Marketing Plan for Toyota - Essay Example

Marketing Plan Table of Contents Part 3 Executive Summary: 3 Environmental Analysis: 7 SWOT 10Part 2 13 Executive Summary: 13 Marketing Objectives: 14 Targeting & Positioning: 16 Growth Strategies: 17 Selection of Competitive Advantage: 20 References: 27 Part 1: Executive Summary: Toyota is the world’s largest auto manufacturer with a strong focus on quality. It has overtaken General Motors, Ford and Chrysler which used to dominate the American roads to take the number one position in terms of sales volume. However in the recent past Toyota has been facing technical problems in its accelerator pedal which is an extremely critical issue since it is concerned with safety. This has lead to a significant decrease in Toyota’s sales pushing it to the second position with General Motors leading the charts. Toyota being a foreign company needs to understand the American customers very well for its survival. Moreover there is a feeling of belongingness for The Big Three among Americans. Hence the market is highly competitive. The report makes an attempt to develop a marketing plan that would help Toyota to regain its market share and become a market leader once again. A detailed analysis of the internal strengths and weakness, market scenario, competition analysis is done to identify the gap and accordingly new ways of meeting these gaps through an effective market plan is devised. Competitor Analysis: The competitive forces can be analyzed by using Porters 5 Force model. According to 5 Force Model a company faces competition from 5 sources. They are: Bargaining Power of Suppliers: Toyota believes in the philosophy that it is as strong as its weakest supplier. Hence Toyota believes in building long term relationship with its supplier’s and also goes to the extent of providing support and technical guidance which promotes a “win-win” situation for both. Hence Toyota’s suppliers are always loyal and also strive to deliver the best quality of materials (Lean Enterprise Institute, 2006). Toyota does not change suppliers based on cost considerations because it upsets the entire working model of Toyota. Toyota’s success depends on strong alliances with its vendors. It is something that Toyota lives with every day (LaFlamme, n.d.). Bargaining Power of Buyers: Buyers in U.S. are very well informed about the automobile market and the latest cars. A wide variety of choices is available to the customer. Some of the big names include General Motors, Ford, Chrysler, BMW, Hyundai, Mitsubishi etc. With information available easily in the internet customers can dictate terms. They can negotiate on price, mode of payment, more discounts on used cars, free accessories etc. Hence bargaining power of buyers is high (Gatton College of Business & Economics-a, n.d.). Industry Rivalry: US market has been dominated by the Big Three namely, General Motors, Ford and Chrysler. In addition there are others like Nissan, Hyundai, Volkswagen, Mitsubishi and BMW having significant market share. With global recession setting in, the Big Three has filed for bankruptcy. However Toyota has left everyone behind to gain the number one spot in the U.S. market. Although Toyota has defeated recession and attained market leadership it has to be on its toes since every company is fighting to regain its market shares (Gatton College of Business & Economics-b, n.d.). “Well launch a campaign centered on our products and product strength. Rather than emphasize clearance and discounts, well emphasize our products’’. Said by Ford’s V.P., U.S.( LaReau.J, 2010). Threat from New Entrants: Threat of new entrants is minimum because setting up an automobile industry involves huge investments. Moreover there is a strong brand loyalty among automobile users and it’s very difficult for a new entrant to establish its brand (Gatton College of Business & Economics-c, n.d.). Threat from Substitutes: U.S. consumers spend mainly on two things- House & Cars. Hence if the government reduces home loan interest rates or increase car loan rates then car makers can face a threat. However considering the current U.S. market, ravaged by recession the extent of such a threat is very limited. U.S. government is trying its level best to boost the automobile segment by reducing rate of interest and devising attractive schemes. Market Analysis: The automobile market of U.S. would be analyzed considering the following points outlined by David A. Aaker: Market Size: U.S. is the most attractive market for every automobile company. However, due to recession the U.S. automobile market has recorded the lowest sales in 2008 since 1992. However with major incentives being taken by the government to revamp the auto industry, it is expected that the market would regain its lost luster (Bloomberg News-a, 2010). Market Growth: The automobile industry is experiencing