Toyota: A Case Study On Company Profile, Marketing Strategies, And Analysis (essay).

Question:

Using Toyota as a Case Study. Investigate company profile, industry analysis, marketing mix, PESTEL analysis, SWOT analysis, Porter's Five Forces model (BRESS), Competitor analysis, cultural dimension, Ethical dimension, and describe a major case in Toyota's recent Marketing history.

The report outlines trading operations and activities of the Toyota. Further, it explains the mission and vision of the firm. It tells that how the company is using marketing mix strategy and brand management strategies within the organization. Apart from this, it also explains the Pestle analysis, SWOT analysis, and porter five forces model to analyze and measure the strengths and weaknesses of the competitors across the world. It describes that how the company is using BCG matrix within the organization. It outlines that how the company is addressing the ethical issues within the organization.

Toyota motor is a Japanese automotive manufacturer company. The company was founded in 1937 with its headquartered is located in Aichi, Japan. There are approx 364,445 employees employed in the company. It is the fifth biggest company in the world measured by the revenue. It is one of the biggest automotive manufacturer companies around the world. In today’s era, the company is producing more than 10 million vehicles in the world.  The firm is listed on the Japan stock exchange. It is the world market player in sales of hybrid electric vehicles. Toyota is dealing with various automobiles, engines, commercial vehicles and luxury vehicles around the world. In today’s world, the company is increasing its revenue and profit and it is expanding its business activities globally. The mission of the Toyota is to attract and retain customers by providing a high quality of products and services in the world. The vision of the company is to become a successful leader in the automotive car manufacturing industry. The primary market of the company includes businessmen, urban families and young executives (Fan, Geddes & Flory, 2013).

Toyota is the automotive car manufacturing corporation which operates its business activities globally. It is trying to beat the competitors across the world. The competitors of the Toyota include Honda motors, Nissan motors, Ford motor company, Tata Motors, and Volkswagen. These are the main competitors of the company. The company has obtained approx 4.26 percent share in the U.S (McLean-Cobban, 2013). 

Marketing mix plays a vital role in Toyota Corporation. It is the tool to fulfill the needs and requirements of the consumers across the world. The marketing covers 4Ps (Product, price, place, and promotion) which have been discussed below (Loureiro, Sardinha & Reijnders, 2012).

Marketing Strategies

Product:  There are various product produced by the Toyota in the universal market. Product strategy is used by the company to identify the needs, requirements, and expectations of the customers across the world. This strategy also used by the company to differentiate its products from the competitor’s products.

Price: The appropriate prices of the products are fixed by the company. Further, the company focuses on the income level of the consumers around the world. It will also help to gain the competitive advantages in the market (Lucky & Takim, 2015).

Place: The firm has been able to identify and evaluate the market segment and place to sell the products of the company. Mostly, the company is selling its vehicles in Africa, Europe, Asia and America (Yüksel, 2012).

Promotion: The advertisement and promotional strategies are used by the company to increase the sale of the vehicles in the world. It also helps to make a good image in the market (Ivanova, 2015).

The brand management plays an integral role in Toyota Corporation in order to build and develop a good image in the market. It is the most popular and well-known brand in the world. The company has specialized in automobiles and engineering products.  Along with this, the company uses different marketing strategies to increase and enhance the brand of the company. Through brand management, the company is able to increase the profit and revenue of the company (Li et al, 2016).

Segmentation: It is the important strategy of the company. The company divides the market into the different segments of the world in order to distribute the products in an effective way. Under market segmentation, Toyota focuses on the businessmen and middle-class people to earn more revenue in the market (Venter, Wright & Dibb, 2015).

Targeting: Toyota Corporation focuses on the target market in order to attain the success and growth of the company. It monitors on the effective market to beat the competitors in the market. Further, it makes various strategies to reach its target audience in the world.

Positioning: This strategy helps to make a good and effective position in the market. Through positioning strategy, the company selects the suitable marketing mix for the target audience. Under positioning strategy, the firm uses generic strategy and differentiation strategy in order to gain the competitive benefits in the automotive industry.

