Strategic Direction in Cross-Border Organizations: Aston Martin Report

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the strategic direction of Aston Martin within cross-border and global organizational contexts. The report begins by exploring the influences on policy and organizational strategies, examining the interplay between various partners like investors, suppliers, and governments. It then delves into the contributions of economic, political, and social factors, illustrating their impact on strategy development. The report evaluates the roles of domestic, national, and multinational interests in policy translation. Furthermore, it assesses the roles of different partners in inter-organizational strategy formulation, including working, sleeping, and nominal partners, while addressing potential conflicts of interest. The report proposes innovative solutions to enhance partner relationships and achieve coherent outputs. Finally, the report suggests models that support inter-organizational working, respecting the diverse political, moral, social, and economic stances of partner organizations. The analysis incorporates Aston Martin's global operations as a case study throughout.

Strategic Direction in Cross Border
and Global Organisation

INTRODUCTION
The business environment within which an organisation operates is acknowledged to be
complex and turbulent. This exposes the company to such kinds of situations whereby it is
required to take strategic decisions and actions in an effective manner which results into yielding
fruitful outcomes. In today’s modern era, it is the prime aim of every organisation to expand its
scale of operations in order to inflate its revenues and profits by a fair margin. For this purpose,
entities seek to gain entry into new territories which can provide them with the scope to improve
their financial performance in a quick manner. The current project seeks to gain an insight into
the strategic direction in cross border and global organisations by taking into due consideration,
Aston Martin as the company for the preparation of the report. Now, Aston Martin Lagonda
Global Holdings Plc is a well renowned and independent producer of luxury sports car and grand
tourer. It has its headquarters situated at Gaydon, England, United Kingdom. Founded by Robert
Bamford along with Lionel Martin in the year 1913, this corporation has more than 150 car
dealership within more than 50 nations upon 6 continents, making the entity a lucrative global
automotive brand.
The project consists of the influences upon the development of global organisational
policy and strategies. Further, the report tends to take into account the roles of different partners
within the development of an inter-organisational strategy for running in the global landscape.
Also, it includes the influence of economic aspects within cross border or global organisational
policy objective and strategy development. In addition to this, the improvements in cross border
and global organisational strategy, planning and implementation are duly covered in the project.
Lastly, the report deals with a futuristic view of the manner in which events as well as trends will
and can affect the cross border and global organisational policy and strategy.
TASK 1 Be able to evaluate the influences upon policy and organisational
strategies
1.1 Critically review and assess the relationship between different partners in the development of
policy and its impact on cross border and global organisational strategy
Organisational policy development is acknowledged to be a complex as well as multi
faceted procedure. This tends to include the interplay of several partners. It includes investors,
suppliers, customers, government, press and other different kinds of stakeholder groups of a
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company. These parties have many tactics to influence the policymakers of the corporation in a
manner such that the policy developed yields maximum fruitful outcomes for them. Such
stakeholder groups may make an alliance with the other groups that are in favour of their opinion
upon the development of policy (Rittberger and et. al., 2019). It is well known that a thing like
perfect policy does not exist. It all matters in accordance with the market position and business
environment within which the entity operates. In this regard, Aston Martin Lagonda is a global
organisation which operates within many countries across the globe. This makes it important for
the management of this entity to develop policies which provide assistance in inflating the scale
and size of operations of the company. Thus, the different stakeholder groups whose views and
opinions are considered while discussing about the organisational policy in cross border and
global context are made to give their opinions in favour or against. During this time, stakeholder
groups of Aston Martin seek to make collaborations with the other stakeholder groups that have
the same opinion as them. This becomes possible only because they share healthy relations with
one another. Thus, the dominant group is able to make sure that their decision is taken into
account and implemented by the respective automotive company.
