Enviromental Scan

Environmental Scanning

July 30, 2013

MNG/498

CarMax an Environmental Scan

CarMax has become a household name with in the automotive sales industry. CarMax has continued to be set apart from other car dealerships. This is how CarMax wants to keep it. The executive team at CarMax believes that by providing a set of strong operational processes, straightforward pricing and transparent financing sets them apart from the competition. CarMax has made this there strategic advantage and by doing so the company has developed several keys to their success and continued growth. CarMax continue to provide a value proposition to its costumers by providing gently used and well maintained vehicles to their customers.

Internal and External Environments

The automotive sale industry is saturated and CarMax only obtains two percent of the market. The majority of the used car market is questionable at best and a dealership will negotiate the price of a car. This leaves customers contemplating if they received the best deal possible. CarMax has committed to a strict policy of no negotiating. CarMax has set its self apart from its competition by providing two different functions for the sales centers, customer are able to sale vehicles to the CarMax this is not currently a normal function of most used car dealers. The current economic market has created a greater demand for more used vehicles however that has also made financing vehicles a greater risk as well.

Internally CarMax has been established and continues to obtain accolades for high quality training and development. This allows CarMax to bring in baseline associates and help them develop over time. This has helped them keep employment costs lower than others competitors. Recently CarMax has been recognized as one of the top one hundred places to work.

Competitive Advantages

The major competitive advantages are found in the differences between CarMax and the competitors in the market place. The first...