TERM PAPER

OF

PRODUCT AND BRAND MANAGEMENT

TOPIC IS

COMPETITOR ANALYSIS OF MARUTI SUZUKI

PROGRAM = MBA [194]

SECTION=1902

SUBMITTED BY SUBMITTED TO

Name Amit kumar Mr.Krishan Gopal

Roll No b-43

Reg No-10903213

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Introduction

Maruti Udyog Limited is India's largest automobile company. Its main factory is situated in Gurgaon district, Haryana. The company, a joint venture with of Government of India with Suzuki ofJapan, has been a success story like no other in the annals of the Indian automobile

industry. The first cars rolled out for sale on 14th December 1983, (the Company went into production in a record 13 months), marking the beginning of a revolution in the Indian automobile industry. The Indian car market had stagnated at a volume of 30,000 or 40,000 cars a year for the decade ending 1983. In 1993, this figure reached a number of 1,96,820. Maruti's figures are a different story altogether. Maruti reached a total production of one million motorcars in March 1994, becoming the first Indian company to cross this milestone and crossed the two million mark in 1997. For the year ended

1997-98, Maruti posted a turnover of US$ 2.1 billion and a Profit Before Tax of US$ 244 million. During the year, Maruti produced over 350,000 vehicles, out of which 26,000 were exported. Maruti has made profits in every single year since inception, and has been paying dividends for ten years. Through the years Maruti has provided world-class Japanese technology, suitably adapted to Indian conditions and Indian car users. Maruti's market share figures show the response of customers: In 1997-98, its market share of vehicles was over 70%. In addition to leading in the economy car segment, Maruti is also the leader in the luxury car segment with a market share of 38%. Maruti also sells the Grand Vitara, sports utility vehicle (SUV) in India. The success of the joint venture led Suzuki to increase its equity from 26% to 40% in 1987, and further to 50% in 1992. As a result, Maruti changed from being a government company to a non-government company. With the introduction of economic liberalization from July 1991, the government realized the high growth potential of the passenger car market. It took note of the contribution of this segment in promoting employment, technological up gradation of industry and contribution to government revenues. Policy changes took place accordingly. Maruti's excellent performance in the post-liberalization milieu is in keeping with the earlier trend set by it. As a result, the transfer of technology from Suzuki has been a smooth process. By February 1990, a local content of above 90% was reached for the Maruti 800.

Mission satment:-To provide maximum value of money to their customer through continuous improvement of products and services.

Vision statement:-Creating customer delight and shareholders wealth.

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COMPETITOR INTRODUCTION

Introduction

 Toyota is one of the world's largest automobile manufacturers, selling over 9 million models in 2006¹ on all five continents. A Top 10 Fortune Global 500² enterprise, Toyota ranks among the world's leading global corporations and is proud to be the most admired automaker³, an achievement the company believes stems from its dedication to customer satisfaction.Toyota has been shaped by a set of values and principles that have their roots in the company's formative years in Japan. The Toyota story begins in the late 19th century, when Sakichi Toyoda invented Japan’s first power loom, which was to revolutionize the country’s textile industry. In January 1918, Sakichi founded the Toyoda Spinning & Weaving Company, and with the help of his son, Kiichiro Toyoda, he fulfilled his lifelong dream of building an automatic loom in 1924. Two years later, he established Toyoda Automatic Loom Works. Like his father, Kiichiro was an innovator, and during his visits to Europe and the U.S. in the 1920s, he became deeply interested in the nascent automotive industry. Making the most of the £100,000 that Sakichi Toyoda received for selling the patent rights of his automatic loom, Kiichiro laid the foundations of Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC), which was established in 1937. From looms to cars, the Toyota experience has been shaped by extending the boundaries of manufacturing.

