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Finance.

Graduate/Under Graduate Progammes

The case presents the valuation gap between general equity and DVRs shares of TML. The case presents DVRs as an alternate asset class for investment for retail investors and shows its various characteristics taking the case of TML. The case presents global evidences of the valuation gaps and hence helps in making informed decisions. The case makes the reader perplex with a varied global evidence and then presents other data (increasing interest by institutional investors in DVRs of TML) which may help to take final decision “BUY or NOT”.

The readers will be able to recall “how do finance managers use a diverse type of equity for providing new sources of finance?” The readers will be able to describe the characteristics of differential voting right (DVR) shares. The participants will be able to present various reasons for the price difference between DVR shares and general equity shares. The readers will be in a position to analyze the price pattern of Tata Motors Limited (TML’s) DVR together with global experience. The participants will be able to justify the trade-off between extra dividend and loss of voting rights in the case of DVR shares.

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CSS 1: Accounting and Finance.

This paper aims to focus on Tata Motors, an automobile company from an emerging market, and its successful acquisition of two global marquee car brands in Jaguar and Land Rover (JLR). It traces the evolution of JLR under the stewardship of Tata Motors over an eight-year long period and examines the strategic reasons for the success of the acquisition.

The paper approaches strategic issues in cross-border acquisitions using an illustration of a successful deal. It is based on statements of leaders and secondary data about the acquirer and acquired organizations. The paper explores the strategic challenges faced when emerging market firms carry out cross border acquisition deals. It recommends the short-term and long-term strategies that acquirers can follow to improve the chances of a successful acquisition.

Any acquisition is challenging. Cross-border acquisitions face greater challenges, especially if the acquirer is from an emerging market country while the target company is from a developed country. Success of the acquisition, especially over the long run, depends on both internal factors that are under the control of the acquirer’s management, as well as external environmental factors that it needs to address. Both patience and luck are required ingredients for success in such contexts.

While the general temptation in any acquisition is to extract synergies as quickly as possible, the Tata Motors’ acquisition of JLR is an exception. Tata Motors carefully handled short-term challenges and continued to invest in the core competencies of JLR and reaped benefits over the long run. It was also fortunate that a variety of factors in the external environment turned favorable for Tata Motors and JLR in the eight years since the deal took place.

It concedes that during an M&A deal, the leaders of a seller organization may be nervous about their future. JLR trade union leaders were initially not sure whether jobs in UK would remain secure. To ensure success of the deal, the leaders of the acquirer firm need to balance the interests of multiple stakeholders, both in the short-term, as well as over a longer-term perspective.

The paper considers the Tata Motors’ acquisition of JLR. It is an example of a large, difficult cross-border acquisition by an emerging market based company. While the acquisition proved difficult in the short term, it has yielded excellent dividends to the parent company over the long term. This paper explores the reasons why this cross-border acquisition succeeded and recommends strategies that other companies considering cross-border acquisitions can consider to improve their chances of success.

The purpose of this research is to explore the practical implications of brand management decisions, particularly those involving the combination of luxury and mass‐market brands within the same organization through merger or acquisition. The aim of the paper is to expand brand theory by linking it to administrative heritage in the context of the increasingly integrated global automobile industry.

Integrated case studies of Jaguar, Mercedes‐Benz, and Saab illustrate the effects of brand extension and dilution through the lenses of brand development, luxury brands, and administrative heritage theories. The recent history of acquisitions and mergers involving luxury automobile brands provides background to the in‐depth examination of these three specific instances. Conclusions are reached by comparing and contrasting the experiences of these firms relative to their mass‐market siblings.

The blending of luxury and mass‐market automobile brands in one corporate portfolio engages advantages of scale and scope economies, but induces potentially fatal brand corrosion. Consumer perceptions of luxury brands are influenced by the degree of commonality with the associated mass‐market brands, independent of whether the luxury brand or the mass‐market brand is the dominant corporate vehicle.

The paper provides insights useful to practitioners as well as academic researchers. The novel juxtapositioning of the concepts of luxury brands, administrative heritage, and global strategic management through mergers/acquisitions demonstrates the unintended consequences of complex interactions in a dynamic industry. The paper concludes with suggestions for further research.

To describe how Jaguar Cars in the UK is making use of a robot‐based intelligent adaptive metal inert gas (MIG) welding process incorporating laser diode measurement of the gap in the joint between the aluminium C‐pillars and the aluminium roof structure of its new XK sports car that is being built in the company's plant in Castle Bromwich, UK.

Describes the sensor technology that is used to guide the robot in order to undertake the MIG welding path.

The use of MIG welding in this particular application is essential if a perfect surface is to be achieved in a critical area of the car body before the aluminium body shell enters the paint shop. The introduction of MIG welding in this particularly exposed region of the car's body shell has proved to be a challenging experience for a wide range of engineers at jaguar cars in the UK, from manufacturing engineers through to process engineers and metallurgists, and others. The MIG welding of cosmetic aluminium skin panels is the result of considerable research work on the part of Jaguar engineers and the company's suppliers, as well as staff at Warwick University. This work is likely to continue in order to achieve a complete understanding of the entire production process, as well as to reduce cycle times and improve overall product performance, both to the benefit of the manufacturer and the end‐user – the customer.

