The Brand Strategies which Toyota May Adopt to Improve Tarnished Brand Image - Term Paper Example

Toyota Table of Contents Introduction 4 Chapter 1 8 Company Overview: Toyota Motor Corporation 8 RESEARCH QUESTIONS 12 Chapter 2 13 Literature Review 13 Branding 13 Brand Identity 17 Marketing Communications 20 Integrated Marketing Communication 22 Brand Building 27 Brand Awareness 27 Brand Repositioning 32 Brand Communication 35 Developing Brand Strategy 35 Research Methodology 44 Research Framework 44 Population and Sample Size 46 Survey Instrument 46 Data Collection 47 Ethical Consideration 47 Limitations 48 Chapter 4 49 DATA ANALYSIS, DISCUSSION AND FINDINGS 49 Secondary Data Analysis and Findings 49 Primary Data Analysis and Findings 57 Next question was based specifically on Toyota performance, pricing, positioning and satisfaction. 42% of the individuals rated Toyota on its performance, 30% rated Toyota different from others on the basis of pricing, 10% rated it on its positioning and rest rated Toyota on the basis of satisfaction level. In the end the individuals were asked about their opinions and views regarding Toyota’s recall process and the reasons associated with this critical situation. According to them their perceived quality of Toyota as a brand has decreased and they are unhappy to pay the same amount of money which Toyota is actually asking because they should be aware that their brand quality has been tarnished and needs improvement. Most of the security concerned individuals stated that they will altogether stop buying Toyota’s products as they are outsourcing most of their automobile manufacturing. Hence it is evident that the higher management must put more effort in building up to quality and service to reposition their tarnished image in the minds of their customers. 72 Chapter 5 73 Recommendations 73 Conclusion 78 Appendix 94 Introduction The modern age of business can be defined as age of competition. The competition within an industry is gradually increasing with the expansion of business as many new players are entering into the market. There are several reasons behind this intensifying competition. Firstly, globalisation is one of the primary reasons for expansion of trade and business that lead to increase competition. Many business organisations have found greater opportunities in overseas market, and free trade policies and agreements between multiple countries facilitated their market expansion programs. The domestic markets have turned into global markets that heightened competition rivalry among existing domestic and new multinational enterprises. Since last two decades, the society has been experiencing a rapid technological improvement. The technological advancements have led to change the structure of entire trade and business. The management tasks and operational process are now backed with technology like e-commerce and e-business. A better grip of technological advancement helps a business organisation to gain an upper hand position. Finally, enhancing economic condition of consumers and increasing their disposable income have strengthened their purchasing power. This has also changed their consumer buying behaviours and they have developed their specific brand preferences (Vashisht, 2005, p.68). In the modern and competitive business world, business organisations always try to position itself in market for avoiding unnecessary competitions. In this process they aim to achieve strong competitive advantages and core competencies that enable them to gain upper hand position in the market. There are multiple ways to achieve competitive advantages; however, brand development is the most preferred way for creating high business value (John R. Schermerhorn, Jr, 2010). The American Marketing Association (AMA) describes a brand as a "name, term, sign, symbol or design, or a combination of them intended to identify the goods and services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of other sellers. About.com Marketing Guide further explains that the objective of branding is not just to project yourself as being better than your competitors, but branding seeks to position your brand so uniquely in the minds of your consumers so that they perceive your product as the only possible solution to your problem or need. The objectives of good branding are as follows: Deliver message clearly Confirm credibility Connect target prospects emotionally Motivates buyers Concretes User Loyalty The increasing demands of brand development is due to two primary factors i.e. urge for acquiring higher market share and increasing concern towards consumer value. The modern management style and thought process of decision makers have transformed. The modern management concept focuses more on long term benefits by creating a sustainable businesses environment where stakeholders’ wealth and value creation is the first priority. When a company is able to meet these responsibilities towards stakeholders, society, community and environment, it is able to create a high brand image in the market. Managements in modern organisation culture follow management theories and models which are very effective in achieving common organisational goal. In this respect, they concentrate on two-way communicational system within cross-functional teams and with their consumers. For example, the existing management system deliberately tries to implement integrated marketing communication that focuses on better marketing strategy for enhancing consumer values. These efforts made by the modern managements are very helpful in brand development and hence, they try to draft specific plans for branding strategies (John R. Schermerhorn, Jr, 2010). Recently in 2010, Toyota faced a great deal of tarnishing of its brand image because of quality degradation of their product which led to failures of acceleration and braking system in its cars on the road causing deaths and accidents. Toyota eventually had to recall its cars from the market in US but the greater cause of their brand image’s downfall was poor crises management and their distancing from their customers along with an uninterested attitude towards them, only for the concern of profits (Liker Jeffrey, 2011). As BBC News reported on 4 Feb. 2010: “Akio Toyoda was clear in his criticism: the executives running the company that his grandfather Sakichi Toyoda founded had run it into the ditch. "Toyota has become too big and distant from its customers," he said in his autumn speech, castigating the firm's executives for their "undisciplined pursuit of more" and for their arrogance, which he referred to as "hubris born of success". “ This paper will attempt to deal with Brand Improvement Strategies For Toyota Motor Corporation under such circumstances so that it is able to redeem itself and the primary aim of this paper is to offer a plausible set of recommendations based on findings of primary research and secondary research data analysis. At first, a brief description of Toyota Corporation will be offered to understand fundamental. The second section will explain research question and objective based on which the entire research methodology will be constructed to obtain viable and valid results. The third section will present theoretical background and models relating to marketing and branding. Marketing and branding are interrelated with each other and the later is an integral part of marketing. Multiple marketing theories and models are very helpful for brand development. Moreover, many scholars have developed brand specific theories and models which facilitate brand management tasks. The fourth section will include the research methodology, and research framework will be framed as per the requirements of this research paper. Finally, based on data analyses and its findings, the entire project will be summarized and a set of credible recommendations will be developed (Liker Jeffrey, 2011). Chapter 1 Company Overview: Toyota Motor Corporation Toyota Motor Corporation is a multinational automobile company and is famous as Toyota in global market. This is a Japan-based company and is present in most of the international markets. Sakichi Toyoda laid the foundations of automobile company and latter, in 1933, his son Kiichiro Toyoda opened an automobile department after conducting an extensive research on engines powered by gasoline. Automobile department was known as Toyoda Automatic Loom Works, Ltd. One of the sister company of Toyota, called Hinode Motors (now known as Aichi Toyota) introduced its first A1 prototype cars and G1 truck during 1935. In 1937, Kiichiro Toyoda established Toyota Motor Company Ltd. and in 1938 he started producing SB trucks in its Honsha plant in 1938 (Toyota-a, 2011). Toyota brought a revolution in automobile industry of Japan during 1930s to 1950s by incorporating innovation and growth oriented business model. At present, Toyota is one of the leading and the largest automobile manufacturer in the world. It is also one of the pioneers in automobile innovation which is the company’s core value. The technological expertise is prime competitive advantage that has helped the company to cater the global automobile market. Since the inception of Toyota, the company is committed to produce reliable and value added vehicles. Innovation is the major tool for the company and it also uses its technological expertise in meeting social and environmental responsibilities. In order to operate in the global market, the company has formed its seven specific guidelines and principles. These principles mainly include business ethics, respects and honour for every country and its culture, and develop a growth oriented organisation with the business partners etc (Toyota-b, 2011). Presently, Toyota’s global headquarter is at Toyota City, Aichi of Japan and its president and representative director is Akio Toyoda. As of March 31, 2010, the company owned nearly 397.05 billion yen of capital. It has a number of subsidiaries and affiliated companies over the world and currently, it has nearly 320,590 employees in its international business (Toyota-f, 2011). Currently, Toyota is trying to use its innovation for bringing development in the society and environment. The company has realized increasing negative impacts of industrialization and carbon emission from increasing number of vehicle. Therefore, the company is now focusing on eco-friendly cars like hybrid and electronic cars. Toyota has identified three major environmental issues relating to its vehicle manufacturing and hence, it has developed and incorporated necessary steps for making the things better for environment. Firstly, it attempts to enhance its transmission and engine efficiency by downsizing measures. Secondly, energy management is another major task for Toyota in this respect. Finally, for reducing overall vehicle load, it tries to lessen rolling resistance, air drag and vehicle mass (Toyota-c, 2011). Quality and safety are two major parameters for Toyota and hence, the company strive to bring constant development in its operational and management process. Toyota’s production system “is steeped in the philosophy of "the complete elimination of all waste" imbuing all aspects of production in pursuit of the most efficient methods” (Toyota-d, 2011). The global operation of Toyota is primarily based on two concepts of modern management. “The first is called "jidoka" (which can be loosely translated as "automation with a human touch") which means that when a problem occurs; the equipment stops immediately, preventing defective products from being produced” (Toyota-d, 2011). The second concept is the just-in-time process that helps it to maintain a smooth process of operation without maintaining high inventory. Table 1: Consolidated Vehicle production (Figures in table indicate actual number of vehicles produced by Toyota) (Source: Toyota-e, 2010) As Toyota has been able to capture significant share of market in these regions, its financial position has been quite strong. The following table and graph present key financial performance indicator and sales revenue by region. Table 2: Consolidated Performance (Source: Toyota-e, 2010) Figure 1: Net Revenue by Regions (Source: Toyota-e, 2010) As per the above figure and table, during 2009, Toyota faced loss due to the effect of global economic crisis. However, with the recovering economy, the company has been able to regain high profitability. From Japan and North American market, Toyota earns the highest revenue. Besides, from other markets like Europe and Asia, the company generates high revenue. Toyota was in the face of a grim crisis when one of its leading models of the Lexus and Prius brand was badly hit by a series of manufacturing defects in the US which led to loss of innocent lives. The company had to pay a major price for this defect as its public relations strategy was widely criticised. In addition to this the company had to face major lawsuits which led to payment of hefty fines by the company and large scale product recall that had a wide impact on the brand image of the organization (John R. Schermerhorn, Jr, 2010). The discussions have pointed out the fundamental features and condition of Toyota that make it a successful company in the global automobile market. The efficient operations with technological expertise are the primary base of the company. In each market, it has developed trust and confidence among the target consumer group and hence, it has been able to capture higher market share. RESEARCH QUESTIONS The research paper will be looking at the branding strategies which Toyota may adopt to augment its tarnished brand image. The discussion will be carried out with an analysis of earlier branding strategies of Toyota. Adding to it, some relevant branding strategies of other leading organisations will also be taken into account; so that, an appropriate branding framework can be developed for the company taking references from the company as well as its competitors. The main research objectives for the report are as follows: To study how branding and brand image plays a role to establish a product’s positioning in the market To find out the role of marketing in the success or failure of a product and analyse how marketing and branding can help to redeem a product’s tarnished image. Elaborate the reasons that forced Toyota to arrive at such a devastating position. Discuss how the crisis has affected Toyota and on its sales, customers confidence and reputation. What measures and steps have been taken by Toyota to overcome crisis and regain their market confidence and reputation. Chapter 2 Literature Review Branding The American Marketing Association (AMA) has defined a brand as a name, sign, term, design symbol, design or a combination of them which are intended to categorize the products and services offered by one seller or group of sellers. The brands are also used to differentiate them from those of their competitors. Keller has expressed a different view. According to him, whenever an organisation introduces a new name, symbol or logo for a new product, he or she has created a brand. However, today those brands mean much more than that. According to these definitions, in simple term it would not be wrong to say that the brands act as identifiers. Earlier, brands and brand building processes would be thought as just another step towards the