1.2 Critically evaluate the contribution of economic, political and social factors to the
development of cross border and global organisational policy and strategy
During the development of cross border and global organisational policy and strategy, it
becomes important for an organisation to duly take into account the external environmental
factors. This is important in order to make sure that the entity is able to survive in the cross
border and global context (Coe and Yeung, 2015). In this relation, Aston Martin Lagonda is a
global corporation which needs to significantly consider the external factors such as political,
social and economic, in order to devise and develop an organisational policy and strategy which
is consistent with majority of the locations whereby it carries its business operations. Thus, the
important political, social and economic factors that need to be discussed by global organisations
such as Aston Martin Lagonda are enlisted in the table beneath:-
Political Social Economic
Government type
and its stability
Public opinions
Social attitudes,
patterns and taboos
Labour cost
Economic growth
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Freedom of press
Rules of law and
extent of
bureaucracy
Taxation policy
Tariff and trade
regulations
Social laws
Employment
legislation
Consumer protection
&environment laws
Alterations in the
political landscape
Population growth
rate
Demographic profile
of the population
Ethnic makeup of
population
Consumer lifestyle
Alterations in the
socio-cultural
patterns
Health, literacy level
and social mobility
of the population
Inflation
Interest rate
Foreign exchange rate
Phase of business cycle
Employment or
unemployment rates
Labour supply
Impact of globalisation
Impact of technological
up-gradation or any
other aspect upon the
economy
Alterations in the
economic landscape
1.3 Critically assess and evaluate the role of domestic, national, and multi-national interests in
the translation of policy in cross border and global organisational strategy
The operations of an entity in local territory differ from that within the global landscape. In
this relation, when an entity seeks to operate in the cross border and global context, it needs to
develop the organisational strategy accordingly. In this relation, the entity mainly has 3
alternatives in front of it and these are discussed beneath:-
Domestic: These are the entities which usually function within only one nation. Thus, the
offerings of domestic businesses are in accordance with the local territory and local preferences.
This easily helps the entity in gaining trust of customers. Multi domestic strategy also belongs to
this strategy whereby an entity seeks to align their products as per the local preferences and
needs of people of every region (Schotter and et. al., 2017). The examples of domestic
businesses are Rollinson Knitwear, Ma Baker, JS Supermarkets etc.
Transnational: These entities integrate global and domestic strategies by making use of
acentral control structure which manages all the operational units in the form of an integrated
global firm. As a result, a commercial enterprise emerges which operates multiple facilities and
carries out its operations in many nations. For example- The operational unit of a company
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within China may be accountable for production while another in the US may be responsible for
R&D. Nestle is a renowned transnational company.
Multinational: Similar to transnational firms, these entities possess facilities in several
nations. The main point of difference is that hereby, every unit functions as a separate entity
(Cavusgil and Knight, 2015). The most common examples of multinational companies are
Walmart, Apple, Toyota, Exxon Mobil, etc.
TASK 2 Be able to assess the roles of relevant partners in the formulation of
inter-organisational strategy – 900
2.1 Identify and evaluate the policy position of different partners involved in the development
and implementation of inter-organisational strategy
The policy position of different partners involved into the business is as follows:
Working partner: Working partner is the one who contributes its capital into the business
and considers as an active participant into the business. His activity looks out for every factor or
operation which the company is under taking. He has the all the rights in forming the important
position into the company and also takes full responsibility in establishing it. They are also
known as active partner (Gaur, Maand Ge, 2019) . They are the people who are very much active
in participating in many business meeting and also contribute their ideas or opinions which he
put into the same. A working partner takes participates in the management of the organisation
very actively.
Sleeping partner: Sleeping partner is the one who contributes to the capital of business
but he does not participate into the management of that business. Such type of partner also
known as dormant partner or financing partner. His major motive is to put his investment into the
business. He does not participate in nay meetings or does not form any of the policy related to
the operations of organisation. They are least interested into making decisions or policies about
the business, he rather more interested in earning profits from the business no matter what and
how the business is operating.
Nominal partner: It is the one who does not contribute in to the business neither he
participated into any of the meetings of management. His participation is limited into the
organisation in which he allows the other partners to use his or her name. Such partner does not
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contribute in policy making or into the conduction of any operational activity of organisation;
their name is just use to make an impression on the public and other competitors only and
nothing else.
2.2 Evaluate tensions and conflicts of interest in the roles of different partners, and propose
innovative solutions to enhance relationships and outcomes in order to achieve a coherent
output
The following can be the reason for conflicts into the partnership:
Disagreements in opinions: The partner may have disagreements with respect the
opinions they have with regard to any particular topic (Crawshaw, Budhwar and Davis, 2020).
Any disagreement can result into bitterness and harshness in between the relation of the partners.
