Case Study On NISSAN MOTOR CORPORATION

 Company Name: Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.

 Representative Executive Officer, CEO: Yasuhiro Yamauchi

 Business Outline: Manufacturing, sales and related business of

automotive products.

 Industry: Automotive

 Date of Establishment: December 26, 1933

 Area served: Worldwide

 Products: Automobiles, luxury vehicles, commercial vehicles, outboard

motors, forklift trucks.

 Owner: Renault (43.4%)

 Number of employees: 138,910 (FY2017)

 Divisions: Nissan

Infiniti

Nismo

Datsun
 BRIEF HISTORY OF NISSAN MOTOR CORPORATION

Nissan started in 1911 when it was originally founded under the name
Kwaishinsha Motor Car Works by Masujiro Hashimoto. Three years later, the
company produced its first car, the DAT, which was an acronym of the three
investing partners’ surnames. Nissan went through several name changes
throughout the 1920s, and it wasn’t until 1934 that Nissan Motor Company
was used for the first time.
A company called Nihon Sangyou, or Japan Industries, merged with what
would become Nissan Motor Company in 1931. The CEO of Nihon Sangyou,
Yoshisuke Aikawa, was excited about starting an auto division of the
company, so when other shareholders were less enthusiastic, Aikawa bought
them out and began focusing on building Nissan manufacturing plants.

Nissan continued making Datsuns, the kind of car they’d been making for
years, as well as producing trucks and planes for the Japanese army. After the
war, Nissan partnered with various automakers to build vehicles for them,
including Austin Motor Company in the 1950s and 1960s and a merger with
Prince Motor Company in 1966, which introduced vehicles to the Nissan
lineup that are still in production to this day.
1953 was a dramatic moment in Nissan’s history because of anti-communist
sentiments after the Korean War ended. Nissan’s labor union acted harshly
and fired hundreds of workers, and even had union leaders arrested.
Eventually a new union was formed that helped Nissan expand rapidly, in
terms of technology.

Nissan started expanding worldwide in the late 1950s, when it realized that
the small Datsun would fill a hole in the Australian and US auto markets.
Nissan showed cars at the Los Angeles Auto Show in 1958 and then opened a
subsidiary in the US in 1960. A plant was built in England in 1986 and by
2007 produced over 400,000 vehicles per year, which became the highest
producing plant in Europe. Nissan also has plants in Brazil and sells cars all
over the world. Nissan is especially popular in China, where it sold more than
half a million units in 2009.
In 2001, Nissan established a manufacturing plant in Brazil. In 2005, Nissan
added operations in India, through its subsidiary Nissan Motor India Pvt. Ltd.
With its global alliance partner, Renault, Nissan invested $990 million to set
up a manufacturing facility in Chennai, catering to the Indian market as well
as a base for exports of small cars to Europe. Nissan entered the Middle East
market in 1957 when it sold its first car in Saudi Arabia. Nissan sold nearly
520,000 new vehicles in China in 2009 in a joint venture with Dongfeng
Motor.

Relationships with other car companies:

 Luxgen:

Luxgen and Nissan partner to assemble vehicles in the Philippines

with its affiliate Nissan Motor Philippines Inc. (NMPI).

 Ford Motor Company:

In Australia, between 1989 and 1992, Nissan Australia shared models

with Ford Australia under a government-backed rationalisation scheme
known as the Button Plan, with a version of the Nissan Pintara being
sold as the Ford Corsair and a version of the Ford Falcon as the Nissan
Ute. A variant of the Nissan Patrol was sold as the Ford Maverick
during the 1988–94 model years.

 Volkswagen:
Nissan licensed the Volkswagen Santana. Production began in 1984, at
Nissan's Zama, Kanagawa, and ended in May 1990.

 Alfa Romeo:
From 1983 to 1987, Nissan cooperated with Alfa Romeo to build the
Arna. The goal was for Alfa to compete in the family hatchback market
segment, and for Nissan to establish a foothold in the European market.
After Alfa Romeo's takeover by Fiat, both the car and cooperation were
discontinued.
 General Motors:

In Europe, GM and Nissan co-operated on the Light Commercial

vehicle the Nissan Primastar. The high roof version is built in the
NMISA plant in Barcelona, Spain; while the low roof version is built at
Vauxhall Motors/Opel's Luton plant in Bedfordshire, UK.
In 2013, GM announced its intentions to rebadge the Nissan NV200
commercial van as the 2015 model year Chevrolet City Express, to be
introduced by end of 2014. Holden, GM's Australian subsidiary, sold
versions of the Nissan Pulsar as the Holden Astra between 1984 and
1989.

 LDV:

LDV Group sold a badge engineered light commercial vehicle version

of the Nissan Serena as the LDV Cub from 1996 to 2001. The Nissan
equivalent was marketed as the Nissan Vannette Cargo.

 Alliance with Renault:

In 1999, facing severe financial difficulties, Nissan entered an alliance

with Renault S.A. of France.

Signed on 27 March 1999, the Renault-Nissan Alliance was the first of

its kind involving a Japanese and French car manufacturer, each with its
own distinct corporate culture and brand identity. In the spring of 2000,
Yanase, Japan's premier seller of imported automobiles, cancelled its
licensing contract with Renault, and Nissan took over as the sole
licensee. In June 2001, Carlos Ghosn was named chief executive officer
of Nissan. In May 2005, Ghosn was named president of Renault. He
was appointed president and CEO of Renault on 6 May 2009. Nissan's
management is a trans-cultural, diverse team.