marketing or selling off products. Since a long time, brands were treated as a secondary step of the marketing process. According to Kotler, branding has become a significant issue in the product strategy (Liker Jeffrey, 2011). “[Branding is] a 15-second elevator pitch that every employee in the organization can not only get and articulate, but can talk about their role in bringing that to life” –Davis, M. S. (Wiley, 2003, p.1). In today’s competitive world of business, marketing and advertising have significant contribution to create ‘branding’ of any product or service or may be of a whole organisation. The significant portion of branding has experienced a dramatic shift in the last few decades. Both the traditional branding and the role of brands were subject to continual review and redefinition. According to Kotler, a brand can be defined as “the name associated with one or more items in the product line that is used to identify the source of character of the item” (Guzman,n.d., p.1). The brand communication strategy has its focus towards representation of the brand and the creation of the brand image. In the year 2000, Aaker and Joachimsthaler mentioned that as per the traditional branding model, the objective is to develop the brand image (Ali, 2007). The brand image is a strategy element driving the short term results of the product as well as for the organisation. In the year 1997, Kapferer mentioned that the brand is an external sign whose responsibility is to disclose the hidden qualities of the product or service (Nijte, 2005, p.20). In today’s competitive business environment, the challenge is to develop a string and distinctive image. The brand is expected to serve as the identifier of a product by displaying the distinguishing elements from the competition. Powerful brands develop meaningful metaphors in the consumers’ minds. The meaningful images are created through development of brand image and enhancement of reputation by differentiating and potentially having an affirmative influence on the consumers’ buying behaviour. The Keller Model has a considerable contribution in the branding theory. The model has identified the concept of customer based brand equity and the brand hierarchy. According to Keller, brand equity is the effect which the brand knowledge would have on the consumer’s response to the brand marketing, which would then have an indirect effect on the brand’s strong and unique brand associations. “Keller’s conceptual framework provides guidance in building, measuring and managing brand equity. While Keller claims that the model can be applied in a B2B context and a consumer environment, it does not appear to have been tested for industrial brands. The similarities and differences between business and consumer markets have long been debated with organisational buyers found to differ in many ways, suggesting that the application of such a model in a B2B setting will pose challenges” (Kuhn & Alpert,n.d., p.3). Today, there has been a considerable shift in the brand management processes. Concerning with the brand management process, Aaker and Joachmisthaler have discussed the traditional branding model where the brand management team would be responsible for creating and coordinating with the brand’s management programs (Guzman, n.d.). In general, majority of the companies thought that focusing on the latest advertising campaign would mean concentrating on the brand itself. The model is strategically significant and reactive rather than being creative and visionary. The brand has always been referred to as more like a series of tactics and never like any strategy. In 1997, Kapferer has mentioned that before the 1980’s, a different approach was there towards the brands (Kapferer, 1997, p.23). Earlier, the organizations wished to purchase a producer of pasta and chocolate. After 1980, the consumers are looking for Buitoni and KitKat. Such an instance displays the fact that earlier, the consumers were not bothered about the brands; rather they were more focused on the required product. However, after 1980, the consumers are aware of the product names. Buitoni has established the brand name in pasta and KitKat has marked its position in the world of chocolate. This distinction is quite significant. In the first case, the organizations wish to purchase the production capacity and in the later years, they want to create a place in the consumers’ minds. In other words, the shift in the focus towards the brand would start as it was understood that the brands are more than plain identifiers. According to Kapferer, a brand serves eight functions: Identification, Practicality, Guarantee, Optimization, Characterization, Continuity, Hedonistic and Ethical. Identification of the brand would enable the consumer to clearly see, make sense of the offer and to quickly identify the required after products (Kapferer, 1997, p.29). Practicality would enable the consumers to save on time and energy through identical purchasing and loyalty. Among the other function, optimization is significant one to make the customers sure of finding the same quality indifferent to the time and place of the product or service. The characterization in brand management reflects the confirmation of the product or service image, presented to others.There must be continuity in the brand which is supposed to bring in satisfaction through familiarity and intimacy with the brands, which were used or consumed by the customers since a long period. The brand is supposed to bring in satisfaction linked to the brand attractiveness; the brand is required to be self-gratifying. The brand is also required to be ethical as satisfaction of the consumers must come through reasonable behavior of the products and those must be reflected in its relationship towards the society. Among these eight functions, the first two are quite mechanical and are concerned with the essence of the respective brands. The brands are expected “to function as recognized symbol to facilitate choice and to gain time” (Guzman,n.d., p.2). According to the theory by Kapferer, adding brand image, perceived quality, evocations, familiarity to the brand awareness would create the brand assets which can also be thought as the brand added value perceived by the customers (Kapferer, 1997, p.123). Deducting both cost of branding and cost of invested capital from the same would be equal to the finance value of the brand or brand equity value. Brand Identity Brand identity is defined as the way a company wants its customers to perceive its products and communicates through the external appearance of a brand by means of its name, logo, trademark and visual appearance etc. It is the most fundamental basis of differentiation of a product or brand from its competitors, for a consumer. ‘Identity’ is very significant for any individual or for any entity to make others feel its presence. In case of marketing, it is necessary to remain in the mind of target consumers for competing in the market and for generating sales revenue. The business organisations or companies can develop identity as per its corporate name, product or services. There are some examples of such identity. Xerox Corporation is a world renowned company that offers printers, copiers, scanners, projectors etc. The company was very successful for its photocopier machines. It used it corporate brand name for marketing the photocopier machines and now, the photocopier machines are now famous as ‘Xerox Machines’. Another famous example of developing identity using product name is ‘Marlboro Cigarette’. It is the world’s largest selling cigarette brand manufactured by Altria Group & Philip Morris International. The company’s corporate identity is not so popular but it is popular for its product identity i.e. Marlboro. However, the above examples have been explained to make understand the importance of identity for being successful in market and for being famous among the target consumers groups. Therefore, every company must try to build its unique identity though its corporate name, product or services. Each product or services offered by any company have its own unique identity and consumers’ perceptions for each identity are different. For example, consumers perceive Mercedes as premium brand as it offers premium cars to very niche market. On the other hand, Wal-Mart is perceived as low-cost brand as it offers ‘every day low price’ to its consumers (Talley, 2011). Both the companies (Mercedes and Wal-Mart) have developed their own typical identity as per their core marketing approaches. The above discussion has focused on importance and some example of identity. In marketing this identity is known as ‘brand identity’. Different scholars and critics have presented their views regarding brand identity and how it is important for companies for their sustainability in a market. In this respect, Jean-Noël Kapferer has related the brand identity with globalisation. He has offered the definition of brand identity from the globalization perspectives. He believes that brand identity must help a company in globalising of its brand image. He has explained that “the brand must have as identity that will serve as medium for its globalisation, in both tangible and intangible terms” (Kapferer, 2008, p.488). Sometimes, brand identity and brand image is considered to be similar or identical but these two terms are very different from others. The brand image of company or of a product can be defined through the others perception i.e. consumers’ view; whereas, brand identity is a company’s attempt to project itself before its target consumers (Wilson and Blumenthal, 2008, p.58). Therefore, it can be defined that brand image is an outcome of an attempt to develop brand identity among the consumers groups. Hence, building brand identity is very crucial step for building brand image. In the process of framing brand strategy, establishment of brand identity is the foremost task for a company as it offers a company purpose, aim, direction and proper significance to a brand. In order to explain a brand identity, Aaker has identified three prime components in a brand identity. The following diagram shows these three components. Figure 2: Brand Identity Structure (Source: Salver, 2009, p.42) As per the above figure, three essentials of brand identity are core identity, brand essence and extended identity. The core identity refers to the “timeless centre of the brand” that must consist of basic features of a company like its values, ethics, belief etc (Salver, 2009, p.41). Brand essence can be defined as soul of a company’s brand that makes the core brand more comprehensible, accessible and valuable. The extended brand helps to add more value to the core brand’s identity. These three components are not basic integral part of a brand strategy but understanding of brand identity helps brand managers in recognising the prevailing brand position (Salver, 2009, p.41). Toyota has attempted to develop its brand identity for each of its brand product like Lexus, Prius, Innova, Corolla etc. The brand identity is basically determined by specific features of the product. For example, Toyota Prius has been able to develop its brand identity among the tech-savvy and environmentally conscious people and Lexus had gained its specific brand identity among the luxury car market. Lexus has been a premium brand for its target consumers as they perceive Lexus as high quality and value added vehicle. Toyota has successfully understood the core brand identifies and brand essence, and it has promoted its distinct brand products in accordance to target market (Toyota-h, 2011). Marketing Communications The marketing communications and promotion mix of an organisation consists of the explicit blend of personal selling, advertising, sales promotion and public relations measurements which are used by the company to pursue the advertising and marketing objectives. The five major types of promotion include Advertising: Advertising is any paid form of non personal promotion of various ideas, merchandises or services by a recognized sponsor. Personal Selling: This can be assumed to be a personal presentation carried out by the firm’s sales force to make sales and develop the customer relationships. Public Relations: Establishing the good relationship with the public the company may opt for the favourable publicity, by developing a good corporate image and managing or heading off adverse stories, rumours and events. Direct Marketing: To boost the sales, a company can directly communicate to the targeted individual consumers to obtain a prompt response from them. The marketers can use telephone, mail, fax, email and various other non personal measurements to directly communicate to the specific consumers. These are also done to communicate a direct response. Sales promotion: A company can motivate the sales personnel by offering them incentives. The company can also offer promotional offers to encourage the purchase or sale of a merchandise or service. Each type of promotion has its own measurements. Advertising includes the forms of print, media, outdoor and other forms. Personal selling is fostered by sales presentations, incentive programs and trade shows. Sales promotion includes point-of-purchase displays, premiums, discounts, coupons, specialty advertising, and demonstrations. Tools like catalogues, fax transmissions, telemarketing and online marketing are used in the direct marketing of products and services. In this arena of advanced technology, marketers can now communicate through traditional media forms such as newspapers, radio, television and telephone. At the same time, the new forms like cellular phones, fax machines, pagers and computers are welcomed by the marketers to foster promotion and sales. More companies have been encouraged by these new technologies. The advancement in technologies has enabled the companies to move from mass communication to focus more on targeted communication and one-on-one dialogue. “At the same time, communication goes beyond these specific promotion tools. The product’s design, its price, the shape and colour of its package, and the stores that sell it—all communicate something to buyers. Thus, although the promotion mix is the company’s primary communication activity, the entire marketing mix— promotion and product, price, and place must be coordinated for greatest communication impact” (Pearson Canada, n.d.,p.536). Marketing of Toyota In the marketing communication of Toyota, the company had recognised the luxury or premium messages the company wanted to put forward. However, it was aware that the brand could be undercut by the middle class perception about the existing dealerships. “To carry the Lexus brand, Toyota required its dealers to establish separate Lexus-branded dealerships that oozed the luxury image” (Segal, 2006). Integrated Marketing Communication “Integrated Marketing Communications encompasses general advertising, direct marketing, sales promotion and public relations. None of the four elements of IMC is inherently superior or inferior; they all have important functions in an integrated campaign. The campaign should focus on a “big idea” and a graphic look those threads through all four elements. This maximizes the chances that consumers will get the message and then have the message reinforced and layered in their memories