One may want the things to be performed in his way likewise other may also want the things to
get performed in his own ways. This can lead to big disagreement in between the partners.
Difference in interest: the interest of the partners for which they have put their time and
investment into the business is very much different. This different interest can bring differences
and conflicts among the partners which is very unhealthy for the operations of organisation.
Egoistic nature: There will be partners whose nature are very egoist, they always
consider themselves great and always put their opinions and beliefs at top. This nature brings
conflicts among the partners among the organisation as they cannot settle at a single or particular
point in their decision.
The following methods can be used to eliminate the conflicts among partners:
Stop fighting before it start: The fight should get stopped earlier when it seems to get a
rise otherwise if not they can take a huge face which cannot get in control. The fights can in
control through making the partner clam down with their behaviours and attitude (Murray-Evans,
2020). This can help the company in certain way in stopping the fights.
Don’t rush into judgements: The company should not rush into taking put the judgements
of a topic or problem. They need to first take the opinions or ideas from all the members or
partners and need to take all their opinions into a serious consideration. Then after taking all the
ideas or saying the company needs to make a judgements which can full fills the interest of all
the partners.
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2.3 Develop models which support inter-organisational working and which respect the integrity
of partner organisations and their political, moral, social and economic stance and
differences
A model should be made in such a way where the interest of all the partners needs to take serious
considerations. Every partner has the different values, moral, social factors and all. The partners
also have different interest with the organisation or business. The model should be made in such
a way that it coordinated with the organisation and its motive. The objectives of the organisation
should get integrate with the goals and interest of partners in such a way that both the parties i.e.
the organisation and the partners interest get satisfied (Xie, Reddy and Liang, 2017). Different
interest may include the different perspective in political, social and cultural outlook of the
employees and these factors are also the cause for differences in the partners of the organisation.
It is very much essential to make the partners happy and satisfied as they are the people who put
the capital into the business.
TASK 3 Be able to evaluate the impact of economic factors in cross border or
global-organisational policy objectives and strategy - 700
3.1 Critically identify and assess key economic drivers
The following are the key economic factors:
Interest rates: Interest is the amount which the company has to pay with the principle amount.
The companies try to target that market in which the interest rate is very minimum or low when
compared with the other’s country rates. If the interest rate is high in the country then the prices
for the product will also be very high which works not in favour for the company as they might
be able to lose their customer base. But the countries where the interest rate are low, it will not
put much effect upon the prices of products.
Labour cost: The cost for the labour depends and effects very much upon the cost for the
company (Collings and Isichei, 2018). The company prefer to establish their unit or operations
where they feels that the cost for the labour is comparatively low when compared with the other
countries labour cost. The labour cost is included into the direct cost which is mandatory for the
company to pay time to time.
Employment rates: The country where the employment rate is very high, in that country the
disposal income would also be very high. There the customer’s purchasing power is very high.
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The company will get benefited from this factor as the base for customer gets increase due to
this. But the countries where the employment rate is very low and there the disposable income
for the people is also low; the company cannot make many sales there as the people do not that
much amount to spend.
3.2 Critically evaluate the impact on existing policy and strategy commitments of the finance and
funding of operational activities arising from new cross border or global strategic and
policy imperatives
The impacts are as follows:
Increase in the prices of resources: Any increase in the price of resources due to increase in tax
on it can results into incurring of more cost to the company. Increase in the taxes would results
into the increase into the cost for the resources. This will directly affect the actual prices for the
product as they will get an increase. Increase in the price also reduces the customer base for the
company.
Inflation: Inflation is the state where the prices for the products get increased. When the priced
gets an increase the buyers for that product ultimately would get decreased. The situation of
inflation also affects the working of a company as increase in price may results in loose of some
of the customer for the company (Meyer and Xin, 2018).
Demand and supply: The demand and supply affects the operations of the company. The
company Austin Martin would produce only those vehicles more which are in high demand into
the market. The production activity is highly depends upon the demand and supply which is
prevailing into that market. If the demand for the vehicle would be more into the market then the
company has to incur some cost so that they can increase their production activity accordingly.
Exchange rate: This factor comes into the picture when the export and import activity takes
place. If puts the great impact upon the international payments and prices of the products.
3.3 Propose and critically assess ways of funding unexpected operational activities which will
need to meet cross border or global organisational policy and strategic commitments.
