Abstract
Since the popular Toyota Company automobile production in the late 2009, the company has experienced the worst market and financial crisis as a result of an unanticipated quality issues in the industry. This necessitated the company to make the largest legitimately car recall around the globe. The company’s much struggled reputation of production of excellent automobile in the market since 1937 was threatened by the crisis. The crisis threatened also the model image which had earned global praise in terms of quality. This paper focus to elaborate Toyota Company strategies in the global market as well as strategies of venturing into new markets around the world. The paper also examines at the industry, organizational, consumer, technological strategies the company is employing to the leader in the competitive automobile industry. A qualitative research combined with interviews with the company’s’ clients, and the all the stakeholders was conducted to look at the potential strategies for the company. The results of the finding showed the company future is bright since the results were positive. The Toyota’s clients are not moved by the negative publicities; the need to implement all the strategies proposed in order to regain its lost reputation. The findings also indicated that the company has already implemented some strategies in other giant economic countries and it is working.
Introduction
Toyota Motor Company which was started in 1937 is based in Japan and deals with automotive business involving manufacturing, retail, and design. In addition the Company has set assembly plants and distribution centers in many global countries, and its supplementary outlets in Japan which produce vehicles, car parts, industrial accessories, steel, and synthetic resin. The group of automobiles includes Daihatsu, Lexus, Toyota, and Hino models. The Toyota Corporation is the principal producer and distributor of cars and other kinds of automobiles in the market worldwide. Currently the Company dominates the market by share of 50% followed by Nissan and Honda Companies .The three are the Japanese automobile manufacturers. The Toyota process in the automobile industry includes product design, global marketing, and structured network of distribution, technology development, and service provision. In addition, the company is venturing and has expanded its business profiles to diverse fields of biotechnology, marine, housing, communication, and financing. Toyota Corporation has experienced organization structure that the corporation employs has been one of the explanation for their high-quality performance. There are a number of other outstanding reasons that have enabled the corporation to attain the position of global market leader in production of automobiles.
According to the findings available from 2008-2009 global depression report, it proposes that the Toyota Company need to reduce its internal cost as global strategy to business response. This will be essentially attained through flattening the Company’s hierarchies and outsourcing the company dealings to lower-cost nations. The source also proposes that there is the need for the company to venture into nations where there is political stability. This will ensure that the company have conducive environment for doing its business.
According to Christensen (1997) there is the need for Toyota Company to embrace modern technologies to improve on their automobile quality and also to maintain its market position globally. This will enable the company to serve its clients effectively around the world. The statistics available in the company and interviews from its customers indicate that the company has technological set of ideas in the automobile manufacturing and servicing. The findings show also that the company has well coordinated environmental technology which ensures that their products are eco-friendly. Safety technology has been prioritized by the company which develops global safety technologies in the industry. Robot technology plays a significant role as a factor in the market in car manufacturing. In addition, the Company has developed personal mobility technology to ensure that there is diversity in production. The company has embraced ITS technology which aims to combine automobile with social infrastructures in an omnipresent-network society.
The findings of the Toyota Company research team and interviews conducted on major stakeholders in the industry proposed strategies that the company will employ to redeem the industry as a global leader. The findings require the company to efficiently deal with crisis issue with accountability. The stakeholders who largely involve the company’s customers proposed that the company should address the issue professionally. This essentially according to the report was anchored on the previous positive assessment of similar models, which in turn offers the Company a structure of insurance against the prospective overwhelming effect of crisis. The finding further states that the automobile industry in which the Toyota Company operates in is multifaceted and challenging especially at the moment when it faces a lot of global issues in the financial market. These issues range from worldwide competition, dropping sales, frozen credit world markets, escalated gasoline prices, and the very current need to go “green”. According to the statistics and facts available with the industry, Toyota is the world market principal in automobile industry has half of its market in Asian region, where the Japan domestic market supplies 36.4% of the total sales of the company as per 2009 financial year. Further the statistics says that in the same year after the company had been in the market for 70 years, it incurred losses amounting to USD$ 4,500 million and registered growth of -20.4%.The company is currently coping with these misfortunes, through invention and acclimatizing fast to the changing dynamics of the global market. The 2009 crisis according to the industry insiders and available facts blames largely the crisis on management. The respondent also suggests that there is the need for the management team to be fully committed to the implementation process to assure its clients safe and reliable automobiles in the future.
According to the interviews with the customers after the crisis, it was evident that the news of Toyota crisis never influenced them to change their tastes. The customers interviewed showed the confidence that the company will regain its reputation despite the crisis. The respondent did not showed not any form of anxiety and horror upon receiving the news on the recall of the companies’ brands globally. The clients rather indicated relatively loyal sentiments toward Toyota; in addition, they presented strong effectual bonds to the brand. According to the finding of the research and interviews, the customer trusted in Toyota status without perceiving the problem as of big magnitude as reported by American mass media. Toyota’s clients are well distributed and they vary from middle income earners to very wealthy individuals. Toyota Company meets the requirement for all automobiles specifications that may come up for any person with their extensive variety of motor vehicles. Their vehicles are varied from small sports cars to large family-size motor vehicles, trucks and vans. Toyota clients are all the persons who travel by cars .Nevertheless, the probable clients also comprise of individuals who use the public mode of public transport, taxis, and automobiles. The company covers various segments of the market. According to the finding of the market research and the customer interviews around the globe presented the company with better ways of bringing back the reputation of the company. The findings strongly advocate for the company to focus on research on the relevant market in the world .This will enable the company to check on the possible challenges which might hinder the company from producing unique automobile products in the market. The research also will provide the company with the possible causes of threats to its strategic plans thus enabling the industry to devise ways of mitigating the perceived problem.
According to Toyota Company top management group report after the 2009 crisis, it recommends that there is need to come up with assessment and control group which will oversee the corporation obligation in realization of various policies. The group monitors both the short and long-term policies. Through the team, the Company has produced hybrid vehicles and the market is now convinced of the produced brands. Through the evaluation of various factors, the company looks forward at embracing joint venture strategy .The chine fast developing market provide the best opportunity for the company to explore. The Toyota Company aims at selecting Chinese established domestic markets to launch Toyota’s products to the global mass market. The Company also has the duty of training the employees because the Japanese technology is advance than the Chinese one. This will guarantee the Company continued future expansion and growth and boost the market share in the global arena. The company has also explored markets in India which categorized with China as the fastest growing markets in the world.
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