Company Selection X Comments and Feedback 1. Met criteria of 500 or fewer employees I googled it and it said that this company had 9300 employees in 2019 1. Has been in business at least 5 years X 1. Has an international connection of some kind It does not appear that this company has international connection. I could be wrong but when I looked it up, it didn’t identify any international connections Company Description 1. Customer demographics X I did see that you identified a target market age as well as potential customers. 1. Products or services X You definitely identified the product and services that this company has to offer. 1. Competitive advantage(s) X I feel like you could have elaborated more on the company’s competitive advantages. I see you listed the advantages but did not go into detail. 1. Internal scan (controllable elements) X 1. External scan (noncontrollable elements) X 1. Challenges or opportunities identified X Recommendations 1. There are clearly defined recommended actions. X 1. Recommendations are justified. X 1. Ethics discussed are part of corporate decision-making. X Sources 1. Between 13 and 20 sources have been used. X 1. Facts throughout the paper have been cited and sourced. X Formatting 1. APA: Paper is double-spaced throughout. X 1. APA: Headings are provided. X 1. APA: Citations and sources are correct. X 1. There are no grammatical or spelling errors. X 1. Overall appearance is clean and professional. X General Observations Overall I feel like you did a great job on the assignment. It was very informative, well put together, clear, and straight to the point. I see a few times where you would list something but never elaborate on it. Your citations look good for the most part including your in text citations. You addressed everything that was required of us in the individual assignment. I think you did a good job. I do not see much that needs improvement. Running head: PLANNING SONIC AUTOMOTIVES SONIC AUTOMOTIVES Sonic Automotive Sonic Automotive, Inc. Introduction Sonic Automotive is an administration that is based on the fortune 500, and it is the world’s fifth-biggest retailer administration. This administration operates in almost 14 states and more than 100 dealerships; these dealerships represent twenty-five dissimilar brands of means of transportation such as cars, buses, and many more things. This administration sells new cars, old cars, and replacement parts; there is also maintenance of vehicles (Redzuan, Nuraida, Norzalina, & Noorhelinahani, 2019). With the maintenance of cars, there is also a collision repair service, which consists of removing dents, straightening metal panels of cars, and these automobiles can be cars, trucks, and other sports cars. Sonic administration The Son ...

1. Company Selection
X
Comments and Feedback
1. Met criteria of 500 or fewer employees
I googled it and it said that this company had 9300 employees
in 2019
1. Has been in business at least 5 years
X
1. Has an international connection of some kind
It does not appear that this company has international
connection. I could be wrong but when I looked it up, it didn’t
identify any international connections
Company Description
1. Customer demographics
X
I did see that you identified a target market age as well as
potential customers.
1. Products or services
X
You definitely identified the product and services that this
company has to offer.
1. Competitive advantage(s)
X
I feel like you could have elaborated more on the company’s
competitive advantages. I see you listed the advantages but did
not go into detail.
1. Internal scan (controllable elements)
X

2. 1. External scan (noncontrollable elements)
X
1. Challenges or opportunities identified
X
Recommendations
1. There are clearly defined recommended actions.
X
1. Recommendations are justified.
X
1. Ethics discussed are part of corporate decision-making.
X
Sources
1. Between 13 and 20 sources have been used.
X
1. Facts throughout the paper have been cited and sourced.
X
Formatting
1. APA: Paper is double-spaced throughout.
X
1. APA: Headings are provided.
X

3. 1. APA: Citations and sources are correct.
X
1. There are no grammatical or spelling errors.
X
1. Overall appearance is clean and professional.
X
General Observations
Overall I feel like you did a great job on the assignment. It was
very informative, well put together, clear, and straight to the
point. I see a few times where you would list something but
never elaborate on it. Your citations look good for the most part
including your in text citations. You addressed everything that
was required of us in the individual assignment. I think you did
a good job. I do not see much that needs improvement.
Running head: PLANNING SONIC AUTOMOTIVES
SONIC AUTOMOTIVES

