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Running head: TOYOTA CORPORATION Toyota Corporation April 12, 2009 Toyota Corporation Outline Company Overview The History of Toyota Corporation Toyota: Strategy Toyota: Objectives Toyota Corporation Company Overview Toyota Motor Corporation (NYSE: TM) (Tokyo: 72030) is Japans # 1 car manufacturer, known for its well-designed vehicles. Toyota brand is associated with durability and reliability, the brand that wins customers sympathy, justifying relatively high purchase prices for its models. Most customers prefer purchasing Toyota's models for its unsurpassed quality and exceptional customer service. The company won its first Japanese Quality Control Award in early 1980 and since then started to take part in Motorsports. Toyota vehicles became more popular soon after the 1973 oil crisis when the customers started looking at smaller cars and fuel economy. No wonder that Toyota quickly established its presence in the United States.
In 1982 Toyota Motor Sales and Toyota Motor Company has merged into Toyota Motor Corporation, and in two years the company decided to enter into a joint venture with General motors. Soon after that Toyota has announced the launch of its luxury vehicles, Lexus. Nowadays Toyota Corporation is a multinational huge corporation with its headquarters in Aichi, Nagoya and Tokyo, Japan. The company employs over 316, 000 people all over the world and owns such famous brands like Toyota, Scion and Lexus.
The History of Toyota Corporation The history of Toyota motors takes its origins in 1933, when the company was started as a small division of Toyoda Automatic Loom Works under management of Kiichiro Toyoda, the son of Toyoda's founder, with its first vehicles the G 1 and the A 1 passenger vehicle (in 1935). In 1937 Toyota was established as an independent company by Kiichiro Toyoda. Since then the company has started its long way to its current position as a worlds largest car manufacturer. During World War II Toyota was mainly involved in truck production for the Imperial Japanese Army, however, soon after the end of the war, in 1947, the company has finally launched commercial car production (1947 Toyo pet Model SA). In 1956 the company has established its first dealer chain and became the first Japanese exporter exporting cars to the United States. The company began its expansion strategy in the early 1960 s, establishing its first overseas presence in Thailand.
Soon after that the first Toyota car was manufactured outside of Japan, in Australia (1963) and by the end of 1960 s the company had exported its 1, 000, 000 th vehicle (Toyota History). By 2007 Toyota Corporation has introduced one of the first mass-produced hybrid gas-electric vehicles and, according to the companys information, it has managed to sell over 1 million of models (Toyota Motor Corporation Website). Due to economic crisis and extremely high gas prices of 2008 the company has suffered significant losses and decline in sales, however, its competitors reported even worse double-digit losses. In 2009 Toyota plans to reduce losses and achieve stability, at the same time shifting its production to target in-demand vehicles. Toyota: Strategy Toyota Corporation is a typical company implementing best-cost provider strategy (Thompson, p. 130). The company undertakes all efforts to give its customers more value for their money, deliver exceptional service and quality at a lowest possible price.
However, it should be taken into account that the company never positions itself as a low-cost provider, but instead strives to be a best-cost provider proud to offer its customers excellent customer service and attractive attributes as a lower cost than its competitors. Toyota Motor Company managed to achieve low-cost leadership due to its ability to establish an effective supply chain management and low-cost assembly capabilities (Thompson, p. 130). Also, the fact that Toyota's vehicles are positioned in the low-to-medium price range also plays quite an important role in the companys success in the highly competitive environment. However, some Toyota's models are positioned as expensive vehicles with superior quality, and no wonder that these models are introduced in completely different way, placing high emphasis on being the best-cost provider. For example, Toyota's Lexus Line was designed to compete in the luxury car market and to market these models effectively the company implemented the best-cost provider strategy. This strategy comprised of four steps: designing luxury vehicles with high-performing characteristics and top features peculiar to high-end models produced by competitors (such as jaguar, Lincoln, Cadillac, and BMW); manufacturing top-quality models at a lower price range (compared to competitors) due to effective supply chain management and low-cost assembly know how; lower manufacturing costs to create models cheaper than comparable vehicles of its competitors model lines; and, finally, creating a new dealer network especially for Lexus luxury models aimed to provide superior customer service the customers will never find in the industry (Thompson, p. 131).
Toyota: Objectives The companys strategic business objectives are based on Toyota management philosophy, consisting of four core components: long-term thinking as the foundation for companys management decisions, the effective processes for problem-solving, adding exceptional value to the corporation by developing its employees, and, finally, acknowledging that continuously solving root problems drives organizational learning. The company undertakes all efforts to develop and provide safe, innovative, outstanding and exceptional top quality products and services that meet and exceed the customers demands and expectations in order to enrich the lives of all people throughout the world. The company has published its The Toyota Way (2001) to clarify its objectives to all its employees as well as the values employees should adopt to implement the Toyota principles in their daily business operations (Toyota's Global Strategy). Also, according to the companys corporate website, Toyota's major goals and objectives are as follows: to steadily increase corporate value as a top management priority, 2) continue to introduce and produce products that fully cater to customer needs, and 3) to become an even more competitive global company (Toyota Motor Corporation Website, 2009). In addition to this, as Toyota's strategy is focused on being the best-cost provider, its objectives are, undoubtedly, to deliver the best possible value to its customers by satisfying their expectations on top service, quality, performance and features. Toyota implements new features and initiatives to exceed the customers expectations on price (especially when taking into consideration that Toyota's competitors charge significantly more for the same set of features and services).
Works Cited Thompson, A. Crafting & Executing Strategy: The Quest for Competitive Advantage: Concepts and Cases. McGraw-Hill, 2008. Toyota History. 2009. 11 April 2009 < web >. Toyota Motor Corporation Website. 2009. 11 April 2009 < web >.
Toyota's Global Strategy. 2003. 11 April 2009 < web >.
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