without the “cognitive disagreement” that arises from mixed messages or inconsistent graphic elements” (Jones, 2008, p.3). Promotion is a significant component of the marketing mix. The component includes a mix of communication tools. All these communication tools work better when they are together in synchronization, rather than in isolation. The togetherness has greater significance as they consistently speak one single voice at one time. The marketing gets enhanced as the integration simply goes beyond the fundamental communication tools. There are certain other levels of integration including internal, external, horizontal, vertical, and data integration. This is the way which would help in strengthening integrated communications. Horizontal integration can occur across all the marketing mix and across all the business functions. In the vertical integration, the corporate objectives and corporate missions must be supported by the marketing and communication objectives. The other types of integration such as internal integration demands all of its internal marketing components to be integrated, keeping all employees informed and motivated about all the new developments including new advertisements, new service standards, new corporate identities, new strategic partners, new service standards etc. On the other hand, external integration demands the external partners to work in close coordination to deliver an efficient solution. These external partners are components like advertising, PR agencies and offer a cohesive message or an integrated message. Benefits of Integrated Marketing Communication Integrated marketing communications in any company requires a considerable amount of efforts which in turn delivers a number of benefits. These benefits can create competitive advantages enhancing revenue and profitability while saving money, stress and time. Integrated marketing communications wrap up the communications around the customers and assist the customers through various stages of the purchase process. Through an integrated marketing communication process, an organisation simultaneously secures its image developing a dialogue and nurturing the company’s relationship with its customers. The ‘Relationship Marketing’ creates a loyalty bond with the customers, protecting them from the unavoidable arena of competition. The ability of an organisation to retain a customer for a prolonged period is surely a strong competitive advantage. IMC also enhances profits through increased effectiveness and productivity. At a fundamental level, an integrated message is more effective than an incoherent myriad of messages. Carefully integrated messages also offer timely reminders, updated information and promotional offers to the purchasers. The planned sequence of these messages helps the customers by assisting them to move through the stages of the buying process. This, in turn, helps the customers to make choices in this busy, competitive world. Integrated marketing communications also helps to make the messages more reliable and therefore more convincing. Consistent images and appropriate, useful messages would help in nurturing the long term relationships with the customer base. The consumer databases can help to identify the customer requirements more precisely and the same information can be used throughout the buying life. The Integrated Marketing Communication helps the company to save on the costs by sharing advertisements, exhibitions and sales efforts. The company would be able to reduce the agency fees as a single agency would be used for all the communications. Even if there are many other agencies, using integrated marketing would save on the time as all the agencies would come together for the briefings, strategic planning and creative events. All these are expected to bring down the workload and following stress levels. This is also a significant benefit of integrated marketing communication. Integrated Marketing communication can be a barrier to the creative ideas. It does not encourage creative idea and innovative sales promotion activities unless those fit into the overall marketing communication strategy. An advertising company may not be enthusiastic about the creative ideas generated by a public relation executive or a direct marketing consultant. The joy of wild creativity has lost its space. However, in the process of integration, creative challenges can be greater and in turn more satisfying being operated within an integrated and rigid environment. There can be an issue regarding the time line in the integrated marketing. For an instance, image advertising is designed to cultivate the brand over a long period of time. However, in the process its time line may not be in alignment with the advertising and sales promotions which are designed to be for short term as these are meant to foster the quarterly sales figures. This demands a careful integration of all the marketing communication efforts to accommodate these two objectives without any conflict among them. The initial marketing strategy of Toyota is intended to target the innovators as well as the initial adopters of the new technologies. Toyota has introduced vehicles which are environment friendly and at the same time, the company has come up with campaigns which have showed off this characteristic of Toyota brand. The company has enabled its customers to visit the website flaunting information about the development of Pirus. “Toyota used focus groups and clinics with target consumers to evaluate different aspects of the Prius. Toyota found that the consumers valued high technology, affordable price, clean operation, comfort, quality, convenient design, and safety” (Rodriguez & Page, 2004, p.2). Brand Image Brand image is the perception the customers have of a particular brand. It is the set of beliefs, views and personality traits that are associated with the particular brand and its usage in the minds of the target consumers. It is determined by the manner in which a particular brand is positioned in the market. The brand image also at large conveys an organization’s characters, values, beliefs and their vision and mission. The main idea behind brand image is that customer’s not only purchase a particular tangible product, but also the image associated with that product. Hence, the brand images should be positive, unique and constant. These brand images can be further strengthened through brand communication via advertising, promotional campaigns, word-of-mouth marketing and such activities. With regards to car manufacturers there may be various types of positioning for brand image. E.g. Toyota’s brand image signifies reliability whereas Volvo’s symbolizes safety. Brand image is shaped automatically in the customers’ minds through visual appeal of the product, its functionality, convenience of use, and overall valueand fame. Positive brand image is the result of the product meeting or exceeding the customer’s expectations. Overall, brand image is the customer’s net extract from the brand (Management Study Guide n.d.). Brand Building Brand building is the process of enhancing brand equity through advertising campaigns and promotions. To establish the strong brands in a cheaper, better and faster way, the organisations require pursuing an efficient approach. The cornerstone of the brand building is the fusion of future economics, organisational capabilities and customer insights. Brand building demands the organisations to focus more on the segments which would drive the organisation develop organisation propositions and deliver products according to the customers’ preferences (McKinsey& Company, n.d., p.12). Brand Awareness Brand awareness is the degree to which the population is aware of a brand’s existence. In the above sections of literature review, the importance and explanation of brand image have been discussed. However, without proper understandings of brand identity and brand awareness, the brand image cannot be formed for target market. A company can build a higher brand image in the mind of consumers when it is able to successfully create its pre-determined brand identity through brand awareness programs. Therefore, the importance and understanding of brand awareness is significant in brand image building process. For building a strong brand, it is necessary to incorporate brand identity and brand awareness. The following model shows the importance and correlation between brand identity, brand awareness and brand image. Figure 3: Building a Strong Brand (Source: Capon, 2008, p.303) The above model shows that in the process of brand building, brand identity and brand awareness are the two primary areas followed by brand image & association, brand quality, brand loyalty and brand broadening. As per the above figure, brand loyalty is an outcome of brand image that is an effect of successful creation of brand identity and brand awareness. Brand loyalty provides a company a competitive advantage over its key competitors that helps it to counter and avoid unnecessary competition. Brand loyalty can be defined from the availability of brand loyal consumers. However, Knox and Walker has identified that there is significant difference between brand loyalty and repetitive purchasing (Ranchhod and Marandi, 2007, p.80). They explained that “this lack of clarity has led to a great deal of difficulty in interpreting many of the brand loyalty studies” (Ranchhod and Marandi, 2007, p.80). However, they also admitted that brand loyalty also includes the repetitive purchasing and word-of-mouth marketing from consumers’ end. Therefore in order to develop significant amount consumers, plausible brand awareness programs are inevitable for a company. Brand awareness defines the strength of a brand in a consumer’s mind, and a strong effect of brand awareness determines the longevity of brand’s image in target consumers’ mind. According to Keller, brand awareness includes performance of brand recall and brand recognition. Bran recall refers to consumers’ ability to regain a brand from their past experiences while making any buying decision. Brand recognition is consumers’ knowledge regarding a specific brand. The consumer should be able to recognise their brand when they are given wide ranges of choices. McLoughlin and Aaker have been able to understand major draw backs in implementing brand awareness programs for a company. They believe that, most of the companies consider brand awareness as a promotional mix and hence, they more focuses on promoting a product rather than brand development or brand awareness. Brand awareness is also very necessary for creating brand equity. McLoughlin and Aaker have designed a model showing brand awareness and its important outcomes. Figure 4: Brand Awareness (Source: McLoughlin and Aaker, 2010, p.176) As per the above figure, brand awareness is directly related to brand equity which includes brand related assets and liabilities. Successful implementation of brand awareness and better brand equity lead to develop higher brand loyalty and brand association of consumers. While discussing about the brand awareness, it is necessary to deal with the consumers’ buying behaviours. Brand awareness deals with consumers’ perception for an offered brand that helps them in recalling the past experiences while buying. The influences of brand awareness are very substantial in the process of making a buying decision. Gustafson and Chabot have provided five major steps for planning and implementing brand awareness. These five major steps are given below. 1. Cleary identify and understand potential target consumers and market 2. Develop a unique name, slogan, and logo for a company or for offer product brand 3. Offer value added features and services along with offered branded product or services 4. Effective promotional mix and advertising focusing on brand creation 5. Develop proper public relation with consumers by following-up the post-sales period (Gustafson and Chabot, 2007) The above steps are very helpful in establishing a strong brand awareness programs to build brand image in the mind of target consumers. Recently, Toyota has faced a drastic brand crisis in its Swedish market due to quality issues. It caused to develop a negative brand image in the mind of target consumers. Moreover, in American market, the company faced a crisis, and mass media played very active role in spreading the ‘Toyota crisis news’. However, due to previous effective brand awareness programs, certain group of loyal consumers were not influenced by that crisis news. This case provides an evidence for the importance of brand awareness creation in the mind of the target consumers. On the other hand, the prevailing management of Toyota was not able to cope up with that crisis situation. In such situation, management could have restructured its entire brand awareness program to maintain its corporate image (Feng, 2010). Brand Positioning Brand Positioning can best be described as the process of identifying the niche of the market for a certain brand.This can be assumed as one of the oldest marketing tricks as it was found as early as in 1969. During the start of marketing policies the organizations focused only on the benefits which took them away from competition in the market which may also form differentiation. When we talk about the term ‘positioning’ we need to realize what it actually means. It can be defined as making a place in the customers’ memory, providing them with reasons or characteristics of brands that would make them choose their brands instead of same brands in the industry from different providers. Customers will only remember the goods when they have once compared the similar properties with other brands. It is the human memory schema. A new technique, Brand Concept Maps (BCM), has come into light eliciting first and higher order brand associations while overcoming the limitations of existing techniques. Brand Concept Maps are significant technique to measure brand associations. These maps help answering various questions related to brand evaluation and protection. There are certain steps which are required to create the brand concept maps: Elicitation, Mapping and Aggregation (Loken & John, n.d.). Brand Repositioning Brand repositioning refers to the changing the brand positioning. A specific positioning statement may not be suitable for a brand. The following are various reasons, which drive a company to reposition its brands. The brand has a confusing or non-existent image The respective organisation is altering its strategic direction in a considerable way. The organisation is planning to enter intoa new business where the present positioning seems to be irrelevant. The competitors are enhancing their value propositions. Renewal of the company corporate culture has led to the review of brand personality. Any company can reposition its brand to broaden the appeal of its brand to the additional consumers or the consumer section for which present brand position is irrelevant. However, there can be certain repercussions for a brand in this regard. Broadening the target consumer base may make the company to lose its appeal by diluting the brand’s meaning to the existing consumers. In today’s competitive environment, review of the brand positioning should be carried out in a more frequent pace. Competitive pressure, new entrants and changing