The McLaren Group was founded in1963 and entered Formula One racing in 1966 achieving its first victory at the Belgium Grand prix in 1968.
Today, after 181 Grand Prix victories, the group owns one of the world's leading Formula One teams and has also expanded to include six separate companies in a variety of markets:
• McLaren Racing
• McLaren Automotive
• McLaren Electronics Systems (MES)
• McLaren Applied Technologies (MAT)
• McLaren Marketing
• Absolute Taste
Based near Woking, McLaren opened the new £40 million McLaren Production Centre (MPC) in November 2011 and expect annual production of the MP4-12C sports car to reach 4000 by 2015.
1. How has McLaren overcome the market entry barriers that are present in the mass car market?
2. How would you define the level of diversification shown by the McLaren Group? You will need to use appropriate tools to assess the logic of the portfolio to support your conclusion.
3. How does the McLaren approach to diversification reflect the historical perspective on corporate diversification as discussed by Goold and Luchs (1993)?