The ways for funding these unexpected operational activities can be as follows:
Reserve funds: Reserve funds are the funds which the company saves into the company in the
view to make it use that the time of urgency (Emontspooland Servais, 2017). Reserve account is
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made in a view that the company does not have to become bankrupt or get lack of money that the
time for emergency. These funds are useful in such unexpected situations.
Bank loan: The Company can take the loans from bank to meet these unexpected operational
activities. Although taking the loans from banks can be a costly affair because the company has
to repay the principle amount along with the specified interest. The company should take the
loan from such bank where the rate of interest should be low otherwise taking the money could
be the costly affair for the company.
TASK 4 Be able to improve cross border and global organisational strategy,
planning and implementation - 700
4.1 Review and critique current methods and theories of cross border and global organisational
strategic planning and implementation
There are various theories and methods through which the organisation can make the strategic
planning and implementation of their operational activities and can achieve the set goals and
objectives (Dhir, 2017). Some of these methods are:
SWOT analyses: This is a framework in which the organisation analyse the internal environment
of an organisation. In this methods the organisation strength, weakness, opportunities and threat
are get ascertain so that the organisation strategy can be made accordingly. The SWOT analyses
of the company Auston martin is as:
Strength
 The vehicles which are provided by the
company targets to the niche market.
 The quality for the products are very
high class and excellent.
 The brand name of Auston martin is
very much famous and has spread
across the globe.
 The services provided by the company
are also very unique which helps the
company in gaining the competitive
advantage into the market.
Weakness
 The company provides the limited
stock for the vehicles. It is not available
at the every market.
 The company brings innovation and
creation into its vehicle very slow or
after a long time.
 It is also been noticed that company
product positioning is also not up to the
mark.
Opportunities
 The company has the opportunity for
expanding their business at the various
markets into the globe.
 They have the opportunity of bringing
the new and advance technology into
Threat
 The increase into the innovation and
technology brought up by the
competitors has been a big threat for
the company.
 Increase in the prices for the raw
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the market, as a lot need to be done into
this industry.
 The company can also go for the
mergers and acquisitions for their
growth purpose.
materials also can be threat for the
company as it results into increase in
price of products which directly would
affect the customer base.
4.2 Propose original and innovative alternatives to improve cross border and global
organisational communication co-ordination, strategic planning and operational
implementation, and critically evaluate their likely impact
There can be various innovative alternatives for improvement of cross border communication;
some of them are as follows:
Establishment of good communication framework: The Company needs to establish a
framework for communication in which the flow for communication could be very easy. The
information or the ideas can get to the receiver without any barrier. Every person should know
about to whom he needs to communicate regarding the things and who will respond to his
confusion or doubts. The Company, Austin Martin should develop such a communication
framework which helps in clear passages for messages and also the receiver gets the meaning of
that message for which it has written (Randerson, 2019).
Remain flexible: The communication path which are opted by the company should be very
flexible. A flexible communication will help the employees to communicate with each other
without any hesitation. They can put their point or opinions with others. A flexible
communication will lead the communication process or decision making process very fast as
more people’s opinions or ideas will get exchange with a speed. This process works in the favour
of organisation only. The Austin Martin communication framework should be flexible that they
employees should not feel irritated while communicating their message as they might feel that
their message will not get to listen by top level of management people.
Adopt visual management for checking transparency: The Company should keep an eye
upon the management and working of employee (Veles, Carter and Boon, 2019). In that
observation or monitoring activity the supervisor must noticed that the company is following the
transparency in communication activity or not. And if they have found out that proper
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transparency has not been followed by the organisation people then necessary steps needs to get
taken for that. But if during the observation they have witness the proper transparency in
communication activity then there would be no need in taking any measurable steps or actions in
to the organisation as everything is going as per planned.
Cross team communication: The organisation should need to establish or adopt the
communication culture in which the team members of different department can communicate
with one another freely. They need not have to follow any kind of protocol for communicating
with each other. This cross team communication enables the organisation or department in
communicating each other without any kind of hurdle and problems (Hurd, 2020). Otherwise any
barrier in communicating with cross team may results to many confusion and misunderstanding
in activities and behaviour which will result in bad productivity. Therefore it is not must for the
Austin Martin to adopt the culture for cross team communication into their organisation.