4. Sonic Automotive
Sonic Automotive, Inc.
Introduction
Sonic Automotive is an administration that is based on
the fortune 500, and it is the world’s fifth-biggest retailer
administration. This administration operates in almost 14 states
and more than 100 dealerships; these dealerships represent
twenty-five dissimilar brands of means of transportation such as
cars, buses, and many more things. This administration sells
new cars, old cars, and replacement parts; there is also
maintenance of vehicles (Redzuan, Nuraida, Norzalina, &
Noorhelinahani, 2019). With the maintenance of cars, there is
also a collision repair service, which consists of removing
dents, straightening metal panels of cars, and these automobiles
can be cars, trucks, and other sports cars.
Sonic administration
The Sonic automotive administration was created in 1997
on 1st January when this administration was created. There were
just 20 stores, representing 15 brands, and there were numerous
workers in this administration. This administration was a
fortune 300, and it was also a member of the Russell 2000 index
(Tengroth & Broo, 2019). It is self-possessed with
approximately 200 dealership permissions and 40 accident
repair cores positioned in 15 frequently Sunbelt situations. It
has a preference for intermediate markets where authorizations
are inexpensive to obtain. The opposition for customers is not

5. as precipitous, and profits are higher.
Sonic Automotive operates in the automotive industry.
Because they mostly deal with selling new cars, old cars, and
replacement parts, there is also maintenance of vehicles. With
the maintenance of cars, there is also a collision repair service,
which consists of removing dents, straightening metal panels of
cars, and these automobiles can be cars, trucks, and other sports
cars. Automotive manufacturing encompasses many
organizations and companies involved in the development,
design, marketing, manufacturing, and marketing of motor
vehicles. It is one of the domain's largest manufacturers by
income. Automotive manufacturing does not comprise industries
enthusiastic about conserving cars following distribution to the
end-user, such as motor fuel filling stations and automobile
repair shops (Bijsterveld, 2019).
The headquarters of Sonic Automotive is located in
Charlotte, North Carolina, United States. Instead of
headquarters, there are Sonic Automotive branches active in
fourteen states with more than a hundred dealerships on behalf
of twenty-five dissimilar brands of vehicles (Tasky, Tarnutzer,
& Lane, 2017). These branches kept increasing when other
companies of cars and trucks started in 2001 to 2019, and it is
still increasing all over the world. In this period, many famous
car companies like Honda, Chevrolet, BMW, Jaguar, Audi, Land
Rover, Hyundai, and many other car groups like Denver and
John Elway automotive group.
Organizational structure
The sonic automotive organizational structure is a dual -
class structure; a dual-class structure has more than two classes
of shares in different elective rights. Characteristically insiders
are prearranged contact to a class of stocks that make available
greater regulator and voting rights. At the same time, the all -
purpose public can obtain a session of shares with no or little
voting moralities. There are many advantages and disadvantages
to this structure. The advantages are that it protects
entrepreneurial management from the demands of simple

6. shareholders, and the advantage of this structure can be its
disadvantage.
The leader of Sonic automotive is David Bruton Smith;
he was elected as a CEO (Chief Executive Officer) of sonic
automotive in 2018 September. Aforementioned in his election
as CEO, he served as a chairman and chief strategic officer of
Sonic Automotive. He remained a director of Sonic Automation
administration in October 2008 and assisted in Sonic’s
administration when this administration was created in 1998.
Aforementioned to be entitled as an Executive Vice President
and an administrator in October 2008, he had served as senior
vice president of Sonic Automation since 2007(Baym, Swartz,
& Alarcon, 2019).
I selected this administration because this administration
was so successful and is still running successfully. Another
reason for selecting this administration is that I had a great
interest in automobiles. This administration is also one of the
fastest established administrations globally, as this
administration was established in just seven years. After hard
work of 10 years, this company was completely established and
had dealerships worldwide. That is why I have selected this
administration for my explanation.
It is concluded that the sonic automotive administration
is one of the biggest administrations of dealerships in the
United States of America. Sonic Automotive operates in the
automotive industry. There are many branches, and these
branches kept increasing when other companies of cars and
trucks started in 2001 to 2019. The leader of Sonic automotive
is David Bruton Smith; he was elected as a CEO (Chief
Executive Officer) of sonic automotive in 2018 September. This
administration is best for the explanation of my topic.
Sonic Automatic is one of the leading Auto dealer firms. The
Porter's Five C’s model can be used as a framework for
analyzing this company (Porter, M. E. (2008). The company
operates more than 100 dealerships and its major products and