consumer requirements have reduced the brand’s positioning. At the same time, companies have to bear a considerable amount of marketing expenditures to reposition the brand. As a consequence, in most of the times, the repositioning of brands failed to establish any improvement in the overall image of the company or market share of the same. The brand repositioning must be done to ensure relevance to a customer’s standpoints and beliefs, as that the company can align its repositioning strategy to reflect the same beliefs of its customers. The brand repositioning must be done looking at the combination of the customers’ attitudes and the situations reflecting customer insights. It is very significant to make the existing customers feel comfortable about the repositioning of the brands. The company must recognise the customers’ permission to see reasonable and logical extension of the existing brands. The company can take the advantage of brand’s unique emotional benefits to change the consumers’ present perception about the current brand to the intended one. The company must identify the pathway of the performance signals or attributes, convincing the consumers of the new brand positioning. This will also lead to the product or service development ensuring unfailing performance on those respective attributes. Prior to the introduction of new positioning, the company must track and evaluate the product performance against the desirable attributes from the customer perspectives. The company can adopt ‘interim positioning to ascertain the credibility and performance of the respective brand. While repositioning any brand, it is essential for the marketers to capture both the emotional as well as physical requirements of the customers. The company is also required to realise the dynamics of any situation driving those requirements of the customers. For an instance, isotonic beverages such as Gatorade and Powerade are thirst quenching drinks. However, the consumers are likely to perceive them in the wide context of exercise, sports and physical activity. The parameters or frame of reference sets, which would drive the consumers’ preference, will be significant in the repositioning of a brand (McKinsey& Company, n.d.). “The Toyota brand was built primarily on utilitarian attributes—reliability, quality and dependability.”(McEnally&Chernatony, 1999, p.4-5). When the company wanted to move up to luxury car image, the company management came up with a new brand as they were apprehensive about the fact that the customers may stretch on the concept of the Toyota brand to push that upward to include that in the luxurious car brand segment. This way, Toyota has repositioned itself in the luxury automobile segment. Brand Communication Brand communication is of considerable importance as it would give information to the customers regarding the brand and convince customers of its unique position and competitive advantage. The communication can be in terms of transactions such as coupons, mailshots, brochures, websites and direct response ads. However, most of the communication does not consist of any information or any transaction. Communications can have immediate selling aim which can result to be more productive. While being associated with the direct sales, the direct results could be easily available. However, other communication processes can reap results in the long term, which would be more advantageous for the brand in the long term (Clifton & Ahmad, 2009, p.132). Developing Brand Strategy With changing business environment and business concerns, the importance of brand has been increasing gradually. Business organisations are trying to achieve a higher brand position in market for developing consumer loyalty and high brand image. The above sections have covered important areas and factors of branding like brand positioning, brand image, brand identity, brand awareness, integrated marketing communication and consumer relationship for brand development. Understandings of these aspects are vital for planning brand strategy for a company. Traditional concepts of management do not focus on brand development strategy as they believe that constant higher performances help to build brand image in market automatically. However, brand strategies are helpful to deliver constant higher performances that lead to bring better brand establishments for a company. In this respect, brand managers can follow brand strategy model to frame brand specific strategies. However, like strategic formulation process, it is necessary to scan the brand related external and internal environment before framing brand strategies. Understanding the brand environment is inevitable for drafting reasonable and relevant strategies. There are certain factors that influence a brand of a company rather than core business strategies. The management of Toyota has realized that merely effective marketing strategy will not be able to counter the intensifying competition in the global automobile market. The management has recognized that it must invest for creating brand value rather than marketing of the product. Therefore, it has brought significant improvement in its business operations such as Toyota Production System which strives to enhance the corporate skills. According to Stefaniak, one of a Toyota’s marketing communications professional, Toyota has started to focus on the creation of value-added framework for meeting consumers’ preferences and “strong company reputations can contribute to the product being a safe choice” (Teresko, 2007). Porter’s Five Model of Competition Competition is one of major factor that can influence Toyota’s strategy for its brand positioning as discussed in the literature review as a company needs to position its brand uniquely and differently than its competitors not only in the features and physical product display, but also in the minds of the customer. It is necessary to assess the various forces that intensify the competition level. In this process, the Porter’s five forces model is very useful. Michael Porter has identified five major forces of competition influencing competition in an industry. These five forces are bargaining power of customer, threat from substitute product, bargaining of suppliers, threat from substitute, and competition from rivalry (Rave, 2010, p.23). Intensity of the competition in industry affects the profitability as well as the strategic moves of the each player. Moreover, this also influence brand name of the company. Therefore, it is necessary to assess the prevailing degree of competition in respect of Toyota. Image Source: Maxi-Pedia Porter’s five forces model is based on the following competitive forces: 1. Bargaining power buyers: in automobile industry, the consumers buying behaviours is essential as it influence the growth of entire industry. Their economic condition is another major factor that plays very important role in their purchasing decision making process. The consumer’s bargaining power depends on various segment of car market like luxury cars, economical cars etc. Companies who target very niche market like Mercedes and Rolls Royal etc, have lower bargaining power as they have developed their own brand loyal consumers. However, on the other hand, the companies like Toyota, Ford, Honda, GM, Fiat etc offer same ranges of cars and consumer have lower switching cost (National Academy of Sience,2011). While buying cars, they consider a number of factors like technology, fuel expenses, servicing charge, brand, price etc. According to a report published by the National Academies Press, the automotive market is replacement market. Due to constant enhancement in economic condition of consumers and shift in consumer preferences, consumers tend to resale their existing cars and buy trendy cars. As per graph portrayed in appendix 6, total sales and total scrap pages are positively correlated with each other and with time, this trend is increasing gradually (National Academy of Sciences, 2011). Therefore, the resale value of cars is very important in determining the consumers bargaining power. In order to gain better consumers response, Toyota is trying to produce durable cars so that, consumers can avail better resale value. Every market leaders are trying to serve their target consumers by meeting their requirements. For example, they are trying to develop fuel efficient cars that will helps consumer to reduce fuel expenses. In terms of car manufacturing, as given in appendix 9, Toyota stood in the first place by producing 7,234,439 vehicles in 2009, followed by GM (6,459,053 vehicles), Volkswagen (6,067,208 vehicle), Ford (4,685,394 vehicles) and Hyundai (4,645,776 vehicles) (International Organization of Motor Vehicle Manufacturers-b, 2009). The existing rivals are competing with other on the basis of the brand name, consumer loyalty, and innovative product developments. Toyota has developed its popular production system known as ‘Toyota Production System (TPS)’ which aims to counter the existing competition. Besides, Toyota has also trying to shape strong core competencies using TPS operational process and it helps to emphasise on the Toyota’s commitment to “the importance of appropriately integrating people, processes, tools and technology to add value to the customer and society” (Teresko-a, 2007). 2. Bargaining power of suppliers: The automobile industry is a vast industry and it includes a variety of sectors like parts and equipment sector, fuel sector etc. Relationship with suppliers in automobile industry is very crucial for the manufacturing companies. Suppliers barging power is very influential for the growth of industry. In the global automobile market, a large number of automobile equipment and parts manufactures are available. Besides, the leading automobile companies like Toyota, GM, Honda, Fiat, Ford etc are dominating over these suppliers as they are able to influence suppliers’ pricing strategy very easily. Growing demand of vehicles has also facilitated the automobile parts and equipments sectors and many new entrants have already entered in this sector that ultimately reduces the bargaining power of suppliers. Besides, the international suppliers are also available for vehicle manufacturer. However, a decline in car sales during 2009 has also caused a declined in equipments and parts manufacturing. This market for original equipments has diminished 13.8 equipments out of 100 in 2009 (appendix 7) (Original Equipment Suppliers Association, 2010). 3. Threats from new entrants: Threats from new entrants in automobile is quite lower as barriers to entries are very high in this industry. Starting a venture of car manufacturing requires huge capital investment, high technological expertise, brand identify etc. Besides, presence of market leaders in global market is the biggest hindrances for new entrants (porter, 1980). However, in case of specific market, international companies can be threat as new entrants. They face lower entry barrier as they have significant amount of required capital, expertises and a global brand image. For example, Japanese companies like Toyota and Honda are successful in USA and European markets since they have entered in US marking in 1980s. 4. Threat from substitute: This force is supposed be mild for this industry. There are other ways of transportation available like railways, airways and waterways but in case of domestic travelling, vehicles hold a special place in human life in terms of independence, utility, convenience etc. Automobile is also related with the cultural and social attitude that cannot be met by any other substitute. 5. Existing rivalry: This is the most critical factor that has dramatically intensified the degree of competitions. In automobile market, a large number of market leaders are available. Most of the car manufacturers in the global market belong to the same category and they have the same target market. Moreover, high bargaining power of consumers and lower consumers’ switching cost intensify the degree of competition among the rivals (Porter, 1980). However, this has impacted the overall industry profitability and return on net asset. Appendix 8 presents a graph showing the reducing return on net assets with increasing time. The return on net asset in US market is highly affected followed by European market. However comparing to these markets, Japanese market is in better position (Hoffecker, 2009, p.4). The existing rivals are competing with other on the basis of the brand name, consumer loyalty, and innovative product developments. Toyota has developed its popular production system known as ‘Toyota Production System (TPS)’ which aims to counter the existing competition. Besides, Toyota has also trying to shape strong core competencies using TPS operational process and it helps to emphasise on the Toyota’s commitment to “the importance of appropriately integrating people, processes, tools and technology to add value to the customer and society” (Teresko-a, 2007). Conclusion A brand is not merely the name or an identity of a product, but a determinant of its unique position in the minds of the customers against its competitors. It is defined and determined by the larger brand strategy of an organization which covers a large array of aspects regarding the brand. Brand identity is how a brand is perceived from its external outlook visible to the customers and its visual appeal with which the customers are able to identify it. It comprises of brand essence, core identity and extended identity of the brand. This brand identity is conveyed and promoted through innovative integrated marketing communication, which is done externally to the customers to sell the product and develop brand loyalty and internally to the employees and supplier to keep them motivated and trained, particularly for those at customer touch points. Companies, in recent times, due to rising competition consciously undertake efforts to increase brand equity and awareness through brand building measures. They thus inform customers of their product and positioning in the market, by keeping focused on their target market. Regular reviews of brand strategy due to changing trends and competition can result in brand repositioning, due to which companies regularly make efforts for effective brand communication as well to clarify to the market their competitive advantages and positioning for the brand. Branding has been an integral part of marketing. With using appropriate marketing tools, a branding strategy cannot be developed for Toyota. As a result, in this chapter branding concepts have been discussed along with the significant marketing tools. Concepts like Branding, Brand identity, Brand Repositioning, Brand Strategy have been discussed with the inclusion of marketing tools like product and marketing mix and integrated marketing communication. Toyota has always been considered as a benchmark in automobile manufacturing industry and their organizational culture is known to deliver perfect quality results combined with proper self-assurance. After having a continuous struggle of ten years, Toyota was able to position it as the world’s top automobile manufacturer and even out shined General Motors in sales. During this competitive race Toyota was not able to keep insight on their trade mark which is based on the foundation of rigorous quality control. Toyota’s