Advantages Of Toyota Competitive Advantage

They outline the three main strategic options open to organizations that wish to achieve a competitive advantage( cost, leadership, differentiation and focus). TOYOTA successfully use differentiation strategy that provide differentiation goods and services to customers.

INTRODUCTION Toyota is one of the world’s best-known and most successful businesses, building cars and trucks in 27 countries for sale in more than 170 markets around the globe. Worldwide production was 9.5 million (8.5 million for Toyota and Lexus brand vehicles) in 2007, placing Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) firmly among the world’s leading vehicle manufacturers. This result keeps it on course to achieve its ambition of becoming the world number one by the end of the decade, with a 15 per cent market share.

Toyota is one of the top three companies as per the car sales and car manufactured. Calling Toyota, an innovative car manufacturer is a little bit odd. Its vehicles are being liked all over the world rather than loved. Toyota’s vehicles are famous for imitation rather than invention.

According to the usual production system, even some quantities are not required or needed to the following process, once the quantities are produced in the production schedule; they are set to be direct to the next production process. This is called the pull system. But in Toyota production system, the once the relevant parts produced, those finished parts are transferred to the following production line only when it is required or needed. To perform the manufacturing as just in time, people, equipment and materials

“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.”

Toyota has many strengths. It has a strong global position and cars manufactured by Toyota have been sold in many places in the world. It sold 9.7 million cars and trucks, and had 45.5% of the market share in Japan in 2012. It has a market share of 12.2% in North America, 13.4% in Asia and 4.3% in Europe. (Anon, 2015) Such strong global position is because of company’s high quality products and strong brand recognition with its well known environmental friendliness, durability, social responsibility, reliablility and value. Toyota also has been the most valuable auto company

Advantage is what makes the company distinctive and allows the company to deliver on its customer value proposition like no one else (Collis & Rukstad, 2008). While Toyota is known for quality and is focusing its innovation on the safety of their vehicles, Ford is hoping to gain advantage through innovative vehicle launches and a suite of mobility services both within and outside of the vehicles they sell.

Toyota takes on the strategy of delivering quality cars. But, if Toyota decided they wanted to focus on a low cost strategy instead of focusing on a quality strategy their operation would be different. Right now they operate by finding quality parts to make up the cars they put their name on. But if they focused on low cost, it like the cheaper the better, and the more cars they can produce to sell to consumers. Their cars would have few or hardly any competitive advantages that would make their cars easier for their competition to undersell them (WebFinance Inc., 2016). Toyota would receive high returns by lowering the prices of their cars, but that advantage won’t last long because what they produce would be easier to imitate by their competitors (Chau, 2014).

Toyota is a successful automaker. The quality of the products brought to market is of high quality and sold for a reasonable price. Their leadership showed strong business acumen and they were on the tip of the spear when it came to the innovation and marketing of hybrid vehicles. Their senior leadership and managers have anticipated market changes and kept their finger on the pulse of the consumers. Increasing market share, revenue, and profit have been the standard for Toyota. Management is a discipline of organizing and allocating a firms resources to achieve a desired outcome (Keat and Young 2009). For years, Toyota has reaped in the fruits of achieving their outcomes, but in late 2009 and early 2010 they faced economic conditions that turned their prosperous world upside down.

It is a concern for all the automobile companies to reclaim their lost market share. Nevertheless, every company wants a bigger market share, and it strives to attract and retain customers. For Toyota, it will implement the following (McLeish):

Toyota is a key player in global automotive market. Its structure constitutes if various production plants in different locations and a very strong branding which helps it capture a major market share. Like other enterprises, Toyota has several strengths and weakness which makes it what it is now. Toyota heavily invests in Research and development which helps it come up reputable product line which is spread out throughout the world because of its strengthening global distribution network however its recent product recalling, loose grip in key geographic areas and wrong allocation of resources shows that even a strong brand like Toyota has its weaknesses.

There are some areas that need to be improved at Toyota. Few sections can be explored more to beat many potential competitors ahead.

Toyota is one of the largest manufacturers of cars in the world, with scores of factories in dozens of countries. Its standing in the automotive world as the most successful and most profitable carmaker is unquestioned. The historical background of Toyota began in 1933 with the organization being a division of Toyoda Automatic Loom Works gave to the creation of autos under the heading of the organizer 's child, Kiichiro Toyoda. Kiichiro Toyoda had flown out to Europe and the United States in 1929 to examine car generation and had started inquiring about gas fuelled motors in 1930. In 1934, the division created its first Type an Engine, which was utilized as a part of the principal Model A1 traveler auto in May 1935 and the G1 in August 1935. Generation of the Model AA traveler auto began in 1936.

In 1929 a Japanese inventor and founder of Toyoda Automatic Loom Works, Sakichi Toyoda, sold patent rights to a British company for one hundred thousand pounds (Bernasek 78). The money was used by his son, Kiichiro Toyoda, to establish an automobile division within Toyoda Automatic Loom Works, which in 1937 became Toyota Motor Corporation. Toyota initially struggled and couldn’t afford to keep an on-hand supply of parts, leading to a solution of just-in-time production, an adaptation of Henry Ford’s lean manufacturing (Magee 32). Just-in-time production,

The operating environment that the company has to operate in has also become more intense. The level of competition has increased while the global economy experienced a significant downturn. It is likely that Toyota will lose some market share in the developed markets. However, the company can work to offset these in the developing nations. This also supports a more regional strategy in the developing world. Most of the company's product mix that is marketed to developed markets is simply too expensive for consumers in the developing world. Therefore it is necessary for Toyota to continue to customizing their operations to meet the consumers' needs in these quickly growing markets.