Toyota and External Environment

• Product: Is the company's product something new, or does it fill a gap in a particular niche? Is it a quality product? If not a new product, will it compete effectively with existing products?

Doing business in such different countries ask you to be flexible and need to be able to adapt quickly to the local demand and cultural differences. Your strategy has to be adapted to the ethical standards, cultural norms, but also the way the business is going locally. In others world, the company has to localize its distribution and marketing strategy to the requirements of the local market.

Social development is another factor, according to the International Organization of Standardization, the relationship to the society in which businesses operate is critical in the business world; it determines the success of the company and the ability to operate

In 2012, Suzuki faced the question of whether or not to continue selling automobiles in the

When moving into international markets, it is crucial to investigate the major types of difficulties that can arise in other countries. Businesses experience setbacks or failure when they attempt to move into international markets. The major components that contribute to lack of success include errors in pricing, distribution, market analysis, or packaging, but may also result from an insufficient understanding of the infrastructure and culture of the trading nation.

International business involves all commercial transactions between private and governmental between parties of two or more nations. Global occasions and rivalry influence practically all organizations substantial or little. However, the universal environment is more intricate and varying than an domestic domain.

Toyota uses processes that are both implicit and explicit. Toyota’s operations are enormously flexible and responsive to customer demand. According to ASHP Foundation (2007). Many credit Toyota’s success to aspects of the Toyota Production System, established by Taïchi Ohno and Shigeo Shingo from the late 1950s through 1970 (when it gained the name). It includes aspects of Jidoka, just-in-time production, and kaizen, reducing both inventories and defects. The system is used worldwide, but is only one of the reasons for Toyota’s success. The very rigidity of the operations that makes the flexibility possible. That’s because the company’s operations can be seen as a continuous series of controlled tests.

We began our search by selecting eight countries in the emerging market as potential candidates for our product launch (Nigeria, China, Russia, Mexico, Turkey, South Africa, Brazil and Indonesia). In the initial phase of evaluating global markets, we came up with five measurable criteria’s. The criteria’s would be eminent to the success of our international product launch. We relied on various resources such as Euromonitor and the World Bank (for ease of doing business). Existing barriers in international countries can make it difficult when launching a product.

Employees: Toyota considers employees as its most important stakeholders. This stakeholder group aims for job guarantee, career future and fair employment treatments.

Sometimes product localization is not enough to break into the foreign markets because their cultural differences or ethical values are so marked that the regular product would not be acceptable. A company needs to be prepared to introduce new and radical products that cater and adjust to the local culture. Conducting market research analysis before embarking in business in a new area is one way to know and understand the needs of the potential customers. A successful international business must respect the cultural, religious, and other beliefs of other countries when deciding on new product lines.

So, keeping those in mind the company can adopt a localization strategy in international markets; in every market that they have entered they may produce products just like they did to Asian people. Furthermore, lower prices can show products less qualified in international markets, especially in Europe and America, for those markets the company can came up with an alternative product line that is more niche.

Currently recession is prevailing in the market so the global car sale of Toyota is showing a downward trend. Also changes in interest rates, inflation and currency rates can act both as a threat and an opportunity. Inflation rates differ from country to country for instance in Japan the inflation rate is relatively low as compared to USA. The lower the interest rate, the better its for Toyota since the

Toyota also has a strong portfolio of prestigious brands such as Prius, Camry, Toyota, Lexus, Corolla, Land cruiser, Hilux and other brands. In fact, the annual Brands Top 100 ranked Toyota a leading brand. This strong branding and market position allows Toyota to market its product with premium prices and high profit margins.

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.

Toyota organization structure has been lauded as one of the structures which are most effective and efficient and hence its excellence in the market. The Toyota team has, however, undergone through some challenges just like any other organization. Some issues within the company can be attributed to its success, and their influence is well discussed in this business report. The report will mainly concentrate on some of the Toyota company aspects which include; culture, technology, size, marketing demand and the management style and which most of them are concerned with the organizational behavior