The Company BMW
The German multinational company Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, which produces luxury motorcycles and other vehicles, is one of the leading names in the automobile industry. Commonly known as BMW, the company was founded in 1916 originally to manufacture aircraft engines, which it did for its initial years and then again for twelve years, from 1933 to 1945. Today’s topic is BMW- Its Mission & Its Vision Statement.
BMW was originally named Bayerische Flugzeugwerke AG, which was changed to its current name six years after its founding in 1922. Headquartered in Munich, today BMW has expansive production worldwide in countries like Mexico, the Netherlands, India, Brazil, South Africa, China, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
In the early twentieth century, the company manufactured engines, farm equipment, railway brakes, and motorcycles. The BMW R 32 was the first manufactured motorcycle by the company, launched in 1923. The company has a rich history spanning more than a century. BMW has been a participant in Formula 1 and has experience with touring cars and the Isle of Man TT. BMW, Mini, and Rolls-Royce brands are specifically for automobiles, whereas motorcycles produced by the company are marketed under BMW Motorrad.
BMW Mission and Vision
BMW’s commitment to producing and providing premium vehicles to its customers drives the corporation’s operations. Therefore, both the mission and vision statements of the company emphasize BMW’s dedication to being on top of its game and continuing to grow and develop its services so that it always remains a top competitor in luxury automobile manufacturing.
The company’s mission and vision are to keep up with the changing dynamics of production based on customer needs and what the market demands in comparison to its competition. While both the mission and vision statements aim at excellence, it is to be noted that these statements also highlight the constant endeavor that needs to be undertaken to achieve that level of success.
These statements bear testimony to the company’s dedication and highlight just how persevering and determined an organization needs to be to stay in business. Furthermore, the corporation’s mission statement outlines how BMW as a company should grow and develop via a strategic perspective. The vision statement, on the other hand, depicts the absolute ideal towards which the organization strives.
Both statements complement one another, and one cannot completely analyze the mission statement without the vision statement and vice versa. For example, BMW’s mission and vision statement are targeted towards production and output and continual growth. Depth analysis of both the mission and vision statements is as follows.
BMW’s Mission Statement
“To become the world’s leading provider of premium products and premium services for individual mobility.”
The mission statement seems straightforward enough, but it has certain core elements that need to be focussed upon individually to understand how the company foregrounds its priorities. The core elements are as follows:
- Becoming the top worldwide provider
- Provider of premium products and services
- Both the product and services cater to individual mobility
BMW’s Mission Statement Analysis
If you read the mission statement closely, the mission statement does not exactly clear which specific industry success is sought in. It is not a mistaken omission but expands the company’s horizon while simultaneously expecting the same dedication to growth as previously shown. The focus is to keep growing and to succeed in whichever field the company branches off to.
The second core element of the statement underlines that the company is seeking excellence and success in a minimal range of products and services, clearly understood by the repetition of the word “premium.” Because of the company’s sole focus on the premium market, BMW stays out of other market segments, which is why we don’t see any budget vehicles by the company.
Even though it would translate to expanding business, the company deliberately stays out of low-budget products. By solely focussing on the high-end segment of the market, the company promises unparalleled quality both in manufacturing and engineering, and the price of that product and service becomes thus justified. Furthermore, staying within the boundary of manufacturing products and providing premium services to their clients, BMW aims at satisfaction and strives to exceed expectations with its high-end products and services.
We can further analyze the mission statement by outlining how it specifically signals certain areas of its operations, putting them at greater priority than others. These specific areas are:
- A Global Reach: The first core element of the mission statement was to “become the world’s leading provider….” It has become a household name simply because its products speak for themselves. Even though the corporation is currently internationally known and lauded for its services, the mission statement still holds this phrase simply because there remains room for improvement. The target for global reach signals towards everything that remains to be done to achieve the ideal level of excellence.
- Impacting the Individual: The female core element was that the premium services and products provided by the company would specially cater to the individual’s mobility. While mobility can be taken in a literal sense here as BMW is an automobile manufacturing company, it can also mean that its products strive to make the individual’s life easier, allowing for the individual to assert their identity with the company’s products.
Given that BMW’s manufacturing focus is on luxury products, the mission statement also means that becoming the owner of their product and/or service would actually reflect well on an individual’s lifestyle, also translating to the depiction of social mobility through its high-end products. - Truly Premium: BMW aims at growth but does not sacrifice ethics in the face of profit. It is a testimony to the company’s dedication that its products aim at individual needs without compromising the environmental conditions in which the said individual resides. They recognize how closely automobile manufacturing is related to impacting the environment and are consciously working towards sustainability. There are also several social activities the company contributes to, giving back to society.