7. services include used and new cars and light trucks,
replacement car parts, and vehicle maintenance services. Other
services provided include Collision and paint services, extended
warranty arrangements, insurance and finance services for their
clients. The distribution system of the company is exclusive and
it depends on the product and services being provided. Their
targeted audience are car owners and individuals who need to
get an affordable car either new or old that age around 25-54
years. There current and potential buyers can be car showroom
consumers, in-market automobile customers, auto repair
visitors, petro station visitors and users of ridesharing apps such
as Uber. Their competitors include CarMax, Asbury
Automotive Group, Lithia and AutoNation. Sonic competitive
advantages from the analysis include, their brand image is
highly recognizable compared to its competitors, the ability to
manufacture their products at the lowest cost thus selling it at
an affordable price and their technology, which is now seen as
their biggest competitive advantage (Parnell, J. A., 2002).
Sonic Automotive Environmental scan
Internal
External
-management of labor
-financial planning and resources
-the structure of the company
- their value system
-organization’s culture
-technological capabilities.
Macro environment
-demography factors such in new markets
-politics like taxation (Zhou, Q., & Liu, Y. (2021, June).
-economy such as inflation rate.
-new and advanced technologies
-legal factors like data protection.

8. Micro environment
-new entrants
-competitors such as AutoNation.
-their customers
-marketing
-business trends such as car trends.
The SWOT analysis framework for Sonic Automatic include;
strengths- this organization has various strengths, which assist
in penetrating to the new market as well as in protecting their
market share in the existing market. These strengths include,
strong distribution network, strong brand portfolio, customer
satisfaction is great, strong free cash flow and strong
community of dealers. Its weaknesses include, a big gap in the
product range they sold, less investments in the new advanced
technologies, poor and efficient financial planning as well as
poor product demand forecasting. Opportunities include new
buyers from online sources or channels, strong free cash flow
provides an opportunity for more investing in their products and
new advanced technology provides an opportunity for
development. Threats include, the organization can face legal
actions or lawsuits in several given markets due to different
laws and changing customers' buying behavior to internet
channels can threaten the physical supply chain model (Teoli,
D., 2019).
As such, as per the SWOT analysis, opportunities for
improvement include, investing in new advanced technologies,
which will enable the company to improve its products and
services as well as maintain their loyal customers. Improving
their online customer platform, which will enable the
organization to know their consumers better and attend to their
needs by using large data analytics. Next, improving their
product demand forecasting, will reduce the rate of

9. opportunities missed. Finally, improving their financial
planning, which will enable the business to grow because they
will be able to visualize the areas that resources are more
required such as marketing or development of products. Without
a proper financial plan, decisions made within the company
become more risky and the business might end up losing or
missing great opportunities (Steenburgh, T. J., & Avery, J.
(2010).
Presenting Recommendations or
Solution
s to Identified Opportunities for Improvement
When businesses and organizations are faced with challenges,
decision-makers tend to rely on the traditional route to solving
problems. Many managers consider the traditional route as the
logical decision process. Experience plays a critical role in the
logical decision process and in lateral thinking, an
unconventional type of thinking that enables people to solve
problems. Research shows that not all business problems lend
themselves to the logical decision process and thus managers
should consider other approaches to solving such problems. As
a result, they can rely on the unconventional problem-solving
approach or lateral thinking which relies on experience.
Conventional approaches to problem-solving are rarely effective
since they dwarf innovativeness. They also tend to be
incomplete and inadequate and thus there is a need to find new