an upward curve. Sales have increased by 16% than the depressed figures of 2009. Every company reported a positive growth than the previous year. The total automobile sales increased by 24% since March 2009. The market growth is shown in the table below: Company Name Brand % Increase since 2009 General Motors Cadillac 42 Chrysler Mercedes-Class 20 Toyota Lexus 42 BMW sedan 3 Honda Acura 30 Nissan Infiniti 37 Volkswagen Audi 34 (Bloomberg News-b, 2010). Market Profitability/Attractiveness: Michael Porter’s 5 Force Model is used to understand the market profitability. From the discussions above it can be concluded that U.S. auto market is highly attractive. Of the five factors the only prominent threat is Industry Rivalry. Environmental Analysis: Environmental conditions are analyzed using PESTEL Analysis. Political: The U.S. government has imposed strict restrictions on foreign auto players to safeguard the interest of its domestic players. It has been trying to revive the condition of The Big Three by supporting them with financial incentives. Other companies may not have such financial capital to support its R&D or marketing program (Barack Obama-a, 2009). Economical: The American economy is suffering from a great financial turmoil. With automobile industry, which employs a large number of Americans, badly hit, there is huge unemployment in U.S. over 400000 jobs has been cut in the recession period. Hence Americans are not expected to spend on luxury cars. They will rather be more inclined towards economical cars (Barack Obama-b, 2009). Social: Americans are known to be open, liberal, technology driven, easy to read. Toyota’s image was a bit tainted after some technical problems arose in their accelerator pedal. A survey showed that 36% of those interviewed nurtured a negative image about Toyota. Ford is regarded as the favorite brand of Americans. This is also influenced by the inclination that Americans have towards their home companies (Green.J., Greiling .A., 2010). Legal: U.S. government has imposed strict norms on gas emissions from automobiles. A national policy to ensure fuel economy as well as lowering greenhouse gases has been implemented. The policy requires every car to have a fuel economy of 35.5mpg by 2016 (THE WHITE HOUSE, Office of the Press Secretary,2009). Technological: After recession there’s an increasing demand for fuel efficient cars and small cars. There is a shift from big gas-guzzling SUV’s toward small, eco friendly cars. Internal Analysis: Internal analysis is done using Mckenzies 7’s framework: Staff: Toyota’s employees are united under one mission that focuses on quality. Toyota was the first company which introduced employee empowerment schemes, job security which led to increasing employee loyalty. Structure: Toyota has a flat organizational structure where every employee can contribute towards every development of the company. The employees have the same uniform, share the same cafeteria and parking space and participate in social activities of the company. Toyota believes in empowering its workers. Skills: The Japanese system of Total Quality management focuses on developing skills that would directly affect the quality of its product. Regular workshops are conducted to enhance employee skills. Style: Toyota follows a bottom up approach and a highly decentralized style which gives employees the power to participate in company matters. Shared Values: Toyota believes in long term commitments and partnerships for which every stake holder of the company needs to be united under one umbrella. The values shared by the company are uniform for employees, vendors, share holders and Toyota never compromises on things which are based on quality. Strategy: Toyota’s strategy is based on its culture and manufacturing known worldwide as Toyota Production System. Its strategy is based on building effective long term vendor management which follows the six sigma concept and just in time management. System: Toyota’s human resource management is the best in the world. It is based on highly competent supplier and distribution management which gives Toyota a competitive advantage. SWOT Strength: Market Share: Toyota is a market leader in terms of sales since 2008. It is the largest automaker of the world. It has surpassed General Motors, Ford, and Honda to become the top player in the auto segment (Ohnsman.A, Naughton . K., 2010). Lean Production System: Toyota owes its success to world class production system “TYoyota Production System” which helps it to reduce cost and hence attain higher profitability. Brand name: Toyota as a brand is known for its quality. It has a favorable brand image although it has been tarnished a bit in the first two months of 2010. Deep Pockets: Toyota is a cash rich company. It has smoothly sailed even during recession period beating the Detroit Big Three. It