OverviewToyota Motor Corporation is a multinational corporation headquartered in Japan. Today, Toyota is the world's third largest manufacturer of automobiles. Providing the most reliable automobile for its customer is the Toyota’s specialty. Toyota Motor Corporation recently celebrated its 70 years both as a carmaker and half a century of selling cars in America. In 2007 Toyota sold 8.52m vehicles and its net income rose by 20% and become $14 billion. Moreover Toyota is aiming to sell 10.4m vehicles in 2009.   In Bangladesh it is the most popular automobile company to the car user and it has almost 70% market share in our country. It is always interested to get the attention of the young generation, family people, working executives, service holders, business people, in one word all kind of people. “Its mission” is to predict consumer trends and create a lineup of cars and trucks to capitalize on them. Each professional is expected to spend time out in the field talking to car buyers. The Japanese have a name for it: genchi genbutsu - go to the scene and confirm the actual happenings. With Toyota, one thing has never changed that their commitment to the communities where they do business. Toyota spends over billions of billion on R&D, design, manufacturing, sales and marketing operations. Over the world they have sales /service offices,..

COMPETITOR OBJECTIVE

Supporting One Another in Life and Living:-We aspire toward the realization of a society in which each individual can live with dignity and hope. To this end, we support efforts to activate the wisdom found in everyday life and to build a good society through mutual support and collaboration among neighbors.

Searching for the Art of Living Better:-In today's globalized world, nature is on the verge of crisis, while culture is undergoing a rapid transformation. We wish to contribute to the creation of a beautiful environment and dynamic local culture by nurturing relationships with

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the people of the world and learning from nature's wisdom, so that everyone can enjoy a compassionate and fulfilling coexistence.

Toward a Fulfilling Future:-We support initiatives to enrich the lives and minds of young people, with the aim of fostering the next generation, on whom the future depends. We hope that this will enable the next generation to respect each other's cultures from a broader perspective and to forge a path to the achievement of lasting peace.

CURRENT STRATEGY OF TOYOTA

1. Toyota is the largest motor company in Japan, and the third largest in the world.2. They understand the desire for personal mobility, but also the impact on finite resources.3. Toyota has established a lead in process - with lean manufacture and product

development.4. They have now gained a lead in product - with the Toyota Hybrid System.5. They have secured it with patents, and are exploiting it directly, and through licensing and

joint ventures.6.

As Shinichi Kato, head of Toyota's Technology R & D, said at the Third Toyota Environmental Forum, in October 1999:  "These are not merely temporary solutions that Toyota has selected for the Prius. These technologies, and the command of them, will shape the future of the automobile".

1. Toyota: Developing Strategies for Growth

In order to have a successful strategy for growth, businesses must first find, evaluate and select a strategy to capture a potential market. Since it entered to American car market in 1967, Toyota has developed a diverse business portfolio with its existing line of cars as well as brands such as Lexus and Scion. It became a successful car manufacturer by having an effective marketing process that allowed it to attract customers and expand its product range to other market segments. When Toyota and other Japanese carmakers entered the American market, they were not considered a threat to the American auto industry because it was believed their cars had no appeal to American consumers. However, in the 1970s, due to problems such as the 1973 Oil Embargo, environmental regulations, and quality control issues with American cars (Ford Pinto), a good number of American car owners began searching for alternatives to their gas guzzling, poorly made American cars. In response to these changes, Toyota and other Japanese carmakers aggressively marketed their cars to Americans as being fuel-efficient, environmentally friendly, and having better build quality than American cars. In addition, Toyota marketed their cars as being hip and fun with memorable slogans like, “you asked for it, you got it, Toyota,” and with commercials involving young Toyota drivers jumping in the air. As a result, the Japanese’s marketing campaign along with continuing problems from the Big Three auto manufacturers, allowed import cars to make up about 20 percent of the US car market by 1980. After successfully gaining a sizable market share in the US, Toyota decided to create the Lexus brand in 1989 to target the luxury-car market segment, which was dominated by Mercedes-Benz and BMW. They decided to create a new brand because of their reputation at the time for being a company that only offered fun and fuel-efficient compact cars and because the introduction of luxury models into their existing lineup would dilute the Toyota brand. Therefore, Toyota marketing strategy was to market Lexus as a separate company with almost no references to

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Toyota, a heavy emphasis towards quality customer service and it had a separate dealership network from Toyota.