The PESTLE analysis is used by the company to identify and measure the external environment to beat the competitors across the world. The PESTLE analysis of Toyota has been discussed below.

PESTEL Analysis

Political: The government rules, regulations, laws affect the business activities and operations adversely. Therefore, Toyota must focus on the political factors in order to gain the competitive benefits around the world (Hanzaee & Rouhani, 2013).

Economic: The economic factors include inflation rate, interest rate, unemployment rate and growth rate. These factors influence the trading activities and operations adversely. These elements must be controlled and managed by the company (Sair & Shoaib, 2014).

Socio-cultural: The socio-cultural factors include culture, values, customs, religion and lifestyle of the people. These factors affect the vehicles and fuel efficiency of the Toyota. The company should evaluate and measure these factors to accomplish the goals and objectives of the firm.

Technological: The technology such as internet influence the sale of the Toyota products in the market. Further, the firm has introduced hybrid technology to gain the competitive advantages within the organization (Roh, Hong & Min, 2014).

Environmental: The environmental factors include weather; climate and globalization which influence the sale of the Toyota vehicles. Therefore, the company must maintain safety regulations, and environmental standards to expand the business activities globally.

Legal: There are various legal factors exist in the macro environment which affects the activities and operations of the company. The legal factors include the taxation, competition law, and intellectual property law. Therefore, the company must focus on these factors to expand its business globally (Thompson, 2015).

The SWOT analysis is done by the company to measure and identify the strengths, weakness, opportunities, and threats of the company. The SWOT analysis has been discussed below (Yuan, 2013).

The porter five forces model shows that the company should focus on the competitors in the global market. Along with this, the firm needs to analyze and evaluate the needs, expectations, and choices of the customers around the world. The porter five forces model has been discussed below (Kajanus et al, 2012).

Competitive rivalry: The Company needs to focus on the competitors of the Toyota. There are various factors affect the competitive rivalry in the market. Therefore, effective and dynamic strategies should be used by the company to gain the competitive advantages in the world.

Bargaining power of buyers/customers: The customers affect the business activities and revenue of the Toyota. The external factors give contribution to the barraging power of customers. These factors include high and good quality of information and low switching cost. The company should focus on the desires, requirements, behavior, and needs of the suppliers.

SWOT Analysis

Bargaining power of suppliers: The main aim of the Toyota suppliers is to improve the activities and operations of the business. Thus, the firm must monitors on the bargaining power of suppliers and weak forces within the organization. It helps to attain the mission and vision of the firm with maintaining sustainability at the workplace (Mohapatra, Choudhury & Ganesh, 2017).

Threats of the substitutes: Substitutes affect trading activities of the company by producing the similar products in the market. Thus, the Toyota should identify the plans, policies, and strategies of the competitors to overcome on the competitors around the world.

Threats of new entrants: New entrants are considered the potential and competent competitors of the company which influences the business of the firm. Hence, the company must evaluate and measure the new entrants to reduce the risks and key challenges of the firm.

(Source: https://research-methodology.net/toyota-porters-five-forces-analysis/)

Ford, Volkswagen, and Honda are the major competitors of the Toyota. The ford company has maintained strong position in the American market. The financial position of the company is very strong. These are the strengths of the ford around the world. Low stock prices and poor reputation and status with investors are the major weaknesses of the Ford motor company (Jindal, Laveena & Aggarwal, 2015).

The product portfolio of the Honda is diversified and its position is very strong in Asia. These are considered the strengths of the company. The weaknesses include that Honda is dependent on the North America and low investment in research and development. These are the major weaknesses of the company.

The BCG matrix of the Toyota Corporation plays a significant role to attain competitive benefits and to gain the long-term revenue of the company.  The BCG matrix has been discussed below (Soltanifar, & Ansari, 2016).

The organizational culture of the Toyota Corporation is unique and dynamic to attract more customers in the global market. Hofstede’s cultural dimension model is used by the company to beat the competitors in the market to provide cross-cultural training to the employees. The Hofstede model focuses on the five value dimensions of the culture which also affect the national culture (Autio & Thomas, 2014).

