Strategic Management Report: Aston Martin, Strategy & Environment

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of strategic management principles through a case study of Aston Martin. It begins with an introduction to strategic management and its importance in corporate growth, followed by an evaluation of Aston Martin's approach to strategy development, including planned, emergent, and incremental strategies. The report then examines the company's external environment, considering political, economic, social, technological, and ecological factors. It also delves into data protection policies and their role in risk management within the strategic planning process. Furthermore, the report explores stakeholder theory, identifying and justifying the stakeholders of Aston Martin, and critically analyzes the company's Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) framework. The report concludes with a summary of the key findings and a list of references.

Strategic
Management

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
QUESTION 1...................................................................................................................................1
a. Approach to strategy development, considering the planned, emergent and incremental
approaches....................................................................................................................................1
b. What are the main areas of concern with regard to the organisation’s external environment 3
QUESTION 2...................................................................................................................................5
a. Data protection policies in context to company’s risk management in the strategic planning
process. ........................................................................................................................................5
QUESTION 3...................................................................................................................................6
a. What is meant by stakeholder theory? Identify and provide justification for each of the
stakeholders to your chosen company.........................................................................................6
b. What is meant by Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)? Critically analyse the CSR in
your chosen organisation’s strategic framework. .......................................................................8
CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
Strategic management plays an important role in the growth of corporation. It involves
continuous planning, monitoring, analysis and assessment of all important things which are
essential to meet the objectives. The decisions in context to strategic management is taken by the
top management for the benefit and growth of organisation. It provides overall direction to the
business and helps to develops the plans and policies for the betterment of enterprise. To better
understand this concept Aston Martin has been chosen which is British independent
manufacturer of luxury sports cars & grand tourers. In this report, there the are following topics
are covered such as: to evaluate the approach to strategy development, considering the planned,
emergent & incremental approaches, organisation's external environment, data protection
policies to evaluate the risk. This report also discusses shareholders theory and how
organisations engage with stakeholders during strategic planning process.
MAIN BODY
QUESTION 1
a. Approach to strategy development, considering the planned, emergent and incremental
approaches
Strategy development involves the plans and policies which are prepared by the
organisation in order to achieve the organisational goals or to identify a specific solution in
context to a problem. It is also known as strategic planning which is necessary to carry the
business in a successful manner. There are various types of strategies which can be made by the
corporations for different-different purposes such as: to increase market share, sales, profits and
introduction of a new product, to target a specific market etc. (Lacerda and Ensslin, 2014).
Strategy development:
As Aston Martin is a sports car manufacturing company and effective strategies provide
helps the corporation to sustain in the market for a long run. The management is responsible to
make effective strategies which support the business growth and success. It is important for the
manager to prepare effective plan of action in order to survive in the market which is also helpful
to beat the competition. At present organisation sell its products to 55 countries around the
world.
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Plan: The management of company can make effective strategies in order to grab more
market shares so that profits can be maximize. At present Aston Martin is more focusing towards
Western Europe, North America, Japan etc. So it is important for the organisation to make
effective strategies so that it can diversify its business Southeast Asia and the Middle East. For
the purpose management is targeting the youngsters and those persons who are fond of sports
car. The target consumers are mostly 25 to 40 years of people and it also focuses towards female
segment because more women are becoming owners and primary drivers in the luxury car
market. In Chain and Southeast Asian economies, the high- net worth market is both growing
and youthful and consumers belong to mide-30s or 40s age group as compared to Western
Europe's typical buying age of the mid-40s and 50s. The strategy of organisation can be
successful when form targets these market with the help effective marketing plan which attract
the consumers to buy the products of company. As people belongs to age group of 25 to 40 are
prefer more to purchase sports car. It can produce the product which is based on innovative
technology and give more mileage as a result strategy of corporation can be successful and
organisation can grab more market share which leads to profit maximization. It is helpful to
expand the business also (Nixon and Burns, 2012).
Emergent and incremental approach:
An emergent strategy can still develop even even if organisation already has a plan. As
Aston Martin is the manufacturer of sports car and targeted consumers of organisation are mostly
youngsters i.e. 20 to 40 years (Emergent. 2019). As per this approach organisation can make
policies which help it to sustain in the market for a long run. It focuses towards unplanned
strategy that arises in response to unexpected opportunities and challenges. The management of
firm can produce normal car which can be used by household people in their normal routine life.
