Conducting a Market Research on Situation Analysis for Toyota

This article is a market research on Toyota for outlining the marketing activities and to make the legitimate situation analysis of the company. It covers the internal strengths and weaknesses of the company, competitor strategy, marketing objectives, and more. The article also includes a planning timetable and implementation of strategies and benefits.

Running head: CONDUCTING A MARKET RESEARCH ON SITUATION ANALYSIS
CONDUCTING A MARKET RESEARCH ON SITUATION ANALYSIS
Name of the Student
Name of the Organisation
Author Note

1CONDUCTING A MARKET RESEARCH ON SITUATION ANALYSIS
Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Organisational goal and context.................................................................................................3
Competitor strategy....................................................................................................................3
Internal strengths and weaknesses of the company....................................................................4
Marketing objectives of Toyota.................................................................................................6
Outline marketing activities.......................................................................................................7
Planning timetable......................................................................................................................8
Implementation of strategies and benefit...................................................................................9
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................9
References................................................................................................................................11

2CONDUCTING A MARKET RESEARCH ON SITUATION ANALYSIS
Topic: A market research on Toyota for outlining the marketing activities and to make
the legitimate situation analysis of the company.
Introduction
Toyota Motor Corporation is one of the most innovative Japanese company that
engages design, manufacturing the commercial vehicle for years. The company was started in
the 1937 and headquarter of the company is in Toyota Aichi (Toyota-global.com 2018).
Worldwide the corporate structure of Toyota consists of more than 300,000 employees. As
per the statistic report, Toyota is the fifth largest company as per the revenue concern. This is
the world's first automobile manufacturer that produces 10 million vehicles per year since
2012 and in 2014 the amount increases by 200 million, which is adapted for the mass-market
adaptation. The production output is 10,420,140 unit (FY2018) and the revenue increases by
¥29,340,500 million (Toyota-global.com 2018). This is the leader in hydrogen fuel-cell
vehicles and it has most of hybrid passenger car model around the globe.
The position of the company is high in rank as the level of innovation they introduce
in the market is quite effective and relevant. The situation analysis of the company
determines the emerging economy of the organisation and also expect the growth in the last
five years is incredible. Other automakers were more unwilling to alter their attention from
big to small cars, expectant the value of fuel to bond ultimately, taking customers back to the
big-car crinkle. The industry revenue generation and state the company in a more competitive
position is the key issue in that case. The demand determinants and positional strategy in the
market establishment is the key alternative in that case and consumer faith in saving fuel and
money is the key approach that initiated by Toyota (Toyota-global.com 2017).

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Organisational goal and context
The goal of the company is to establish effective working capital management and
cost management for the quality production in the national and international market. The
environmental challenge and initiative along with the electrification or Eco-car strategy are
one of the significant goals that they try to implement in their process.
The most highlighting context, in that case, is associated with employees that
maintained in a thorough manner by the company. The issues are quite highlighting in that
manner as culture and innovation introduced by the company is somehow effective and
formative in nature (Budde, Alkemade and Hekkert 2015). The culture of contradicting their
product from their companies and evolve some stagnant giants that are over-ruling the
oppositions or the competitors are the main concern in that case. The steady growth of market
and productivity improvements are the key deliverance that target customers want from the
company and that has been delivered by Toyota for years.
Competitor strategy
The range of automobile companies persist in the world are trying to compete with
others with their unique selling proposition. However, customer preference and innovative
development in the product is the key concern that differentiates the product quality as well
as promotion. There are some prior factors that customers noticed at the initial time in a car
like fuel economy, price safety, product features, the standard of customer service and
downward demand in the market (Kieckhäfer, Wachter and Spengler 2017). The companies
are like Nissan, Ford, General Motors, Honda, Suzuki all these companies are trying to beat
their counterpart by implementing effective strategies and those strategies are high in natural
and they introduce significant financial growth in the market as well (Toyota-global.com
2017).

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Figure 1: Toyota’s Revenue
(Source: marketrealist.com 2016)
The strategy has been taken by Toyota is effective enough for market. The volatility
in oil prices, currency exchange rate, increasing the bargaining power, rising infrastructure
cost and rising labour cost – all these are important for a company as well as for the
customer. So they have segmented their product quality and trying to make the change in
operation factors (Okutomi and Amasaka 2013). The process of channelling and brand
market equity addressed by the company is effective enough to beat other companies and also
the innovation introduced by them is quite valuable in terms of levelling a royal emblem over
their company.
Internal strengths and weaknesses of the company
The internal strengths of the company are:
 Toyota is the world’s leading automaker based in Japan, so a good brand image and
loyalty persists in that case.

