UK Government’s Industrial Strategy and Clean Growth

The most serious issue that the nations around the world are dealing with is the climatic change and its impact on the people as well as the business operating. UK government has developed industrial strategy along with the private organisations which has identified four grand challenges including promoting the use of AI and data structure,catering the needs of ageing society, development of better road and rail facilities, and influencing the industries to work towards clean and sustainable growth. The policies and the strategies are focused on mitigating the impact of climate change by reducing the carbon emission and the greenhouse effect so that global warming and the future impact on the environment can be controlled. In this respect, various business and organisations are focusing on developing technologies and innovative products that will contribute towards the government efforts to reduce climate change.

The report is focused on analysing the climate change threats on the business of car manufacturing organisation Ford motors, and identifying the impact of the policies formed by the UK government for reducing the climate change impact on the industry. Also, the report focuses on identifying the disruptive innovations that the organisations within the industry can focus upon which would lead to change in consumer behaviour and will help in reducing the change impact on the environment.

Climate change is the most defining issue that is required to be addressed at the point of time, from the shifts in weather patterns to rising sea levels they are a threat to the global environment and is required to take necessary steps globally so that the issues can be addressed and can be moved towards a sustainable world. To address the issue of the climate-change the UK government has signed a partnership agreement with the private sector to identify the climate change issues and to promote innovation in business activities so that the nation can move towards the clean and sustainable growth.

One of the reasons for the climate change involves the CO2 emission, which has been caused by mankind, as the CO2 emission results in rising the temperature hence contributing towards global warming. The automobile sector or the transportation sector contributes to around 14% of the total CO2 emission, and the reason for the emission is the use of fossil fuels. To control the emission of CO2 the governments are focusing on setting up of targets to reduce the carbon emission.

Ford Motors and Climate Change Policies

Automobile industries are facing challenges to implement innovation within their product to support the government’s climate change policy. As with such government targets and pressures to reduce the carbon emission, the automobile manufacturers are focused on adapting technological changes which would reduce the release of CO2 while driving vehicles. Also, the carmakers are facing a situation of increased cost as to implement the technologies that would help in reducing the CO2 emission, incur high cost and the companies face difficulties in selling their product at a high price so that they can recover their manufacturing expenses. Ford Motors is on the route to be fined with $6.6 Billion by 2021 for violating the European CO2 emissions regulations in European countries.

The UK government has developed strategies and policies to control the climate change within the environment. The climate change act 2008, formed by the UK government is the key policy that the government has set as a base for responding towards climate change. The government has set up targets to reduce the carbon emissions and greenhouse effects and has provided instructions to businesses and individuals to work in respect of the set targets.

The government policies to control climate change has its impact on the car manufacturing entity as well as on Ford Motors, as the government is planning on ban the sale or use of the petrol or the diesel cars and also planning to influence people to shift from using personal vehicles to public transportation. As the ford in focused on the production of petrol and diesel cars, therefore, forming such policies will impact the production of the cars within the industry and will also impact the sale of the cars within the industry. Also, the policy changes regarding the use of the technology used in cars are also changing and is moving towards the production of battery-based electric cars. Due to which Ford will have to invest in technology development and will have to change its production unit from the manufacturing of cars using fossil fuels to the manufacturing of energy-efficient and eco-friendly battery cars.

Innovation has become a major factor in defining the success of an organisation. Organisations focusing on implementing innovation within the process results in achieving business goals and objectives. Innovation within the business organisation is defined as implementing change within the business practices and the activities within the organisation. Through organisational innovation, the organisations can implement an innovative and creative culture within the organisation, which influences the organisation working and performance and lead towards the achievement of business goals and objectives.

The Need for Disruptive Low-Carbon Innovations

The innovation form that affects the functions within the industry or influences how the industry operates. The idea of disruptive innovation was popularized by Clayton Christensen and has been recognised as the most influential business idea in the 21^st century. As the introduction of the internet was a disruptive innovation, as it influenced how the industry was operating its business. After the introduction of the internet, the organisations and business enterprises started conducting an online business and in the 21^st century, the e-commerce is the most preferred way to shop anything.

Incremental innovation involves making effective and relevant changes within the existing product or the service to improve the effectiveness and the efficiency of the organisation performance within the industry. The focus of incremental innovation is improving productivity by satisfying customer’s needs and requirements and to develop a competitive differentiation within the industry. Incremental Innovations are required to maintain the effectiveness of the product or the brand within the industry by timely implementing required changes and innovation within the product.