It is beneficial to achieve the objectives which is profit maximization and it is very beneficial for
the company to capture more market share. There are good opportunity to grab higher market
share but the main challenge is that the prices of cars are normally high. It is the responsibility of
corporation to provide the products at reasonable price in order to maximize the sales.
Incremental approach: As name suggest, this approach focuses towards incremental in
terms of business growth, sales and revenue by using new strategies and policies (Incremental
approach. 2019). Aston Martin can use this approach and emphasis to expand the business. In
this regard, management can try to capture untapped market or area where it is not doing well.
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To expand the market company can target effective strategies so that it can diversify its business
Southeast Asia. The target consumers can be youngsters because they are fond of sports cars and
it is beneficial for the corporation to earn higher profits by maximizing the sales. As per the
existing strategies company targets only male segment so it has been suggested that
management should plan and implement strategy to target female consumers from Middle East,
that help to grab more market share and earn higher revenue.
Strategy is a mechanism through which an organisation makes sense of the world around
it. Sound strategy development processes should, therefore, enable an organisation to create and
adapt strategy quickly and iterative.
b. What are the main areas of concern with regard to the organisation’s external environment
External environment is that environment which can affect the business of a company. It
involves political, social, technological, economic and ecological area (Hitt and Duane Ireland,
2017)
Political Area:
Aston martin is a brand in auto mobile industry. Political stability is also as important
aspect as maintaining marketing position. The European laws and legislations made subject to
maintain ethicalness and computability in automotive industries. European commission has
established separate standards to maintain carbon consumption and environmental activities.
Managing the operations for better control and product standards are also required to improve for
next generation cars and automotive products (Friedli and Thomas, 2014). It has created an
ethical image in the European countries and UK is the only country consist the separate sections
and legislations that impact upon attention and viability of project. There are some upcoming
laws and legislations which come after Brexit like Commercial vehicle act, consumption level in
which environment friendly electric cars, low fuel consumption vehicles kept at primary list for
upcoming years. The policies for custom and excise are required to improve for better strategic
planning.
Economic area: To analyse economic area is important for an organisation and it
involves interest rate, government policy, labour cost, GDP etc. The main area of concern is
exchange rate which is volatile in UK and can impact the investment plans not only in the short
term but also in the long run. This factor can be analysed by the management of Aston Martin so
that its business does not be affected.
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Social trend/Customer behavior
Being a brand name in automotive industry it is observed that Aston martin has captured
a large customer network. By providing quality services and products it has attained a reputed
position in market. The main aim of company is building ethical social community with credible
image. Globally it has multinational brands and working effectively in various countries. The
position for better analysis are also kept in various forms. It is creating a brand image and
building interest to make the community stronger and ethical. Key area of improvement is to
building effective communication centre and customer network worldwide (Kliuchnikova and
Pobegaylov, 2016).
Technological area
Automotive industries are growing in dramatic manner by adapting new technologies and
trends. It is observed that technological areas are one of the essential area in which Aston martin
is required to emerge its strategic activities for sustainable success. Company is working on
artificial intelligence and advanced GPS system to improve the ride experience for customers. It
is also improving its handmade manufacturing process to make the process more reliable. It is
considered one of the advanced automotive company that presents new technology and tactics in
its operations and businesses. By considering the characteristics of technology and new standards
Aston martin is giving tough competition to other multinational brands. It has its automatic
product line in which all the products are assembled with the essence and attention. Company is
trying to meet its desired level of technological goals and electric models are main targeted areas
to improve.
Ecological areas
Pollution is a major concern and challenge for UK and major pollution is created due to
high consumption of petroleum and carbon products. Road transport is the prime source of
generating air pollution. Aston martin analysed the ecological areas and environmental needs to
control the air pollution. Its research team is engaging in making low consumable cars and
automotive cars to save natural energy sources. Government of the UK has taken strong steps
towards making the cars more reliable and effective for better use and control. Company is
seeking to adopt the products to new technology for reducing the CO2 emission form vehicles.
Until 2012, company be able to reduce the CO2 and created its future market strategies and plans.
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QUESTION 2
a. Data protection policies in context to company’s risk management in the strategic planning
process.