The Renault-Nissan Alliance has evolved over years to Renault holding

43.4% of Nissan shares, while Nissan holds 15% of Renault shares. The
alliance itself is incorporated as the Renault-Nissan B.V., founded on 28
March 2002 under Dutch law. Renault-Nissan B.V. is equally owned by
Renault and Nissan.
 COMPANY’S VISION AND MISSION

 VISION:

 MISSION:
 STRATEGIES ADOPTED BY COMPANY

 Risk Management at Nissan:

Nissan’s risk management philosophy was born out of its near-death

experience. It focused on identifying and analyzing risks as early as
possible, and planning and rapidly implementing countermeasures. The
company established a dedicated risk management function which was
responsible for these activities. There was also an executive-level
committee that made decisions on corporate risks, designated “risk
owners” to manage the specific risks, and regularly reported to the Board
of Directors on progress. Each division was empowered and expected to
take preventive measures to minimize the realization and impact of risks
that did not require corporate coordination. Nissan’s continuous readiness
process included activities such as ongoing seismic reinforcement of
facilities, improvement to its business continuity planning (BCP), and
disaster simulation training.

 Global strategy at Nissan Motor Company:

Today, Nissan manufactures vehicles in 20 countries of the world and

provides products and services in more than 160 countries. In spite of the
economic and financial crisis, the global production and net income have
continuously increased in the period 2009-2011.
Today’s Nissan’s global growth strategy comprises a mix of strategies.
Firstly Nissan has implemented an aggressive strategy which encompasses
a strategy for emerging countries (e.g., Brazil, China, India, Russia, etc.)
and a strategy for lower-priced/compact vehicles (e.g., V-Plaform, Datsun,
etc.). Secondly, Nissan has promoted a leadership strategy based on zero
emission and smart community concepts. Thirdly, Nissan has strongly
supported a partnership strategy. The Renault- Nissan Alliance has
established partnerships with other automakers such as Daimler
(Germany), Dong Feng (China), Avtovaz (Russia) and Ashok Leyland
(India).
 Product Line Strategy:

Nissan had adopted a simplified product line strategy in comparison to its

rivals. Given the capacity constraints after the disaster, the Company went for
a build-to-stock strategy for models with greater demand and build-to-order
strategy for models with higher customization and lesser demand. Since, the
disaster had affected the production process of the Company to a great extent;
such a strategy helped the Company to produce goods which assured of
generating revenues instead of increasing its burden. The production of
models with lower demand were confined to build-toorder strategy so as to
avoid any wastage of materials, maintain efficiency of operations and also
earn good revenues. Limited resources or affected supplies encouraged such
strategies and proved beneficial in such crucial time for the Company. Apart
from the above mentioned benefits, these strategies further helped Nissan in
simplifying its business operations and product offerings along
with substantial increase in its sales.

Nissan’s six production facilities had been damaged and about 50 of its critical
suppliers were weakened. Hence, the strategies adopted definitely pulled the
Company from such draining scenarios as they addressed exactly the issue
witnessed by Nissan. The various benefits of build-to-order strategy can be
described as follows:
The biggest advantage of build-to-order strategy is to gain specializations of
products manufactured. This occurs by manufacturing the product as per
customers’ specifications and expectations.
This strategy eliminates unnecessary inventory from the Company by making
goods which are actually demanded by the customers. This further gives no
scope for dead stock.
 ORGANISATION STRUCTURE OF COMPANY

The Nissan Motor Corporation was established in the year 1933. The
company was in debt of an amount more than twenty million dollars. The
company was under extreme pressure from the creditors. While making efforts
for the resurfacing and coming out of bankruptcy, in the year 1999, Nissan
made a professional alliance with Renault, which is a company of French
origin.
The common strategic management structure of Nissan and Renault was
founded on 28th march, 2002. Nissan holds about fifteen percent of the
Renault shares and Renault holds about 43.4 percent shares of Nissan.
Currently, Nissan manufactures vehicles in twenty countries of the world
including Japan. The company offers its products and services in more than
160 countries worldwide. Currently, the company has 155,099 employees
working on a consolidated basis and 28,403 employees working on a non-
consolidated basis. The Nissan corporate hierarchy consists of different levels
of executives and committees, which are as follows:
 The Alliance Board: The Alliance Board is composed of executive
committee members of both the companies namely Nissan and Renault.
However, both the companies remain independent in their top
management. The function of the Alliance Board is to validate the
respective strategic business plans of Renault and Nissan. The board takes
decisions on the common activities, and monitors the combined progress.

 Steering Committees: The Steering Committees manage the common

programs and activities, prepare decisions and recommendations to be
submitted at the Alliance Board meeting. They also monitor the
implementation of the decisions of the Alliance. In addition, they manage
the Cross Company Teams, Functional Task teams and the Task Teams.

 Cross Company Teams: The Cross company team is a group of people

with expertise in different areas, but working towards a common goal.
This group includes professionals from different existing department of
the organization such as the Finance department, Operations department,
Marketing department and the Human Resource Management. The group
requires information from all levels of management. The group has to take
various types of decisions such as the strategic decisions, operational
decisions and the tactical decisions.

 Functional Task Teams: The role of the Functional Task Teams is to

support the regular activities of the Alliance bodies, to optimize the
strategies in times of need and to make recommendations regarding the
variation in strategies.
 Task Team: The Task Teams are at the introductory level of the Nissan
corporate hierarchy. The teams conduct the projects of the alliances and
also support the Steering Committees with the specific tasks.
 PRODUCT PORTFOLIO

Some of the cars manufactured by Nissan Motor Corporation are as follows:

Nissan Micra Active Nissan Micra

Nissan Sunny Nissan Kicks

Upcoming Nissan Products:

Nissan Qashqai Nissan X-Trail Hybrid

NissanNissan
Leaf Patrol