Nissan Canada Inc Case Solution And Analysis, HBR Case Study Solution & Analysis of Harvard Case Studies

INTRODUCTION

Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. founded in 1933 by Yoshisuke Aikawa, is the Japan’s second largest car manufacturer company. The company sells more than 3.7 million cars in more than 180 countries. The company has developed a strategy of developing niche vehicles, and one of the first to mass-produce a modern. The mission of the company is to provide quality products and services to its customers, in order to gain long-term and sustainable growth. The Nissan 180 plan comprises of key components such as increasing revenue, lowering costs, improving quality and speed, and maximizing benefits.

Nissan Canada Inc. was supported by national sales office and three regional sales offices. In 2003, the company achieved 4.3% share of the Canadian market, which lowered sales incentive rates and improve overall profitability. However, one of the major issues faced by the company is the improper demand forecasting. This issue arises due to the inability and inefficiency of the company to react to the changing consumer demand. Moreover, the company should propose strategy to customize a vehicle to the particular needs, interests and demands of the customers on a timely basis.

PROBLEM STATEMENT

According to the case, Dave Richardson, the corporate manager of vehicle planning division at Nissan Canada addressed some problems regarding the new vehicle ordering process. This process is considered as a part of the new Integrated Customer Order Network (ICON). Moreover, the new process helps the company to transform the new ordering process and bring a positive change in the Nissan North America.

According to Dave Richard, the new process would be exactly what the dealers and the sales company are seeking to align effective production with customer demand. The company developed a strategy to transform the entire process from a make-to-stock into a make-to-order environment. The basic purpose of the company is to meet its business objective with the new process transformation.

The entire process consists of two purposes such as aligning production with the customer demand and stakeholders’ perspective to make the final decision before implementing the new vehicle ordering process. In order to implement new process effectively, the corporate manager of the company should focus on two aims such as to enhance integration in the supply chain and a strategy to achieve its business objectives, so that the company’s desired goals and targets should be met.

However, this case is about strategy and execution of a new process, therefore, it is important for the corporate manager to develop a complete rationale for the best decision, and analyze the benefits and disadvantages of the proposed solution. The best solution will help to make an effective implementation plan that will clearly define the change process to the complete set of stakeholders and align the production of the customers’ demand.

COMPANY’S ISSUES IDENTIFICATION

One of the major issues faced by the company is the absence of robust demand forecasting tool. However, effective demand forecasting helps the company to enhance the new vehicle ordering process. Secondly, the inability of car manufacturers addresses the limited visibility of true customer demand and inability to react to changing customers' preferences. Moreover, changing customers' preferences increases the pressure on suppliers. This issue also increases excess inventory and operating costs, which lead the company to face financial losses.

Furthermore, the scheduling and planning process and procedures of the company are inappropriate and need to be analyzed carefully. Another issue which arises in the company is the poor communication process that leads the management to face conflicts, and ineffective work in the future and this will increase lead time. One of the major factors that the company should consider is to manage the inventory and operating costs, to increase the financial performance as well as organizational performance.

Due to the inability to forecast the demand of the consumers, the company is unable to develop an effective value to the customers’ demand. The entire process is increasing the lead time. As a result, the company is facing a delay in ordering process. Moreover, the situation is increasing the delivery time of the company. Therefore, the company should propose a strategy to develop a new vehicle ordering process, which will lead the company to achieve maximum profits and revenue shortly.......................................

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