Hofstede cultural dimension model

(Source: https://www.hofstede-insights.com/country-comparison/japan/)

Toyota is expanding and flourishing its business activities day by day. The company operates its business in US, Japan, China, Indonesia, India, Kenya, UK, and France. Therefore the firm must focus on the environment of the different countries to reduce the key challenges and risks of the market. In this way, the firm can make a good position in the global market (Takami, 2014).

Porter's Five Forces Model

Ethics is a branch of philosophy which involves defending, systematizing and suggesting the concepts of right or wrong conduct. The firm must maintain business ethics and code of conducts within the organization. Further, experimentation, respect, imagination, humility, and integrity are the core values of the Toyota which should be followed and maintained by the employees to expand its business globally (Bowen & Zheng, 2015).

The company uses the code of conducts in the organization in order to fulfill the social responsibility of the company. The Toyota code of conducts is considered the significant guiding tool to conduct and run business activities and operations globally. It also helps to reduce the key issues related to the environment and society. By maintaining a code of conduct, the company is able to fulfill the need and desires of the consumers across the world (García-Madariaga & Rodríguez-Rivera, 2017).

There are various ethical challenges faced by the Toyota Corporation within the organization. The firm is not able to build and develop effective and unique communication with customers in the global market and it also affects the loyalty and morality of the employees. Apart from this, the company has to face the litigation and criminal problems in the United States. The ethical issues also affect the confidence and integrity of the consumers across the world.  Further, the company is fixing the high prices of products and vehicles to determine the long-term growth and success of the firm. These are the ethical issues in the Toyota Corporation which should be reduced and managed by the company (Jindal, Laveena & Aggarwal, 2015).

Toyota is the global leader in the auto industry but in 2009, the company had to face various issues in the global market. Toyota had to recall more than 8 million vehicles due to unintended acceleration and poor window system.  It was the biggest challenge for the company. As a result, the sale of the company decreased by 16 percent and costs increased by $5 billion in that year. The growth and success of the company are also affected by this key issue and challenge. Therefore, various marketing strategies were made by the company to overcome on this key issue within the organization.

• Technology and customer satisfaction were the main forces in the Toyota. Due to this crisis, the customer had to suffer a lot of problems. It also affects the sales and revenue of the company. It also affected the buying behavior of the consumers around the world. It also affects the brand image of the company.
• The company took various actions to resolve this issue within the organization. Toyota appointed a team to address this issue. It developed and built a recovery plan to resolve this issue. The company had developed a communication blueprint plan to identify and evaluate this issue.
• Marketing partnership strategy was used by the company. Further, collaboration strategy was used by the Toyota. Apart from this, brand reputation rebuilding strategy was implemented by the company. In addition, all the vehicles were recalled by the company to resolve this issue. Further, effective and unique communication strategies were also used by the company.
• Various effective and dynamic strategies were used by the company to regain its position in the market. As a result, the company overcame and reduced this issue. Further, Toyota also gained corporate reputation and goodwill in the market. The company again started its business activities and operations in an effective way.
• The company could have used effective and innovative technologies to overcome this challenge in the market. Further, effective and unique collaboration must have maintained by the company with customers. They should have resolved their problem and key issues by providing effective and unique vehicles.
• Porter five forces model was used by the company to resolve and address this issue. Thus, the company gained competitive benefits in the global market.

Conclusion

On the above aforesaid information, it has been measured and concluded that Toyota is one of the largest players in the world. Further, SWOT analysis, porter five forces model, and pestle analysis are done by the company to identify the major competitors of the company. These tools are also used by the company to gain the completive benefits within the organization. In addition, marketing mix and BCG matrix are also done by the company to reduce the key challenges of the market. In addition, the company should focus on the ethical issues to build and develop a brand image in the global market. Apart from this, the company uses Hofstede cross-cultural model to provide training and development coaching within the organization

Competitor Analysis

References

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