Its a Billion Mega Watts

“Close your eyes…….. See yourself as an employee of your dream company, you are going to your office in your dream car………., you reach your office,…….. you enter your well furnished office………..”

Every MBA must have gone through this process during their Personality Development Programme when the instructor tells you to close your eyes and imagine that you are a part of your dream company, well I have too. When I closed my eyes on that occasion and reached my dream office I can’t imagine getting out of my dream car which is a BMW M5 …………… that’s what BMW is known for-“Sheer driving pleasure”. Even though I haven’t driven one, I am a great fan of the bimmers especially the eagle eyed M5. Bayerisch Motor Works ( Bayrische Motoren Werke in German) has been my favorite company for all success that they have achieved.BMW started off in 7th March 1916 as a company manufacturing aircraft engines, it shifted to motorbikes in 1923 and cars in 1928. BMW has many “industry first” practices which makes them leader in its area of operation, the luxury car market.

BMW started mass customization, a process by which the customer configures his cars and get a car exactly to his taste which was not followed by any mass automobile producer in auto industry at that time. In 1998 BMW launched the system called Customer Oriented Sales and Production (COSP), which was a form of pull production. The principle behind this initiative was that the customer will define the production at any time and not the company. The company started an interactive website and online ordering system for achieving this. The customers can visit BMW site and arrive at a particular option of cars by mixing different colors and other things and then they can print out a custom brochure and take it to their dealer to place an order. The dealer placed the order through the Online ordering system and received the confirmation and delivery date instantaneously. Flexibility of operations ensured that BMW was able to deliver a customized car in approximately 12 days. The extend of flexibility in BMWs operations was evident from the fact that it allowed its customers to change their specifications six times before the delivery.

In marketing also they excelled others by coming up with creative idea of launching short movies starring Clive Owen and made it available to people through the internet realizing that internet is the upcoming medium of communication. This print ad shows how creative this company is.Recently BMW came up with a new concept called Sports Activity Coupe(X6) which again emphasizes BMWs endeavour to be a leader in its domain.In yet another first in the industry, BMW came up with the concept of a CSR annual report in 2007. BMW is the first company in its industry to ever produce a CSR Annual Report, which summarizes its achievements in "Corporate Social Contribution Activities" revolving around 'five pillars' – Cultural Promotion, Education Support, Environmental Protection, Corporate Governance and Customer Integration.

With many more achievements to its credit this company has become the favorite of many car enthusiasts.Its good time predicted for these fans in India as BMW started assembling its 3 and 5 series in its Chennai plant. Ready for a Billion Mega Watts?????