5CONDUCTING A MARKET RESEARCH ON SITUATION ANALYSIS
 The issue of research and development of the company is at per the best in the world
and that is the reason most numbers of innovative cars are produced by the company.
The company has 15 research facilities in 8 different countries like China, Thailand,
the US, France, Belgium, Australia, Germany and Japan (Öberg, Henneberg and
Mouzas 2012). These hubs are mainly based on three major research and development
areas like leading-edge technology development, Product development and basic
research (Toyota-global.com 2017).
 The widest customer reach in the world and reputable brand management is the
concerning aspect in that case and they have maintained their reputation for the last 75
years.
Ranking
(Automobile
)
Brand Brand Value (in US$ billions)
1 Toyota 50.345
2 Mercedes Benz 47.300
3 BMW 41.409
4 Honda 22.400
5 Ford 13.655
 The production system of Toyota is also interesting as the company as they have
different manufacturing system and system philosophy of elimination of waste from
the manufacturing process (Chan, He and Wang 2012). The just-in-time concept is the
basic system was introduced by Toyota and that continuous flow of their production.
The lower costs of products and better quality of vehicles are the positives in that
case.

6CONDUCTING A MARKET RESEARCH ON SITUATION ANALYSIS
 Toyota has the largest operating profit margin in percentage and the leap of profit
margin is there (Ghani 2012). This is one of the systems that hard to replicate.
 The company has the strong human resource as well and they have appointed skilled
labour to retain their customers (Toyota-global.com 2017). The strong diversified
portfolio has been maintained through this way and large varieties of products are
there that all made from the advanced technology.
 The global supply chain of the company is one of the major strength that the company
has and this is the major strength of the company.
The weaknesses of the company are:
 The aspect of competition and revenue generation for Toyota is important in that case
and Toyota is not as good as other companies in case revenue generation.
Company 2017 R& D Revenue %
Toyota 9.451 3.5
Ford 8.1 5.2
Volkswagen 15.4 6.6
General Motors 7.5 5.1
 Toyota is in the whole world and they have increased demand from customers.
However, the dependence of suppliers is there for the production and customer need.
In that case, they are lagging behind from other companies.
 The green vehicle technology has started by Toyota but they are not grabbing the
actual market where they place their products. In China and India, is the best two
places where the formidable approach has got to Toyota (Nichols 2013).

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 The website is an open platform so people can easily deliver their views and approach
that what they have experienced with their products (Gummesson 2012). Some of the
negative comments are there as well that make a negative impact on customers.
 The poor brand recognition in four different flagships of Toyota in Lexus, Hino, and
Daihatsu and in another place. However, the process is not good for the productive
nature for the business (Toyota-global.com 2017).
Marketing objectives of Toyota
 To enhance the high-quality service for long and provide products that define their
brand image
 To maintain service quality in national and international and provide legitimate
customer care that is effective enough to formulate their business.
 To cater to all the dimensions of innovation and foster any sorts of process that are
beneficial for customers.
 To maintain a good relationship with customers by the ethical presence of the
company and to highlight the positive aspects of it.
 To evaluate the driving force behind the advancement and gain the highest revenue in
that process
Outline marketing activities
In case of product, Toyota has huge range of tangible and intangible products for
their customers. The products are high in range and these are self-marketed. The company
has nineteen car models those are segregated in different categories. In case of small, medium
and large size passengers car Tarago, Corolla, Rukus, Aurion these are quite important. In
SUVs and 4WD Parado, Rav4, Land cruiser 200 all these are highlighted as super utility
vehicle. Road assistance car services and extended warranties are the assistance that provide

8CONDUCTING A MARKET RESEARCH ON SITUATION ANALYSIS
along with the product. They have trucks also and the hybrid product line of Toyota is the
important aspect in that process.
Toyota focuses on the pull strategy and they have a different pool of target customer
also. Toyota has a good marketplace and they also fulfil the demand of the customer. In case
of the marketing mix, placing a product is important and that is the reason Toyota has
curtailed their supply chain cost so that reasonable service cost can be provided and the high-
quality product can be obtained. Product information, finance insurance, order taking
decisions are important in that case and product placement is minutely handled for Toyota.
In the case of the pricing process, Toyota cost profit strategy is important as they
have calculated the profit of the company only instead of calculating the selling price. The
quality of the vehicles are high and cost of cars are directly proportionate to this. The utmost
attention to waste elimination and the low-cost vehicles are the main attraction of the
company. In technology, design and quality, price defers but the fuel efficiency and low-cost
introduction is the key approach in that case.
The promotional standard is quite high in Toyota and their different projects make
the company different from others. The promotional of safe technology, Toyota global vision,
Toyota traditional vehicle, Smart mobility society all these are needed a promotion at the
level best. The trust is one of the main ethics in that case and some of the promotional
schemes are there. “Let’s Go Places” in 2012 by the brand Ambassador Virat Kohli in India
is the concern advancement for business. In most of the countries, the rate of penetration is
high. The marketing strategy of Toyota is based on the three major things. The traditional
advertising medium, Dealership networking across the globe, four sales channel are the prime
marketing strategies that Toyota has taken. Dealers’ network and sales channels are important

