Showing posts with label Toyota. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Toyota. Show all posts

Corporate Culture Of Toyota Marketing Essay

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Toyota is one of the world's biggest automobile producers; trade over 9 million models in 2006 on all over the world. Top 10 wealth Global 500 project, Toyota grades among the world's leading worldwide corporations and is superior to be the most well-liked automaker. A success of the company is to that they the commitment to customer happiness. Toyota has been created by a set of values and principles that have their line in the company's formative years in Japan.

Toyota gives the new thought of cars is about dreams, feeling and motivation. They are a single ability for Toyota to say where the aim is heading, and to prove its customers what they map in the mind as well as in future, but the fact is that Toyota engineer there’s a lot more too automotive design than dreaming up what you want your car to look like on the outside. Designers have to work closely with engineers, production plants, and marketing specialists to create a car that is not only beautiful, but that will sell and is practical to own. Toyota company changes their model in every 3rd year, whereas other companies changes their models in every 5th year.

According to the internet website Sakichi Toyoda, a productive creator, formed the Toyoda Automatic Loom Company founded on his innovative designs, one of which was approved to a British concern for 1 million yen; this money was utilized to help found Toyota Motor Company, which was maintained by the Japanese government partly because of the military purposes. The Japanese relied on overseas trucks in the war in Manchuria, but with the hopelessness, money was limited. Domestic invention would decrease costs, offer jobs, and create the country more self-governing. By 1936, just after the first victorious Toyoda vehicles were manufactured, Japan demanded that any automakers selling in the country needed to have a majority of stockholders from Japan, along with all officers, and stopped nearly all imports. (Article by Konrad Schreier)

Toyoda's car operations were placed in the hands of Kiichiro Toyoda, Sakichi Toyoda’s son; they started experimenting with two cylinder engines at first, but ended up copying the Chevrolet 65-horsepower straight-six, using the same chassis and gearbox with styling copied from the Chrysler Airflow. The first engine was produced in 1934 (the Type A), the first car and truck in 1935 (the Model A1 and G1, respectively), and its second car design in 1936 (the model AA). In 1937, Toyota Motor Company was split off.

From 1936 to 1943, only 1,7,57 cars were made – 1,404 sedans and 353 phaetons (model AB), but Toyoda found more success building trucks and busses. (Some of these early details are from http://www.geocities.com/toyotageek/) The Toyota KB, a 4x4 produced starting in 1941, was a two-ton truck similar to the prewar KC; it had a loading capacity of 1.5 tons and could run up to about 43 mph. The GB was based on the peacetime, 1.5 ton G1 truck, which in turn was based on the Model A1 cars. (From global spec).

The first Toyoda truck was roughly a one-ton to one and a half-ton design, conventional in nature, using (after 1936) an overhead valve six-cylinder engine that appears to have been a clone of the Chevrolet engine of the time: indeed, a large number of parts were interchangeable, and Toyoda trucks captured in the war were serviced by the Allies with Chevrolet components. There was also a forty-horsepower four cylinder model, very similar to the six cylinders in design but rather underpowered for a truck with a full ton of capacity.

Corporate culture is a culture in which a term used to describe the joint principles, appeal systems, and process that offer a company with its own limited flavour and way. Businesses of all sizes posses some type of corporate culture, in that every company has a set of principles and goals that help to define what the business is all about. Here are some examples of rudiments that go into creating and defining a corporate culture.

  At the establishment of several company cultures are the values that preside over the function of the trade. These principles are typically expressed in terms of the policies and measures that describe how the company will function. This will take in how altered departments or functions recount to one another in the manufacture process, the queue of communication well-known among management and departmental workforce, and rules leading satisfactory behaviour of each one who is part of the company. This essential managerial society makes it probable to build up other layers of business culture based on these foundational factors.

The basic reason for Toyota's victory in the worldwide marketplace lies in its corporate attitude – the set of rules and manners that run the use of its possessions. Toyota have profitably penetrated international markets and recognized a world-wide occurrence by good worth of its efficiency. The company's approach to both product development and distribution is very consumer-friendly and market-driven. Toyota's philosophy of empowering its workers is the attraction of a human resources management system that promotes creativity, continuous improvement, and innovation by encouraging employee participation and that likewise creates high levels of employee loyalty. Knowing that a workplace with high spirits and job satisfaction is more likely to produce reliable, high-quality products at affordable prices, Toyota have institutionalized many successful workforce practices. Toyota has done so not only in its own plants but also in supplier plants those were experiencing problems.

While a lot of car manufacturer have earned a reputation for building high-class cars, they have been not capable to conquer Toyota's reward in human resource management, dealer networks and sharing systems in the highly reasonable car market. Much of Toyota's success in the globe markets is certified in a straight line to the synergistic recital of its policies in human resources management and supply-chain networks.