TASK 5 Be able to posit a future view of how trends and events can and will
influence cross border and global organisational policy and strategy - 700
5.1 Research and critically review authoritative, quantitative and qualitative data and sources to
identify relevant political, social, economic, technological and moral trends which may
affect short, medium and long-term inter-organisational policy and strategy
The trends which have forced the company to bring change in their organisation are as:
Political change: The change in the policies regarding the wages paid to the labour in UK has
forced the company Aston martin in changing their policies according to the prevailing time by
the government. The company has to increase in their wages for the labour as per the standard set
by the government. This will impact the short was well as long term strategy by the company.
The company has to make the changes accordingly.
Social: The change into the preferences and taste for the customer has forced the company in
making the required changes into their product and structure and systems (Lasserre, 2017). This
impact the policy which they have formed for the company. The Aston Martin will manufacture
or form the product in such a way which meets the current demand and needs for the customers
as they are the people who bring profit to the company.
Economic: Economic factor tells about the situation or condition of the country. The increase in
the employment rate into the country has resulted in the more disposable income due to which
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the capacity for the people to buy the Aston Martin vehicle has also got an increase. This trend
has forced the company to make the changes in production activity as they now have to produce
more number of vehicles then before due to the rise in the percentage of customer base.
5.2 Use current concepts, theories and methodologies to forecast likely future events which will
affect and be affected by cross border and global policy and strategy
There are various concepts and methodologies which are used in forecast the future events, some
of them are as follows:
Straight line: In this method the organisation takes under all its past numbers or figures to
forecast the trend of the future (Breunig, 2016). In this the past 5 years figures or situation gets
examine and the trend towards which the company is heading or economy is moving has been
analysed. The company then accordingly set its future goals or objectives as they have gone
through the entire situation and has analysed the forecasts. In this a constant growth rate about
the element has been observed. This has helped the company Aston Martin in setting the
strategies accordingly so that they can achieve their goals and objectives perfectly.
Simple linear regression: In this approach the organisation forecast about the organisation trend
by taking one independent element and other one dependent variable. In this the company can
forecast about the productivity level when they put one constant thing and calculates the
production with the other dependent variable. This method is majorly used by many
organisations as it helps them in forecasting their production activities which they will go to get
when they take one independent and other dependent variable.
Moving average: Moving average is the method where the averages of all the past years have
been taken to calculate the trend for the future. It is also used by many organisation for the
calculations of profits, sales, demand and so on.
5.3 Propose alternative and innovative solutions that challenge perceived wisdom to achieve
better outcomes from the process of cross border and global organisational policy and
strategy formulation
For achieving the better outcomes the organisation should:
Monitor and control: The Company, Aston Martin must regularly observe and monitor the
work or the activity which are taking place into the company (Adekola and Sergi, 2016). This
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will help them in detecting the mistake there in. This will also allow the company in stopping the
spread of the defected element into the organisation.
Communication: The gap between the people for the communication should get reduce to its
minimum. There should be no gap in between the people who wants to communicate. Any
barrier in communication can hinder the performance of the company.
Friendly environment: the environment for the company should be very much comfortable and
friendly. There the employees should not feel uncomfortable or hesitate to speak or to behave
like themselves (Hall, 2016). It has been noticed that the organisation in which the culture and
the environment is healthy and good there the employees feel happy and satisfied. The
employees turnover ratio also gets reduce and there is an increase in the productivity of the
organisation.
CONCLUSION
On the basis of above discussion, it can be said that an entity operating within the global
landscape needs to take into account several aspects while developing organisational policy and
strategy. In this relation, it has been identified that there are various partners that play a crucial
role in context of the development of organisational policy and strategy for cross border
operations. These partners are acknowledged to be the stakeholder groups of the company who
integrate and discuss before reaching to a final conclusion related to the strategic direction that
should be adopted by the company. Along with this, it has also been assessed that there are
political, moral, economic and technological trends that tend to impact upon the process of
development of a strategy for the global organisations. Besides this, it has also been inferred that
while functioning in cross border scenario, it is required that global organisation should think
from an overall perspective. Thus, the entity should develop organisational policies and
strategies in a manner which is aligned with the market situations of all the territories whereby
the company operates.
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