Strategic Management Essay

Management: Strategic Choices

Introduction

Toyota is one of the most successful companies that have passed through numerous challenges in the course of its history and, eventually, the company has become one of the leaders in the world’s car manufacturing industry. The company was founded in the early 20th century and, by the end of the century, the company has become of the largest car manufacturers in the world, whereas today, Toyota holds the leading position in the global market.

Nevertheless, the company could hardly succeed, if it failed to adapt to changes in the business environment and to use its strengths to develop its business successfully. In actuality, the company has a number of advantages and strengths compared to its rivals but, on the other hand, the company still faces significant threats from the part of its rivals as well as the public, which grows more and more concerned about environmental problems. In such a situation, Toyota still needs to adapt its traditional strategies to the current business environment and, through such adaptation, to carry on its business development successfully.

SWOT analysis

In actuality, Toyota holds the leading position in the global automotive market. In this regard, it is important to conduct SWOT analysis to assess its current position in the market and its competitive power.

First of all, it is necessary to dwell upon strengths of the company. One of the major strengths of Toyota is the brand image of the company. What is meant here is the fact that Toyota is a reputable company, which brand image is recognizable worldwide. The recognizable brand facilitates the business development of the company because it can expand its market internationally successfully. At the same time, consumers feel confident in regard to renowned brands like Toyota. In addition, specialists (Vance, 11) point out that the brand comprises an important market asset of any company. Therefore, the more renowned the brand is the higher is the marketing value of the brand and the company itself.

Furthermore, Toyota has an extensive experience of operations internationally. For instance, “After World War II, Toyota was kept busy making trucks, but by 1947 it began making the Model SA, called the Toyopet, a name to stay with Toyota for decades, albeit attached to different cars” (Toyota History, 7). In the course of time, Toyota has proved to be a reliable car manufacturer and, today, Toyota manufactures cars of the top quality, including cars of the premium segment of the market sold under the name “Lexus”.

Another important strength of Toyota is the qualification of employees working in the company. In fact, the high qualification of employees allows the company to manufacture cars of the high quality. At the same time, the maintenance of the high qualification of its employees forces Toyota to conduct training of employees on the regular basis.

In addition, Toyota introduces innovations en masse that is one of the major strengths of the company. Innovations allow the company to hold the leading position in the market. Moreover, innovations facilitate the market penetration and attract customers to products manufactured by Toyota.

On the other hand, the company still faces a number of weaknesses. Firstly, the company has to operate in the multicultural workplace environment. As a result, the organizational culture of Toyota faces the problem of the adaptation of employees with different types of cultural background to the work in one organization. In addition, the optimization of internal processes is another challenge for the company which derives from the aforementioned weakness.

Nevertheless, the company has good opportunities for the further growth. Toyota holds the leading position in the world market and keeps expanding its market internationally. Therefore, the company is likely to increase its market share, if its marketing strategy persists to be as effective as it is today.

On the other hand, Toyota should remember about threats, among which it is possible to single out the competition.

In fact, the competition persists, in spite of the deterioration of the position of American rivals of Toyota. In addition, environmental concerns of the public are another threat to Toyota because cars are viewed as a source of pollution.

Strategies

In such a situation, Toyota attempts to maintain its marketing development to meet needs and wants of customers and to be useful for the society. At the same time, the company still focuses on the effective marketing performance.

In this regard, the company attempts to develop its team work, which has proved to be quite effective in terms of the business development. Team work is particularly effective if professionals from different cultures work together effectively. Such team works contributes to the formation of the healthy organizational culture.

In addition, Toyota implements the total quality management as one of the strategic directions in the development of the company. In fact, the total quality management refers not only to the quality of products and services delivered by Toyota to its customers but also to the quality of company-customer relationships as well as relationships within the company. The total quality management helps Toyota to hold the leading position in the market.

Finally, the traditional just-in-time management strategy is the know-how developed by Toyota. This unique strategy is very effective, especially in the contemporary business environment because it allows the company to save costs on storage of parts and effective production process. In fact, many other companies follow the lead of Toyota in regard to the implementation of the just-in-time management.

Conclusion

Thus, in conclusion, it is important to place emphasis on the fact that Toyota is one of the leaders in the car manufacturing industry. Toyota has a long history which provides the company with the extensive experience and popular brand image. The company uses its internal forces and external favorable opportunities to expand its market internationally and hold the number one position in the global market.

References:

Annual Report.  (2009)  “The Right Way Forward”, Toyota Motor Corporation.  Retrieved on November 15, 2010 from http://www.toyota.co.jp/en/ir/library/annual/pdf/2009/p10_16.pdf
Patton, J. and B. Estep (2010, February 11). Toyota debacle could be largest consumer fraud case ever, expert says. Lexington Herald-Leader (KY), Retrieved on November 15, 2010 from Newspaper Source database.  http://wf2dnvr1.webfeat.org/g84EO13666/url=http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=1&hid=6&sid=c74bd1ca-7ef2-41e5-831a-ba27913d8ed8%40sessionmgr11&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=nfh&AN=2W6638002481
Ceniceros R. (2010) As Toyota saga continues, shareholders ready case. Business Insurance. March 2010;44(9):1-24. Available from: Business Source Complete, Ipswich, MA. Retrieved on November 15, 2010 from http://wf2dnvr1.webfeat.org/g84EO13545/url=http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=1&hid=17&sid=2b623ff8-bdaf-45ff-a74a-a27ffa3bc223%40sessionmgr12&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=bth&AN=48623308
Toyota history: Corporate and Automotive (2010) ToyoLand Retrieved on November 15, 2010 from http://www.toyoland.com/history.html
Vance, C. (2010, February 8). Toyota’s Pain Will Be Rivals’ Gain With Little Net Economic Impact. Investors Business Daily, p. A01. Retrieved on November 15, 2010 from Regional Business News database.  http://wf2dnvr1.webfeat.org/g84EO13469/url=http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=1&hid=17&sid=581f5999-01a3-47db-92b4-d046cc25c05c%40sessionmgr11&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=bwh&AN=49169229