Toyota has taken various steps to build high performance teams:

Stage 1: Orientation. The group needs strong way from the manager and must recognize the essential task, policy of commitment, and tools the members will use.

Stage 2: Dissatisfaction. After leaving to job, the members find out it is harder than they thinking to work as a group. In this phase, they go on with to need strong path (structure) from the boss but also need a lot of communal maintain to get through the tough social dynamics they do not recognize.

Stage 3: Integration. The collected group starts to build up a clearer image of the roles of var­ious side members and begins to bring to tolerate manage over group processes. The head does not have to give much duty direction, but the group still wants a lot of public sustain.

Stage 4: Production. The group become a high-performing team by their own and no longer they dependent on the leader.

In a meeting, people do the similar mindless task frequently and are accountable only for a minute piece of overall manufactured goods. Toyota has attempted to augment jobs in a variety of ways. Some of the quality that make the job more inspiring take in job revolution, a variety of kinds of feedback on how workers are undertaking at their jobs, the andon system and important work group independence over the tasks. Toyota became involved in job enhancement in the 1990s and redesigned its congregation appearance so that the parts that make up a subsystem of the motor vehicle are installed in one particular area on the assembly line. Rather than a work group assembling electrical systems and then putting in floor mats and then door handles, a work group strength focus almost wholly on the electrical system under the cover. For white collar employees, Toyota organizes team’s approximately com­plete projects from start to come to an end. For example, the plan of the interior of the car is the blame of one team from the plan stage from side to side produc­tion. Participation in the project from start to end enriches and empowers the member of staff.

People are encouraged by demanding but achievable goals and measurement of advancement toward those goals. Toyota's visual management systems plus policy consumption means that teams always know how they are doing and are always functioning towards stretch development targets. Policy deployment sets demanding, stretch goals from the top to the bottom of the company. Careful capacity every day let work teams know how they are performing.

According to internet when processes are steady, squander and inefficiencies become openly able to be seen, there is a chance to learn contin­ually from improvement. To be a learning group, it is essential to have constancy of personnel, slow encouragement, and very suspicious succession systems to defend the managerial information base. To "learn" means having the ability to construct on the history and move forward incrementally, rather than starting over and reinventing the wheel with new personnel with each new task.

The Toyota philosophy emphasises that accurate problem solving requires identifying the root grounds which often lies hidden away from the source." The answer lies in digging deeper by asking why the trouble occurred. The hardest part to find out is grasping the condition thor­oughly before taking place with five-why analysis. Grasping the situation starts with observing the condition with an open mind and comparing the genuine situation to the measure. To clarify the problem, one must begin by going to where the prob­lem is (genchi genbutsu). For Toyota, trouble solving is 20% tools and 80% judgment. For most other companies, it seems to be 80% tools and 20% thinking. A key to learning and increasing, not only within Toyota but in Japanese civilization, is Hansei, which generally means "reflection." Hansei means reflection on the development of developing the vehicle. Hansei is the check stage of PDCA. It is used most often at the end of a vehicle program, but is being now moved additional upstream so there are quite a lot of Hansei events at key junctures in the program.

Becoming a lean enterprise involves a lot of hard work. The company should follow the recommend the following steps:

Start with achievement in the technological system; follow quickly with cultural change. The social and technical sys­tems of TPS are intertwined. If a company wants to change the culture, it must also develop true lean leaders who can reinforce and lead that cultural change. The best way a company can develop this is through action to improve the company's core value streams, supported by committed leaders who reinforce culture change. Start with value stream pilots to demonstrate lean as a system and provide a go see" model. Within a value stream that defined by a product family. The model line should become a singularly focused project with a great deal of management attention and resources to make it a suc­cess. Use value stream mapping to develop future state visions and help "learn to see. The team members learn together as they see the waste in the current state, and in the future state they come together to figure out how to apply the lean tools and philosophy. Value stream mapping should be applied only to specific product families that will be immediately transformed. Use kaizen workshops to teach and make rapid changes. Using a talented and experienced facilitator who has a deep understanding of lean tools and philosophy with a specific problem to tackle makes all the dif­ference in what can be accomplished. However, the kaizen workshop should not become an end in itself. Kaizen workshops are best used as one tool to implement specific improvements guided by a future state value stream map. Organize around value streams. In most organizations, management is organ­ized by process or function. In a factory, there may be the paint department, the assembly department, and the maintenance department. Value stream managers have complete responsibility for the value stream and can answer the customer. Someone with real leadership skills and a deep understanding of the product and process must be responsible for the process of creating value for customers and must be accountable to the customer. Make it mandatory. If a company looks at lean transformation as a nice thing to do in any spare time or as voluntary, it will simply not happen.