Data protection policy is a type of security policy which aims to design, implement,
guide, monitor and manage security over a company’s data. The main aim is to protect & secure
logical data stored, consumed and managed by the corporation. The management is responsible
to develop effective strategies which limit the risk so that business of Aston Martin does not get
affected. There are various policies which can help the organisation to protect the data which are
as:
Encryption policies: As per this policy, most organisations lack policies around data
encryption. So it is important to change with the EDPR, because a key tenet of the corporation
should secure data with appropriate technical & organisational measures. The management is
responsible to make effective strategies so that third parties which are generally outsiders does
not look the private and confidential information and data related to the business of Aston
Martin. It is always a risk in front of management that its important data can be stolen by any
third party (Killen and Petit, 2012). So it is necessary for the organisation to develop effective
strategic planning process so that confidential things cannot be leak to other persons. Although
encryption will not stop malevolent actors accessing a company’s information and this is helpful
to prevent them from being able to use it. So to eliminate the risk from corporation's
management, it is important to develop strategic planning process choose to pseudonymise data,
either instead of or alongside encryption. If data does not leak due to effective data protection
policy than reputation of firm cannot be influence. With the help of encryption policies
organisation can reduce the probability of a data breach & thus minimise the risk of fines in
future, if they chose to use encryption of personal data. It creates the risk for the management of
company.
Password policy: For an organisation it is important to use complicated password so that
hackers cannot easily break the password. If an outsider or competitor know the password than it
can stole the private data from the server and any important information and it creates the risk in
front of company that how it can protect the confidential data (Eden and Ackermann, 2013). So it
is necessary for the management of Aston Martin to develop effective strategies in order to
minimize the risk and it can apply complicated password which is not easily breakable. It is a
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combination of letters, numbers & special characters and for the employees it is require to use
different password for each account. The management of company is responsible to implement
systems that prompt staff to change it within every 3 months (Gregorini, 2012). If the password
policy of company is lazy than its puts the data at risk. As a result management data risk can be
increase.
Email policies: For an organisation it is important to protect the business data so that its
private information can remain confidential. As IT department of Aston Martin is responsible to
introduce a policy in place that hardens systems & detects spam and viruses. The kind of
information which can be disclosed through email must be spelled out very clearly. One of the
biggest email risk is phishing, that can be mitigated by technology only to some extent. Scam
emails often look legitimate enough to bypass spam filters, meaning the only thing standing
between a corporation and a data breach is the staff's ability to recognize the risk. So the
management is responsible to develop effective strategic process in order to protect the private
data. Email policies should therefore mandate that workers take regular staffs awareness courses
to stay up to date with the threat of email based fraud (Dezsö and Ross, 2012). A clear email
policy is helpful to prevent time wasting, protects data security & reduce the risk of legal issues
for the management.
Ensuring Data Security Accountability: For a corporation it is essential to protect the
data by maintaining effective security in order to protect the business. An organisation needs to
ensure that its IT staff, workforce & management are aware about the responsibilities & what is
expected of them. There are different types of data which are classified so that staffs &
management can consider the difference. It involves confidential data, general data, data that is
meant to be sent internally with the organisation and data that is meant to be sent outside the
corporation. If the security of data has breach than it creates the risk for the management. So it is
important for the Aston Martin to use strategic planning process and make some plans and
policies which can protect the private information and confidential data.
To protect the data there are following actions are needed to be taken:
 Restrict & monitor access to sensitive data as well as information.
 To develop transparent data collection procedures.
 Train staffs in online privacy & security measures.
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 It is important to build secure networks to protect online data from cyberattacks (Durand
and Madsen, 2017). It is helpful to prevent the risk of cyber crime so that risk for
management will reduce in context to data stolen.
QUESTION 3
a. What is meant by stakeholder theory? Identify and provide justification for each of the
stakeholders to your chosen company
Stakeholder theory is a theory of organisational management & business ethics that
addresses morals and values to managing the corporation. It emphasis to create the relationship
among investors, suppliers, consumers, employees, communities and other persons who have a
stake or interest in the company. (Stakeholders. 2019).
Stakeholders are the individuals, group of persons or corporations that has interest or
concern with the company. These can affect or can be affected by the actions, policies or
objectives of organisation. Aston Martin has various stakeholders such as: employees, creditors,
directors, supplier’s owners etc. All of these are related to the business of enterprise. There are
two types of stakeholders which are internal and external.
` Internal stakeholders: The persons who are directly related with the corporation are
known as internal stakeholders and it involves: employees, manager, owners.
