BMW AND LUFTHANSA

BMW and Lufthansa

BMW & Lufthansa

Introduction

The study of this course is going to be based on the companies 'BMW & Lufthansa', both the companies are German based and regarded as leaders in their respective fields. During this assignment I have conducted research on the financial and marketing structure of the companies with the help of secondary research. The study will focus on the potential financial and exchange rate risks faced in context with the possible marketing strategies used by both the companies.

BMW

(BMW) is the world's most renowned automobile brand. The company is based in Germany with headquarter in Munich, Germany. BMW manufactures automobiles, aircraft engines, motorcycles, and other premium products Rolls-Royce, BMW mini. The company has a total of 23 production facilities around the globe in 12 different countries with representation in more than 140 countries. (Frost 2002, 2)The company is famous for its world class luxury cars offered to international customers. BMW is considered as the world's top and most prominent premium manufacturer. In the year 2007 the company reported a net profit of €3 billion. BMW, has employed more than 107,000 (2007) employees throughout the world. Despite the fact that the company lost the first position in the automobile sector which it held for many years, BMW is still amongst the top five companies on the DAX and (CTI) corporate trust index.

The company is still ahead of its competitors Daimler and Volkswagen in terms of market share and customer satisfaction. (Frost 2002, 2)BMW is following a local production strategy; BMW is highly committed towards its long term strategy of market penetration, while at the same time escaping high duties on imported foreign produced cars. Another production and sales strategy used by the company is the (CKD) process which is known as completely knocked down process in which different components and parts are imported from different local and international assemblers.

Lufthansa

Deutsche Lufthansa AG is a German based airline company. Lufthansa is the world's biggest airline company in Europe and the German flag carrier airline company. The company has derived its name from the German words 'Luft' and 'Hansa' which are after the Hanseatic League, a well renowned and power full medieval trading group. In global perspective it's the world's fourth largest airline company in terms of operations and passengers carried. (Claessen 2002, 11)The company is operating is 18 different domestic and 203 international destinations across the world. The company operates in 410 destinations across the globe with its partner companies with a fleet of more than 710 airplanes.

Lufthansa has the world's second largest airplane fleet when combined with its subsidiary companies. Lufthansa has it's headquarter in Deutz, Colonge, with its primary operational and traffic hub at Frankfurt airport. Lufthansa is also a founding member of star alliance formed in 1997, which is the world's largest airline alliance. The company has employed more than 117,000 employees across the globe in 146 distinct countries. Unlike the rest of the Lufthansa Group airlines which act as German Lufthansa AG Lufthansa and ...