launched a $250million marketing campaign in 2008 (The Wall Street Journal, 2008). Weakness: Tarnished Brand Image: Problem in the accelerator pedal has badly affected the brand image of Toyota. The problem reached an extent where Toyota had to recall 8 million vehicles. This resulted in a huge loss of sales (Green.J., 2010). Loss of Sales: Sales for the first two months of this year declined for Toyota as it had to recall 8 million vehicles. General Motors went ahead of Toyota in terms of sales to finish first taking a lead by 0.6%. (Cawthon .B,2010). Threats: Industry Rivalry: The auto industry is undergoing major restructuring exercise in order to boost profitability. Every company is developing new products keeping the customer demand in mind. They are developing new financial plans to improve their balance sheets. Job cuts, reduction in salaries, effective vendor management, cutting health care benefits etc are being implemented by companies worldwide. The situation thus has become highly competitive. Every company has specific products addressing specific segments. Honda’s-Accura, Nissan’s-Versa, Cube, Maxima, Mitsubishi’s-Galant, Hyundai’s-Kia, Chrysler’s- Mercedes-Benz etc are some of the cars dominating the U.S. charts. Changing preference among consumers: Customer’s preference for small cars is posing a big threat. Toyota is known for its SUV’s and large cars. Weak Credit Markets: A comparatively weak U.S. credit market and tightening of credit policies is a setback for all automobile companies. Obama’s Strict Auto Rules: President Obama has implemented strict laws which impose higher emphasis on fuel efficient cars. Obama’s strict environmental policies require automobile companies to design new cars which are more fuel efficient and eco friendly. Rising Gas Prices: Gas prices have been increasing very rapidly in U.S. The price per barrel of oil stands at whooping $2.798US (US Energy Information Administration, 2010). Opportunity: Tax Breaks: President Obama has come out with a policy which provides Federal Income Tax Deduction to new vehicle buyers. The policy applies to purchase of any new vehicle after Feb, 17th, 2009. This has heavily boosted sales of new cars (Saving to Invest. 2010). Consumer Assistance to Recycle and Save (CARS) Program: This program allows buyers to exchange their old gas-guzzling uneconomical cars with new efficient, eco friendly cars for a voucher that may be worth up to $4500. The amount of the voucher depends on the type of vehicle being purchased. The more economical a vehicle is, the more is the amount (U.S. department of Transportation, NHTSA, 2009). Part 2 Executive Summary: The report tries to develop a marketing plan for Toyota Motors targeted at its American market. Toyota is the world’s largest automobile company and has overtaken The Big Detroit Three namely General Motors, Ford and Chrysler in the recent years. Toyota’s biggest strength lies in its world class production system known as the Toyota Production System which is a thing of envy for its competitors. However in the recent past Toyota has been facing problems which is directly affecting its image as the world’s best producer of quality vehicles. The problem stems primarily from a safety related issue regarding malfunctioning of its accelerator pedal. U.S. is the most attractive market for all auto companies around the globe. Every auto company wants to establish a mark in this market. The recent problem faced by Toyota has affected its U.S. reputation adversely. It has lead to a decline in its market share. General Motors has regained its market leadership position pushing Toyota to the number two slot followed closely by Ford. It is in this backdrop that the report has been prepared to find out ways by which Toyota can regain its market leadership position. Secondly the new American government lead by President Obama has imposed strict norms on the auto industry. The norms primarily try to restrict manufacturing of large powerful vehicles which dominate the American market towards manufacturing of economical, eco friendly, high technology vehicles which are more common in European and Asian markets. This requires all auto manufacturers to undertake massive restructuring of their production lines. The future success of a company would depend on how effectively and how fast companies are able to adapt themselves. It is on this background that the report is prepared. It starts with selection of marketing objectives for Toyota followed by selection of target market segment and positioning strategies. Keeping all the external and internal factors in mind, growth strategies and competitive advantage are selected for Toyota. The report ends considering the marketing mix program that Toyota should consider to fight the existing problems. Marketing Objectives: Marketing objectives refers to the kind of goal that