2. Toyota Production System

Toyota Production System, which is actually the innovation that made the company successful globally, was deeply studied and even copied by many car manufacturers. However, none of them was able to copy the success of the system developed by Toyota Motor Corporation. The mistake is, probably, in the approach: it is not enough to just copy a successful practice – it is necessary to understand and comprehend it. Among the major principles of the Toyota Production System is strong and constant devotion to the highest quality. If there is any problem occurring in the production process, the manufacturing equipment automatically and immediately stops in order for defective products not to be manufactured. Another concept Toyota relies on is that the company should produce only what is demanded, at the exact time when it is needed, and in the needed amount.

3. Change Management as a Part of Toyota Production SystemOne more reason Toyota is so successful is the fact that the company adapts to changes and innovations easily and smoothly. This, of course, is not as easy as it seems, and requires mangers to perform great work. But the result – improvement of manufacturing processes, work being easier and faster to do, strong organizational culture and philosophy – is worth that volume of effort. Successfully introduced change, reorganization and innovation lead to inevitable growth and development of any organizational setting. Besides, the principles Toyota follows are applied to all the aspects of work: not only manufacturing, but all the other areas of the company’s operations. Among Toyota’s most famous innovations is their great investment into the research of cleaner-burning automobiles that combine gas engines with an electric motor.

4. Operation Strategy Of Toyota

Toyota is Japan's biggest car company and the second largest in the world after General Motors. It produces an estimated eight million vehicles per year, about a million fewer than the number produced by GM. The company dominates its home market, with about 40% of all new cars registered in 2004 being Toyotas.  Toyota also has a large market share in both the United States and Europe. It has significant market shares in several fast-growing South East Asian countries. The - 1 -company produces a large range of vehicles which are highly regarded for their quality, engineering, and value; their designs set global standards for safety, reliability and ease of maintenance.  The Company Philosophy "Do the right thing for the company, its employees, the customer and the society as a whole." Origins The story of Toyota Motor Corporation began in September 1933 when Toyoda Automatic Loom created a new division devoted to the production of automobiles under the direction of the founder's son, Kiichiro Toyoda. Soon thereafter, the division produced its first Type A Engine in 1934, which was used in the first Model A1 passenger car in May 1935 and the G1 truck in August 1935. Production of the Model AA passenger car started in 1936.  Although the Toyota Group is best known today for its cars, it is still in the textile business and still makes automatic looms (fully computerized, of course), and electric sewing machines which are available worldwide.  During the

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Pacific War, the company was dedicated to truck production for the Imperial Army. Because of severe shortages in Japan, military trucks were kept as simple as possible. For example, the trucks had only one headlight in the center of the hood.

5. Marketing Strategy Of Toyota For New Model

Navana Limited stands as the authorized distributor of Toyota cars in Bangladesh, so we have chosen them to make a successful marketing plan on Toyota cars. Our area of concentration was centered on the new model of Toyota Corolla-GLi. This is the latest car of Toyota Corolla that has been recently launched in Bangladesh by Navana Limited in November 2007 at Japan trade fair in Bangladesh. The brand name Corolla of Toyota is well known for producing cars for the common people but this car is an upgraded model of Corolla. Sales Strategy Of Toyota In India English Indian Clays Ltd About the Company English Indian Clays Limited (EICL, has two key business segments viz Clay Business and Starch Business with strong R&D set-up at all its three manufacturing locations. English Indian Clays Limited was incorporated on 18th November 1963, in technical and financial collaboration with English China Clays Limited, UK (now known as ECC Group plc, UK). The collaboration with ECC ceased in the year 1992. EICL has since been actively engaged in the manufacture and processing of China Clay of different grades for use as a coating agent and filling agent. The Company has its clay manufacturing units at Veli, Thonnakkal and Kollam located in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. The installed capacity of the plants was 36,000 MT per annum initially and it has since been increased to 2, 13,600 MT per annum as of date.The Starch business has two manufacturing divisions at Yamunanagar in Haryana and Puducherry. The Starch division at Yamunanagar can trace its origins back to 1937 when Late Lala Karam Chand Thapar promoted a Company by the name of Indian Starch & Chemicals Limited. The name of this Company was later changed to Bharat Starch Industries limited. The Starch Division at Puducherry was set up in 1994-95 to manufacture modified starches for industrial uses. The Divisions have the distinction of being the only Starch Company in India to have acquired ISO-9002 certification and DSIR recognized R & D centre.

