Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Contents
1.0 Introduction........................................................................................................................................3
2.0. External Analysis..............................................................................................................................3
4.0 Analysis of Business Strategy: Porter's generic strategies and the SWOT Matrix..........................17
1.0 Introduction
The Louwman Group, rooted in a rich heritage and strong dealer partnerships, has
navigated the dynamic automotive industry, faced challenges and leveraged opportunities to
gain a competitive edge in the market. Standing at the crossroads of its journey, strategic
decisions are urgently needed for continued growth. Therefore, this report seeks to examine
external factors using PESTLE and Porter's Five Forces in order to identify chances and
threats (Johnson et al., 2020). There is detailed examination of the company's internal
landscape-unpacking strengths and weaknesses using VRIO, and assessments are made about
culture in terms of stakeholders, governance. Informed by the TOWS matrix, strategic
choices result in options analyzed with SAFE. The Suitability, Acceptability and Feasibility
of each option is examined in detail to make the recommendation for a MaaS Platform.
Finally, a rigorous assessment guarantees compliance with standards of sustainability,
accessibility and feasibility. This report will be a kind of roadmap for the Louwman Group,
combining historical background with future strategies in an attempt to find one's way
through this complex environment.
This section will analyze Louwman Group from an external perspective with the PESTLE and Porter's
Five Forces frameworks
2.1 PESTLE Analysis for the Louwman Group
Table 1. PESTLE Analysis
understood can the Louwman Group get beyond the hard road of the auto and mobility-aid
industries.
rivalry.
Focus on Differentiation: Emphasizing unique offerings and customer
experience can counter rivalry pressure.
2.3 External Factors- Opportunities and Threats
Table 3. Opportunities and Threats
Opportunities Threats
Diversification Strategies: Louwman Digital Disruption: Rapid digitalization threatens
Group can explore further diversification in traditional dealership models, requiring adaptation to
mobility aids to tap into growing markets online platforms.
for the elderly.
Strategic Partnerships: Louwman Group Market Saturation: The automotive industry's
can partner with emerging mobility service increasing concentration may lead to market saturation,
providers to enhance mobility offerings. intensifying competition
Technological Integration: Embracing Shifting Customer Preferences: Changing attitudes
technological advancements, such as towards car ownership and the rise of alternative
connected mobility aid products, to stay mobility options challenge traditional business models.
ahead in the evolving automotive and
mobility sectors.
Customer-Centric Innovations: To Regulatory Changes: Adapting to and complying with
enhance customer loyalty, Louwman Group evolving environmental and safety regulations in the
can focus on customer-driven innovations, automotive industry.
including digital services and personalized
mobility solutions.
From the outside, the Louwman Group's environment is constantly changing, back
and forth with tides of opportunity and threat. Diversification is the biggest opportunity, and
diversification of the outsourced products is especially important, for outsourced products can
follow consumer tastes. Mobility aids and equipment for care of the elderly, for instance
(Neffke et al., 2018). Cirella et al (2019) indicate that research has already shown that the
aging of the population is one of the largest market segments presently and has spurred
investment in the budding industry for mobility aids. However, strategic alliances with
upstart mobility service providers and trends in the industry give another way. Such
cooperation enables the Louwman Group to provide more services and allows consumers to
compensate for their unwillingness to pay the extra costs of owning a car (Huizenga et al.,
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2020). The threat of the growing concentration of the automotive industry again shows how
getting a handle on differentiation and positioning is critical to avoiding market saturation. As
market saturation increases competition, industry experts agree that you must focus on your
unique selling point (Zervina and Stukalina, 2022). In addition, connected mobility aid
products fit in with the overall trend of automotive digitalization, and technological
integration stimulates technological progress. This move not only meets changing consumer
demands but also puts the company in a position to take advantage of new technologies for
long-term growth (Vries, 2023). A looming threat Regulatory change is another area of
uncertainty. Environmental and safety regulations change constantly, and staying ahead of the
game takes flexibility and concern for the environment.
Valuable Resources:
Strong Dealer Partnerships: The longstanding relationships with the Toyota and Suzuki
family add great value to the Louwman Group. These partnerships are the product of past
choices, especially the 1964 purchase of the importer partnership of Toyota. Such
relationships enable the company to have access to hot automotive brands, making it even
more competitive.
Rare Resources:
Family Heritage and Credo: Passion for the automotive industry and the company's 'Passion
to move people' philosophy are unique intangible assets of the family. Such a characteristic
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contributes to building a sense of identity and values, making the Louwman Group different
from other rivals.