an organization wants to achieve. It provides the starting point and the basic framework for a marketing plan. The marketing objective are developed keeping in mind the current situation and what the organization wants to achieve. The marketing objectives of Toyota are based on the situational analysis provided above. The above analysis of the various external factors shows us that Toyota has various problem areas which need to be taken care of. The various issues that Toyota currently faces are: Toyota has fallen to number two position from its market leadership position on account of recalling eight million vehicles due to problems in its accelerator pedal. General Motors went ahead of Toyota in terms of sales to finish first taking a lead by 0.6%( Just Auto, 2010) The recall has lead to loss of billions of dollars for Toyota. The main reason behind this failure is the fact that Toyota believes in launching new vehicles at a lesser time compared to its American counterparts. It has expanded faster than its American counterparts. This has led to a rapid increase in the number of manufacturing plants, production lines, new cars and has increased the complexity of operations. Hence they could not handle the problem effectively (Wharton University-a, n.d.). The safety issue has adversely affected the brand’s reputation of being a highly reliable and quality car. It needs to undertake massive brand revamping exercises to regain its leadership position. Moreover with recession hitting American economy badly there is a strong inclination towards small economical cars. Further a spurt in fuel prices is also a prime reason for changing tastes of the consumer. The American president has also emphasized on manufacturing of eco friendly cars with greater mileage and cars with lesser emission of harmful gases. Every car is expected to have a fuel economy of 35.5 mpg by 2016. All these bring us to the following marketing objectives: To revamp its tarnished brand image and regain its market leadership position. To manufacture cars which are economically priced, fuel efficient and eco friendly. Targeting & Positioning: Every company first decides its target segment and accordingly directs all the marketing activities centered around the target group. Toyota first needs to address the issues related to its safety failure caused by malfunctioning of the brake pedals. Hence the target segment would comprise of its existing pool of buyers i.e. owners of Toyota cars. As it is known the cost of loosing a customer is much more than the cost of acquiring a new customer. An unsatisfied customer spreads negative word of mouth publicity which affects the brand image badly. Moreover the cost of owning a car is high and an expensive purchase cannot be simply replaced. Americans always had an inclination towards powerful high performing cars. They were never concerned about fuel economy till recession. Now they are more inclined towards small and economical cars. However with the American president imposing strict norms on green house gas emissions the American auto industry is on the verge of a massive restructuring. Small size cars which were the main focus for the Asian and European markets are now set to hit the American roads. Hence Toyota should target those consumers who are more inclined towards small cars. They should target the Early Adopters. It should target consumers who are socially responsible demand eco friendly, high technology and economical cars. Toyota is generally perceived as old fashioned by the American youth. Hence it should try to manufacture cars which appeal to the generation Y. It should accordingly redesign its cars and showrooms and back it with out of the box promotional campaigns targeted towards the youth (IBS Case Development Centre, 2010). It should position its new cars as a sporty, economical car to appeal to the generation next (The Economist, 2010). Growth Strategies: The Ansoff matrix is a powerful tool that can be used to determine the strategy that Toyota needs to follow. An Ansoff matrix is shown below: [Source: tutor2u] Toyota needs to follow to different strategies for achieving its two different marketing objectives. The strategies are discussed individually for the two different objectives below: To revamp its tarnished brand image and regain market leadership position: In order to revamp its tarnished brand image Toyota needs to regain the confidence of its lost customers. It has lost a considerable market share because of the technical problems and it needs to regain back its lost market share. Hence the strategy would be: Market Penetration Strategy: Market penetration is achieved when a company tries to target its existing customers with existing products. Toyota can increase its penetration by: Addressing the current problem in public and ensuring that there is no problem in the quality