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Integrated Marketing Communication Plan For Toyota Motor Corporation Marketing Essay

Marketing » Integrated Marketing Communication Plan For Toyota Motor Corporation Marketing Essay

This is a one year marketing plan for Toyota Motor Corporation for the year 2011. Upon its adoption and subsequent implementation, it should redeem the company’s dented global image and restore consumer confidence in the products so as to increase the sales margin in the year. The plan analyses the company’s current position relative to its competitors and customers, the current internal and external strengths and weaknesses and the opportunities and threats that are facing the company. It also takes a stakeholder perspective and looks at the company from their point of view, explores the various strategies that the company can use for marketing, as well as the objectives of the marketing plan. Further on, the plan will look at the tactics that the company could use to achieve these objectives, the actions to take, and how the plan will be evaluated and controlled.

Located in Japan, Toyota Motor Corporation is a public company in the motor vehicle industry that was incorporated in 1937. It deals in automobile and other vehicles wholesale; metal building and component manufacturing; light truck and utility vehicle manufacturing; heavy duty truck manufacturing; motor vehicle body manufacturing; gasoline engine and engine parts manufacturing; other motor vehicle electrical and electronic equipment manufacturing; motor vehicle steering and suspension components manufacturing; motor vehicle brake system manufacturing and motor vehicle transmission and power train parts manufacturing (International Directory of Company Histories 2010). Currently the company employees are estimated to be around 214,631 (Hannington 2010). The company’s main competitors include Honda Motors Co., Ltd., General Motors and Ford Motor Company.

To produce reliable vehicles and sustainable development of society by employing innovative and high quality products and services (Toyota 2010)

To sustain profitable growth by providing the best customer experience and dealer support (Toyota 2010)

Encouraging Professional Excellence

Welcoming New Challenges

Encouraging Teamwork

Customer First

Global Perspective

Recently, from September 2009, Toyota was hard hit with the Recall Crisis in which they had to recall about 7.5 million vehicles and suspend the sale of eight of its best selling vehicles, a move that cost the company and dealers an estimated $54 million a day ( Motor Trend 2010). This really affected their sales and image of being the world’s largest and most profitable maker of automobiles with a strong reputation for quality and dependability (CNN 2010).

It is estimated that in the world today, only a third of the populations enjoys the benefits of motor transport and the remaining two thirds do not have access to the privilege of using automated transport (Scott 2010). The potential for growth in the motor industry is therefore promising. This is especially so, in the emerging economies. There is therefore a big potential for quantitative growth in this industry. In addition, there is also space for qualitative growth (Scott 2010). This is in terms of adding value and the improvement of the quality of driving experience. Coupled with the on-going initiatives of improving conventional vehicle functions, the two major opportunities already emerging in the motor industry are in-vehicle mobile terminals and intelligent transportation systems (ITS) (Wesley 2010). ITS will reduce accident risks, route traffic more smoothly and make driving be a more fun-filled experience. Mobile terminals will lead to a major step forward towards the types of information that drivers and passengers can access while on the road (Wesley 2010).

In the developed countries today, consumers are demanding for more customized and luxurious automobiles each day. The total worldwide sales of luxury automobiles are about 1.5 million units with major markets being U.S.A, Japan and Germany (Newman 2010)

Though the developing countries are yet to catch up with this trend of more customized automobiles, there has been a notable increase in demand for less expensive models with low fuel consumption rates ( Littman 2010)

Research also that consumer behavior in this industry directly depends on promotion of products (Smith). The way in which products are promoted directly influences consumer behavior, with the internet being believed to have the most impact (Davis 2010).

Strengths

Global organization with strong international position in 170 countries all over the world

Strong brand image with basis on quality, customized range and environmental friendly.

Industry leader in manufacturing and production of automobiles and parts.

Superb penetration in key markets (EMEA, China, US). It is said to be the second largest automobile manufacturer behind Ford ( Bradley 2010)

Weaknesses

Since it is based in Japan, it is sometimes seen as a foreign car importer in most countries.

Toyota produces most of its cars in the US and Japan whereas its competitors may be more strategically placed to take advantage of the global efficiency gains.

Criticism and dented image due to the large scale recall in 2005, 2009 and 2010.

Opportunities

Innovation and advanced technologies that leads to the demand for more customized and luxurious cars

Demand for cars that use alternative sources of fuel (CNET Car Tech 2010)

New market segments that require expansion into. For example, the upcoming ‘urban youth’ market.

Need for more efficient cars having less impact on the environment with greater performance.

To develop cars that respond to institutional and social wants ( The Motor Social Analyst 2010)

Increased global expansion more so in the emerging markets such as China and India where populations and demands increase by day.

Threats

Fluctuating global political and economic conditions that affect purchase of new cars.

Increased competition and saturation from rivals such as Ford.

Fluctuations in the exchange rates. These affect costs of raw materials and profits.

Shifting global demographics

Changing car usage with governments advocating for the use of public transport systems rather than private cars.