Inimitable Resources:
Exclusive Import Partnerships: Its decades-long exclusive partnerships with the Toyota and
Suzuki families are hard for competitors to match. Such relationships give the company its
special place in the market.
Organized to Exploit:
Strategic Leadership Team: The selection of seasoned outsiders for the Board of Directors
and establishing the senior management team in 2018 show its policy of paying attention to
governance and coordination. Such strategic decisions, including investments in resilience
and simplifying the organizational structure, reflect an organized attitude to take advantage of
resources.
Lastly, a VRIO analysis of Louwman Group's strengths emphasizes the firm's resources, its
rareness, its relationships, and its practices concerning customers. But, more importantly,
does the firm have the wisdom to organize to exploit them? All these factors add up to a
competitive edge and a strategic foundation in the new world of autos.
Diversified ✓ ✓ ✗ ✓ Partially
Business Portfolio
Competitive
Competitive
Customer-Driven ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ Sustainable
Attitude
Competitive
Strategic ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ Sustainable
Leadership Team
Competitive
The corporate culture of the Louwman Group is the reflection of its family culture.
The company's motto is “Passion to move people” and it implements this admirable goal by
giving the buyer not only a car, but also a chance to build a lifelong relationship with the
vehicle and the company. The family's credo, "Together we are Louwman," underscores a
sense of unity and shared purpose. The Louwman Group's corporate culture is centered on its
customers, constantly pursuing perfection and a sense of corporate responsibility. This
cultural orientation is an important resource, influencing how employees do their jobs and
deal with customers. A customer-driven attitude is part of the company's strong competitive
advantage, aimed at securing customer loyalty and satisfaction.
Stakeholders:
Customers:
The Louwman Group prioritizes its customers, aiming to provide products and a
holistic mobility experience. The emphasis on continuous improvement aligns with
customers' evolving needs and expectations in the dynamic automotive industry.
Toyota and Suzuki Families:
As key stakeholders, the Toyota and Suzuki families are crucial in maintaining
exclusive import partnerships. These relationships have been cultivated over decades and are
essential to the company's success.
Employees:
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Shareholders:
The Louwman family, as shareholders, aims to preserve the company as a stable and
strong family business with a long-term focus. The leadership's decisions balance short-term
performance improvements and long-term resilience.
Government:
Changes in government rules, such as the decentralization of social security funding, impact
the mobility aid division's earning model (Kyriacou and Roca-Sagalés, 2019). Adapting to
regulatory changes is crucial for the company's continued success.
Governance:
The Louwman Group's governance structure has evolved to address the complexities of its
diversified operations. The appointment of external directors, initially for financial and audit
roles and later extended to group directors, reflects a commitment to securing economies of
scale and coordination.
Leadership Team: The strategic leadership team, including CEO John Heller and President
Eric Louwman, is pivotal in driving the company's strategy. Their decisions, such as investing
in resilience and simplifying the organizational structure, demonstrate effective governance.
Strengths Weaknesses
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4.0 Analysis of Business Strategy: Porter's generic strategies and the SWOT Matrix.
This section will now analyze the business strategy of the Louwman group utilizing the Porter's
generic strategies and SWOT matrix
Strengths Weaknesses
Diversified operations in wholesale, retail, Decreasing profit levels due to
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Threats One of the strong points of the One of the areas where the Louwman Group needs
Louwman Group is the quality of its to make improvements is the dramatic operational
relationships with Toyota and Suzuki as problems and losses in the mobility aid division.
dealers. This gives them a distinct edge Added to this is another threat, that of rules changes
in the automobile world. But even if the by the government, and the situation becomes a
threat were less latent, it would come sticky one. A decentralized source of funding and
from the changing market dynamics, rising competition poses threats to the magaleps
including dealer concentration, putting 'traditional business model for mobility aids.
pressure on traditional operations and Market Option:
margins. This is something that the Louwman Group might
Market Option: consider, as they explore ways to differentiate their
This could be one area where the service with technological breakthroughs and digital
Louwman Group may be able to turn platforms. This would involve integrating smart
this strength into an opportunity, services, preventive maintenance, and customer
perhaps adopting a focused emergency services into their mobility aid products.
differentiation strategy at a price/cost Porter's Generic Strategies:
level to counter this threat. The Hybrid Strategies: The company can adopt a hybrid
company can differentiate itself as a top- strategy, combining elements of differentiation
notch automotive service provider (through innovative smart services) and cost
through the value proposition created by leadership (streamlining operational efficiency).
exclusive partnerships. This aligns with Ansoff Matrix:
Porter's Generic Strategies, emphasizing Market Development: Expanding the market by
differentiation. introducing technologically advanced mobility aids
Ansoff Matrix: aligns with market development. This could involve
In terms of market expansion, the targeting new customer segments or geographic
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. SO - MaaS Platform 4 3 3 10
WO Digital Mobility Aid Platform 4 3 2 9
ST Focused Differentiation in 3 3 3 9
Automotive
WT Technological Innovation in 3 3 3 9
Mobility Aid
Considering the total scores, the MaaS Platform (Option 1) emerges as the more favorable
strategic choice.