6. Toyota Recall

In May of 2006, The Toyota Motor Corporation initiated a recall of   nearly one million vehicles around the world to replace faulty parts that could cause drivers to lose control of the steering wheel.   The recall affected vehicles across 10 models, including the popular Prius. The intermediate shafts and sliding yokes in the recalled cars lacked the necessary strength and could distort or crack under strong pressure, causing drivers to lose control of the steering wheel, according to Toyota (ConsumerAffairs.Com).   Owners of these vehicles were allowed to have these defects repaired at the cost of Toyota and required approximately on hour to complete (News.com.au).   Dealing with any recall is never a positive situation and our estimates are this particular recall will cost Toyota in excess of $925 million dollars.   Toyota will most likely borrow

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from its future earnings at nominal discount rates. However, given Toyota's positioning as the world's eight largest and most profitable automobile company they will be able to take this problem in stride. The biggest danger associated with the recall will not be short term capitalization. To maintain its impressive rate of growth Toyota will have to conduct effective public relations damage control in an attempt to safeguard its stellar reputation as a manufacturer of highly reliable automobiles. The Toyota Motor Corporation has been around for greater part of last century. It really started to make a strong entry in the North American and European car markets in the mid 1970's. Their successful product offering combining low prices and high reliability have been huge factors in its successful profitable market-share growth ever since.   Toyota Motor Corporation is a Japanese multinational corporation and the world's second largest automaker making automobiles, trucks, buses and robots and providing financial services. Based in Toyota, Aichi, Japan, the company...

7. Toyota Marketing Mix 4 P's

Since 2003, Toyota has taken over to become the world's number two carmaker and they are not very far behind GMC, the number on US carmaker.   With their consistency in innovating designs and over a billion dollars spent in advertisement a year, Toyota has become an attraction in the eyes of many auto consumers worldwide.   Toyota has built its reputation not only by producing high quality vehicles at affordable prices, but the brand and marketing skills they use through tactful pricing strategies.   Toyota has differentiated their prices from the traditional pricing set up of many of the other automobile makers.   However, it is their effectiveness in targeting consumers' needs and wants that has pushed them to the top.Toyota believes the role of purchasing is through long term and stable production of quality products at the lowest price in a fast and timely manner. (Toyota Co. sustainability report 2006).   The main objective of administering prices within any company in the automobile industry is profitability and to consistently increase efficiency in their product line.   The traditional pricing strategy is formulated into the cost + profit = selling price. When auto companies make changes and improvements , cost of production increases causing the selling prices to go higher.   Companies normally do not want to cut their targeted return and therefore the costs are passed on to the consumer to maintain their profit margin.   Toyota takes on slightly different approach with a sales - oriented objective.   Although the variables are the same, the formula is adjusted strategically into the selling price - cost = profit.   Toyota firmly believes that its markets and consumers is what determine the selling price.   Waste elimination is given top priority which reduces cost and by continuously reducing these types of costs, it will result in persevering the company's profit growth.It was in 1929 that Kiichiro Toyoda, founder of Toyota, began traveling and...

Toyota Unveils Compact Dedicated Hybrid Concept, Reveals Future Plan for 'Prius Family' North American Marketing Strategy

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Advanced Battery R&D and Manufacturing Capacity will Rise with Scheduled Roll-out of Plug-in Hybrids, Fuel Cells and Battery Electric Vehicles