Game-changing innovations are referred to innovations that led the organisation to achieve high growth within the industry as a result of the innovation. Such innovations impact the industry as well as even transform society. The introduction of Sony Walkman or the iPods changed the way the people use to listen to music and become a game-changer within the industry. The game-changing innovations seem impossible to achieve and are focused on achieving the customer’s unfulfilled needs and requirements.

Ford motors deals in manufacturing and sales of cars and service, which is the one among the reason for climate change, as the cars that are being used currently within the nation are based on using of fossil fuel for their operations, and they generate CO2 which results in increasing global warming and results in negative impact in climate change. Therefore, it is required that the car manufacturing organisations such as Ford are required to focus on innovation of technologies that would lead towards mitigating the climate change and would lead towards the sustainable and economic development of the nation.

To deal with the climate changes and to work within the nation following the UK government policies on the climate change, Ford is required to implement innovative technologies within its business so that it can contribute towards mitigating the impacts of climate change. Ford has adopted a sustainable development plan within the organisation, which is focused on investing within the technologies and work with the government to overcome the effect of climate change. Disruptive innovations within the industry are the major requirement to manage the climate change, as the traditional innovations and technologies that are being used are producing carbon which is impacting the climate. Therefore, it is required that consumer appealing disruptive innovations should be developed so that the carbon emission can be reduced.

Ford is the car manufacturer therefore it is required that the organisation focus on technology development within its vehicles so that its usage may result in low carbon emission and influence the impact of climate change. The disruptive innovation within the car manufacturing industry that can lead to the sustainable development of the industry is the introduction of electric cars within the industry, which operates on electric batteries rather than on fossil fuels. Along with the electric cars, Ford motors has developed an Internal Combustion Engine vehicle that is fuel-efficient, controls the carbon emission and is powerful as compared to a normal car engine.

Implementing such technologies within the car manufacturing will help to control the climate change and will also influence the customer’s preference towards the use such innovated products and to contribute towards maintaining the impact of the climate change. As the usage of electric vehicles will completely be based on using electric batteries rather than using petrol or diesel. Therefore, such electric vehicles will result in zero carbon emission, which will contribute to mitigating the impact of climate change. Also, the internal combustion engine developed by Ford will help in controlling the carbon emission within the environment.

The early adopters for the technologies are those who are seriously related to climate change and its impact and want to contribute towards reducing the impact of climate change. The customer segment of the UK having an average income source, a fixed source of employment, or living in an area where the battery charging stations are assessable will be early adopters for the technology of electric vehicles. The London government has imposed a barrier on providing licenses to the petrol and diesel operated taxis and is focused on installing the battery chargers at the taxi rest stations so that they can be influenced to use electric vehicles rather than vehicles operating on petrol and diesel.

The car manufacturing organisations other than Ford are also focusing on adapting the technologies to reduce the carbon emission. Such as Tesla, and the new market entrants Ariel and Dyson, are also focusing on technology adaption along with identifying the necessary innovative developments within the industry. As along with focusing on the development of electric vehicles it is required that the companies should also focus on the performance of the vehicles and the heat management technologies within the cars.

Conclusion

The government of the UK and private companies such as Ford Motors are focusing on taking necessary steps to manage the climate change effects. The UK government has come up with a partnership with private organisations and has developed policies and guidelines that would support the mitigation of climate change. The UK government has formed a Climate Change Act, 2008, that focuses on adopting necessary steps so that the impact of climate change can be monitored and managed. Due to climate change and the policies developed by UK government, Ford Motors must face challenges to bring innovations within the technology and to develop product models that would result in reduced carbon emission, as the transportation industry is among the major industry contributing towards the carbon emission.

It is required that innovations within the industry should be undertaken so that the impact of the use of vehicles can be reduced and can be moved towards sustainable development. Ford motors are continuously focusing on investing within the innovative technologies so that they can avoid the impact of climate change and the government policies on the organisation. The organisation has developed electric vehicles and has also introduced an Internal Combustion Engine that is fuel-efficient and is powerful as compared to the car engines that are being used within the cars. Such innovations will drive the consumer’s preference for the use of energy-efficient cars and will also support the climate change efforts of the government as well as the organisations.

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