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in that case to make some advancement in production (Delafrooz, Taleghani and Nouri
2014).
Planning timetable
Activities 1-4
month
s
5-8
month
s
10-12
month
s
13-16
month
s
17-20
month
s
21-24
month
s
25-28
month
s
29-32
month
s
33-36
month
s
Competitor
Strategy
Market
Penetration
Economics
and
Business
Product,
Price, Place
and
Promotional
agreement
Social
infrastructur
e and
strategies
Implementation of strategies and benefit
The implementation helps in the environment, social infrastructure and in the
structural change in the industry. The problem in urbanisation and technological innovation,
as well as robotics, are introduced by the company and that makes something different from
the other companies as well. Through these strategies, the company is being benefited in
process of eco-car strategies or electrification, automated driving and utilization or the AI
intelligence are the selected benefitted applications that companies are introduced in their
recent processes (Toyota-global.com 2017). The process of accelerating electrification
initiatives, ingenuity to use hydrogen fuel and a connected platform with company and

10CONDUCTING A MARKET RESEARCH ON SITUATION ANALYSIS
customers is the important hub that initiates the information and intelligence in the process of
expanding the business in a suitable way.
Conclusion
Therefore it can be concluded that market expansion and change in service lining for
the development and focused on the artificial intelligence is the key commitment that the
company delivers for their creative advancement. They have a short-term planning of social
media promotion or make a communicative forum for introducing smart technologies to
people. However, in the long-term process, comprehensive changes of introducing robotics or
in-depth progression of artificial intelligence is the key parameter that will be implemented in
that process. The wide range of product and services are the key advancement that they had
made and this technological advancement makes them different from others and place a good
position in the global competitive index.

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References
Budde, B., Alkemade, F. and Hekkert, M., 2015. On the relation between communication and
innovation activities: A comparison of hybrid electric and fuel cell vehicles. Environmental
Innovation and Societal Transitions, 14, pp.45-59.
Chan, H.K., He, H. and Wang, W.Y., 2012. Green marketing and its impact on supply chain
management in industrial markets. Industrial Marketing Management, 41(4), pp.557-562.
Delafrooz, N., Taleghani, M. and Nouri, B., 2014. Effect of green marketing on consumer
purchase behavior. QScience Connect, p.5.
Ghani, N.H.A., 2012. Relationship marketing in branding: The automobile authorized
independent dealers in Malaysia. International Journal of Business and Social Science, 3(5).
Gummesson, E.R., 2012. Internal marketing in the light of relationship marketing and
network organizations. In Internal marketing: Directions for management (pp. 45-60).
Routledge.
Kieckhäfer, K., Wachter, K. and Spengler, T.S., 2017. Analyzing manufacturers' impact on
green products' market diffusion–the case of electric vehicles. Journal of Cleaner
Production, 162, pp.S11-S25.
Morgan, N.A., 2012. Marketing and business performance. Journal of the Academy of
Marketing Science, 40(1), pp.102-119.
Nichols, W., 2013. Advertising Analytics 2.0. Harvard Business Review, 91(3), pp.60-68.
Öberg, C., Henneberg, S.C. and Mouzas, S., 2012. Organizational inscriptions of network
pictures: A meso-level analysis. Industrial Marketing Management, 41(8), pp.1270-1283.

12CONDUCTING A MARKET RESEARCH ON SITUATION ANALYSIS
Okutomi, H. and Amasaka, K., 2013. Researching customer satisfaction and loyalty to boost
marketing effectiveness: A look at Japan's auto dealerships. International Journal of
Management & Information Systems (Online), 17(4), p.193.
Toyota-global.com 2017 The Changing Business Environment and the Expansion of
Mobility Value retrieved from:
https://www.toyota-global.com/pages/contents/investors/ir_library/annual/pdf/2017/
ar17_2_en.pdf [Accessed on 31st July 2018]
Toyota-global.com 2018 Toyota retrieved from: https://www.toyota-global.com/ [Accessed
on 31st July 2018]