DETROIT, January 11, 2010---Toyota Motor Sales (TMS), U.S.A, Inc., today unveiled the FT-CH dedicated hybrid concept at the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) in Detroit.  The FT-CH is a concept that would address Toyota’s stated strategy to offer a wider variety of conventional hybrid choices to its customers, as it begins to introduce plug-in hybrids (PHVs) and battery electrics (BEVs) in model year 2012, and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles (FCHVs) in 2015 in global markets. “Within the next 10 to 20 years, we will not only reach peak oil we will enter a period where demand for all liquid fuels will exceed supply,” said Jim Lentz, TMS president.   “A century after the invention of the automobile, we must re-invent it with powertrains that significantly reduce or eliminate the use of conventional petroleum fuels.  One of many alternatives is through what is commonly called the electrification of the automobile.  By far, the single most successful example of this has been the gas-electric hybrid.” The CH stands for compact hybrid as in compact class and it’s a concept that can best be defined by comparing it with the mid-size class Prius.  The FT-CH captures the spirit and functionality of a car that thrives in the inner-city environment; sized right to be nimble, responsive and maneuverable.  “It’s a package Toyota dealers and customers have been asking for,” added Lentz. The FT-CH was styled at Toyota’s European Design and Development (ED²) center in Nice, France.  Compared to Prius, it is 22 inches shorter in overall length, yet loses less than an inch in overall width.  In spite of its compact external dimensions, FT-CH was designed for maximum passenger comfort and interior roominess, with an imaginative sense of style. ED² designers looked to capture the vivid, high-energy appeal of what has come to be called the 8-bit generation.  Popularized in the early 80’s, 8-bit microprocessor technology dominated the budding home video game industry.  Today, 8-bit is considered a specific retro-style that is embraced by such things as 8-bit genre music and 8-bit inspired art.  The direct reference to the 8-bit generation is meant to be fun and innovative, colorful and stylish, with strong appeal to young buyers.   Lighter in weight and even more fuel efficient than Prius, the concept specifically targets a lower price point than Prius, thus appealing to a younger, less-affluent buyer demographic.  Pointing to how Prius has become a universal icon for hybrid technology, Lentz confirmed that TMS is developing a Prius family “marketing strategy” for North America that will take full advantage of the Prius brand equity. “The strategy is still taking shape and obviously it will require additional models to qualify as a family,” said Lentz.  “Among others, the FT-CH is a concept that we are considering.” In the early 2010s, Toyota plans to sell a million hybrids

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per year globally, a majority of those in North America.  To accomplish this, Toyota will launch eight all new hybrid models over the next few years.  These will not include next generation versions of current hybrids; instead, they will be all new dedicated hybrid vehicles, or all new hybrid versions of existing gas engine models. The heart of hybrid technology is its battery.  Since the early 90’s, during the early stages of first-generation Prius development, Toyota has been committed to in-house R&D of advanced nickel-metal hydride batteries.  Through three generations of Prius and a total of seven full-hybrid models, it has systematically reduced size, weight and cost while improving energy density, quality and reliability. Toyota’s joint venture partnership with Panasonic has been a key element of its success in the advancement of hybrid technology.  Later this year, Panasonic EV Energy (PEVE) will have three separate, fully operational production facilities with a combined capacity of more than one million units per year. Moving the promise of electrification one step further, Toyota recently kicked off its global demonstration program involving approximately 600 Prius plug-in hybrid electric vehicles.  Inside Toyota's R & D Strategy

Masatami Takimoto, Toyota Motor's executive vice president, came of age as an engineer

with the law that set the standard for tailpipe regulation worldwide: the 1970 Clean Air

Act amendments. Since 2003, Takimoto has led Toyota's R & D unit as it grapples with a

more fundamental challenge than fighting smog: breaking the automobile's century-long

addiction to petroleum. Toyota emerged as an industry leader with hybrid technology,

which it launched in the Prius in 1996 and now promises for every Toyota model by 2020.

Now Takimoto's teams are exploring--and in many cases commercializing--several

technologies, including advanced diesel engines, tiny battery-powered commuter electric

cars, fuel cells, and a half-dozen kinds of hybrids. Technology Review contributing writer

Peter Fairley caught up with Takimoto at the Geneva Motor Show last week.

Technology Review:

 How was the 1970 law so critical for Toyota research--and how do today's efforts

compare?

Masatami Takimoto:

The targets were very ambitious, and we just didn't know what we could do to meet these

requirements. So as young engineers, we were told we could try anything, and that's what

we did. In that sense, it was really unforgettable. Toyota actually developed eight

solutions in parallel, then selected the one which we thought was the best. The solution

which we and also some others chose--catalytic converters with a three-way catalyst--

endures today. Advertisment It's very important when you do R & D to widen the scope,

to have several competing technologies or systems, and then to choose what is best.