of the new cars that it replaces and also the new cars that it manufactures. Increasing customer loyalty is one more way by which Toyota can increase its market penetration. Toyota needs to come out with attractive schemes that would help it to maintain its existing pool of customers and also attract new customers. It should justify its recall by not only effective advertisements but also actually improving its production system and aiming towards zero defect products (Greyser et al, 2010) To manufacture cars which are priced economically, fuel efficient and eco friendly: Toyota needs to manufacture cars which are more economical and consumes less fuel. Although Americans prefer car with more power, the new government’s policies require every company to develop cars which has a fuel efficiency of 35.5mpg by 2016. The small compact car industry in U.S is still in the nascent stage with few players offering few models. Moreover Toyota should try to introduce more hybrid cars. Hence the strategy should be New Product Development. Selection of Competitive Advantage: The main parameters that a company should look at in selecting competitive advantage are: It should be unique It must not be easy to replicate It must have the property of being used for more than one situations It should be sustainable It should be superior to the competition Toyota’s competitive advantage has always been its superior production system known as Toyota Production System. The entire world is actually trying to replicate Toyota’s model. Hence Toyota should stick to its current model. However the recent issues reveal that there are some problems in the production system. The problem is mainly perceived to be at the supplier side. Hence Toyota needs to conduct a quality check to ensure that things are back at the right place. The competitive advantage proposition of Toyota satisfies all the criterions mentioned above. It only needs to improve its supervision especially by middle level managers who are responsible for this. Marketing Mix: Marketing means understanding consumer needs and profitably satisfying them. Marketing mix consists of the 4P’s of marketing namely product, price, place, promotion. The 4P’s can be altered in order to gain competitive advantage. Company’s success depends on how effectively it alters the 4 P’s to satisfy the market demand. Toyota planned to invest a whopping $1 billion on U.S. marketing (Bloomberg.com, 2010). Product: Toyota’s most popular model in U.S. is Lexus. Toyota Camry is the best seller in U.S. market. Both these cars are big cars which are not fuel efficient. In the small car segment it has only one model named Yaris. In the Hybrid category it has three models namely Prius, Camry Hybrid and Highlander hybrid. Toyota depends heavily on sales of larger vehicles, trucks and SUV’s which is no longer profitable in the U.S. given the financial crisis that U.S. is going through.It needs to come out with models with a focus on technology and efficiency. Although Toyota’s product mix is better than General Motors it is not as good as popular small cars like Honda. Hondas has two models in small cars namely Fit and Insight. In the hybrid category it has Civic Hybrid. Thus Honda has a better product mix compared to Toyota (Honda, n.d.). Toyota now needs to focus on manufacturing more cars with hybrid technologies. In accordance with the government’s policies it also needs to come out with products that are more fuel efficient and products which emit less gases complying with the green house standards. A car requires almost 15000 raw materials hence a lot of quality checks and supervision is involved in manufacturing it. A large number of vendors are also associated with large number of raw materials. The present problem with Toyota resulted from a fault of a vendor and Toyota is paying a very heavy price for it (Lataif.L, n.d.). Hence in order to ensure that the recalled cars that are delivered back to the customers are defect free. Not only does Toyota need to focus on its recalled cars, but also ensure that the new cars to be manufactured are absolutely defect free. Purchasing a car is not like other purchases since a heavy price is involved with purchasing a car. Moreover losses to a company are huge not only in terms of financials but also in terms intangible assets like brand image. Price: Toyota’s pricing strategy is completely different from its industry counterparts. Toyota is known for its reputation of being a brand that is highly customer centric and committed towards quality. Toyota does not follow the traditional pricing formula i.e. Cost + Profit = Selling Price The traditional approach passes on the burden of increased costs to the customers. Whenever a company’s cost of raw materials increases, it is reflected in increased price of the vehicle. In a drive to earn more profits companies