BSBMKG 512

Forecast International Market and Business Needs

NAME OF STUDENT: TARANDEEP

STUDENT ID: NIT000001A7

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Contents
Assessment Task 1...........................................................................................................................3

Assessment Task 2...........................................................................................................................4

Assessment Task 3...........................................................................................................................8

References......................................................................................................................................12

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Assessment Task 1
The core activities of Ford comprises of manufacturing and marketing of commercial and
passenger vehicles and providing after sales service to the customers regarding the passenger and
commercial vehicles.

The customer base of the company incudes customers belonging mostly from the working class
and middle class in various countries of world.

The values of Ford are integrity, servants’ attitude, accountability, continuous improvement,
teamwork and fun.

The business direction of Ford is to gain market share in various key international markets of the
company and to popularize the existing and new models of the company.

The regulatory and legislative context of Ford are as follows:

International Trade Law- International Tarde Laws is the set of laws and agreements which
govern commerce between various countries. It creates the rule that countries and business must
follow in order to do business across borders.

Bilateral agreements- A bilateral agreement is a broad term which is used simply to cover
agreements between two parties. For international treaties, bilateral agreements can range from
legal obligations to non-bindings agreements of principle.

The internal source of information which are relevant to forecasting market and business needs
are reports of marketing department, individual knowledge and experience of the employees of
the organization and organizational policies and procedures.

The external sources of information which are relevant to forecasting market and business needs
are official websites, national and international news, commercial market research companies
and official websites.

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The commercial services providing market intelligence for value of money and quality of
information are PR Newswire and Netscribes as both the commercial service organization
provide in depth market analysis report and insights at a competitive price.

As opined by Choudhury (2018) the global automobile sector is experiencing a tough time as a
result of the ongoing trade war between US and China which has resulted in fluctuations in
prices and volume of import and export of automobile between the countries. The global
automobile sector is driven by the increasing purchasing power of the middle class customers
which results in increased profit making ability for the sector. The growth and development of
the global automobile industry is characterized by advancements in information technology
which has increased the expectations of the customers. The customers seek advanced
technological solution in the form of AI and Big Data application which will help in making their
vehicle more connected in nature and will result in the facilitation of technological advancements
such as smart driving assistance, live traffic updates and rote optimization. The global
automobile sector is also experiencing surge in the demand and sale of electric vehicles and
hybrid vehicles as a result of the sustainability concern among the customers.

Assessment Task 2
2.A.I The competitive analysis of Ford is as follows.

As stated by Nayeem (2014) over the years the main competitor of Ford was General Motors,
which is also a US automobile company. The company has also expanded in various
international markets such as Europe and Asia. In Europe, General Motors was forced to pull
back from the European market due to under performances and the company is struggling to find
its feet in the Chinese automobile market. The company is dependent on its American market for
maintaining its business performance. Ford is also facing stiff competitions from Asian
companies such as Hyundai and Toyota in the Asian market as a result of their production
efficiencies. Ford is also facing stiff competition from Tesla, who specializes in manufacturing
of electric vehicles and hybrid vehicles.

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The international marketing performance of Ford was negative in 2018 signing with the worst
performances of the last decade, down 10.6% at 5.5 million units sold. Though the sales of the
country was reported as negative in various countries around the world, the huge loss of -50.8%
in China for the company is considered as the main reason for the negative performance of the
company. The result in negative performances of the company has resulted in competitors
reducing the gap with the company and even overtaking it.

II. The past marketing activities of Ford involved channel marketing activities with the dealers
and distributors of the company, social and relationship marketing and lead generation activities.
The past promotional activities of Ford involved advertising the products of the company in
various media, personal selling of the products of the company, direct selling of the products of
the company, sales promotion of the products of the company during various occasions and
engaging in public relations.

B. Strengths of Ford Motor Company are as follows:

The main strength of the company lies in the strong position of the company in the American
markets in which it enjoys a second position behind General Motors. Another strength of the
company is the popularity of commercial vehicles of the company in American markets. The
other strength of the market is the strong dealership network of the company. The other strength
of the company is the expertise of the company in manufacturing and marketing of light
commercial vehicles. The other strength of the company lies in the manufacturing and research
and development capability of the company.

The main weakness of the company lies in the inability of the company to match up with the
production capabilities or sales volume with its major competitors. Another weakness of the
company is the over dependence of the company in the European and American market. The
other weakness of the company is the perception among the upper class of customers regarding
the products of the company for the working and middle class. The other weakness of the
company is the lack of reputation of the company among its investors.

