Bentley’s new strategy shows its willingness to be transformed in CASE era In November 2020, the English luxury automobile maker, Bentley, announced its new strategy called “Beyond100 strategy” and we […]
In November 2020, the English luxury automobile maker, Bentley, announced its new strategy called “Beyond100 strategy” and we can see some important points as follows.
To tackle Climate Change, countries face more pressure to realize carbon neutrality. For example, European Union announced that the organization aims to be the first climate neutral continent by 2050. In 2020, the trend is more intensified and the two biggest Asian economy giants, China and Japan, declared that each tried to realize the climate neutrality by 2060 and 2050, respectively. In the same year, the US presidential election was held and the result is not fully announced and accepted when we write this article. If Mr. Biden will be in charge of its duty, it is likely that the US, the second largest greenhouse gas emission country, reaffirms commitment to rejoining Paris Agreement. It seems inevitable that many countries have to achieve sustainability not only economically but also socially.
In automobile sector, how will automobile companies and suppliers take climate actions?
One of possible actions is to increase the production of electric vehicles and Bentley’s Beyond100 strategy is without exception. Electrification is unavoidable and it is an element of the concept “CASE”, which represents the acronym of four words Connected Cars, Autonomous Driving, Sharing/ Services/ Subscription and Electrification. Therefore, the direction of Bentley’s Beyond100 strategy is not special, but stakeholders in automobile industry should be determined to follow this trend at the same time.
In this sense, suppliers face both opportunities and threats. Opportunities are that new players can enter the market and existing players will be able to take advantage of their competitive advantage and assets to manufacture new products in electric vehicles. One of threats is that electric vehicles are different from combustion engine cars, so some parts are not needed for them such as gasoline engines and transmissions. Another threat is that suppliers also will have to accomplish carbon neutrality as we can see this in Bentley’s Beyond100 Strategy.
Finally, many companies in automobile sector should be transform to survive in CASE era. However, it is sometimes too difficult for them to be changed even small things because they need different organizational as well as personal capabilities. As a result, it is necessary that the companies educate their employees more and attract more diverse people all over the world. Important approaches are to make corporate culture and brand more clear, to communicate corporate mission and vision more often and better, and to rethink or to redefine corporate purpose. This is because more employees from Generation Z will be in work places and they are more likely to empathize our sustainability, and because it is better for companies to link their corporate purpose with our sustainability.
We can see those key takeaways from Bentley’s Beyond100 strategy.
