Recommendations for Sustainable Business Practices at KIA Motors

This report focuses on sustainable business practices and strategies for KIA Motors, evaluating current challenges and proposing actionable recommendations. The report begins by identifying key issues such as inconsistent wage payments, lack of a proper reward system, and inefficient supplier management, contrasting these with successful strategies employed by Trader Joe's. It then applies the SMART framework to assess the relevance and attainability of the proposed solutions. Part 2 of the report delves into specific metrics for each recommendation, including salary structures, employee training sessions, and marketing management. It explains the importance of these metrics and identifies the necessary data sources, including customer feedback and employee records, along with the data collection processes. The report concludes by outlining potential challenges KIA Motors may face, such as branding issues, training program implementation, and the absence of multicultural dimensions, and how they can be overcome.

Running head: SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS PRACTICES AND STRATEGIES
Sustainable business practices and strategies
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author Note:

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SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS PRACTICES AND STRATEGIES
Table of Contents
Part 1................................................................................................................................................3
1.1 Recommendations and its Impact..............................................................................................3
1.2 SMART Framework..................................................................................................................4
Part 2................................................................................................................................................6
2.1 Metrics for each Recommendation............................................................................................6
2.2 Explanation why the proposed Metrics are important...............................................................7
2.3 Identification of the data that will be needed.............................................................................8
2.4 Process by which data should be collected................................................................................8
2.5 Potential Challenges that will be faced by the organization......................................................9
References......................................................................................................................................10

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Part 1
1.1 Recommendations and its Impact
KIA Motors is the second largest manufacturer of automobiles in South Korea and has an
annual sales figure of nearly 3.3 million cars. The shareholders of the company along with the
employees of the organization participates in the decision making process of the company which
helps them to achieve success in the market (Bendle et al. 2016). However like most of the
companies KIA Motors also faces a number of adversities that affect the operational
performance or tends to decrease their performance over the time-being. In this following report
a number of recommendations have been provided to help the company overcome the issues and
increase their percentage of success.
The first and foremost issue is the inconsistent and abrupt payment of wages to the
employees by the management of the organization. The low payment of wages does not help the
cause of the employees and makes them de-motivated. The management of the organization has
also failed to formulate a proper reward system for the employees. Reward system helps the
employees to be recognized and makes them more dedicated towards their work. This is in sharp
contrast to the policy followed in Trader Joe’s which is one of the largest supermarkets of USA.
Their main policy is to make sure that the employees are paid much more than their expectations
from other rivals in the market (Giles, 2014). The employees are given the most importance in
every regards and the company also has a policy that allows 15.4% of their pay to their
retirement funds. KIA Motors can take a leaf out of the following policy and encompass such
similar policies in their organizational framework.

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In sharp contrast to the supplier management policy of KIA Motors, Trader Joe’s follows a
proper supplier management policy that helps the company to have a proper relationship with the
suppliers. This helps them to control the prices of the raw materials and decrease the operating
cost of the company. The following policy thus needs to be implemented by the management of
KIA Motors to make the organization more profitable.
Trader Joe’s has a successful marketing plan in place that has been able to provide huge
success to the organization (Giles, 2014). The flyer program of the organization and its reach in
far off places has helped it to promote itself in a much better way. KIA Motors have failed in this
particular area and thus it needs to implement a similar program to be able to create a stronghold
in the market.
1.2 SMART Framework
SMART Framework is the acronym for Specific, Measureable, Attainable, Relevant and
Time Based Goals and objectives taken up by any person or an organization. The
recommendations provided in the introductory part of the project can be well measured by the
SMART Framework.
1. Specific- The issues identified are surely specific as they does not tend to deviate from
the main issue and describe the actual set of problems that are generally faced by the
organization (Dasgupta& Hart, 2015). The wage problem of the employees is one of the
main issues and directly shows the condition of the employees in KIA Motors. The
identification of such issues is very much important for the management to operate the
business smoothly.

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2. Measureable-The issues are obviously measurable as problems can be identified and
measured according to their importance. The problems with wages, supplier problems,
lack of proper policies and most importantly the flyer management policy can be
measured to determine the difference of the company with that of the other organizations
especially with that of Trader Joe’s.
3. Attainable-The recommendations that are provided in the following assignment are
obviously attainable. The management of KIA Motors needs to change their policies and
must make an immediate amendment to the wages of the employees to bring it at par with
the industry standards. The company being the second largest automobile manufacturer
of South Korea will have no such problems in increasing the wage given a wise
implementation of the policy with a minimum effect on the operational cost.
4. Relevant- The relevance of the recommendations cannot be neglected as the modern
market demands innovation and dynamic policies like the one’s implemented by
organization like Trader Joe’s to attain success. The reward system, wage increments,
efficient management policies are all relevant to the organization and must be
implemented in a proper way (Bocken et al. 2014).
5. Time Based-Time management is a must for the organization as the policies needs to be
implemented in the correct time to gain success. Implementation of the policies
accordingly is the key to success for KIA Motors.