As stated by Saxena et al. (2015) the critical success factors for the company relevant to
international business activities are understanding of the requirements and dynamics of the
Chinese markets and refreshing product line ups in key international markets of the company.

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C. The current capabilities of the company include high expertise of the company in research and
development and manufacturing of new products. The resources of the company include highly
talented and skilled human resources. The areas in international market which the company can
improve by utilizing its capability and resources is that researching and developing new car
models which suits the technological needs of the customers and refreshing the product line of
the company based on knowledge of customer preferences.

D. All the products of Ford except the UV series and SUV series in the passenger vehicle and the
commercial vans and pick up vans in the commercial section of the company, are
underperforming product lines of the company in International markets.

E. As stated by Hansun, Kristanda & Winarno (2019) the analysis of the current strength and the
competitive position of Ford in international market states that the strength of the company in
manufacturing and selling passenger vehicles which suits the income of the middle class can be
considered as a strength of the company which allows the company to compete effectively with
competitive companies. The other strength of the company which strengthens the competitive
strength of the company in international market is high popularity and reputation of the
commercial vans and pick up vans of the company in the industrial sector.

3. A. As stated by Wu (2015) the trends and development which have the potential to impact
international business activity is the growing preference of the customers towards electric
vehicles and hybrid vehicles as a result of sustainability concern. This trend can impact the
company in resigning their business model in order to focus more on the manufacturing and
selling of hybrid vehicles in international markets. The other trend which has the potential to
impact international business activity is demand for more connected vehicles with advanced
technologies. This trend can impact the company in investing more in research and development
for fulfilling the technological needs of the customers from the vehicles of the company.

a. b. The global automobile sector is experiencing a tough time as a result of the ongoing
trade war between US and China which has resulted in fluctuations in prices and volume
of import and export of automobile between the countries. The global automobile sector
is driven by the increasing purchasing power of the middle class customers which results
in increased profit making ability for the sector. The growth and development of the

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global automobile industry is characterized by advancements in information technology

which has increased the expectations of the customers. The customers seek advanced
technological solution in the form of AI and Big Data application which will help in
making their vehicle more connected in nature and will result in the facilitation of
technological advancements such as smart driving assistance, live traffic updates and rote
optimization. The global automobile sector is also experiencing surge in the demand and
sale of electric vehicles and hybrid vehicles as a result of the sustainability concern
among the customers.

c. The main opportunities for Ford is to design and manufacture innovative hybrid and electric
vehicles for fulfilling the needs of the customers. The other opportunity for Ford is to introduce
the popular commercial vehicles of the company in its underperforming market in order to
improve its market share. The other opportunity for Ford is to utilize the boom of e-commerce
activities and design light weight commercial vehicles for delivery purposes. The other
opportunity for the company is design passenger vehicles which are suitable for app based can
services companies.

The main threat for Ford is the increasing competition in the international market scenario by
Asian car companies such as Toyota and Hyundai and from German Manufacturer Volkswagen.
The other threat for Ford is increasing demand for hybrid vehicles and electronic vehicles among
the younger generation. The other threat for the company is the increasing prominence of app
based cab services which has reduced the demand for purchase of automobiles among customers.

d. Ford could focus on developing strategic alliances with various companies in its international
market in order to reduce the threat faced by the company in various key emerging markets and
to increase the resource capability and production efficiency of the company.

e. As opined by M2 Presswire (2015) the sources of intelligence which the company should seek
is annual market intelligence report of various market research authorities in order to get
advanced information regarding trends in the automobile industries and future threats which
could affect the company.

f. The ethical, legal and environmental constraints of the international market is that Ford should
follow the legal laws and legislations regarding various operations of the company in all the

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countries in which the company operates and adopting sustainability measures in order to
comply with environmental regulations.

Assessment Task 3
1.

A. As stated by Kaushal (2014) the existing international market need which is under-serviced
by Ford is that the customers in the global market seek more innovative hybrid automobiles from
the automobile companies in order to demonstrate their concern regarding sustainability but the
company has not yet come up with innovative and trendy model of hybrid vehicles and therefore
the need of the international market is underserviced in nature. One of the main gap which has
been observed in context of its competitors is that General Motors which is one of the main
competitors of Ford in the international market have pulled back from the European automobile
market due to lack of performances in the European Market. Another main gap which has been
observed in context of its competitor General Motor is that, the sales of electric vehicles of
General Vehicles is comparatively low in China, compared to other domestic companies.