10. approaches that are based on fresh ideas. The paper lists
recommendations and solutions that can improve the decision-
making process for organizations.
The paper recommends lateral thinking as a solution to
decision-making challenges that organizations face. Lateral
thinking refers to a technique of solving problems that uses an
indirect yet creative approach through reasoning (Aithal &
Kumar, 2017). In business, it is a technique that removes the
traditional formulaic and routine problem-solving strategies and
incorporates creative thinking thus finding unconventional ways
to solve problems. For instance, in an organization such as
Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association (TIAA), decision-
making tends to be a robust process since it deals with several
issues for its clients. As one of the largest commercial real
estate managers and an agricultural investor in the world, and
with millions of clients, decision-making is a very important
process for the organization. Lateral thinking consists of four
main elements that set it apart as one of the most effective
approaches to solving business challenges. First, it is based on
questioning assumptions on how the world works such that any
wrong assumption can have serious consequences when
considered as a solution.
Second, lateral thinking is based on asking the right questions
so that decision-makers can establish the right framework.
Asking the right questions enables decision-makers to implicitly

11. reject irrelevant assumptions. Third, it involves creativity and
brainstorming so that the right decision is realized. Lastly,
lateral thinking also uses logic which is a well-reasoned
approach to solving problems. It requires experience, reason,
logic, and problem analysis to refine their ideas. Therefore,
lateral thinking involves using many tools and addressing a
problem from various angles to find the best solution. The paper
recommends that managers should use the experience as the
basis for running a business and solving any challenges that
may arise. It is beneficial for them to understand the business so
that they can identify the best methods and approaches to
handle any business challenge. One of the advantages of using
experience in running businesses is that managers can always
anticipate and prepare themselves for any challenges.
However, experience may sometimes render people unable to
appreciate and utilize innovation in running businesses and
addressing challenges (Butler, 2010). Therefore, it is difficult
for decision-makers to always have the right solution to every
problem. However, since experience is one of the key elements
of lateral thinking, it can equip decision-makers to address
problems from various perspectives so that they have different
solutions to a problem. Experience also comes with flexibility
which is an important component in decision making. Butler
(2020) shows that since some business problems do not lend
themselves to decisions that result from a straightforward

12. process of problem identification, there is a need to adopt
alternative unconventional approaches such as lateral thinking
to make the right decision. Lateral thinkers use their experience
to analyze problems and make decisions.
The paper also recommends the application of ethics in
decision-making. Ethics provide standards for behaviors that
can help decision-makers to act right in every situation. Since
decisions permeate every aspect of business, ethics should also
concern every aspect of business (Ferrell & Fraedrich, 2016).
Ethical decision-making requires a trained sensitivity to ethical
issues which can be enhanced through experience. For instance,
when decision-makers practice ethical thinking regularly, they
become familiar with it such that they develop moral intuition
about specific situations. In professional contexts, ethical
thinking is rational, normative, and sensitive to circumstances
thus making it appropriate for running businesses and
addressing business challenges (Jurković, Jurković & Jambrešić,
2018). Rationality is concerned with the consistency of logic
and its compatibility with the facts concerning an ethical
situation. It, therefore, ensures that there are justifications for
actions or solutions taken. Normativity is based on the fact that
ethical reasoning should show how professionals should conduct
themselves in certain situations. Stanley (2009) affirms the
value of ethical decision making especially in difficult times.
The author shows that many of the decisions that people make

13. whether in business involve tradeoffs and competing values and
thus ethical thinking can equip them with the right skills for
making decisions.
In conclusion, the paper recommends the use of lateral thinking,
experience, and ethical thinking in running businesses and
addressing any problems that may arise from running
businesses. Lateral thinking is an unconventional technique for
problem-solving that also relies on elements of experience.
Through experience, a manager can know how to handle a
business such that they can apply unconventional techniques to
any problem. Ethical thinking is also important since decisions
about right and wrong permeate all levels of business.
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