The History Of Jaguar Land Rover

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

Jaguar Land Rover Ltd. is an international auto manufacturer with its roots in the Great Britain and has been an icon of the excellence of the British auto manufacturing industry. The company is owned by Jaguar Land Rover Automatic PLC, a subsidiary of the Tata Motors, an Indian automotive conglomerate with a presence across the world. Jaguar Land Rover concerns itself with a number of processes in the automobile manufacturing industry ranging from design, development, production and trade of automobiles and its parts and accessories. In a move for global expansion, the company has prepared an international venture plan for the sourcing and distribution of goods to the People’s Republic of China, one of the largest consumers of the company’s products. The company intends to operate forming a joint venture with the Chinese automaker Chery Automobile Co. Ltd, under a new insignia, the Chery Jaguar Land Rover. The proposal aims to manufacture cars customised to the Chinese markets and is expected to cause a manifold increase in the company’s revenues.

As a part of the global expansion strategies, Jaguar Land Rover Ltd has planned for a major expedition into Chinese markets. A number of campaigns are to be announced as a part of the venture such as an investment of approximately £1 billion investment into the market, production of a customised range targeted at the Chinese consumers, establishing an auto manufacturing unit with state of the art R&D facilities researching in to superior engines improving fuel efficiency.

This report aims to explore how corporate social responsibility can factor in the success of the international venture of the company and discusses the possible areas where corporate social responsibility can be exhibited by the company to its advantages and also explores the instances where Jaguar Land Rover has used the system in the past.

BUSINESS OVERVIEW

Jaguar Land Rover is a multinational company based on two iconic car manufacturers based in the United Kingdom: (I) Jaguar Cars, one of the iconic brands in the manufacture of luxury sports cars and (ii) Land Rover, a universally popular maker of quality 4x4s. The company has engineering centres at Whitley and Gaydon where the products are designed, and the Castle Bromwich assembly is where they are manufactured. The two brands were initially united under a single flag by Ford who then handed over the reign to Tata Motors, a subsidiary of the Tata group. The parent group based in India is one of the world leaders in the auto manufactured industry and has large global footprint with presence in more than 80 countries across the world.

Jaguar provides employment to over 25,000 people directly and over 170,000 people indirectly making it the largest employer in the auto manufacturing industry in the United Kingdom. The company also has an excellent exporter of the automobiles with more than 80% of the vehicles manufactured in the UK being sold abroad (1) Jaguar Land Rover is committed in to the development of the automotive industry and invests a large portion of the company’s revenues in to the research and development of our products.

WHAT IS CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY?

Corporate Social Responsibility is a term that defines a sense of responsibility that a company has towards the society and the monitoring of its actions on the different realms of impact such as the environment, customers, stakeholders and the community as a whole. One of the most common approaches that many companies take in implementing corporate social responsibility is to provide financial support and investment to the local NGOs and societies. Another common approach is to aid in the community development plans by helping to improve the skills of the local populace and thereby achieve sustainability within the community. Incorporating the strategy directly into the company strategy not only helps in the corporate social responsibility but also helps in improving the image of the company in the public eyes as demonstrated by KPMG with the usage of Fair Trade goods. (2)

Acts of Corporate social responsibility bring in a number of benefits to the company, both short term and long term. One of the major benefits of corporate social responsibility is to improve the reputation of the organization, thereby drawing better employees to work at the firm improving the productivity and also attracting more customers to buy their products. The strategy is also shown to help the businesses develop new skills such as adaptability and accelerated learning which sooner or later shows up in the corporate structure, improving its operation. On a related note, it also increases the company’s efficiency and increases the sense of commitment that the employees feel towards the organization which in turn results in low turnover rates. A reduced cost of operation is also an eventual product of corporate social responsibility with an increased efficiency in processes and resources. (3)

While the range and kind of benefits may vary from company to company and across time, it has been observed that the strategy can affect the financial performance of the business considerably in the long run. Even though there has been stiff opposition from the critics alleging many of the companies such as McDonalds and BP adopts the strategy to distract the media and society from their business ethics, the number of companies adopting corporate social responsibility has been on the rise since the past two decades. This may be partly due to the rise in ethical consumerism (4) where the customers regulate their purchases according to the product’s effect on the environment or the company’s business ethics and the growing effect of internationalization and globalization on the local economy.