B. The change in the international market scenario which link positively with the strengths and
capabilities of Ford are the international market analysis suggests the growing prominence of the
middle class in the economy and as Ford is reputed as a middle or working class brand, the
company can target more middle class customers for the sale of their products as a result of the
increase in purchasing power of the middle class.

C. The examples of software applications which are applicable to market analysis and
forecasting are as follows:

Adaptive insights software- Adaptive Insights provides a web based system for budgeting,
forecasting and reporting. The software is delivered over the web in a software as a service
model. This software capable a new generation of business planning and restructures the
planning procedure into a strategic leverage with powerful modelling that is convenient for
everyone to utilise and plan. Adaptive insight software uses business planning cloud medium to
capable enterprises of all sizes to adapt to dynamic business condition with conviction and in
quick manner. Like with adaptive insight software an organisation can get continuous and all-

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inclusive financial planning, reporting and evaluation, can create correct budgets easily and
generate more insight rapidly as well as can collaborate by web, mobile and excel. Likewise
these software’s can easily and promptly optimise sales resource, enhance performance and
increase forecast capability by generating rep capacity plans to fulfil sales targets and can even
relate sales with financial plans. These software can also ensure workforce planning models to
create optimum workforce estimate, planning for different situation and can generate workforce
planning that can integrate with corporate plans. The main advantage of the software is that it
eliminates the requirement for purchasing new software and hardware for the sake of market
analysis and forecasting. Another advantage of the model is that the software is suitable for a
wide variety of company sizes.

IBM planning analytics- IBM planning analytics is considered as one of the leading market
analysis and forecasting software which goes beyond simple automation planning, budgeting and
forecasting process. It is a comprehensive and inclusive planning solution that is developed to
facilitate collaboration throughout an enterprise and assists to keep pace with business needs. It
has a capable calculation engine which helps to offer enterprise performance management
solution that can make organisation’s move ahead the limitation of spreadsheet and offer
automated planning procedure to deliver faster and more appropriate outputs by uniting data
sources into single repository and empowering users to generate sophisticated, multi-dimensional
archetypes that can offer reliable predictions. The main advantage which is associated with the
software is that it provides self-service analytics to all the business users of a company through
an innovating planning workspace which empowers business users to seek better business
results. Also it offers Microsoft excel interface for quick adaptation, offers different dimension to
achieve deeper insights, offer deployment choices on cloud or on premise and is easy to utilise
reporting and visualisation solution that offers unlimited scenario modelling.

PlanGuru- PlanGuru is a budgeting, planning and forecasting software which is typically

designed for small and medium sized businesses to prepare their budgets and forecasts within a
very short span of time. Its budgeting and financial tools helps to establish financial goals and
gives appropriate results by evaluating financial performance in practical manner that enables
better decisions. Also it delivers outputs by understanding impacts of decisions on profit and
growth outcomes and so offers adaptive solution that can be reliable. The main advantage which

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is associated with PlanGuru is that it integrates a flexible framework with sophisticated but easy
to use tools at a low cost.

D. I. Bottom-up forecasting- Bottom up view starts with the micro view and builds towards a
macro view. It starts with individual product sales and production estimates in which each
department presents their projections going forward. The main advantage of the bottom up
forecasting is that it focuses attention on the assumptions underlying sales, expenditure and profit
margins for each product and service. The main disadvantage of bottom-up forecasting is that the
errors at the micro levels are amplified as they approach the macro level.

II. Delphi Techniques- Delphi techniques are forecasting process framework based on the results
of multiple round of questionnaires which are sent to a panel of experts. In this technique,
multiple rounds of questionnaires are sent to a panel of experts and the anonymous responses are
aggregated and shared with the group after each round. The main advantage of the Delphi
technique is that it seeks to aggregate opinions from a diverse set of experts and it can be done
without having to bring all experts for a physical meeting. The main disadvantage of the Delphi
techniques is that it allows commentary from a diverse group of participants and it does not
produce the same level of interaction similar to live meetings and therefore quality of responses
are compromised.

III. Model Building- Model building is another forecasting techniques which is concerned with
developing models for forecasting the future demand of a products based on past regression
analysis of performance data of a company. Model building techniques helps an organization to
develop a forecasting model which suits its business requirements. The advantage of model
building is that it contributes to effective forecasting of demand as the model is tailored made for
the organization needs. The main disadvantage of the model building technique is that it does
take in to account changes in market dynamics and current trends in the market.