BMW’s Vision Statement
BMW’s vision statement is “to be the most successful premium manufacturer in the industry.”
The primary focus of the vision statement of the company seems to be growing. But on second reading and while keeping the company’s mission statement in mind, one understands how BMW’s vision statement takes forward the idea already presented in the mission statement. The core element in this statement clearly is the goal to become the topmost manufacturer of luxury automobiles in the industry.
BMW’s Vision Statement Analysis
The corporation affirms that there needs to be a clear path to achieve the exact goal towards which all the company’s efforts are made. However, it also allows room for improvement as the statement aims at success, which comes only after successfully learning from previous successes and failures.
Even though the statement is simple, there remains room for analysis. The vision statement is closely connected with the mission statement and takes the idea presented in the latter forward. Vision Statement of the corporation emphasizes certain points that are:
- Striving for Success through Improvement: Improvement or growth is proof that the organization on its current path is thriving. BMW regularly invests in growth strategies, religiously abiding by both its mission and vision statements. Originality and innovations are always the company’s top priority, which promises its clients the best of the best. The company is great at anticipating the needs of its clients and also is well-aware of market fluctuations. This progressive foresight allows for the products and services provided by the company to stay relevant in relation to the market BMW caters to.
- Focus on Premium Manufacturing : Taking the core element from the mission statement forward, the company’s focus on premium manufacturing does not waver. On the contrary, it firmly fixes the company into the market for premium products and services and sets them apart as they do not aim for competing but strive for improvement based on their own standards. An example of the company’s dedication towards premium manufacturing is BMW’s acquisition of Rolls Royce, another brand of luxury cars, even though it had a client base in thousands worldwide.
Given that BMW looks to innovate and engineers its vehicles with uniqueness in mind, the mission and well vision statement seem to hint towards an ideal achievable by the company. These statements are aligned on purpose as it makes clear how serious the company is to succeed in a competitive market without compromising its set priorities.
Core Values
“Responsibility, appreciation, transparency, trust, and openness.”
Taking the tradition of simple yet pointed words forward, the company’s core values perfectly expand upon the emission and vision statements. Even though the word “premium” does not appear, one can easily see how it looms in the background. With the very first word being a responsibility, it is clearly iterated that the company should be responsible during its production of premium products and services as it would directly impact sales and reputation.
The word responsibility also highlights the company’s culture in all of its years of being. They are faithfully committed to their social responsibilities in relation to their manufacturing plants. The company is environmentally responsible in its operation. Also, it sets an example for other companies across different industries by complying and cooperating with local authorities across all of their global manufacturing plants.
Appreciation, the second core value, can allude to the anticipation and recognition of customer needs. It can also mean acknowledging the products and services of their competitors to improve and grow.
Transparency, trust, and openness are the final three core values of the company. These three values go hand in hand as transparency and openness breed trust in a corporate setup across departments. Companies that are open with the employees and appreciate new ideas and inputs guarantee employee satisfaction and have a greater chance of stumbling across something great, which might lead to their next innovation.
The core values of BMW thus are in perfect harmony with one another, just like the mission and vision statements were.
BMW’s Slogan
“The Ultimate Driving Machine.”
While the word “premium” is missing here, it is well implied in BMW’s slogan, which promises to deliver an automobile beyond comparison. Moreover, since the company strives towards becoming the leading manufacturer of high-end products and services, the slogan falls perfectly in line with the corporation’s idea of selling the ideal vehicle to gain worldwide dominance in the automobile manufacturing industry.
In conclusion, it can be deduced that what comes first and foremost for BMW is dedication. Even though it is not explicitly mentioned in either the mission or vision statement, it is nothing but the dedication that drives the constant endeavor towards the success of this company. The company knows that it is currently in a great position but is also aware that it can improve its strategy and approach to become a leader in its field.
While the mission statement explores all the domains in which the company works, the vision statement is specifically tied to the company’s growth and current performance. The core values then expand upon how the company works internally to achieve the external result. The mission statement recognizes all three aspects of operations, the end goal of being the leading manufacturer globally, the current status of providing clients with premium service and products, and the target for said service, namely, the individual.
Finally, the vision statement focuses on operations, reiterating just how focused the company operations need to be to achieve their ideal business development. Taken together, these statements stand testimony to BMW’s dedication to perfection, to exceeding customer expectations, to creating new ideas, and to firmly place itself as a leading manufacturer of luxury automobiles.