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AT JAGUAR LAND ROVER

At Jaguar Land Rover, the company takes the commitments it has to the society very seriously and as such is one of the major investors of corporate social responsibility initiatives across the world. The company was awarded the ‘Platinum Standard’ in the CR index, a benchmark for corporate responsibility in the UK, in recognition of its efforts and investments towards various programs in the community. (5) It was also achieved the prestigious Community Mark and is the only auto manufacturer in the UK who has achieved the same. The company is involved in a number of community development programs such as employee volunteering and community partnership among many other initiatives. Approximately 1.25 million British pounds has been invested by the company in the various community development initiatives across the U.K. The company is primarily focused the issues such as education, environment and development of communities around its sites in Midlands. (6) We explore the initiatives the company has taken towards corporate social responsibility and the strategies involved in implementing them in the following sections.

Mr. Mike Wright, the Executive Director of the company is in charge of the mission and is well supported by Mr. Les RatCliffe, Manager of community relations, public relations and communications in his ventures. (7) The Community Relations Team at the company has been established exclusively for this purpose and has been working steadily towards improving the local communities and their self-sustainability. The team has joint branded and was been allocated a combined budget of £412,000 for the year 2010-2011. The team has involved itself with a number of organizations and its key activities include community networking with the local councils and governments and various other organizations such as community groups, Chambers of Commerce, Business Groups, NGOs and organizing various events in association with these groups. The team has formed five education business partnership centers and organized three national schools challenges. The company also actively encourages its employees to volunteering at various local projects and charities. (8)

Awards & Recognition

Jaguar Land Rover ltd has been consistently improving its rating ever since it adopted the CR index in the year of 2009 and in April 2013, the company was inducted in to the Platinum Big Tick, (9) a new banding index introduced by Business In the Community (BITC), that grades the various businesses according to their long term planning and contribution towards the society and economy. The company has also been nominated for BITC’s highly regarded Responsible Business Awards for the category Responsible Business of the year, a feat only accomplished by four other businesses. The results of the awards are due to be announced on the 2nd July 2013.

Aside from the above, the company has also received a number of other awards over the years such as the 2007 Big Tick Jubilee Awards of Excellence for Volunteering, the Big Tick Environmental award in 2010, the CR Index silver award in 2009, Gold in 2010 and Platinum since 2011. It was also the recipient of the Prince of Wales Ambassador Award in 2009 and gained nationwide recognition when the Prime Minister visited the company’s Education Business Partnership Centre (EBPC) at Brown’s Lane, Coventry targeted at improving the skills of GCSE engineering students.

View on Corporate Social Responsibility

At Jaguar Land Rover, the company has a number of views towards the concept that are in tandem with that of the Business in the Community (BITC) organization that are described as follows. Working towards improving the local communities results a expanding market for the goods and services of the products and services along with an abundant supply of skilled employees loyal to the business and development of infrastructure that may be required by the company in the future. It is the company’s view that investing in corporate social responsibility projects will improve the morale of the employees, resulting in lower turnover rates and increased productivity and proficiencies. It will also help in the reputation of the business, improving its public image and also spreading awareness about it in the communities and improving confidence in the brand.

An example of the impact of confidence in brand can be demonstrated through the recall of over 2.4 million vehicles of the Japanese car manufacturer Toyota due to the faulty inflators in the airbags which may cause serious danger to the passengers. (10) The debacle shows how much the confidence in the company matters since the situation has cost the company a total of $2 billion dollars aside from the fall of its reputation. This single instance may be enough to tarnish the company’s reputation for years, resulting in further loss of revenues. In contrast to this, due to the strong corporate responsibility initiatives of jaguar Land Rover at Coventry and its strong partnership with the local council, even when the company had to close down the Browns Lane plant, the amount of disruption faced was minimal and the company still enjoys a strong support from the local community. Conversely, when Peugeot announced the closure of its Ryton plant, the move caused uproar in the local community affecting its corporate relations in the long-term. (11)

Vision & Objectives

The vision of the company on the corporate social responsibility initiatives is to build and develop outstanding community relation with the local communities at the sites of operation and to enhance the reputation of the company worldwide as being socially responsible.

