Toyota Australia PR - Essay Example

Toyota Australia PR Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 Introduction 3 Toyota Australia 4 Target Audience 5 The Core Issue 6 Responses I 7 Response II 8 Application of Theories 9 Theory with respect to Response I 9 Theory with respect to Response II 10 Alternative Response 11 Alternative Response and Theory 11 Conclusion 13 References 14 Bibliography 17 Introduction In the automobile industry, Toyota is one of the most prominent players. It utilizes change management strategy which includes 360° feedback, new salary strategy and the performance management system. Toyota Australia, the company that caters to the need of Australian populace, has an impressive presence in the Oceania region. The company has different models for different segments of people. It has used the latest technology for upgrading the services of the existing vehicles as well as the upcoming vehicles. Toyota Australia had also hired the taskforce for measuring the quality services of the existing vehicles as well as the newly launched vehicles. This was essentially evident after the defect of Prius was noticed as the management took immediate action by recalling the customers in Australia through the mediums of public relations like that of mails and press releases. Toyota always tried to emerge with a new thought and tried to execute it. Toyota Australia always tried to keep in mind the customer needs and wants so that the management tried to provide the maximum of the benefits to the customers. Toyota Australia has brought new models with new techniques of vehicles for different segments of people e.g. SUVs for ‘tailgate people’, Prius for private customers among others. It is prevalent from the strategy of the company that in future too Toyota Australia is expected to come up with many new ranges of vehicle which will be eco friendly in nature and adapt new technologies for better quality and service to the esteemed clients. Toyota Australia Toyota Australia started its journey in 1958, when Theiss brothers sold their first Toyota Land Cruiser in the year of 1959. The vision of Toyota Australia has been to be the most appreciated and accepted company in the related market. Their mission was to supply the best automotive products and customer services that would enhance the environment, community and partners. They have their four core values namely, clients’ first, respect for the people, international focus and constant improvement and invention. According to the factsheet of 2008, Toyota Australia had 4573 employees and approximately 10,982 of dealer employees. Toyota Australia exported vehicles to more than 20 countries (Toyota, n.d.). Toyota Australia produced a record of about 141, 467 vehicles and 114, 752 engines at their Altona plant in the year of 2008. They contributed more to the economy of Australia by indirect and straight employment, export income and capital investment. Toyota has been dominating the market of cars in Australia, having a market share of 23%. Toyota’s production system is the realistic appearance of the Toyota’s people and the beliefs of customers. Toyota Australia implements change management strategy that includes 360° feedback, new salary strategy and the performance management system (The University of Melbourne, n.d.). There is no doubt that Toyota is one of the leading automotive companies in Australia. Toyota Australia sells various ranges of cars like passengers vehicles (that includes Aurion, Avensis, Corolla, Camry, etc) and 4WD and SUV (vehicles like Land Cruiser 200, Prado falls under this category). Also, they have numerous other ranges of vehicles in commercial as well as in hybrid segments. Toyota succeeded in linking the automobile industry with the environmental technologies by introducing Prius with hybrid technology. Toyota Australia organizes festivals for the talents, taking initiative on environment for supporting the rural Australia. The funds raised from the concert are basically donated to the flood - hit, drought - effected people (Toyota, n.d.). The recall of Toyota Australia that the company undertook as the Prius cars had severe complaints has been a major stigma for the company. This was more so because of the lack of effective public relation methods adopted by the company. The paper deals with various responses adopted and the alternative responses that could have well taken into consideration along with the impending theory. Target Audience The target audience for the recall issue of Toyota Australia had been the customers who had purchased the car. Toyota Australia target will be the customers of national and international level. The target customer will be basically those who are affected after using Prius. Toyota Motor Corporation in Australia had commenced a secured recall campaign for Prius vehicles. This was done because of the responses of the inconsistent brake failure while driving slow and stable braking on the road condition like bumpy or slippery road, pot holes, when ABS is set on. The management improves the response time of ABS by their latest equipment in a minimum time, so that no other problems arise while driving the cars at pot holes and bumpy road. Management took responsibilities to inform the owners mainly about the recall and also about the problem they will face will driving. Toyota Australia prime customers for Prius was the private customers as well as the corporate clients (Zutphen, n.d.). The Core Issue The Toyota Australia had faced a recall crisis of its hybrid hero the Prius along with other countries. Around 8.5 million vehicles were recalled across the world. When the third generation Prius range had been sent for the sale, a problem with its brakes suddenly erupted and Toyota had gone for a safety recall of 2378 vehicles in Australia itself (Toyota, 2010). Out of the 111 reports of inconsistent breaks, only two had been confirmed in Australia. Till date no complaints has been launched on accident due to this problem in Australia. The affected cars had been manufactured between April 7, 2009 and January 27, 2010. It carries vehicle identification number (VIN) in between 01000092 and 01157273 