Toyota Motor Corporation: SWOT Analysis and Development of a Marketing Strategy

Quick to react to market trends due to its supply chain design, operation & delivery

Toyota is the world’s largest car manufacturer beating out Volkswagen, BMW and Daimler. They had double digit gains in April of 2014 delivering an impressive 13.3 percent more automobiles than April of the previous year. Despite the recall debacle that happened, they have been able to hold the No. 1 spot this year (Le, 2014). Toyota has numerous comparative benefits over their competition. They have a solid working model that produces high margins, a strong international brand that is known for quality and a business model that permits them to produce multiple car models for a very low amount of money while doing it at a fast pace and producing the best quality.

For more than 50 years, Toyota Motor Corporation has been one of the world’s leading manufacturers of motor vehicles in the United States. It was born a Japanese company in 1935 and came to America in 1957. Now headquartered in Toyota City, Japan, it employs more than 300 thousand employees globally (Toyota Motor Corporation Company Profile, 2012). In addition Toyota is a global marketing organization. It strategically operates primarily through Japan, Asia, Europe, and North America; but its vehicles are sold in more than 170 countries and regions across the globe (Toyota Motor Corporation Company Profile, 2012). The Toyota brand is traditionally defined by brand attributes such as global leadership, innovation,

Yet, the public perceptions may be at odds with the objective measures. In Toyota’s case, there have been indications that the quality level of the company’s products had fallen off in a span of few years. There are changes that have taken place during a period when most of the company’s close competitors, such as Fords, were producing more cost-effective and efficient automobiles. In addition, the company’s unique production approach and the emphasis on continuous improvement and learning coupled with a matrix structure are key reasons for the company’s leadership in the cat manufacturing industry. Toyota’s Production Systems (TPS) was founded in the principles of “Just-in-time. This approach has less opportunity for slack resources and focuses of the benefits of efficiency on the part of employees and reduction on waste resources (Griffin and Gregory, 5). Further, Toyota Company enacts its production system with the assistance of its human resources strategies, culture, and organizational structure. Toyota’s Production System emphasizes on learning and modesty when it comes to assessing past success and differentiated them from

The report clearly shows that McDonalds is achieving its success by listening to customers and fulfilling their needs. its recognized through more and more promotions and advertisements and also through its logo design which is a huge yellow M.

As any other industry, the automobile industry is not without its fair share of global challenges. In 1982, Honda opened the doors to its first US auto plant. Two years later, in 1984, Toyota entered into a “joint venture with General Motors called the New United Motor Manufacturing Inc., (NUMMI). Later, in 1989, the company launched its luxury division, LEXUS, creating a multinational approach to automobile manufacturing, with an increase in product sales soaring in the USA (Toyota Company History, (n.d.).

Toyota is currently the biggest car maker in the world. Toyota’s production model has been for long the envy of Detroit’s big three and the benchmark for the auto industry. The auto market in the US has showed signs of improvement, a sign of encouragement for the company (Toyota History: Corporate and Automotive, 2011). Toyota has invested billions of dollars to develop manufacturing capabilities and supplier networks to supply those markets. Toyota has many comparative advantages over it peers: a strong operational model that generates high margins; a strong global brand synonymous for quality and a

Toyota advances the United States in motor vehicle production because the country has devised the proper strategies in importing valuable technologies for manufacturing; they have excelled in building the appropriate labor pool; along with skilled management professionals, as they have marketed their products successfully in the home market for Japanese transportation needs.

Toyota’s products were a byword for quality of customers so much that that it can manufacturing

Here in the case to study the competitive advantage of Toyota measures on the following

In this book, Dr. Liker explains the management systems, thinking, and philosophy behind Toyota’s success, providing valuable insights which can be applied to any business or situation. Professor Liker has uniquely explained the broader principles at work in the Toyota culture. The Toyota Way is divided into three parts. Part one introduces the present success and history of Toyota. It describes how Toyota Production System evolved as a new paradigm of manufacturing, transforming business across industries. In part two it covered 14 principles of the Toyota

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

Today, Toyota has become the largest car maker in the world leading General Motors and top selling Auto Makers. The reason behind their success is being sharp and well thought and effectively implemented strategies. It has the source of strong competitive advantages in

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.

By 2007, Toyota was leading its industry as the largest automotive manufacturer in the world. Operating under a strong growth strategy, their reputation for exceptional quality and high safety ratings coupled with operational efficiency promoted their competitive advantage. Furthermore, Toyota was principally the symbol of excellence and a benchmark for every other company. When examining their strategy under Porter’s model Toyota maintains a strong combined plan focusing on both cost leadership and broad differentiation. Through the process of lean daily management and just-in-time delivery Toyota led the manufacturing world with a distinguished level of efficiency. Examining their success and processes, manufacturing was transformed and Toyota was the envy of many. Additionally, through innovation Toyota actively sought differentiation as a generic tactic. Hybrid technology was successfully implemented into their Prius model vehicles and the Prius became the first, pioneering mass-produced vehicle of its kind.