The company aims to fulfil its social obligations towards its corporate social responsibility objectives. Garnering nationwide support for Jaguar Land Rover’s sponsored programmes and initiatives is one of the prime objectives of the company. By involving in the activities and proposals is expected to improve the local community relations of the company. The company also hopes to take part in collaborations with other organizations and NGOs to help improve the locale and assist the stakeholders in building the community relations. The programme of promoting the development of the community and demonstrating community excellence is expected to build the company’s rapport with the local populace and garner goodwill.

Implementing Corporate Social Responsibility

Corporate social responsibility is an area that involves a number of applications and thus requires a multi-faceted approach to deal with. There are four main areas of application that the company has identified to deal with. They are development of education and industry, volunteering by the company and its employees, promoting causes through public relations and marketing and sponsoring various community initiatives though donations and campaigns. The areas of concern and the work done by Jaguar Land Rover in each of them are explored in detail in the following sections.

Education

Jaguar Land Rover is committed to the education of young people and sponsors various education initiatives to promote the interest of young people in the science and technology stream, encouraging them to work in the automotive industry and improve the talent pool of the future engineers and designers. The company provides support to schools and other organizations presenting engineering as a relevant and attractive career path and apply for the various apprenticeship programmes available at the company.

The company also has tie-ups with over 30 UK based universities promoting careers and helping young people to venture into the fields of engineering and thus providing a supply of talented candidates in the future. In particular, the company has a close association with the University of Warwick, supporting a team of 200 people working on various projects relevant to the industry. (12) The company has also taken substantial steps to increase the number of young people working at the company such as increase the number of apprenticeship opportunities and the graduate positions available. Seven universities in the country including Bradford and York participate in the Jaguar Land Rover Accreditation Programme aimed at promoting careers in the automotive sector. The company also supports the various teams to collaborate with the local schools to improve the standards of education and promote the automobile career choices.

Jaguar also promotes STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) objectives through various targeted educational programmes. The initiative provides work related experience to young people, encouraging them to take up engineering the related subjects as a career choice, which has been steadily declining over the past decade. These initiatives are designed to open the young people’s minds to the various careers available in the automobile industry and promote active participation by organizing various competitions for school children such as Jaguar Cars Maths in Motion Challenge which saw the participation of over 20,000 students.

The company has established Education Business Partnership Centres (EBPCs) in the West Midlands at Birmingham, Liverpool, Coventry, Solihull and Warwickshire in collaboration with the local educational authorities and invests around €135,000 pounds a year at these centres. These centres serve as centres of education for schoolchildren and links back into the local education network.

Cause related Marketing Opportunities

The company is closely with various charities bringing attention to various causes and raise money for the organizations. It has international collaborations with various humanitarian partners such as the Red Cross Society, NSPCC, BEN and the Born Free Foundation. Vehicle loans and monetary donations are often made by Jaguar in support of these organizations. To celebrate the production of the one million Discovery vehicles, a product of Land Rover, the company started a charitable campaign in which the millionth vehicle undertook a 10,000 mile long journey from its manufacturing plant at Solihull to Beijing, China. The project raised around £1 million as was donated to the Red Cross charities to fund their operations and projects in Uganda.

The company supports a number of NGO’s worldwide, focusing on the NSPCC, Red Cross and BEN charities. Over £1.4 million was donated to the charities in monetary fund and aids in the year 2011-2012. Jaguar has been supporting the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children since the year 1996 and has raised over 2.1 million British pounds over the years. The company is also working in association with the NSPCC’s national Child Voice appeal to raise £1.5 million by 2013. In 2010, the company, in association with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), launched the three year long programme named ‘Reaching Vulnerable People Around the World’ and has donated over £3.4 million as donations, vehicle loans and other aids. Another major charity that the business supports is BEN, a charity aimed at helping people in the automobile industry in the UK. The company loans BEN the use of its facilities at the Castle Bromwich plant and donates 72 pence for every vehicle sold. The business also matches the personal donations of their employees and rose over £91,000 in the year 2011-12 about £45,000 of which came from the employee donations and the rest from the company. (2)

Employee Volunteering

Jaguar Land Rover actively encourages employees to take up volunteering at the local charities. The initiative was introduced not only to help the community but also to foster teamwork and develop leadership skills. The company offers the employees up to 16 hours of paid volunteering time a year and around 17,000 hours of time was spent by the jaguar employees volunteering in the year 2011-12. The company works with the BITC’s CARES programme and the local authorities to identify the projects in need of assistance. In 2011-12, the company employees worked in a number of volunteering projects such as mentoring school children and providing them with career advice, working to improve the environment, volunteering as STEM ambassadors encouraging students to take up engineering as a career choice and many more.