Rising fuel costs and car maintenance costs. This has led to most people getting discouraged from using cars of using them less often.

Such technological inventions as teleconferencing and online learning that reduce the need for car transport.

The stakeholders at Toyota want Toyota to advance their hybrid technology in order to gain brand name strength (Davis 2010). The stakeholders recognize their weaknesses and threats especially that of the recent recall and the Kyoto Protocol and therefore are seeking to do all that is possible to eradicate this (Chapman 2010). They are looking into the future and for ways in which to expand their brand name.

The repair the dented global company image

To redeem the lost global consumer confidence in their products

To expand the market share in order to become the leading automobile manufacturer in the world

To the sales margin by 10%

To increase global brand awareness to an average one in every five people.

As opposed to the traditional way of developing in terms of numbers and volumes, Toyota has developed a system that concentrates on making strategic decisions in line with its successes in the novel markets. Toyota also strives to clear its image in cases involving any kinds of negative publicity in the media. These plans should be achieved through initiating a strong marketing and production department. Consistency in product quality and more efforts in the brand advertisement initiatives are also some of the strategies to be adopted if Toyota has to gain a competitive edge over competitors. The most effective marketing methods should also be sought after. These methods should contain messages that will effectively be relayed to the intended target audience. Introduction of new technologies in to the market should place Toyota at a better position compared to rivals. This may include mass production of hybrid gas-electrical vehicles, eight-speed automatic transmission automobiles among other inventions.

The marketing tactics to be employed by Toyota will include:

Effective pricing of products in order to be the preferred cost-effective automobile precuts globally

Segmenting the market according to various factors such as comfort or fuel consumption in order to ensure that each market segment is catered for in terms of product availability.

Manufacturing more customized motor vehicles to meet specific demands of specific markets.

Consider effective global positioning relative to the other competitors to take advantage of the global efficiency gains.

Using an effective promotional mix e.g. advertisement, public relations, personal selling in order to sensitize the consumer on the new and existing products. These would be through the mass media, internet, global radios and other media.

In order to achieve the above stated objectives, the following actions shall be taken:

6.1 The Marketing Budget. In order to strengthen the marketing department, the company will avail more funds to enable it improve its activities, both quantitatively and qualitatively. The following shall be the annual budget.

ACTIVITY

DEPARTMENT RESPOSIBLE

AMOUNNT (in 000,000 $)

Website maintenance

Marketing

100

Press releases

Marketing

90

Mass media advertisement

Marketing

200

Magazine, brochure and catalogue printing and distribution

Marketing

150

Market research and surveys

Marketing in conjunction with R&D

150

Seminars and other forums

Marketing

100

Bill boards and LCD screens

Marketing

110

Emails

Marketing

100

Totals

1,000

6.2 Activities to be undertaken by the marketing staff. The marketing staff shall have the responsibility of doing the following:

Ensuring that the official company website is up to date with the current products and services of Toyota Motor Corporation and any other issues affecting the company.

Giving press release on a continuous basis and in case of any crises, the frequency of such would be increased to address the maters at hand.

Developing effective catchy and attractive media adverts to be distributed to different global and regional media houses and national or regional newspapers.

Developing, printing and distributing company magazines, brochures, catalogues and fliers regionally and globally.

Carrying out a market survey to find out the consumer perceptions on the company products and their needs.

Organizing seminars and forums where the current and new company products are showcased.

Mounting billboards and LCD screens in major cities around the world that advertise the company products.

Sending target emails to potential customers or clients.

Since this is an annual market plan, it will be evaluated wholesomely at the end of the year. However, there shall be quarterly evaluations in terms of projected sales, market share gained and consumer confidence achieved for each quarter. Evaluation shall be in terms of:

The market share gained

Volumes of sales achieved

Client feedbacks

Responses produced as a result of the marketing activities; whether positive or negative and the extent of each.

New opportunities created and threat eradicated by the plan

Any changes in the sales conversion rates

Returns on investment; whether positive or negative.

Sales control will seek to ensure that all sales will be properly recorded, fulfilled to the customer’s satisfaction and made at the correct places. Checks such as proper receipting and sales recording will be set up in order to ensure this.

To ensure that the company’s activities are reasonably profitable and cost effective, the budget shall not exceed the laid down figures. Unless there are unforeseen situation that will demand further funding, the above budget shall be adhered to.

This will seek to ensure that the set target in terms of brand awareness is reached. The company targets to increase its global brand awareness by approximately one in every five people globally.

Thought the company has undergone hard moments caused by the massive recalls, loss of consumer confidence, global economic crisis among other factors, the above marketing plan will put Toyota Motor Corporation at a competitive edge in comparison to its main competitors such as Ford, General Motors, redeem it s global image and lost consumer confidence in it products and in turn increase its sales margins.



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