Nissan 2005 Annual Report Download - page 36

PLANNING
Nissan Annual Report 2004
34
Building on Strengths
and Being Innovative CARLOS TAVARES
Executive Vice President
OUR WORK
“The Planning Group covers a great deal of corporate
territory and handles a number of key responsibilities
within Nissan. Our Corporate Planning division, for
example, oversees strategy, setting the Company’s
long-term course under the Executive Committee’s
direction. The two creative divisions, Design and
Product Planning, create value for the customer.
Together, those three divisions form the core of our
group, surrounded by several other key divisions.
Market Intelligence supports Design and Product
Planning in customer understanding. The people in
Process and Resource Management provide the
practical direction and restraint a company of our size
must have when deploying its resources. And Program
Management drives the implementation process,
turning the work of all the other divisions into reality.
The role of Corporate Planning is to look to the
future and devise ways to take advantage of the
business opportunities we identify. In the past, the
division relied primarily on three-year plans such the
Nissan Revival Plan and NISSAN 180. That strategy
served the interests of Nissan stakeholders well.
The Company is now sound, and the power and
constancy of vision Corporate Planning provides will
determine how well Nissan maintains its strength.
However, in addition to the mid-term plan, we have
now entered a phase that requires us to extend that
vision and implement a longer-term plan. Corporate
Planning is working closely with the Executive
Committee on this matter.
Design and Product Planning are central to the creation of
Nissan’s strength. Both focus on satisfying the consumer’s
unmet needs, and create value in the process. Our product
planning DNA is to identify and target our customers, and
do it better than our competitors. Rather than simply
throwing a product into the market and waiting for a
response, we first seek a deep understanding of the
expected response. Only then can we create a product
consistent with that understanding.
One key for both creative divisions is to focus on
“customer clusters.” We refuse to spend our money to
develop products that should please everyone. In fact, we
may invest in a certain innovation because we understand
that a particular subset of customers will appreciate the
performance it provides. Our process is very focused, and may
even target a smaller customer cluster that no one else is
addressing. The marketing process for these two divisions is
deep and accurate. This creates value through differentiation.
The NISSAN Value-Up plan is about focusing on strong
products that reinforce our brand, pursuing new concepts
and innovation, and expanding geographically in a stronger
and faster way. During the Nissan Revival Plan and NISSAN
180, we introduced some influential and innovative models—
the Murano, the Z, the FX and the X-TRAIL, to name a few.
It would be a mistake not to capitalize on those successes
and reinforce the brand. At the same time, we cannot rely
solely on our current concepts. Launching a new product
naturally requires significant expenditures, because
awareness and understanding must be created for the new
product. We must differentiate to succeed, devise new
products and concepts, and venture into areas that others
have not. During the NISSAN Value-Up period, we will offer
products that build on past successes—without being
conservative—as well as products that are new and
innovative. Our brand pyramid shows us the way to be both
‘bold and thoughtful.’
Our Market Intelligence division, which supports the
Design and Product Planning teams as well as other
divisions throughout the Company, is relatively new. The
division’s experts not only supply research data, they also
help shape surveys to answer precise questions and identify
the traps that are often hidden within surveys. One
challenge for the Market Intelligence people is to clearly
communicate their conclusions to the Company’s decision-
makers. If only their peers are able to understand the data
they produce, their efforts and the data itself serve no
purpose. In addition, this division is challenged to
standardize and extend best practices globally, while
maintaining a regional focus when appropriate.