worldwide follow this simple formulae for pricing its products. On the other hand Toyota has slightly modified the pricing formulae as: Selling Price – Profit = Cost Toyota has long term commitments with its vendors and hence it is less affected by an increase in raw material price as compared to its counterparts. It also offsets raw material price rise by empowerment and continuous improvement of its vendors. Toyota understands that price of a vehicle is dependent on its customers and markets. It focuses on waste elimination which helps it to reduce its costs significantly. Promotion: Toyota needs to undertake massive promotion in order to revamp its brand image. It needs to communicate to its customers that it is always focused on quality. The major promotional activities that it should are: Public Addressal by Top Management: The top management should come out and address the public regarding the current issue. They should assure the public that Toyota is concerned about its customers and they will ensure that things are back in place at the earliest. Quick Fixes: Toyota must try to recall the vehicles at the earliest and compensate the owners sufficiently to ensure that they don’t spread negative word of mouth publicity. Focus on Incentives: U.S. has been badly affected by recession and hence the financial condition of customers is not good. They are apprehensive about buying new products and for automobiles the purchase is delayed further because of high costs involved with such a purchase. Job cuts and unemployment has limited the availability of cash at consumers disposal. Hence Toyota should try to draw customers by coming up with attractive schemes. It is planning to offer smart leasing terms, interest free loans, discounts, zero percent financing for five years on best selling models. Extended Service: Toyota is planning to provide extended free service for two years and a thank you note for sticking with Toyota when they are going through a very rough phase(Reuters, 2010). Partnership with American Counterparts: Toyota has partnerships with General Motors which facilitates import of GM cars to Japan. MacDuffie feels that “They cooperate, but I think its mostly Toyotas goal to be seen as a good corporate citizen in the U.S. -- to have a cooperative, friendly relationship with GM even as it overtakes it, rather than a highly competitive [attitude]." (Wharton University-b, n.d.). Using Brand Ambassadors: Toyota can use American brand ambassadors who match Toyota’s values to revamp its image. Rental Programs: Toyota can offer its cars on a one day rental basis which would allow customers to take the car for a test drive for one entire day. The customer can try the car for an entire day and then decide whether he wants to purchase it or not. The second marketing objective of designing economical, eco friendly, high technology cars also needs to be communicated to the customers. Toyota needs to first shift American consumers preference for large cars towards small cars. It needs to launch a massive online promotion towards educating its customers regarding their responsibility towards society and about eco friendly cars. It can use the following channels of communication: Web: Internet marketing is the most popular choice of advertisement now days. It can dedicate an entire new website towards educating its consumers which can also serve as a platform to address their current issues. The website should be an interactive platform for customers to communicate amongst themselves. Toyota can get valuable information regarding consumer behavior which can help them understand customer needs. Television: Toyota can use the media to communicate its values of being highly customer centric and its dedication towards quality. Television is a powerful media to communicate to a large of audience in a short time. Print Media: Toyota should publicly apologize for the inconvenience caused to the customers. Print media is relatively less expensive means of communication and Toyota can publish full page articles to gain immediate attention. Place: Toyota has the world’s best supply chain management. It has an extensive network of dealers which increased rapidly because of the advantage dealers saw in being associated with Toyota. Unlike its American counterparts Toyota has its dealers located at the right places. Toyota’s dealers are located at prime places where the population is more unlike other companies like General Motors. The effective supply chain system enables Toyota to carry less inventories. Toyota maintains an inventory of 35 to 45 days as compared to General Motors which maintains inventory of roughly 70 to 75 days. Industry analysts feel that if General Motors was able to maintain inventories as low as Toyota they would have saved $4billion approximately. 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