It is likely that arising out of development work into new MIG welding techniques and processes, new standards will be used throughout the Ford organization, including other companies that form the Premier Automotive Group. Aston Martin, Land Rover Volvo could all benefit from the technologies developed at Jaguar Cars.

This is the first time that Jaguar Cars has used an ABB 2400‐16 robot in conjunction with a laser diode sensor to measure the true position of a seam prior to welding, allowing the robot's path to be optimised for each individual vehicle. This paper provides a unique insight into the development of a root‐based intelligent adaptive MIG welding process to produce a perfectly finished body shell.

Techniques based on popular television game‐show culture and online gaming psychology were used to train car dealers around the world in the features of the new Jaguar X‐Type. The CD‐ROM‐based training, designed to appeal to the competitive spirit of the Jaguar dealer, was commissioned by Jaguar Cars Ltd as a practical, fun and user‐friendly bespoke e‐learning tool that could be sent to dealers ahead of the “traditional” launch training.

The aim of this paper is to understand how large and apparently successful organizations enter spirals of decline that are very difficult to reverse. The paper examines the case of Rover, once one of the largest car producers in the world, which collapsed in 2005. An analysis of strategic and operational choices made over a period of 40 years investigates the reasons for, and consequences of, a growing mismatch between the context faced by the company (industry dynamics, market conditions) and its operational capabilities, a mismatch that ultimately brought about the company's demise.

The paper is based on interviews with 32 people, including senior managers (including four chief executives), government ministers and union officials who were key decision makers within, or close to, the company during the period 1968 and 2005. Secondary sources and documentary evidence (e.g. production and sales data) are used to build up a historical picture of the company and to depict its deteriorating financial and market position from 1968 onwards.

The company was formed from a multitude of previously independent firms as part of a government‐sponsored agenda to build a UK National Champion in the car industry. The merged company failed due to several factors including poor product development processes, poor manufacturing performance, difficult labour relations, a very wide product portfolio and a lack of financial control. Although strenuous efforts were made to address those issues, including periods of whole or part ownership by British Aerospace, Honda and BMW, the company's position deteriorated until eventually production volumes were too low for viable operation.

The case of Rover highlights the importance of what has been termed “the management unit” in complex systems. The management unit comprises processes and routines to deal with challenges such as managing product portfolios, connecting strategic and operational choices, and scanning and responding to the environment. In the case of Rover, a number of factors taken together generated excessive load on a management unit frequently operating under conditions of resource scarcity. We conclude that viewing corporate failure from a systems perspective, rather than in terms of shortcomings in specific subsystems, such as manufacturing or product development, yields insights often absent in the operations management literature.

The paper is of value by showing corporate failure from a systems perspective, rather than in terms of shortcomings in specific subsystems, such as manufacturing or product development; and yields insights often absent in the operations management literature. The Rover case featured in the paper demonstrates the usefulness of systems ideas to understanding at least some types of failure, not as an alterative to capability‐based approaches, but in addition to them.

The intention of this paper is to propose a methodology for interactions between the two quality tools of quality function deployment (QFD) and failure mode effects analysis (FMEA), and place an emphasis on their common features. The paper will also emphasise the value that both tools have when used throughout the product development cycle. An example of the method described will be highlighted within Ford Motor Company that will demonstrate the quality and resource benefits achievable when these two tools are used in conjunction with one another. This example will illustrate how, through the use of crossfunctional and multidisciplined teamwork, QFD and FMEA can be linked into systems engineering and a quality operating system with far‐reaching benefits.

This specifically qualitative study explores a situation where marketing channels become lengthened, not shortened, because of the ability of Internet users to overcome knowledge gaps and demolish established channel barriers. The complexity and problems of control in a vertical marketing system (VMS) when it crosses borders and cultures is presented. The example of the motor car is used as a familiar high involvement purchase. The several sources of conflict in the channel are identified and the motivations of the channel partners understood. The historical holders of power in the channel come under pressure to release their hold and face the new changes that the Internet has brought. The study concludes by considering the implications for the future of this complicated and high value VMS.

The decade from 2000 until 2010 was a turbulent time for Toyota Motor Company. The carmaker came under significant criticism from the United States government, consumers throughout the world, and media critics amid allegations of poor quality control and vehicle safety concerns. Problems with accelerators and brake systems were found on several of its most popular models, a situation initially exacerbated by the slow and somewhat tentative response from top management. Toyota was accused of not addressing early warning signs that appeared several years before the crisis received intense negative publicity. Toyota struggled to retain the confidence of consumers and governmental regulators, eventually recalling approximately eight million automobiles.