Report of Toyota moto corporation-international strategy - Case Study Example

Toyota Motors International Strategy By Toyota Motors International Strategy Toyota MotorsCompany was established in 1937, and grew into the world’s leading car manufacturer. Throughout the history of the company, Toyota has faced different problems and issues, where it had to employ different strategies in order to achieve success. Some of the historical issues encountered by Toyota include a lagging product planning, a declining Japanese market share and a limited global expansion. Due to the impact of these different issues, the company has employed a number of strategies, towards ensuring its presence locally and internationally.

Strategy and structure Toyota’s Brand marketing strategy: Focal areas of brand marketing The market development strategy for Toyota’s brand is the cross-national marketing strategy. After realizing that it was losing a large portion of its national market, Toyota shifted towards marketing its products in Japan as well as internationally. The strategy was developed to blanket all countries with the products of Toyota Company. Among the international strategies employed by the company to ensure success in the production of vehicles and other products for the international market included the following (Toyota Motors, 2013).

The strategic model included an establishment of high quality auto supplier networks across their functional centers. Secondly, the company developed employee motivation models that focused on construction of housing and the provision of entertainment facilities to the company’s employees and their families. This strategy was grounded in the company’s view that employees are among the critical factors of its productivity and competitiveness. Thirdly, the company engaged in webbing the dealers of the company, so that they had access to the necessary distribution channels (Toyota Motors 2013).

The Toyota Company has developed different production divisions, but the centrality of the company’s operations has been upheld. These were necessitated by the diverse needs of the products produced by the company, including the luxury division of America, which supplies the American market and other countries with luxury cars while other divisions specialize in the production of economy-class vehicles. Therefore the strategy of the company is shaped by the company’s strategic factors and differentiated needs like environmental protection.

For example, in the American market, the company expanded into the production of eco-cars, in response to the increasing demand for eco-friendly cars. The company has also responded to the need to produce differentiated products, in response to foreign specification diversity and the level of sales realized in the overseas markets. For example, the company channels most of its off-road vehicles to the markets of developing or underdeveloped nations, where roads are likely to be rough, compared to the markets of developed nations like the US (Toyota Motors, 2013).

Strategic Model to Counter Competition Towards countering the threat of competition, the company – besides introducing new vehicles – engaged in the reorganization of its sales channels in the different markets. For instance, in the Japanese market, the company introduced the Lexus brand and also reorganized its sales models, in preparation for the changes anticipated in the future (Taylor, 2003). These changes include anticipated changes in customer values and the market structure of Toyota’s market.

Among the changes, include the reestablishment of the five brand names channels of the company, including Vista, Toyota, Netz, Corrolla and Toyopet. Among the areas of reorganization, is the company’s development of new dealership networks for Lexus during 2005. The company introduced 150 new dealers of the Lexus brand. The company consolidated the Vista and Netz networks, during the spring of 2004, increasing its footing in the new market segment (Taylor, 2003). Increased Environmental and Competitive Advantage Business environment comnciousness has influenced the structure adopted by Toyota.

Toyota’s environment is diverse, restrictive, and technologically differentiated. As a result, Toyota requires more product differentiation and the development of international integration networks, so they can increase the company’s regionalization, diversity and foreign trade. This has led to the regionalization of Toyota’s business and economic activities. One advantage of the competitive, complex strategy of the company is that it increases the inflow of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), which increases production fragmentation across the different trade regions.

Toyota has adopted a differentiated regional strategy. Regionally differentiated strategy: Toyota’s strategy is characterized by a regionally differentiated market positioning, including its positioning at North America. The company entered the North American market through strategically developing a wider market, after developing new product lines. These products were in the line of commercial vehicles, where specialty centers include light trucks like the Lexus GX 470, Tundra Double Cabin and the Lexus RX 330 (OICA, 2009).

The classes represented in the light truck coverage include luxury cars like Lexus RX330 and the Full-sized trucks, including the Tundra Double Cabin. In its strategic entry model, the company developed a number of models in the passenger vehicle market. The brands introduced into the market for this class include the Camry and Corolla, making the brands the number one in the market during 2002. At the lower class level of cars, Toyota introduced entry-level vehicles for the new entrants in the vehicle market.

The brands in the lowest class in this market included the Scion XA, and the XB. Regional Strategy: North American Market Source: Compiled from (Toyota 2010) Traning institutions At Toyota, human resource management is differentiated into the global HR department and the group’s HR structure. The groups HR structure administrates domestic business divisions while the foreign HR function administrates the human resources at foreign production centers. Towards the development of an exceptional workforce, the company cultivates employee talent and capacity, through training, teaching and employee development.

Staff development is administered by each manufacturing department; each company workshop will have a training center, where a teacher and the necessary teaching tools are available. The company, as discussed by Taylor (2003), has established a company production center, which aids in the cultivation of talent at the business production units in foreign markets. Recommendations to Toyota Company The company should focus on its technology strategy, where its focus is mainly on the development of more safety features, environmental protection attributes, and the incorporation of IT into the specifications of their cars.

Through this strategy, the company will increase the differentiation of its brands, which will aid in improving the reputation of its cars as well as increase its market-positioning. The focus of the Toyota Company should be shifted towards emerging markets, including Asia and Africa, which will increase its current market reach. In response to the increasing population and market in the US, the company should develop products that are more fashioned to meet the needs of the emerging clientele.

The company should also expand into the emerging markets of Russia and central Europe, which will offer a new expansion center for the company (Toyota 2010). Bibliography OICA., 2009. World motor vehicle production by manufacturer: World ranking of manufacturers 2008. OICA (The International Organization of Motor Vehicle Manufacturers), [online] Available at: [Accessed 21 Mar. 2013]. Taylor, A., 2003. The Americanization of Toyota: The World's Most Profitable Car Company Is Adding Some Red, White, And Blue to Its Corporate Culture.

CNN, [online] Available at: [Accessed 21 Mar. 2013]. Toyota Motors., 2013. Toyota’s 21st Century Diversity Strategy: A Comprehensive Program for Minority Participation in Toyota Today and Tomorrow. Toyota Motors, [online] Available at: [Accessed 21 Mar. 2013]. Toyota., 2010. Design and R&D, Toyota, [online] Available at: [Accessed 21 Mar. 2013].