mind was only on the track of expansion which resulted in a weak corporate network, as a result of which the crucial information received from various areas for performance improvement and for delineation the engineering flaws in their cars got neglected. These factors resulted in Toyota’s regrettable situation in which the company was forced to recall thousands of vehicles which were reported to have faulty accelerators. This crisis situation has threatened the company’s previous reputation of manufacturing quality vehicles as well as its brand image. This research paper is aimed to elaborate the causes of Toyota’s negligence, the crisis faced by Toyota and the recovery procedures adopted to deal with this critical situation and investigate consumer’s behaviour and their perception regarding Toyota’s brand image. Further our research will identify what were the real quality issues with Toyota vehicles that forced them to recall almost 9 million cars within six months, for modification of floor mats, acceleration pedals and braking system which were reported by the sources to gain unintentional increase in speed (Loken & John, n.d.). The main reason for Toyota’s recall was its outsourcing of their pedal manufacturing and assembly, for which Toyota had to pay a huge price by recalling millions of cars in the U.S.A. The official reasons which are reported in recall cars were: the accelerator assembly problem was found in 2.3 million cars, 4.2 million vehicles with floor mat issue and 1.7 million cars were reported to have both issues. Toyota’s President stated in a congressional hearing that their rapid expansion strategy has resulted in major recalls worldwide and have come at a cost of their reputation not only for quality but this situation has created an opportunity for others to regain their market share (Sawyer, 2010). Toyota has various sub-divisions of automobiles on their brand list but when it comes to crisis their single brand strategy has led them to a failure and in a disturbing situation. Keeping focus on a single brand approach as is the case with Toyota as they have linked their cars to a single corporate brand which had led to a situation that in case if a single problem arises in any particular car then the question is raised on the quality and performance level of all other associated vehicles. This is why Toyota is continuously facing a downfall in their sales and losing their image and identity in the market (Ritson, 2010). Chapter 3 Research Methodology Research Framework This research is carried out by collecting the old facts and figures about Toyota, verifying the information, analysing and interpreting the same. The competitive environment of the organisation, which has governed the operating activities, has also been discussed in this project. The research must aim to seek answers to issues through the appliance of various scientific methodologies and models. This results in collection and analysis of unbiased as well as reliable data as a scientific statistical methodology ensures the accumulation of relevant data and information in compliance with the research process. In this research, effort has been taken not to influence the results in any day, not even through some individual viewpoints. The research has been done based only on the facts either referred from other articles or fetched through primary and secondary analysis. The research is objective in nature as the research does not rely on the opinions as well as individual experiences with pre-set biases. The research is a combination of descriptiveas well as analytical research. It includes survey results¸ their analysis and inferences as well as various kinds of fact findings. The research aims to describe the cases and situations faced by Toyota while developing and redeeming its brand image. In this project, the questionnaire has been used using certain variables as the attributes of cars to fetch the responses from the interviewees so as to compare Toyota’s branding strategy with its competitors from the customer’s perspective. Apart from that, the secondary research has been done using readily available facts, figures and data and a conclusion has been inferred from the required data and information gathered from books, research papers, articles and journals. Since a considerable time period, Toyota has been suffering from certain manufacturing problems. This has created enough pressure on the brand image of Toyota. This is definitely a significant issue from the perspective of Toyota. This academic paper is an effort to find out the solution of this issue experienced by Toyota. Hence, this research can be thought as an applied research paper using a combination of quantitative and qualitative techniques. For the research, a deductive approach will be employed, so that the reasoning works from more general area to more specific one. This approach can also be said as ‘top down approach’. The conclusion is inferred logically from the available facts and figures. The main steps in the research framework began with the collection of data from primary methods such as through survey, and secondary sources such as journal articles, books etc. These were followed by the analysis of the results and finding to identify answers to the main research questions regarding Toyota’s branding strategy and how it made efforts redeemed its brand image. These were analysed in the light of Porter’s Model of five forces. The survey results were also evaluated and analysed. Conclusively, inferences deduced from all these research techniques were presented. Population and Sample Size Toyota has got around 77 complaints from the overseas. The company has got more than 140 complaints in Japan. Out of the 77 complaints overseas, Toyota has received 75 complaints from North America. This is why the primary research has been done in United States, where the company used to be one of leading automobile brand in terms of sales. Toyota is required to strive high to regain and enhance its brand image. The primary research has been carried out in the United States. Around 100 people were chosen as the sample size to carry out the primary research. Survey Instrument In this research both primary and secondary research instruments are used. The focus was mainly on the general areas of marketing in the secondary research meanwhile the focus was on the branding of the same. The primary research has been carried out using a questionnaire. The questionnaire consists of 16 questions which are expected to reveal a lot of information about the customers and their requirements in a car along with their brand image and perception regarding Toyota cars. This research focuses on the branding which is undoubtedly an integral part of marketing of Toyota. Data Collection The data is collected through a questionnaire. The primary research was used to accumulate the data. The questionnaire was distributed in places where people got time, like the cinema hall, park and such other places. Around 100 respondents were used to carry out the research. In the secondary research the data and information were collected from various books, journal, academic articles, research reports and online articles. Effort has been taken to collect the right data with minimal error in it. Ethical Consideration According to Scooper and Schindler, “Ethics is made up of norms and standards of behaviour that guide moral choices about our behaviour and our relationships with other” (Herbst& Coldwell, 2004, p.18). The ethical side in research aims to make sure that no one would suffer from the negative consequences of the research activities. Some other ethical considerations include that the researcher must not present any misleading information to the readers. The researcher must not make any amendment in the respondents’ answers to reach at the solution of the pre-set questions. Sometimes the researchers may have any pre-set solution to satisfy the research requirements. Researchers must not distort the outcome of the surveys. Moreover, the research professionals must not inflate the significance of the results by incorporating any change to the findings. It would not be wrong to say that the researching personnel are responsible to both the respondents and clients for fair analysis of the facts and accurate reporting. For an instance, the ethical consideration can come to an end when any researcher would first interview few respondents and then fill up the rest of the questionnaires by him or herself. This would result in distorted viewpoint and misleading conclusion. Adding to this, any significant error taking place during the research process must be reported by the researcher. The researcher must conduct the research considering the scientific requirements of the project. An issue may arise when the researcher would not disclose the findings of any research process which are inconsistent with the pre-set expectations or the findings are not even justified by available data. Another issue may emerge when the researcher would manipulate the findings by using unnecessary technical jargons and complicated statistical analysis (Herbst& Coldwell, 2004, p.18-19). In this research paper, all the above mentioned ethical aspects have been considered appropriately. Moreover, care has been taken to present the data with proper referencing and without any amendment of the same. Limitations The project has been carried out using both the quantitative and qualitative analysis. The sampling has been done in USA while Toyota has its presence across a number of various countries. So, there may be a regional influence or biasness in the findings. To carry out this research, 100 respondents have been considered to find out the outcomes. A larger number of samples could have resulted in more precision in the findings.The research has been heavily relied on secondary research data. Limitation in the quality and quantity of required amount of data can limit the results of the research and may not come up with the desired outcomes. The research paper does not consist of any complicated statistical tool which could have resulted in better analysis and more detailed findings. There is further scope to carry out the project with the incorporation of more sophisticated tools and techniques as well as the research can be further enhanced considering an increasing number of samplesfrom some other regions, where Toyota has significant presence. The research paper has taken both qualitative as well as quantitative data including both primary and secondary research methodologies. The required primary data has been collected using a relevant and detailed questionnaire while the secondary analysis was based on secondary data accumulated from various sources including books, journals, academic articles and online websites. While carrying out the research ethical considerations have been taken care of. The research limitations have been defined at the end of the research methodology chapter mentioning further scope of research in this arena. Chapter 4 DATA ANALYSIS, DISCUSSION AND FINDINGS Secondary Data Analysis and Findings The major criterion of this paper is to offer a set of plausible recommendations for bringing improvement in Toyota brand for its global market. Therefore, as per the research framework, primary as well as secondary data analysis is required. The primary data is useful for understanding the consumers’ perceptions regarding Toyota brand. However, in order to understand the prevailing market condition, underlying competition, opportunities, threats and industry outlook, the secondary data analysis is needful. In this respect, the secondary data are obtained from various authenticated sources to determine the overall market scenario of global automobile industry. The global automobile industry is influenced by a number of factors like technology, government regulation, economic condition of consumers, market demand, fuel price, competitors, environmental concerns etc. The assessment of these influencing factors is very necessary to identify the existing and future state of global automobile industry. This paper deals with brand improvements of Toyota. Through secondary research as presented in Chapter 2, it was studied that the product features along do not guarantee consistent sales and profits for the company, but marketing efforts and branding are also important determinants of the success of a brand like Toyota. A brand is an outwardsymbol whose duty is to reveal the unseen qualities of a product or service. Therefore when people purchase Toyota, they do not just buy a car for travelling, but they purchase a part of the Toyota brand identity along with the beliefs and associations that Toyota promises to its customers through its brand image and identity, such as its reliability. In Feb. 2011, due to deterioration of its quality standards, Toyota paid a high price for it by the tarnishing of its brand image at large leading to a significant drop in sales and reputation. This shows the importance of fulfilling the positioning promise of value delivery to the customers. After the drop, Toyota would have to undertake large scale brand repositioning to re-establish its brand identity and image through brand and marketing communication by activities such as advertising, promotions, personal selling and ‘relationship marketing’ with customers, suppliers and also the stakeholders in order to redeem itself against its competitors and regain its lost position not only in the market but also the hearts and minds of the customers. Brand loyalty is a product of brand image that is a result of effective formation of brand identity and brand awareness. ‘Relationship Marketing’ particularly would create a loyalty tie with the clients for the company, guarding them from the inevitable field of rivalry. While making efforts targeted towards customers directly to redeem its brand image, Toyota also needs to undertake measures to improve its performance through the integrated marketing process as studied in the literature review such as by internal marketing to motivate and train employees, external marketing to suppliers for more effective and profitable compatibility, horizontal integration across the functional departments etc. These will not only help to reduce costs of operations but will also help to deliver greater core value to customers and greater quality, which eventually are major determinants of the brand image. Product mix decisions are also important for designing the brand strategy of the company as Toyota needs to decide upon the product line length, depth, width and consistency to efficiently provide products for its targeted customer segment in order to maximise profitability and avoid overlapping, redundancy and cannibalization of a product. Without effective decisions on this level, the company will be compromising not only on profits and returns, but also on customer and brand equity of its brands.Brand Concept Maps are a substantial technique that the company can use to measure brand associations to determine various aspects related to brand evaluation and protection in the prevailing market and through Perception Maps can determine how a new brand should be positioned in a market effectively so as to attain a first-mover or competitive advantage. All the factors discussed in the literature review would