The automobile, the wonder of the previous century, has become an inevitable part of our lives in modern society. Different people attribute diverse functions to the cars, however, for the greater part of car owners, an automobile is not a mere vehicle, it is a friend and a partner that should be tried and trusted, that should never let you down. This is why they often say, choose a car as you choose a friend since your car will literary become a part of your life. It is evident that all these factors make car owners very demanding and only those car-producing companies that can meet the demands of the most hard-to-please customers will become successful. Such is BMW, Bayerische Motoren Werke, an automobile manufacturing company that is called “the most admired car company in the world” (Kiley, 2004, p.1). For more than half of a century already, BMW has been providing cars that can win the favor of any car owner due to the high quality, innovative strategies, and environment-friendly policy.
When buying something, we pay great attention to the number of characteristics of the product, and the quality is the one that is on the top of the list. Lewin (2004) states that “by common consent, BMW is a company that can do no wrong” (p.8). Strong respect for consumers is the best proof of the high quality of the cars produced by the company. As Davis (2004) states that a few years back, BMW head office conducted a survey of about one million BMW cars sold and found out that a full fifty percent of those cars were still on the road (p.108). It is not easy to win respect, it should be supported by time and BMW has succeeded in it. BMW has always been an exemplar of a perfect car for other car-producing companies (Kiley, 2004).
Time-trusted traditions should be combined with innovations as nothing remains unchanged in our society and BMW is also known for its valuable innovations. The whole history of BMW can be considered a retrospect of technical and design innovations (Davis, 2004). The policy of BMW is aimed at core transformation of the car instead of striking surface changes and this tradition is the valuable merit of the car producer that favors genuine improvements rather than design tricks attracting new consumers. BMW is not about earnings or profitability; it is about products (Lewin, 2004).
Nowadays, the problems of environmental protection have become more urgent than they used to be several decades ago and the car is considered to be one of the major factors that are harmful to nature. Realizing the necessity of immediate action and keeping abreast of time, BMW has become a member of such environment protecting organizations like the National Environmental Track that assesses the companies on the basis of the environmental care provided by them (Fiorino, 2006). Also, The Dow Jones Sustainability Group has published a series of sustainability indices covering the global market on the basis of two thousand companies that are considered to be environmentally friendly (Ali & Yano, 2004). BMW is included in this index as well. On the whole, the company is constantly working in such environmentally friendly directions as the development of innovative harmless fuels and the improvement of the existing models of cars so that they could become less air-polluting.
Drawing a conclusion, it is possible to state that the best metaphor to describe a BMW automobile will be that it is “creative ideas turned into moving metal” (Lewin, 2004, p.9). BMW is the perfect example for other companies to follow if they want to be treated as reliable and respected companies because they manage to provide high quality, innovations, and their products are not harmful to the environment.
References
Ali, P.A.U., & Yano K. (2004). Eco-Finance: The Legal Design and Regulation of Market-based Environmental Instruments. The Hague, the Netherlands: Kluwer Law International.
Davis, M. (2004, September). Grind Them into Dust. Walneck’s Classic Cycle Trader. USA: Dominion Enterprises: 108-114.
Fiorino, D.J. (2006). The New Environmental Regulation. USA: MIT Press.
Kiley, D. (2004). Driven: Inside BMW, the Most Admired Car Company in the World. USA: John Willey and Sons.
Lewin, T. (2004). The Complete Book of BMW: Every Model since 1950. St. Paul, MN: Motor Book International.