Sustainability
In evaluating the strategic options, the MaaS Platform (Option 1) stands out as the
most favorable choice, scoring 10. Regarding suitability, Option 1, with a score of 4, aligns
with the company's strengths, capitalizing on solid dealer partnerships and market trends
favoring mobility services. Regarding suitability, option 2 (digital mobility aid platform)
scores the same as option 1, but option 1 gets a leg up on option two by accessing broader
markets. The suitability scores of options 3 and 4 are slightly lower, showing difficulties in
diversification and adopting technology. These assessments are based on detailed SWOT
analyses, providing a solid foundation for strategic thinking.
Accessibility
Analyzing options based on this scale, Option 1, the MaaS Platform, receives a rather
high score of 3. This shows that it is an option with a certain measure of acceptability because
it conforms to the direction of market trends and the Louwman Group's resources and
capabilities. It also considers possible problems related to technology integration, the
consumer acceptance factor, and fulfillment of the relevant legal regulations. Ample evidence
from industry research shows that the MaaS space is extremely fraught with details. In
addition, options 2, 3, and 4 have possibilities and probably good opportunities, score 3
points for all, and satisfy objectivity.
Feasibility
When the strategic options are evaluated for feasibility, Option 2, The Digital
Mobility Aid Platform, breaks out with the score of 2, showing unresolved high financial
implications, lack of expertise, and IT integration obstacles. This assessment is consistent
with outside research on Taiwan, reaffirming the fact that digital platforms have strong
investment in, and requirements for, technology, at the medical frontier (Hermes et al., 2020).
17
On the other hand, the MaaS Platform (option 1) and Technological Innovation in Mobility
Aid (option 4) each received much higher potential feasibility scores of 3. The literature
already available points toward the increasing feasibility of mobility solutions and the use of
automotive and healthcare technologies (Athanasopoulou et al., 2019). The third option
(Automotive Focused Differentiation) received a score of 3. These points are backed up by
evidence demonstrating how the automotive industry has employed differentiation strategies
such as special partnerships and high-end products (Azadegan and Dooley, 2021). In general,
of course, the concept of feasibility considers the results of external research to serve as a
reference in strategic decision-making.
Total
The recommended option, with the highest score for the combination of suitability,
acceptability, and feasibility, is the Strategic Option - MaaS Platform. With a score of 10, it
exhibits the best balance among the key strategic issues. It also suits the organization's strong
cards and openings by relying on its powerful dealer network and mobility trend as a service.
However, the organization must face the challenges of integrating technology, consumer
acceptance, and legal and policy issues. Success depends on how the new strategy integrates
with the current management system and how quickly and smoothly it can be implemented.
6.0 Conclusion
Based on the thorough analysis, the recommendation to the Louwman Group is that it
should first go ahead with a Mobility as a Service (MaaS) platform. By making this strategic
choice, the company is building on its excellent dealer relationships and taking advantage of
what's hot in the current market for mobility services. The election also matches opportunities
brought forward by an expanding array of diverse mobility options demanded by a growing
proportion of potential customers. Seamless technology integration, consumer education, and
following legal and regulatory requirements are all essential to ensuring success. In addition
to strengthening the company's competitive position, building out its MaaS platform will
make it a pioneer in an industry quickly being reborn.
In conclusion, the Louwman Group's comprehensive strategic position analysis
involved examining external factors through PESTLE and Porter's Five Forces analyses,
internal elements using VRIO and SWOT frameworks, and strategic options through TOWS
and SAFe evaluations. The most advantageous solution recommended is embracing the
concept of Mobility as a Service (MaaS). This is to company strengths in dealer cooperation
and accords with market conditions. However, difficulties such as technology integration and
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regulation adherence still have to be faced before real success can be sustained. This strategic
decision prepares the Louwman Group to adapt to the changing nature of the automotive
market. Adapting to new trends, including the move towards digitalization and shifts in
consumers 'needs and preferences, will be key to maintaining the Louwman Group's ability to
meet the test of the future. This focus on MaaS adds the ability to anticipate market changes
and bolsters the company's long-term livelihood in an increasingly dynamic market.
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