While the company supports volunteering activities across the country, it is the sites where the company’s plants are located that attracts more investment due to the evident concentration of employees. With the company’s new advanced engine manufacturing facility due to set up in Wolverhampton, it has also started collaborations with the local groups and authorities. Each one of the Jaguar plants in the UK is provided with a community liaison committee that works with the local organizations to support and coordinate various volunteering and other activities.

Community & PR – Donations and Sponsorship

Jaguar Land Rover, whenever possible, takes up sponsorship of various causes and organizations that help the community and raise funds for them. The company was one of the main sponsors of the Big Bang Fair in March 2012, an event that celebrates STEM opportunities and introduces them to the many career paths available in the same. Big Bang was a window of opportunity for the company to promote the careers available and instil in the young people a sense of admiration of the industry.

The company is involved in over 50 projects in 17 countries that aim to cut the CO2 emissions from the manufacture and use of the Jaguar vehicles. The projects for investment were chosen not only by those that reduced emissions but also that delivered other social benefits such as improved infrastructures and health conditions. For example, the use of fuel efficient stoves help to improve the health of around 1.2 million people by improving the air quality aside from reducing emissions. Jaguar has funded over 315,000 of the stoves in the countries of Ghana, Uganda and Cambodia, making it one of the largest distributors of the same.

The offsetting programme is also supported by ClimateCare, a specialist in climate and development, ensuring that the projects are indeed beneficial to the society by improving the health and wellbeing of the local community in addition to improving the local infrastructure and generating opportunities. In addition to this, the company also help to improve the conditions of schools in India by providing them with the wooden pallets to manufacture desks and benches. When the company exports its products to India, it protects them with a heavy duty packaging including wooden pallets. Once the move has been finished, the workshop team at the parent company Tata Motors, uses the packaging to model the equipment for schools. The packaging at the Halewood plant has been used by the schools in the villages of Inglun and Taleghar to build furniture and other equipment.

Role of Corporate Social Responsibility in the Venture to China

As is evident in the above sections, Jaguar Land Rover is fully committed towards the corporate social responsibilities and aims to improve the conditions of the local community in the area they operate in. The company plans to ensure that the same is true during its venture in to the Chinese market and aims to involve the community development as an important part of the business strategy in the country.

Currently, 36% of the emission offset projects supported by Jaguar Land Rover are located in the People’s Republic of China. One of the major community development projects the company has undertaken in China is the waste gas recovery project in Antai which has greatly reduced the greenhouse gas emissions from a major steel production plant. The gases are processed and used produce electricity by using them to run two 25MW turbines. The electricity thus generated is used to operate the plant; thereby not only cutting the greenhouse emissions, but also reducing the dependency on the fossil fuel generated electricity. (2)

In its international venture into China, the company aims to further introduce various plans to improve the lives of the local people and get involved in a number of community development projects. If the company’s history is any indication, a number of projects and operations will be developed in the country to support its corporate responsibility initiatives.

CONCLUSION

Jaguar Land Rover is one of the world leaders of corporate social responsibility initiatives and is fully committed towards its causes. The company, in its operation works with the local authorities and organization to identify the areas in which it can make the biggest contribution to the community. The corporate social responsibility of the company concerns itself with mainly two areas: advancing the knowledge gained and improving the lives of people.

The company at its Board and leadership level is fully committed towards its objectives in the corporate social responsibility strategy. In the new venture into the Chinese markets, the company intends to repeat its history, working towards improving community relations and garnering the support of people through community development programs. The project will not only improve the company’s reputation in the Oriental market but also result in improved revenues.