IV. Projection- The projection technique or the trend projection technique is considered as the
most classical method of business forecasting which is concerned with the movement of
variables through time. The projection technique is based on the assumption that the factors
which were responsible for the past trends in the variables will continue to play their role in the
future in the same manner and to the same extent which determined the past magnitude and

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direction of the variables. The main advantage of the projection technique is that forecasting is
based on past data and performances and is not dependent on assumptions. The main
disadvantage of the projection technique is that it does to take into the account the changes in
market characteristics and its impact on the products and services of the company.

V. Scenario planning- The process of scenario planning involves making assumptions regarding
what the future is going to be and how the business environment of an organization will change
over time in light of that future. The main advantage of scenario planning is that it helps in
identifying the implications which are associated with the possible scenarios in the future. The
main disadvantage of scenario planning is that it helps in short term planning and forecasting as
long term scenario cannot be identified.

VI. Surveys of intention- The survey of intention is a forecasting technique which involves
conducting surveys on the customers of a product or service of an organization in order to predict
their future requirement for a given future period. The main advantage which is associated with
the surveys of intention is that organizations can effectively forecast the demand of their product
and services based on the future requirements of the customers. The main disadvantage which is
associated with surveys of intention is that the forecasting technique of surveys of intention does
not take into account various other factors which could affect the demand of the products and
services of the company among the customers.

VII. top-down forecasting- The top-down forecasting system starts with the macro view as it
begins with the industry estimates and works down to individual departments, products and
service. The main advantage of top down forecasting is that it goes from the general to the
specific. The biggest problem with the top down forecasting is that all products and regions are
combined which tends to average the low and high number in analysis.

E. The forecasting technique which will be used for Ford in order to conduct a forecast of the
emerging international market needs in top down forecasting in which the forecasting will being
from industry estimates and will work it down to individual departments and products of the
company. The emerging international market needs which have been identified from the top
down forecasting technique is that there has been a surge in demand observed in context of
Sports Utility Vehicles among the customers at competitive prices. The other emerging

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international market need which have identified from top down forecasting is that the demand of
connected vehicles is very likely to increase in the coming five years. As a result of advancement
of technology, the expectations of customers regarding smart and connected vehicles powered by
AI and Big Data have increased and therefore customers are seeking connected cars with
advanced technology such as driver assistance system, and traffic update system and option for
subscribing to free and premium services. The other emerging international market need which
has been identified from top down forecasting is that the demand of hybrid car is likely to go up
in the coming years with increased focus of the customers on sustainability.

F. As stated by Jones & Richardson (2017) there are various changes which are required in Ford
in order to improve the market performance of the company and to exploit opportunities which
are available in the international market. The first change which is required in Ford is refreshing
the product line up in the key global markets of the company in order to improve the market
performance of the company in the key markets. The other change which is required in Ford is
redesigning its European business to focus more on commercial vans and pick-up truck which
have gained success in American Markets. The Other change which is required in Ford is to
focus more on the development of hybrid vehicles in order to satisfy the future requirements of
the customers and focus on designing connected cars with the application of AI and Big Data.

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References
Choudhury, D. K. (2018). Market demand forecast method selection and application: A case
study in hero MotoCorp ltd. IUP Journal of Operations Management, 17(2), 7-22.

Hansun, S., Kristanda, M. B., & Winarno, P. M. (2019). Big 5 ASEAN capital markets
forecasting using WEMA method. TELKOMNIKA, 17(1), 314-319.

Jones, D. B., & Richardson, A. J. (2017). Origins of sports car marketing: Early 20th century
cycle-cars.  Journal of Historical Research in Marketing, 9(4), 329-358.

Kaushal, S. K. (2014). Confirmatory factor analysis: An empirical study of the four- wheeler car
buyer's purchasing behavior. International Journal on Global Business Management &
Research,  2(2), 90-104.

M2 Presswire (2015).  Forecast report - global and china automobile glass market size, share,
growth and trends 2015: Acute market reports. M2 Presswire 

Nayeem, T. (2014). Revised CSI and Australian consumers: Incorporating 'innovation' and
'automobile purchases'. The International Review of Retail, Distribution and Consumer
Research,  24(3), 278.

Saxena, A., Sharma, V., Rachuri, S., & Joshi, H. (2015). Climate change and business strategies:
The case of automobile sectors. IUP Journal of Business Strategy, 12(3), 46-63.

Wu, Z. (2015). Study on the marketing strategy of independent brand car -taking for
example.  Management & Engineering, (19), 86-89.

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