BMW is operating in the automobile industry. It is an enormous market with a lot of buyers and sellers. More specified BMW is operating in the luxury car industry. What qualifies a luxury car is high quality, service, design, comfort and performance. We can analyze this industry by using porters 5 forces.
The 5 forces are, and applied to BMW:
1. Competitors: There is an intense competition. This is a result of competitors of the same size and barriers to exit are high. Competitors are AUDI and Mercedez
2. Suppliers = The major suppliers of BMW are aluminium and steel producers. There are a lot of sellers and buyers on this market therefore BMW hasn’t that much influence.
3. Buyers = There are a lot buyers and there is much information available. But the quality of BMW is outstanding therefore the buyers have medium influence
4. Subsitutes: The substitutes are train, bicycles. The quality and price are so different that they doesn’t have that much influence
5. New entrants: Entry barriers are high because a lot of money and knowledge is need.
BMW is selling and producing internationally. As you can see on the slide the main plants are in Germany. This is because their origin of country is Germany. The plants are so flexible that they can produce more than one type of automobile. Selling is also internationally.
Through operating internationally they are dealing with cultural differenceses. For example, communication is through different languages difficult and therefore BMW has to make decisions like: Am I going to use the same ad everywhere, or am I going to localize the advertising?
We can analyse the cultural differences through using Hofstede’s dimension. As a result of that some examples of where BMW has to deal with are
* Simple thinks like shaking hands, is normal in Europa but outstanding in Japan.
* Income and currencies are different. So bmw has to take into account that they can not sell a car in Africa for the same price and...