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Part 2
2.1 Metrics for each Recommendation
Measurement or metrics is one of the most important tasks of the management as such a
measurement helps the organization to get a clear idea on the actual progress of the organization
after implementing the recommendations. Two of the main metrics that needs to be implemented
includes;
1. Salary Structures- The management of KIA motors can take a leaf out of the success
story of Trader Joe’s and implement a proper wage structure for all the employees of the
organization. The wage structure of the company must be unbiased and according to the
marketing standards. The wage structure of the employees must be formulated by the
management of the company after consulting with the employees and carrying out a
thorough market research on the wage structure of different companies. The company
must design the structure in such a way that will offer much more benefits than other
organizations. The company must also conduct a regular review of the employees and
offer reward and recognition to the best amongst them.
2. New Sessions with Employees- The management of the company must conduct new
sessions for the employees to make them accustomed to different CRM policies and also
train them the necessary skills that are needed to manage the organization.
3. Marketing Management- The absence of a proper marketing management has been the
weakness for KIA Motors for a long time. It is important to hire able and skilled
managers and supervisors to take care of the marketing needs of the organization.

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2.2 Explanation why the proposed Metrics are important
Metrics Importance
 Salary Structures A proper salary structure of the
organization will help the company to
achieve the commitment and trust of the
employees. If the employees are paid well
they will feel motivated and will increase
their work efficiency, which in turn will
increase the operational efficiency of the
organization (Sheth&Sisodia, 2015).
 New Sessions The interactive sessions of the employees
will help in better communication and co
ordination amongst the managers and the
employees. The employees will be trained
according to the latest CRM techniques.
 Marketing Management The recruitment of able managers will help
the management to
concentrate on formulating a proper
marketing and promotional plan for the
organization. This may include the use of
innovative advertisements, dynamic sales
policies and many more as such.

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Supplier Management Supplier Management of the organization
must be changed and power must be
taken over from the suppliers to manage
the company efficiently. It is important
for the organization to control the price of
the raw materials to keep the operational
charges of the organization at bay.
The proposed metrics must be changed from time to time according to the changes in
the market. The change in the proposed metrics accordingly will help the organization to
sustain in the market.
2.3 Identification of the data that will be needed
The metrics must be identified and measured in a proper and efficient way as it is directly
related to the success of the business organization. The data that will be needed for such a
measurement must be collected from reliable and proved sources. This includes the records of
the customer feedbacks and the employee grievance cell records (Giles, 2014). Apart from this
the management can also collect necessary information from the resume as well as the
academicals and practical qualification of the organization. The qualification records of the
employee help the management to get an idea of the skills and capabilities of the employee. The
data identified by the organization must be genuine as fake and inappropriate information will
lead to the failure of the marketing plan of the organization (Wolfe, 2011).

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2.4 Process by which data should be collected
Proper and efficient data is utmost important to the success of the business and thus the help
of a number of different processes including quantitative and qualitative must be taken to gather
information. In the present times the company management fails to collect data from authentic
sources. It is needed to collect the authentic data to analyze the actual results. The quantitative
data will be collected from a number of different survey findings which will be conducted by an
independent organization appointed by the management of KIA Motors. On the other hand the
thematic analysis will be completed after the completion of the secondary data analysis. The
analysis of the secondary information will be done after analyzing some case studies and journals
related to the same. The secondary as well as the primary data are important sources to properly
conduct a research on curving out marketing strategies for the organization. The proper
combination of both the analysis helped to complete the process of data collection.
2.5 Potential Challenges that will be faced by the organization
Some of the potential challenges that will be faced by the organization during the
implementation of the following marketing metrics are as follows;
1. The management of KIA Motors has not been able to establish itself with a strong brand
name and thus it lacks the proper management policies. As mentioned in the metrics there
must be a strong centralized managerial structure. The strong centralized managerial
structure will transform the total structure of the company including the lower level of
management and thus even the management of the showrooms will have transparency
and excellent feedbacks (Joyce &Paquin, 2016)

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2. The absence of a proper branding policy will hurt the company to fix its management
policies. There are no such training programs in place for the employees of the
organization. Training programs for both the newcomers and on job trainings will be hard
to implement as establishment of such programs will involve an increase in the
operational cost of the organization which in turn will force the management to increase
the price of the cars. According to, Ortiz‐de‐Mandojana& Bansal (2016) this may lead to
a fall in the sales figures of the company. The company is already struggling to meet the
target of the sales figures and any such policies will adversely affect them.
3. Absence of multicultural dimensions in the organization may create problems during
international expansion of the business. The presence of employees from different
cultural backgrounds may lead to problematic situations in the workplace.

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