be used to design the larger branding strategy for Toyota. The traditional management concepts do not consider brand development strategy an effective tool because of the earlier beliefs that a good product would sell automatically, even without a brand. However, in the light of modern marketing strategies and intensive competition, brand strategies are essential not only to deliver consistent higher performances but also consistent quality and value delivery, which leads to a high brand establishments for a company. However, Toyota is trying to counter the intensity of the competition using its established brand image in market. Therefore, it is necessary to assess the prevailing degree of competition in respect of Toyota. In Japan, the projected hybrid car sales will rise by 6.6 points within 2011 (PRLog, 2008). The emerging countries like China and India are expected to experience massive growth in their domestic automobile industry and Chinese market will record half of total growth (appendix6). Demand of the small cars will be the highest in these emerging economies (appendix 7) (Hoffecker, 2009, p.21-22). Appendix 4 represents a projection of international car sales in 2011 and total sales on cars is expected to reach at 60.91milliom with a rise of 57.13 out of 100 sales (Gomes, 2011). There is no such iota of doubt that Toyota has become one of the leading beloved car companies across the globe. In the year 2005, Lexus has been the best selling luxury auto brand in the United States. Regarding the technology, the Prius hybrid electric car has enabled Toyota to maintain an impression of clean, green and tech savvy company. Toyota publishes the customers’ opinions and requests on the intranet of the company. This not only helps the employees to be aware of the consumers’ perception and requirements regarding the friend, but to reflect the desired attributes in the products to offer a better response to the customers. The customer assistance centre conducts hands on training for their employees to handle customers in an effective way. Employees are encouraged to take part in the internal forums to listen to the actual opinions of the customers. “In order to enhance customer relations capabilities, CR Training Seminars are held in Europe, Central and South America, and other regions, and a customer relations conference with leading distributors from around the world is held twice a year in Japan. The CR News, a pamphlet that introduces customer relations best practices in various countries, is issued to distributors around the world to encourage further improvements in customer relations” (Toyota,n.d., p.1). The above image displays the customer relationship management process of Toyota. TOYOTA CASE STUDY ANALYSIS & FINDINGS Toyota is the largest automobile manufacturer founded in 1937 and located in Aichi, Japan. It has a elongated history of manufacturing secured, reliable and superior quality vehicles. Toyota vehicles are also renowned for their excellent power and fuel efficiency. However the leading position of Toyota has transformed since the end of 2009. It so happened that a fatal crash of Lexus ES 350 occurred on 28th August 2009 which unfortunately killed four passengers of a family in USA. At this point in time Toyota was forced to recall approximately 9 million vehicles across the world, and the problem identified was unintended acceleration. Meanwhile Toyota’s management also announced to temporarily suspend production and to stop all sorts of sales. This situation placed Toyota reputation at high risk and it was heavily criticized in media (Suzanne M. Kirchhoff, 2010). Crisis situation attract risks for a company which directly affects the company’s reputation, image, brand equity and credibility. The massive recalls lead to heavy financial loss due to reputation, market shares dropped, production was halted and heavy penalty was issued by the legal authorities. Along with this it also affected the Toyota’s brand image and its reputation which eventually tarnished the brand identity in the minds of people (Gomes, 2011). Toyota has a long term success rate which is treated as a benchmark and a guidance tool; which relies mainly of customer’s perception and their particular focus on brand in maintaining quality level. In this fierce race of competition Toyota failed to remember their traditional philosophy and focused more on global expansion. When it lost is core value of quality it directed towards incubation of the crisis. Until late January 2010 when several recalls were announced Toyota realized the serious situation and initiated active response to the crisis situation in order to redeem its tarnished position. Toyota’s management announced public apology, announced fixing solutions for their affected automobiles, used mass media communication and employed social media marketing techniques to deal with the situation. Toyota launched a special management team to monitor quality related issues and made a final decision for the stakeholders to go back to their core valued at identify processes, quality and customers. These steps were taken for changing consumer’s perception and for removing negativity and protection their reputation of a tarnished brand image as a result of the crisis (Hoffecker, 2009, p.21-22). Toyota outlined that there were some external factors such as mass media which all created a condition of hype in the market. They have taken effective measures to face crisis and control the tense situation faced in order to rebuild their tarnished image and brand reputation in the minds of their consumers. Recently Toyota has successfully upgraded its existing products by integrating innovative features. For example, “Toyota has announced plans to introduce a plug-in version of the Prius in 2011” and it is expected to increase consumers’ overall value (Valdes-Dapena, 2010). For gaining consumer’s trust Toyota has realized the underlying opportunities in the hybrid car segment. By launching the America’s most successful hybrid car, called, Prius, it has been able to reposition itself in hybrid car market. It has influenced the entire market by bringing a number of technologies with this hybrid car. Moreover, main reason for the huge success of Toyota Prius was the marketing and promotional strategy. Primarily, it has used IMC strategy to promote its hybrid cars in the market which has further helped to gain a upper hand brand in hybrid car segment (Hallbright and Dunn, 2010). Since the inception, Toyota has preferred to be customer centric. All of its divisions give preference to customers and quality in all of its activities. The company values the feedbacks of the customers and are transferred to the respective departments so that they can use the information to improve the corporate activities as well as the consumers’ perception about the brand. The company maintains direct touch with its customers through Customer Relations Divisions. The employees strive to enhance customer satisfaction by offering specific and quick as well as cordial responses to the customer consultations in a way that the consumers can have the confidence in Toyota. The organisation also tries to reflect the opinions of its customers in the development of products, in the sales and marketing of them as well as the after sales activities of the products. These all are done to further improve the customer satisfaction (Suzanne M. Kirchhoff, 2010).. Toyota has put considerable preference over quality to develop its brand image and identity on the basis of reliability as discussed in the literature review. As a consequence, the company has given its divisions the responsibility of planning, development, production engineering, purchasing and sales to assure the product quality. Each of the divisions undertakes activities and company policies to ensure quality based on the quality functions. Toyota has put its efforts in three major directions. All its products and services must be in alignment with the customer expectations, related regulations of any specific country where the business is being conducted (Hallbright and Dunn, 2010). In case, an issue has been emerged, the driving causes should be identified in a rapid pace. In case a product is sold, appropriate action is expected to be taken to enable early detection and resolution of the issues. The company has conducted audits to confirm if all the divisions are taking enough action to uphold high quality levels. This demands the divisions to work on any area which requires improvement (Toyota, n.d.). Repositioning a brand far from the frame of reference can be devastating for the company creating customer confusion regarding the product or service. Primary Data Analysis and Findings In a research paper, primary data analysis has its own significance. The questionnaire consists of 16 questions. Around 100 people were questioned, among which 7 people are entrepreneurs, while around 20 people are students. Among rest of the respondents54 were doing service. Majority of the remaining people were unemployed or housewives. These people were the target customers of the automobile industry. The following graph visualise the segmentation of the respondents. The second question was to know about the respondents’ loyalty towards the automobile brands i.e. brand loyalty based on brand experience, identity, awareness and experience. There were options like Toyota, Hyundai, Ford and others. Around 29 people said that they are loyal to Toyota than other brands. Around 35 people said that they like Ford while around 15 would prefer Hyundai and other automobile brands. The rest of the respondents said that they are not loyal to any brand; they would go by the attributes of the car rather than the brand name. The following pic chart dislays off the information articulated above. In the third question, around 20 people said that they like the way Toyota communicates with its customers and they rated Toyota on a scale of 4. BMW has the majority of them with its communciation process. Around 31 people like BMW’s communication process and rated it on a scale of 5. The rest find communication of other automobiles to be more effective and rated them on a scale of 3. The follwing chart represents the data collected in the third question. The next question is about what the respondents felt made up the brand image of a car manufacturer. A distinct majority of 40% believed that the quality of the car determined how they perceived the brand image, followed by a 30% of respondents who determined brand image mostly by the readiness for after-sales service and support that the company provided to its customers such as maintenance. 23% of respondents shaped their brand image of a manufacturer through its advertising campaigns and promotions Only a 5% of respondents believed that pricing played an important role in making a brand image for a product or company whereas 2% of the respondents suggested other factors that shape the brand image such as colors and variations or the degree of customization being offered. Later on, the respondents were asked about their family incomes. The rationale behind asking this question was the fact that now-a days in most of the houses both the spouse work. In this case, knowldege about the total income is significnat. While the respondants were asked on the same, around 54 people said that they have family income of USD 30,000or less, while 36 respondents’ family income ranges from USD 30,000 from USD 50,000. Among the remaining ones, 14 people have theirfamily income ranging from USD 50,000 to USD 70,000, while 8 people have their family income more than 70,000. While answering the question ‘Do you own a car?’ 78 people have come up with positive ‘yes’. These people either have their cars at their homes or offices, or have them at both of the places, while 22 people say that they do not own any car. While the answers were coupled with the income ranges of the respondents, it was not tough to find out that all the people with income more than USD 30,000 own cars either at home or office or they own cars at both of the places. Around 18 people with the income of USD 15000 or less do not possess any car of their own, while among the people with the income range of USD 15000 to USD 30,000, 4 people do not possess any car. Out of these 78 people, around 21 people said that they own a Toyota car, while 20 respondents have said that they own Ford car. Around 21 respondents have said that they own Honda cars, while 10 people own glamorous BMW cars. Among the remaining 6 people, 3 respondents own Volkswagen cars, 1 respondent own Hyundai car while 2 people did not write the name of their automotive brands. The next question was ‘If given choice & situation which one brand of car you would like to buy again?’ Around 20 people said that they would prefer BMW as their second car. Among them, there were 7 people who already have BMW as their first cars and replied their experience as very pleasant. Around 13 respondents said that they would prefer to buy Toyota as their second cars. Only four of them own Toyota cars and said that they would prefer to buy Toyota cars again as their experience with Toyota has always been Very Pleasant. Around 16 people would like to buy Ford cars and rated their experience as Somewhat Pleasant while 14 people would opt for Honda and most of them rated their experience as somewhat unpleasant. The remaining 15 would like to buy other cars like Volkswagen, Hyundai. Around 20 people have Ford cars, out of which 8 people said that they would like to buy Ford again. Around 21 people have Honda cars, out of which 10 people would like to have the same brand as in their nextcar. It is noticed that customer loyalty towards BMW is much more than other brands. In case of Ford and Honda, 40-50 existing customers would like to buy the same brand again. In case of Toyota, the situation seems to be quite disheartening. Only 20 existing customers would like to have the same brand in their next car models. Toyota must work in the enhancement of the products as well as in their after sales services to retain their existing customer base as well as to attract new customers. The respondents were asked about their preferable attributes. They were asked to rank them according to their choices. Attributes like Brand name, Safety, Physical Appearance, Accessories, Comfort in Driving, Mileage, Convenience in handling, Price, After Sales Service and Guarantees or Warrantees. Around 30 people have said that they would look for brand name while purchasing a car; they ranked this as ‘1’, i.e. the most preferable one. Around 10 people said that they would give preference to ‘price’ and ranked it as the most preferable one. Around 20 people said that they would look for mileage and preferred to have that as the most preferable characteristic. Around 20 respondents have chosen ‘Physical Appearance’ as the most preferable feature in a car. Among the respondents around 5 people preferred to opt for after sales service and have ranked this as ‘1’. The attribute ‘comfort in driving’ was chosen by 5 people. Among the respondents only 5 people were such consumers who can be attracted by offering guarantees or warrantees come along with the cars. They feel that these kinds of guarantees are significant as the maintenance cost of the cars may emerge to be huge. It was quite