car manufacturing based industry
mainly include, Nissan Skyline, Nissan 370z, Nissan Frontier, Nissan Navara,
Nissan X-Trail, Nissan Latino and Nissan March (Camuffo 2018).
 The standards and policies that are developed and followed by Nissan are also
based on the economic environment of countries in which the products are
sold. The organization has to meet the emission based standards in order to
fulfil the requirements of customers in an effective manner. The legal
environment of a country is able to play a major role in the development of the
operations of an organization like Nissan (Choi and Hwang 2015).
Relationship between business strategy and operations strategy of Nissan
As discussed by Deresky (2017), the operations management functions that are
performed by Nissan include, planning, staffing, organizing, controlling and leading. The
activities related to operations management of the organization is mainly related to the
production of automobiles. The operations strategy of an organization is mainly based on the
ways by which different products can be manufactured and delivered to the customers. The
resources of the organization are managed in such a manner that can help in the successful
delivery of products.
As opined by Donada, Nogatchewsky and Pezet (2016), the development of proper
business strategy is based on the strategic plan that is formed by an organization and is able
to outline different objectives of the company. Nissan also develops the business strategies

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based on different parts of its operations. The major concept that has been followed in Nissan
in order to link the business strategies with operational strategies is based on the
implementation of cross-functionality. The process of cross-functional management is able to
link different functions of the organization with the corporate objectives.
The cross-functional teams are considered to be powerful tools that are able to fulfil
the goals that have been set by the organization. Cross-functional activities are considered to
be a core part of the operations that are performed by Nissan Motors. Another concept which
has been implemented by Nissan in order to align the business objectives with the operational
activities is termed as “Stretch”. This concept is based on the activities that are performed by
the organization taking into consideration the viewpoint of the customers (Venkataraman and
Pinto 2017). This concept is also able to provide a new direction to the organization in order
to fulfil the demands and needs of the customers. The actions are mainly based on the
confidence levels that are developed among the employees and the desires that are related to
reaching the high levels of performance (Wisner 2016).
As opined by Donada, Nogatchewsky and Pezet (2016), the global strategy that has
been developed by Nissan Motors is based on the partnerships that have been made in order
to survive in the highly competitive automobile industry. The alliances developed by the
organization have an impact on the operations of Nissan and the production processes as
well. The different operation based factors of Nissan Motors that are affected by the global
business strategies mainly include, quality, speed, dependability, flexibility and cost. The
management of Nissan has taken the strategic decisions based on their impact on the
operations. The organization is able to fulfil the long term based goals with the help of proper
development of effective operations. Nissan has thereby aimed at formation of business
strategies in order to facilitate the proper operations based on different parts of the
organization (Afy-Shararah and Rich 2018).

5OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT IN NISSAN
Conclusion
The analysis can be concluded by stating that Nissan Motors has been able to gain
success in the industry with the help of business strategies that have been developed based on
the operating processes. The operations and business based strategies of the company are
linked in order to provide effective positions to employees. The production processes are also
based on the business based strategies of Nissan Motors. The organization has gained success
in the industry with the help of proper alignment of different strategies and processes.

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References
Afy-Shararah, M. and Rich, N., 2018. Operations flow effectiveness: A systems approach to
measuring flow performance. International Journal of Operations & Production
Management, 38(11), pp.2096-2123.
Camuffo, A., 2018. Risk Allocation, Supplier Development and Product Innovation in
Automotive Supply Chains: A Study of Nissan Europe. Innovation and Supply Chain
Management: Relationship, Collaboration and Strategies, pp.213-236.
Choi, D. and Hwang, T., 2015. The impact of green supply chain management practices on
firm performance: the role of collaborative capability. Operations Management
Research, 8(3-4), pp.69-83.
Deresky, H., 2017. International management: Managing across borders and cultures.
Pearson Education India.
Donada, C., Nogatchewsky, G. and Pezet, A., 2016. Understanding the relational dynamic
capability-building process. Strategic Organization, 14(2), pp.93-117.
NISSAN MOTOR Co. 2019. Nissan Motor Corporation Global Website. [online] Nissan-
global.com. Available at: https://www.nissan-global.com/EN/index.html [Accessed 15 Mar.
2019].
Venkataraman, R.R. and Pinto, J.K., 2017. Operations management: Managing global
supply chains. SAGE Publications.
Wisner, J.D., 2016. Operations management: A supply chain process approach. SAGE
Publications.