Industrial level of BMW and Toyota - Essay Example

Industrial level of BMW and Toyota affiliation Toyota Like any other company, Toyota undergoes a value chain as an automobile industry for value addition purposes to deliver high-end vehicles and after-sale services. Michael Porter majorly developed the concept of value chain in his book, “Competitive Advantage: Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance.” Inbound logisticsToyota does not process most of the parts it uses. Such components are received from both local and international suppliers.

The shipped products are then acquired at a cheaper price. Toyota makes the supplies promising to share any innovation with the supply groups. This in turn makes the suppliers produce even better components and with greater efficiency.OperationsToyota has something known as jidoka that requires even the machine to work autonomously whenever they detect a faulty part (Frick 2011). Disallowing such a part to do ensures the production of quality products. Outbound LogisticsAfter the production completion, the vehicles are given to the distributors in case of marketing them locally.

Otherwise, the shipping process occurs via the use of containers for international market. Marketing and After-sale ServicesMarketing by Toyota is done through advertisements and promotions. In terms of after-sale services, the company managed to outperform its closest competitors through customer satisfaction. The company does a follow-up to ensure that the individual is satisfied for at least a given time after the purchase.2. BMWInbound LogisticsFor value addition, the BMW group works with over 12,000 suppliers in 70 countries that need to fulfill the standards set by the group in production of high-end components.

Like Toyota, BMW works with the suppliers to leverage potential (Coe 2004).Outbound LogisticsFor the international market, the finished vehicles are shipped from the assembly lines with containers. Those that are sold in the local market of the assembly lines are transported to the respective showrooms using trucks.Marketing and After-sale ServicesMarketing and sales by BMW include encouraging consumers to purchase the vehicles. The company employs advertising, promotion, pricing, marketing, sales, and so on.

After-sale service is also offered by BMW. It involves user support, training, repair services, spare part management, installation, upgrades and so on. The company handles complaints well and this has been successful in attracting return customers. ReferencesCoe, Neil M., et al. "‘Globalizing’regional development: a global production networks perspective." Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers 29.4, 2004.Frick, Jan. Advances in Production Management Systems Value Networks: Innovation, Technologies, and Management, IFIP WG 5.

7 International Conference, APMS 2011, Stavanger, Norway, September 26-28, 2011, Revised Selected Papers. Berlin: Springer, 2012.Porter, Michael E. "Competitive advantage: creating and sustaining superior performance." Nova, 1985.