surprising to see that only 5 people were really bothered about their safety and have given the highest rank to this attribute. It was more surprising to see that the most preferred attribute has been ‘Brand name’ over price and other attributes like physical appearance and safety. However, one rationale can be given to explain this event. The customers may think that a company with a good brand name would offer almost all the necessary features. Other significant attributes, preferable according to majority of the customers, are mileage, physical appearance and price of the cars. Around 20 people have said that they would prefer brand name as the second most preferable attribute. Among the remaining ones, 20 respondents have given ‘Physical attribute; as the second most preferable feature. Around 20 respondents prefer safety to be one of the significant desirable attributes while opting for a car. Around 5 people think that it is important to have comfort in driving. Around 15 people think that mileage is the second most significant factor while purchasing cars of their own. Around 10 of the respondents think that convenience in handling and price are two significant factors which can be assumed to be the second most desirable attributes. Among the respondents, 15 people think that brand name is important; however, they think brand name is not so important to offer a rank ‘1’ to this attribute, rather they would prefer this feature as the third most significant attribute. There were 15 more people who also think that ‘physical appearance’ is important and have given this attribute a rank of ‘3’. A considerable number of people think that after sales service, guarantees, mileage, price and safety should be evaluated while purchasing a car as these are valued as significant factors of any car model. Around 10 respondents feel that brand name does not have so much importance and have given this attribute a rank of ‘4’. Around 15 and 16 respondents have give attributes like physical appearance and price as ‘4’. Around 25 people think that brand name does not matter in the comparison to other important attributes and have ranked this feature as ‘6’ to ‘9’. Among the respondents, 30 people think that physical appearance should come either at ‘5th’ or ‘6th’ position. Around 46 people think safety is not that important as have ranked them in ‘5th’, ‘6th’ or ‘7th’. It was very much visible from all these respondents that they do not count accessories to be one of the most significant attributes and have ranked them starting from ‘7th’ to ‘10th’ position. Around 23 respondents feel that mileage should be given a rank of ‘6’. This is the last ranking given to this attribute by the respondents. The remaining 77 people think that the attribute is significant enough to be ranked among the top five features of any car. Around 51 people think that comfort in driving would come with good brand names and other attributes. So, the customer should not look for it at the first hand and that is why the specific group did not keep the attribute among the top five ones. A considerable number of people think that while choosing a car after sales service, guarantee or warrantees are not of much importance. This is surprising; however, the outcome can be explained with few common known facts such as majority of people think that good after sales service or effective guarantees come along with well recognised and well established brand names; so, one do not need to go for looking for such attributes, rather they can go for certain other attributes like brand name, price, physical appearance etc. Some interesting facts were also revealed while the responses were bundled with other responses from other questions like ‘what do you enjoy most doing?’ Around 20 people who rank ‘comfort in driving’ as ‘1’ to ‘4’ enjoy the driving most. Some of them also think that ‘mileage’ is important as they would like to save on the cost on the fuel charge. The respondents were asked about the specific brand of car. They were asked whether they would choose the car because of attributes mentioned above, advertisement by the company, promotional offer or gifts, influence of the family members or peer groups, sales personnel behaviour or because of the dealer influence. Around 30 respondents have said these are the attributes which are the most influential factors in driving them to purchase the automobiles. They feel that one must choose a car by having a look at the attributes like brand name, physical appearance, safety, accessories, and comfort in driving, mileage, price, after sales service, convenience in handling, guarantee or warrantees. Around 25 people think that they were mostly attracted by the promotional offers and discounts offered in some specific seasons. They feel that this is important as they would be able to fetch some extra benefits through the promotional offers and discounts. Around 12 sample size thinks that they are majorly attracted by the company advertisements. Around 11 sample size thinks that they would buy a car under the pressure of the peer groups. Among the respondents, 9 people think that they would choose a specific brand of car under the family influence. Around 8 people think that they would get mostly influenced by the dealers pushing them for specific car brands. The remaining 5 respondents think that they were lured by the company advertisements. From the analysis of this question, it was revealed that the attributes and features are most significant and preferred by a majority of the customers. The second most preferable attribute by the customers is the ‘promotional offer/ gift’. Other significant attributes are ‘sales personnel behaviour’, ‘peer group influence’ and ‘family influence’, which are pretty important for any customer. The next question was regarding the attributes, attracting the customers for brands like Toyota, BMW and Honda. Around 40 people have said that in case of Toyota they would mostly rely on ‘word of mouth’, 40respondents think that they are mostly lured by the television advertisements and the remaining 20 think they would look for the print advertisements. In case of BMW, 50 respondents think that they are mostly attracted by the televisions advertisements;30 people think that print advertisements are attractive in case of BMW. The remaining 20 respondents think that they would rely on the ‘word of mouth’ while purchasing a BMW car. In case of Honda, 40 people are lured by the television advertisements; around 32 respondents think that they would look for the Honda print advertisements, while the remaining 28 respondents think that they would mostly rely on the ‘word of mouth’ while purchasing a Honda car. It has been noticed that the majority percentage of the sample population are mostly attracted by the television advertisements. However, a considerable number of people think that they would rely on the ‘word of mouth’ while opting for a car. In the next stage, the respondents were asked about the dealer efficiency while opting for a specific brand of car. A number of options were given the customers to choose from the various brand models such as BMW, Honda, Toyota and others. Around 40 respondents think that in case of dealer effectiveness, Honda is one of the leading automobile brands. Among the respondents; 25 people have said that they have noticed that dealers are more effective in case of BMW. Around 25 people think that Toyota dealers are most effective among the car brands. Among the respondents, 10 people think that brands like Volkswagen, Hyundai have an effective dealer network. Around40 people have ranked ‘Toyota’ as ‘2’ in the dealer effectiveness. Around 20 people think that ‘Honda’ would rank as ‘2’ in the dealer effectiveness. Around 27 sample population thinks that BMW would be ranked as the second brand with having significant dealer effectiveness. Around 13 people think that car brands like Volkswagen, Hyundai and other brands are more effective than other brands. Around 24 people think that BMW ranks at ‘3’ in the dealer effectiveness while 27 people think that the ‘Toyota’ car brands rank as ‘3’ while it comes to the dealer effectiveness. Among the respondents, 23 sample sizes think that Honda dealers would rank as ‘3’. Around 8 sample population thinks that Toyota dealers are not doing well as the dealer effectiveness is low to be ranked as ‘4’. Among the 22 respondents, who do not have cars, around 5 people do not want to buy any car. They were asked about the reasons behind this. All of them were bothered about the high prices and mentioned that as the reason that they are not able to buy any car. The last question was pretty detailed with the inclusion of various attributes like brand name, price, appearance, features, accessories, comfort in driving, convenience in handling, after sales service, mileage, guarantees or warrantees. In the attribute ‘Brand Name’, BMW has marked its presence high. Around 40 people said that they would prefer BMW most when it comes to the brand names. When it comes to the attribute ‘price’, around 30 people think that Honda is most preferable. In ‘appearance’, BMW is preferable by 17 sample population. In features and accessories, around 40 people have said that Volkswagen is best. Around 33 respondents think that BMW has been best in comfort in driving. Around 34 people said that Toyota has been best in convenience in handling. Around 22 people said that Honda has been pretty good in the after sales service, white Toyota is being preferred by a considerable number of people while it comes to an attribute like ‘mileage’. Almost 22 sample population have preferred BMW as the best car offering guarantees/ warrantees. Around 20 people said that they would prefer Toyota in this section. Around 21 people said that they think Toyota is best when it comes to attributes like ‘Brand name’ of any car model. After the analysis, it has been noticed only in case of comfort in driving and convenience in handling, Toyota is preferred by a considerable number of people. While in the attributes like ‘appearance’ and ‘accessories’, Toyota has done pretty bad as there are not many people who would prefer the ‘Toyota’ brand. Although there is no single best branding strategy, it would be best for Toyota to adopt strategies similar to its competitors or better than theirs, in the areas where it lacks according the survey results such as in appearance, accessories, mileage etc. and improve on those aspects. The best strategy can be said to be that of BMW because of its niche marketing strategy and effective branding through brand awareness and setting up a unique brand identity of high class, sleek and stylish along with it being a high performance car. Compared to it, Toyota fairs on only being on a mediocre rating according to the survey results. Next question was based specifically on Toyota performance, pricing, positioning and satisfaction. 42% of the individuals rated Toyota on its performance, 30% rated Toyota different from others on the basis of pricing, 10% rated it on its positioning and rest rated Toyota on the basis of satisfaction level. In the end the individuals were asked about their opinions and views regarding Toyota’s recall process and the reasons associated with this critical situation. According to them their perceived quality of Toyota as a brand has decreased and they are unhappy to pay the same amount of money which Toyota is actually asking because they should be aware that their brand quality has been tarnished and needs improvement. Most of the security concerned individuals stated that they will altogether stop buying Toyota’s products as they are outsourcing most of their automobile manufacturing. Hence it is evident that the higher management must put more effort in building up to quality and service to reposition their tarnished image in the minds of their customers. Chapter 5 Recommendations Toyota must pull up its socks and frame up an appropriate strategy framework to boost up the sales by regaining the consumer trust. Toyota forgot the fact that consumers want to see a company realising the full responsibility, to be emphatic to the victimised consumers and their families. They want the organisation to be in control by outlining the issue and a true intension to solve the same. Toyota has failed on this ground. There are certain arenas which are required to be considered by the organisation to get back its tarnished brand image. When an issue arises, Toyota must respond it in a much quicker way. The company must monitor the feedback of the consumers and must communicate with the customers in an effective way. The company is required to use these feedbacks effectively to frame up the marketing strategies to develop an extremely strong brand with flexible brand management processes. Toyota is required to be transparent in its operation; it should forget the fact the covering up the problems can raise more issues in the coming years. Certain steps are required to be realised by the company and at the same the company must act in accordance to it to manage and enhance its branding. In this competitive era, international brands and companies cannot operate in isolation. The stakeholders of the company are very much involved with the brands. That is why Toyota management must put its best foot forward to manage the stakeholders by properly communicating the situation to its stakeholders. At the early stage, there would be few people who would have the knowledge about the issues. By communicating early would develop the trust with the stakeholders as well as with the customers. Toyota must improve its televisions advertisements as well as promotional activities to enhance its brand value. There are many more other attributes like physical appearance, features, accessories and guarantees or the warrantees which are required to be enhanced by the company. The company must look into these attributes and the proper promotional activities to regain its tarnished brand value across US as well as other countries. The company is required to develop the strategies with the help of its distinctive competencies, resources and capabilities. The company must include the best resources in under its sleeve and at the same time must nurture the same to make them the company’s competitive advantage over its competitors in the market. Toyota’s valuable tangible resources include various equipments associated with the lean production system, introduced by the company itself and used the same in the factories. These resources have enabled the company to reduce its operation cost as compared to the competitors. With its valuable resources, the company has been able to develop distinctive competencies by manufacturing techniques such as just in time inventory systems, self managing teams and reduced set up times for the complex equipment. The company must develop the capabilities to nurture its resources to develop the competitive advantages. The above sections of this paper have discussed very crucial areas which are helpful to realize the entire prevailing situation of global automobile industry for brand related strategy formulation. Brief overview of the company has explained its organisational culture, operational process and its other major activities. This discussion has help to understand the underlying strengths and weaknesses of Toyota. The