Actually, this same approach was taken for Toyota's hybrid system. There are all kinds of

hybrid systems: series, parallel, mild, full, et cetera. We started our hybrid development

work in 1969, and since then, we've tried them all. I was involved in the development of a

hybrid system for a minivan that survived until the very end. This was a full hybrid system

that was very close to what's called a series hybrid--totally different from the full hybrid

that Toyota has right now.

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TR: The same sort of competition seems to be happening today, with automakers

commercializing a bewildering range of competing technologies.

MT: We've entered an age where the future of oil has become uncertain . . . So just like it

was the case maybe 100 years ago, where you had different types of cars using different

energy sources--steam engine cars, internal combustion cars, and very primitive kinds of

electric vehicles all coexisting with the horse-drawn carriage--we have entered an

alternative-fuels age. We have to reinvent the car again because none of the alternatives

are as appropriate for the automobile as oil. EVs [electric vehicles] are often talked about

now as being the future car, but in my own opinion, the purely electric vehicle as a

commercial product can probably only exist in the form of a very small commuter type of

a vehicle. It's not universal.

Toyota Develops New Hybrid Strategy for Future

Toyota is a leader in the Hybrid Electric Vehicle (HEV) industry. Although General  Motors will soon offer more HEV model choices, for the time being the Japanese giant is the leader with a combined total of six between its Toyota and Lexus brand names. Not to be outdone by GM, this number will grow as Toyota has pledged to make every vehicle it sells available as a hybrid by 2020, a tremendous goal, considering that that’s less than 12 years away. Of course, Toyota has developed a strategy to help achieve these goals.One interesting item that’s come up is whether or not Toyota will combine the efficiency of the modern diesel engine with its hybrid drivetrain. And while it’s already put diesel hybrid trucks into production underits Hino brand, it won’t be doing the same for cars. On the subject,Toyota’s president, Katsuaki Watanabe, remarked that combining diesel and hybrid powertrains together would be too costly. Instead, what Toyota will be focusing on is the next generation of batteries. No, not lithium-ion cells, which the automaker is already working to install in its Prius and other hybrid models, but the generation to follow. Toyota is reportedly looking ahead to a zinc-air type battery. Preliminary goals for cars using the new battery system, which would be plug-in hybrids, include the capability of being charged from a standard outlet, and also to have a range of 50 miles on battery power alone. Toyota hopes to have such a battery type in production for 2020, which coincides with its all-hybrid mandate.Toyota's Lean & Green Strategy", Minneapolis Star Tribune, January 23, 2006 1. Today's anticipated announcement about the fate of Ford Motor Company's St. Paul plant,

and the possible loss of nearly 2,000 Minnesota jobs, is a vivid reminder of how difficult it is for corporations to balance current profitability with future success. Among U.S. auto companies, Ford has done the best job of changing to meet the future, embracing lean manufacturing techniques in the 1990s and producing the first hybrid SUV (the Escape). Yet it still finds itself cutting manufacturing capacity to reflect shrinking market share.

2. Ford's competitive position ranks somewhere between those of GM and Toyota. Toyota has become the benchmark for success in auto production and profitability. Its success in the hybrid market represents only its latest milestone.

3. In contrast, General Motors has traded its perennial status as a challenged corporate icon for that of a terminally ill giant. Recent talk of GM declaring Chapter 11 bankruptcy as a means of reducing its labor costs and pension obligations has become commonplace.

4. "Toyota's momentum just continues to snowball," Gordon Wangers, president of Automotive Marketing Consultants Inc. told Bloomberg News this month. "If I'm one of

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the guys running Ford or GM, at this point I'm deeply concerned about how quickly Toyota is accelerating."

5. Toyota, second only to GM in global auto sales, sold 2.26 million cars and trucks in the United States last year, an increase of 9.7 percent. According to Bloomberg News, Toyota's market value of $190 billion is about 18 times higher than GM's.

6. Hybrids are only a footnote in the 30-year war between Toyota and General Motors. Toyota's lean manufacturing expertise has played a much bigger role. But General Motors has demonstrated a consistent pattern of sacrificing the future to protect its current interests.

7. In the 1970s, GM ignored the subcompact market in favor of full-sized vehicles with higher profit margins. When gasoline prices rose drastically following the 1973 oil embargo, high-quality Japanese subcompact manufacturers went from niche players to preferred choices for many categories of car buyers.