Employees: These are the persons who work for the organisation so that they can earn
their bread and butter for the livelihood. Aston Martin has better relationship with the workers
and provide support to them in order to achieve the organisational goal. The employees put
maximum efforts to manufacture the quality products as per the requirement of company. To
motivates the staffs it provide incentives so that they perform their task in order to achieve the
targets of corporation (Cosenz and Noto, 2016). Employees are involve in strategic planning
process by giving their valuable suggestions in context to operations so that work related
performance can be enhanced.
Owners: These are those persons who contribute in the business of company. It involves
shareholders who contribute their capital for the purpose to generate return from it. Aston Martin
use the capital of owners for the purpose to expand the business so that maximum profits can be
generated by capturing more market share. The maximum shares hold by Investindustrial
Advisors Ltd which hold 310.1% equity shares of the company. The relationship of organisation
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is good with its owner and they trust that business of firm will grow and they will get higher
returns from its investment. Owners are involve in strategic planning process by providing its
useful ideas in annual general meeting and it is helpful for the growth of company.
Managers: The managers of Aston Martin control and manage the corporation and take
effective decisions for the growth and benefit of organisation. They work for the firm and put
their maximum efforts so that business of company can grow and get success. The managers
hold the fiduciary position with the corporation. Firm has different managers such as: Andrew
Charles Palmer. Penelope L. Hughes, David Jeremy King, Mark Wilson, Nikki Rimmington etc.
The organisation has effective relationship with them and provide power to take better decisions
for the benefit of business. They plan and implement the strategies for the growth of the business
which is helpful to achieve the objectives and goals.
External stakeholders: These are those persons which related to the organisation
whether directly or indirectly and can get affected from the actions of company. It involves:
customers, suppliers, creditors, government etc.
Suppliers: These are those persons who supply raw material to the organisation for the
purpose of production. There are various suppliers of Aston Martin who provide essential tools
and equipment’s to the company. Names are: Stibilus who provide fuel cap gas spring, Hella
provides interior lighting, Nidec Motors & Actuators provides seat motors and Dow provides
structural adesive (Chen and Lieberman, 2015). Suppliers involve in strategic planning by giving
suggestions that which type of raw material is require to use for the production of quality
products.
Creditors: These are those persons who provide money to the company so that it can
invest the funds to expand the business. There are various creditors which provide loan to the
Aston Martin so that it can invest the amount to expand the business of organisation in order to
generate maximum returns. It involves: banks, financial institutions, venture capitalists etc.
Corporation maintain effective relation with its creditors and provide interest time to time which
is helpful to build better relationship. Creditors involve in strategic planning by providing
valuable ideas and suggestions which can be related to investment so that business of company
can grow and generate higher returns.
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So as an analysis it can be said that Aston Martin has effective relations with different
stakeholders of company and they perform their roles and duties for the betterment of
corporation so that it can achieve its objectives and business of organisation can grow.
b. What is meant by Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)? Critically analyse the CSR in your
chosen organisation’s strategic framework.
Corporate social responsibility is a managerial concept that help to contribute for
corporate and social welfare. It is the duty of every organisation to take a part in development of
country and increase living standard of people. For example, Aston martin is a multinational
company which manufactures luxury sports cars and grand tourers. In Aston martin manager has
decided to contribute two percent of its revenues that will help in development. For this manager
need to make plan such as “Schools environment education development project” that will help
to increase awareness of social and environmental issues. This contribution will help to increase
the market value of company that will be beneficial to increase in number of sale. In additional
CSR is helpful to make the efforts in order to improve the society living standard (Hladchenko,
2015).
Its main purpose is to give benefits to society and environment in an ethical way.
Company who performs well they should participate in CSR programmes. It is mandatory for
every organisation that to contribute for welfare of society and economical standard in a short
percent that helps to increase development. CSR involves reduce carbon footprints to meet
climate challenges, improve labour legislation, and enhance fair trade. It can be done in
partnership or in community and company will be socially accountable to its shareholders and
public. To participate in social responsibility Aston martin follows some points like as
environmental sustainability initiatives, ethical practices and economic responsibility that helps
to increase the creditability of company and also create a faith among customers and public.
Environmental sustainability: Aston martin should participate in socially accountable
activity by donating short percent of its revenues. If company do so it helps to increase the
market sustainability and worthiness of the enterprise. This strategy will help Aston martin to
maintain sustainable environment by donating money for environmental issues.
Ethical business practices: It contains individual's moral opinion regarding right and
wrong things. Mangers of Aston martin company who makes decision may be influence by the
culture of the company. It helps to create a relation between customer and public by influencing
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