literature review section has provided theoretical background relating to branding and marketing. Effective and efficient marketing strategy is the foundation for developing higher brand image in the mind of target consumers. However, the brand related specific models and theories are helpful to concentrate on brand development strategy. The secondary data analysis have examined prevailing market situation and it has reflected various aspect which are extremely influencing in determining brand related strategy. Toyota must consider the market opportunity, market demand, competitions and future growth for framing branding strategies. The primary data has been obtained through a set of relevant plausible questionnaire. The questions in the given questionnaire have been framed to understand consumers’ brand preferences, brand choice and their buying behaviours in automobile purchasing and how Toyota’s strategy compares with its competitors in the customer’s mindset. These stated sections have reflected very significant areas for drafting recommendation for Toyota. Before offering recommendations, it is necessary to summarize the major attributes of a successful automobile company. At present, all the automobile companies must possess some specific attributes relating to effective cost-structure, efficient production operation, well focused strategy, well-esteemed brand image and identity and reliable products and services offerings. Each of these attributes is explained to understand their significances. Firstly, in automobile industry, product efficiency is the first priory for being successful in market. In these respect, Toyota’s production efficiency is the most flourishing and efficient comparing to its key rivals. The company aims to achieve total quality management (TQM) as it has implemented ‘jidoka’ and ‘JIT’ to control and manage operational process for maintaining higher quality. Secondly, well established management system and organisation are vital internal criterion for automobile companies. Flexibility is also necessary for managing foreign market. Toyota is also expert in this respect as it has successfully expanded and managed its overseas markets. Thirdly, every company who tries to create their brand in market must develop brand specific managements and committee for enhancing market prestige through better consumer relationship. Toyota has developed its teams for quality maintenance and for CSR programs but it should develop a committee for brand development. Fourthly, focused strategy for branding and integrated marketing is inevitable for leading automobile manufacturers for brand repositioning in existing market. The giant companies like Toyota, GM, and Ford etc have their own specific strategies for marketing but brand specific strategies are very useful for countering intense competition in automobile industry. Finally, the most important aspect is product and services that must meet the consumers’ expectations. Target consumers have certain hope from their brand companies and these companies must offer latest technological innovations and higher reliability and safety level. The successful and leading automakers have offered wide ranges of product by targeting different segments of market. For example, Toyota has introduced its Prius which is one of the best cars for tech-savvy and environmental conscious people. Therefore, Toyota should keep introducing such products that will enhance its market image among its target consumers. Identification of market trends and understating of changing consumer behaviours are two vital areas for Toyota for its brand improvements. Therefore, the latest trend in automobile market is the technological innovation. Toyota must have a strong grip on latest technological expertise for offering consumers’ specific demand. Negative impact of automobile industry on environment is another major issue for the entire industry. Governments and other international organisations are now becoming stricter regarding carbon emission. Therefore, Toyota must try to develop its operational process and business model that will strive to develop more number of fuel efficient vehicles. As per the secondary data analysis, the growth of automobile industry is most of developing countries is expected to be lower comparing to emerging counties like China, India and Taiwan. Therefore, Toyota should more focus on these markets for brand developments before other multinational companies can identify this opportunity. As per the theories and models in literature review, Toyota should implement integrated marketing approach for enhancing brand awareness and brand identity in developed and emerging markets. It must create higher level of trust and confidence among its target consumer by incorporating better communications and consumers services. Toyota can rebuild its image and trust by managing their public relations decisions as it must be kept in mind that reputation is all about leadership making valuable decisions which can cover the core company values and do action which can support that. It is essential to keep knowledge of their current position and they should regularly monitor it by using effective tools and strategies. Toyota must implement a crisis management plan composed of specialized team and trained spokesperson. The ideal spokesperson can be a CEO for putting up high level statements. Quality must be made as an important aspect for any product or service. Toyota case has depicted that paying focused attention on quality can result in disasters with economical losses and reputational risks. Hence it is a lesson for Toyota to put quality first in place for building good reputation and never neglect it. It must always be kept in mind to keep prepared for facing any crisis situation as they all happens all of a sudden and can never be predicted. Toyota crisis is the best example, now its time for Toyota to prepare a strategy for tackling national and international issues by taking appropriate actions in a timely manner. They should communicate effectively with their valued consumers and try to build their tarnished image and rebuild their expectations and cultivate loyalty (Suzanne M. Kirchhoff, 2010). Conclusion Memory down the lane, many people would remember that Toyota’s brand was one of its main advantages. However, situation has changes in these days; as of now, its brand architecture has become one of significant strategic problem. Toyota has been suffering from a number of quality issues. The company has recalled approximately 1.7 million cars in the concern of fuel leaks. It has added another dent to the tarnished reputation in the crucial US market. The latest recall of the company are mostly in Japan, including the IS and GS Lexus Luxury models in North America. The company has faced the biggest difficulties in winning back the consumer trust. Like a number of Japanese companies, Toyota has developed its business with an intensive focus on a single corporate brand. The company markets Lexus and Scion, however, a considerable amount of its revenue comes from selling off its sub brands. The earlier concentrated approach has certain distinctive benefits. This strategy has enabled Toyota to maintain a single, united organisational culture which was significant for the success of Toyota. However, brand architectures have several strengths and weaknesses, and the same is true for Toyota, one of the leading automotive companies across the globe. Earlier, the company used to invest all its money to its master brands rather than pumping that into the sub-brands for enhanced marketing efficiency. Undoubtedly, this strategy has been able to reap well for the Toyota brand. One single brand has reduced the number of components required as several components are common and shared among the sub brands. This has been one of the significant reasons behind the success of the company. The main reason for Toyota’s recall was its outsourcing of their pedal manufacturing and assembly, for which Toyota had to pay a huge price by recalling millions of cars in the U.S.A. The official reasons which are reported in recall cars were: the accelerator assembly problem was found in 2.3 million cars, 4.2 million vehicles with floor mat issue and 1.7 million cars were reported to have both issues. The whole problem was initiated with the outsourcing of the pedal and the pedal assembly as stated by the Vito Polera who is a fleet manager at Toronto’s Northwest Toyota dealership. According to the higher management of Toyota they have identified the exact problem and will devise solutions and they will do everything to resolve this issue as earliest as possible to repair their company’s brand image (Jeffrey Liker, Timothy N. Ogden, 2011). An appropriate marketing framework with the suitable strategies is required to retrieve the tarnished brand image of Toyota. The senior management should not be kept far behind from day to day activities which can result in serious crisis situation. Toyota has learnt a lesson that no company should take themselves for granted on their quality processes and systems because at times the best can also lead to failures if not managed properly. Next important aspect which management must address is to identify and respond as early as possible to the problem statement. The issues must never be hidden from the public and authorities and must be communicated in a strategic manner. Toyota has made it a point to record consumer feedback seriously and introduce development plans accordingly based on feedback, comments and surveys. These tools should always be considered first in defining quality processes and designing the product development framework. 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Wilson, J. S. and Blumenthal, I. 2008. Managing brand you: seven steps to creating your most successful self.AMACOM Div American Mgmt Assn. Appendix Appendix 1: Trends in the sale and scrap page of automobiles and light trucks (Source: National Academy of Sciences, 2011) Appendix 2: Original Equipment Part Market (Source: Original Equipment Suppliers Association, 2010) Appendix 3: Global Competition Has Driven Down Margins (Source: Hoffecker, 2009, p.4). Appendix 4: International Car Sales Outlook (Source: Gomes, 2011) Appendix 5: World Motor Vehicle Production (Source: International Organization of Motor Vehicle Manufacturers-b, 2009) Appendix 61: Sales Volume Growth over the Next Ten Years (Source: Hoffecker, 2009, p.22) Appendix 7: Expected 10-year Segment Growth (Source: Hoffecker, 2009, p.21) Appendix 8: QUESTIONNAIRE Age: Sex: Please fill up the questionnaire below (Tick on the right choice). Q1. Occupation:  Service  Entrepreneur  Student  Others (Please Specify) ________ Q2. Which automobile manufacturer do you think has the most brand loyalty from its customers? 1. Toyota 2. Hyundai 3. Ford 4. Others 5. None Q3.Whose brand communication do you think is most effective in shaping its brand identity? And how satisfied are you with each brand on a scale of 1-5? 1. Toyota (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) 2. BMW (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) 3. Ford (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) 4. Others Please specify ____________, (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) Q4. What do you think makes the brand image of a car manufacturer? 1. Quality of product 2. After-sales service 3. Pricing 4. Advertising 5. Others (please specify ………………….) Q5. Which one best describes total income of your family? 1. USD 30,000 or less 2. USD 30,000- 50,000 3. USD 50,000- 70,000 4. > USD 70,000 Q6. Do you own any car? 1. Yes (at office) 2. Yes (at home) 3. Yes (both at office & home) 4. No Q7. If yes, Tick on the brand (/brands) you have? If possible please specify the sub brand name beside the brand name. 1. BMW 2. Ford 3. Toyota 4. Honda 5. Others (please specify ………………….) Q8. If given choice & situation which one brand of car you would like to buy again? 1. BMW 2. Toyota 3. Honda 4.Ford 5. Others (please specify ………………….) Q9.If you don’t have any car at your home, are you planning to buy one? 1. Yes 2. No Q10. If yes, which brand would you like to buy and kindly mark the level of experience you had with the associated brand? 1. BMW (Very Pleasant, Somewhat Pleasant, Somewhat Unpleasant, Very Unpleasant) 2. Ford (Very Pleasant, Somewhat Pleasant, Somewhat Unpleasant, Very Unpleasant) 3. Toyota (Very Pleasant, Somewhat Pleasant, Somewhat Unpleasant, Very Unpleasant) 4. Honda (Very Pleasant, Somewhat Pleasant, Somewhat Unpleasant, Very Unpleasant) 5. Others (please specify ………………….) Q11. When you go to buy a car, which are the attributes you look for? Rank them according to your choice (the most preferable should be ranked as 1 & so on) 1. Brand name (…) 2. Physical appearance (…) 3. Safety (…) 4. Accessories (…) 5. Comfort in driving (…) 6. Mileage (…) 7. Convenience in handling (…) 8. Price (…) 9. After sales service (…) 10. Guarantees/warrantees (…) Q12. When you are intending to buy a specific brand of car, is it because of (Tick which one best describes the reason) 1. Its abovementioned attributes 2. Advertisement by the company 3. Promotional offers/ gifts 4. Family influence 5. Peer group influence 6. Sales personnel behaviour 7. Dealer Influence Q13. Which attracts you more? Choose one for each of the brand given on the left. 1. Toyota (a. Word of mouth b. TV ads c. Print ads) 2. BMW (a. Word of mouth b. TV ads c. Print ads) 3. Honda (a. Word of mouth b. TV ads c. Print ads) Q14.When you went into any shop, did the dealer push you for any specific brand of Car? If yes, please rank these below mentioned brands according to dealer effectiveness. The most effective should be ranked 1 & so on) 1. BMW (……) 2. Honda (……) 3. Toyota (……) 4. Others (please specify……………………….) (…….) Q15. If you don’t want to buy a car, what is the reason behind? 1. I don’t like Cars 2. Price is pretty high 3. I am looking for some additional attributes (Please specify.....) Q16. Please tick only one of those Car brands which you prefer most according to each of the attributes given on the left? 1. Brandname (a. BMW b. Toyota c. Honda d. Others (please specify……..)) 2. Price (a. BMW b. Toyota c. Honda d. Others (please specify……..)) 3. Appearance (a. BMW b. Toyota c. Honda d. Others (please specify……..)) 4. Features (a. BMW b. Toyota c. Honda d. Others (please specify……..)) 5. Accessories (a. BMW b. Toyota c. Honda d. Others (please specify……..)) 6. Comfort in driving (a. BMW b. Toyota c. Honda d. Others (please specify……..)) 7. Convenience in handling (a. BMW b. Toyota c. Honda d. Others (please specify……..)) 8. after sales service (a. BMW b. Toyota c. Honda d. Others (please specify……..)) 9. Mileage (a. BMW b. Toyota c. Honda d. Others (please specify……..)) 10. Guarantees/warrantees (a. BMW b. Toyota c. Honda d. Others (please specify……..)) Q17. What makes Toyota different from others? 1. Performance 2. Pricing 3. Positioning 4. Satisfaction Q18. What are your viewpoints regarding the recall process adopted by the automobile companies? __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Q18. Toyota is facing this critical situation only because of outsourcing? Do you agree or not and what are your expectations from Toyota? __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Thank You for your co-operation and time. Read More