8. In the 1980s, GM adopted lean production halfheartedly, even after it became clear that total quality management produced more reliable cars than Detroit's mass production model.

9. In the 1990s, GM's overreliance on SUV sales for its profits may be seen by history as its third strike. Yes, low gas prices made SUVs popular with U.S. consumers. But the Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 1975, passed by Congress following the 1974 oil crisis, mandated higher average mileage. The SUV's low mileage was enabled by a legal exception for commercial light trucks. American manufacturers lobbied fiercely to maintain this loophole whenever Congress attempted to close it.

10. GM was captivated by its profitability in the SUV market, and was in denial that nearly every one of its car brands was no longer profitable -- a fact disguised by its huge size and complexity. Toyota also had success in the consumer SUV market, but did not lobby against closing the SUV mileage loophole.

TOYOTA…FUTURE FORWARD

On Thursday, Toyota announced a partnership with Tesla motors. Toyota will be investing

US $50 million into Tesla, as well as providing engineering and production systems for the

development of electric vehicles. The announcement sends a strong signal that the global

automaker has a vested, long-term commitment to driving the industry. Good leaders take the

time to reflect on their mistakes and respond with a strategy that not only protects their

position, but also carves out new spaces. If anything, Toyota’s slow public response to

addressing highly visible product flaws has served as a catalyst to take real, demonstrative

action.  With this agreement, both companies win. Tesla gets the necessary capital, structure

and visibility while Toyota has an opportunity to inject a fresh jolt of entrepreneurial spirit.

For Toyota, in particular, this arrangement should have a continued calming effect with its

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most vocal critics even if some may see this as a quick fix to a lagging public relations

problem. And yet, the partnership is not without its own set of challenges the first being

cultural. Toyota operates with a geographically dispersed, top-down, command and control

culture while the Silicon-Valley based, Tesla, has a more flexible, innovative approach. Both

companies will need to find middle ground to make the alliance work.  Additionally, the

category shift is still in its early stages. Every major carmaker is focused on coming up with a

cleaner technology solution and many are even beginning to bring their early ideas to market.

The stakes are high and Toyota will need to work hard to differentiate its brand. What is

important to remember here is Toyota’s track record. The brand has held up to intense media

and government scrutiny, and as its success with the Prius attests, when Toyota is focused on

something, it has a history of making it work. The Toyota brand and its products may be

slightly tarnished, but if the organization executes this correctly, Toyota will have effectively

turned a negative into a positive—and that is what leaders and strong global brands do.IMPORTANT FUTURE STRATEGIEWS OF TOYOTA MOTERS

Canon Future Strategies

The Excellent Global Corporation Plan Based on the corporate philosophy of kyosei, the Excellent Global Corporation Plan is a medium- to long-term management plan with the goal of building a corporate group that continues contributing to society through technological innovation, aiming to be a corporation worthy of admiration and respect worldwide. In the five-year first phase of the plan, which began in 1996, Canon inculcated in the Group the concepts of profit orientation and total optimization, introducing production reforms by means of the cell production system, and cash flow-based consolidated business performance evaluation. In the second phase of the plan, which began in 2001, they have aimed to become No.1 in all our businesses and strengthen our research and development capabilities. During this phase they have achieved tremendous results, including development reforms and the in-house manufacturing of key components.

Functional Leval Strategy For Toyota

In every organization strategic management has a direct impact on its business. Strategic Management helps to attain superior performance and competitive advantage for an organization. Through competitive advantage and superior performance a company differentiates its product, create a brand loyalty and increase the profitability. Companies in an industry always try to be in a top most position. For these they need to select strategies about each and every function. Functional-level strategy increases the performance rate. Strategic managers analyze the weakness of an organization in its every department and select strategies for every function and turn it into strengths. Specific strengths help companies to have competitive advantage over its rivals and increase the profitability which is an actual business goal of each and every organization. In BBA program, one of the most important parts of each course is to prepare a term paper on assigned topic related to the course. The term paper is prepared on strategic management in Automobile companies and functional-level strategy, which tries to show a company’s functional-level strategy in generic building blocks of attaining competitive advantage. 

