Cost Management, Strategy, Technique Replies

The automobile company, Subaru, is known for it’s famous advertisement “Love. It’s what makes Subaru a Subaru.” This company appeals to those who are adventurous and outdoorsy  and value that their vehicle is powerful, effective, and unpretentious. Critical success factors are “high-level goals that your organization must meet in order to achieve your strategic objectives.” (Martins, 2021) The critical success factors for any specific company is extremely important and results in creating value and positive income for the organization. Subaru has obtained a critical success value by creating the adventurous and outdoorsy brand compared to its competitors. This  type is more specifically called the competitive critical success factor and is “impacted by what your competitors are doing, and how their success or failure impacts your organization.” (Martins, 2021)

There are 13 contemporary management techniques including the balanced scorecard and strategy map, business analytics, life-cycle costing, benchmarking, and more. The contemporary management technique that would be a positive force in helping Subaru as a company in the automobile industry achieve its competitive critical success factor of being the outdoorsy, efficient brand is total quality management. Total quality management “is a method by which management develops policies and practices to ensure that the firm’s products and services exceed customers’ expectations.” (Blocher, Stout, & Smith, 2021) By utilizing this contemporary management technique, Subaru can overall increase product functionality, reliability, durability, and serviceability. By keeping their vehicles up to the standards of their consumers, Subaru will be able to be one step ahead of their competitors. There are seven principles of total quality management which include, customer first, employee ownership, process-based, system integration, communication, data-driven, and constant improvement. These work together as a framework for the decisions made with this contemporary management technique and can provide long-term success to Subaru since it establishes unparalleled customer satisfaction by providing quality vehicles to their cunsumers. (Watts, 2020)

Recently, in an article posted in July, 2021, it has been brought to the attention of many Subaru owners that there has been some pricey repair issues, specifically its CVT transmission and some engine problems. This is a huge downfall for the Subaru brand, which values efficiency, reliability, and affordability above all else. On the other hand, in a 2019 study conducted by J.D. Power, it was discovered that Subaru was the top auto brand with the most loyal following, with a 61.5% loyalty rating. (Us, 2021) Because of this, Subaru has the ability to recover from the vehicle problems that are recently degrading their brand name by utilizing total quality management. This ensures that Subaru, in the future, will continue to produce vehicles that are safe and reliable.

Luke 16:10 says that “One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much.” (English Standard Bible, 2001) Subaru will be able to recover from their maintenance issues through the use of this contemporary management technique and achieve its critical success factor of the outdoorsy brand. This will also be accomplished thanks to their high loyalty rating.

References

Blocher, E. J., Stout, D., & Smith, S. (2021). Cost Management: A strategic Emphasis, (9th edition). Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill. ISBN: 9781307687811

English Standard Bible. (2016).  https://esv.literalword.com/  (Original work published 2001)

Martins, J. (2021, June 18). What are Critical Success Factors (CSF) in Project Management? • Asana. Asana. https://asana.com/resources/critical-success-factors

Us, O. (2021, July 8). Subaru Engine Problems You Should Know About | The olive® Buyer’s Guide. Cover It. Olive It.®. https://olive.com/subaru-engine-problems-you-should-know-about-if-youre-shopping-for-a-used-one/

Watts, S. (2020, February 18). What is TQM? Total Quality Management Explained. BMC Blogs. https://www.bmc.com/blogs/tqm-total-quality-management/