Toyota

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Toyota has topped a survey gauging the satisfaction of US customers for the second year in a row.   Toyota earned a satisfaction rating of 87 out of 100 on the index compared with an industry average of 81.   US researchers at JD Power stated that Toyota was the most reliable car in a survey of three year old vehicles. Toyota has raised its annual profit forecasts after reporting strong results for the three months to end of September.   The firm saw operating profits rise by 44% during the quarter, to reach $4.9 billion as sales continued to increase.   The results beat expectations and now Toyota expects operating profit for the year to reach $1.9 trillion.   Toyota's net sales for the half year to September increased 15.3% to $9.9 trillion. The firm has been successful with models such as the Camry and Yaris subcompact. In addition, Toyota announced plans to acquire a 5.9% share in Japanese truck firm Isuzu, in a bid to develop engine technology together.   Both firms plan to collaborate to develop small diesel engines, and look at how to mitigate emissions and develop alternative fuel technologies. Toyota Motor Corporation has adopted a strategy of reducing costs by producing all local content in its production bases in each region, including Thailand.   The company decided to change its production strategy because of fierce competition due to trade liberalization, its expectations as a global manufacturing base, and signs of structural change in the markets.   Toyota also established a new system of production, called the innovative international multi-purpose vehicle project (IMV), that would increase cost competitiveness and also improve the skills of the workforce and management in each country.   In Thailand, Toyota has two plants, one can produce 250,000 IMV units and the other plant has a production capacity for 200,000 passenger cars.   Toyota has set up a new plant with a production capacity of 100,000 IMV units, which is expected to start operations...

Promotional Strategy

A successful product or service means nothing unless the benefit of such a service can be communicated clearly to the target market. An organisations promotional strategy can consist of: Advertising: Is any non personal paid form of communication using any form of mass media. a: Involves developing positive relationships with the organisation media public. The art of good public relations is not only to obtain favorable publicity within the media, but it is also involves being able to handle successfully negative attention.Sales promotion: Commonly used to obtain an increase in sales short term. Could involve using money off coupons or special offers. Personal selling: Selling a product service one to one. Direct Mail: Is the sending of publicity material to a named person within an organisation. There has been a massive growth in direct mail campaigns over the last 5 years. Spending on direct mail now amounts to £18 bn a year representing 11.8% of advertising expenditure ( Source: Royal Mail 2000).   Organisations can pay thousands of pounds for databases, which contain names and addresses of potential customers. Direct mail allows an organisation to use their resources more effectively by allowing them to send publicity material to a named person within their target segment. By personalising advertising, response rates increase thus increasing the chance of improving sales.  

BIBLIOGRAPHI

1. http://www.toyotafound.or.jp/english/01profile/

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2. http://lifeinmotion.wordpress.com/2006/12/23/%E2%80%9Ctoyota-developing-strategies-for-growth%E2%80%9D/

3. http://www.suite101.com/content/production-system-that-made-toyota-successful-a96555

4.  http://www.oppapers.com/essays/Operation-Strategy-Toyota/160777 http://www.oppapers.com/essays/Marketing-Strategy-Of-Toyota-For-New/305199

5. http://www.oppapers.com/essays/Sales-Strategy-Toyota-India/1701066. http://www.oppapers.com/essays/Toyota-Recall/1261077. http://www.oppapers.com/essays/Toyota-Marketing-Mix-4-Ps/1337988. http://pressroom.toyota.com/pr/tms/toyota/toyota-unveils-compact-dedicated-

151199.aspx9. http://www.technologyreview.com/business/22298/10. http://www.automobile.com/toyota-develops-new-hybrid-strategy-for-future.html11. http://www.opentechnologies.com/writings/CC012406.htm12. http://blog.interbrand.com/blog/post/2010/05/24/Toyotae280a6Future-Forward.aspx13. http://www.oppapers.com/essays/Canon-Future-Strategies/6389314. http://www.oppapers.com/essays/Functional-Leval-Strategy-Toyota/15888915. http://www.oppapers.com/essays/Toyota/12329116. http://www.oppapers.com/essays/Promotional-Strategy/301097

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