and the VIN numbers for the cars built within January 13 to January 27 are 05000003 and 05118023 (Pettendy, 2010). Responses I In order to resolve the problem, Toyota has taken quite a few steps towards its customers. The steps were based on public relation. Toyota Australia had taken a proactive approach for the customer satisfaction. They had arranged a campaign for the owner of the Prius. The notification of the campaign had sent to them to the email addresses of the owners within a week of the issue. The customers were advised to contact their local Toyota Dealer. Toyota Australia had provided free repairing service to the owner of the Prius. Toyota put an effort to upgrade the Anti-locking Break System (ABS) management programme in the Electronic Control Unit (Toyota, 2010). This effort has been taken to improve the response time. The company inculcated flexibility in the system and serve at any place as per the choice of the owners. It may be the owner’s house or office or Toyota service centre (Blackburn, 2010). Response II Toyota Australia also planed for a renewed effort for accelerating its quality and initiative for customer service. They hired a Melbourne based engineering team for this purpose. This team is part of an Asia-Oceania Regional Taskforce, which is based on Thailand. This Melbourne based team mainly represents Australia. The focus of the team is to build up a new framework for improving engineering quality and customer communication. This taskforce is included three senior executive of Global Safety committee. It engaged in collecting information with the help of its Research & Development Division. The main motto of this is to ensure the reforms in safety and quality control of Toyota production. All the report has to be submitted to the President of the Toyota Motor Corporation, Akio Toyoda at the head quarter. David Buttner, the senior executive director of marketing and sales in Toyota Australia has revealed that this measure is the brand’s plan for not only controlling the present crises but also to tackle future problems (Brogan, 2010). Application of Theories Public Relation is a management of maintaining a mutual relationship between an organization and its customer or the public outside the organization. This process is mainly managed by the public relationship officers or managers of an organisation (Education PR, 2007). In this case, public means any party that can be government, shareholder, customers, supplier and the media. The main objective behind it is to raise the communication network and improve the channels of communication through maintaining the two-way flow. Public relation is broadly used for the publicity purpose as well as getting feedback (Edu Care Infoindia, n.d.). Theory with respect to Response I As per the first response of the company which is basically providing information to the users of Prius for the free repairing, is related with the ‘Press Agentry’ and ‘Public Information’ theoretical model developed by James Gruing and Todd Hunt in 1984. It basically used press media. The purpose is to get publicity in the media and to rectify or improving image in front of the public. It is mainly a one way communication. Only the organisation provides information in the media. Feedback is not necessary in this case. This process is not very authentic as the information provided out here is not necessarily is true. The second theory is public information. The main purpose behind it is information dissemination. It is also a one-way communication process. Unlike press agentry, in this process true information is needed. Here, the transmission of the factual information takes place. That is why the information is reliable and authentic. Therefore, from these two theories it has been understandable that both these processes are one-way and flow is as Organisation (Public Relation) > Mass Media (Print, Internet & Broadcast) > Target Audience / Public As Toyota Australia also had a huge number of press release and they even involve internet to send emails to the Prius owners, so it can be linked with the above mentioned theories. Theory with respect to Response II The second response is based on the quality control and customer care service. Though quality control is the part of technological improvement but quality is the key factor of customer value proposition. The other part of this response is customer service which is completely a public relation process. Therefore, apart from public relations also the theory of customer value proposition can be used to some extent. This theory has strong bounding with the public relation though public relation theory has a much broader scope. Customer service is always a part of public relation. A better customer care service only can make the public relation stronger (Dave Fleet, 2006). In this respect the “Customer Satisfaction Model” as prescribed by N. Kano can be referred. It is a combination of quality technique and marketing strategy. It has six attributes through which the customer satisfaction can be measured (12 Manage, n.d.). Alternative Response Toyota Australia has taken two very good measures to get rid of this problem. The first one related with public relation and the second one is a part of public relation but more on quality control. Considering all the available opportunities and scope, it can be suggested that they should have adopted the two-way communication system. As from the above two responses of the company, it is clear that they only give information to the customers or the owners of the cars through the mass media but they did not try to get feedback or the opinion of the customer. According to the need of the circumstances, this is very important. Till now, they had been taking decisions as per the company’s perspective though that is also for providing better customer service but there is an absence of customer’s opinion. Thus, they have mostly skipped the requirements and the needs of the customer. Therefore, there should have been a flow of both way communications. Alternative Response and Theory Toyota Australia can use both Two-Way Asymmetric and Symmetric model. These are also the part of James Gruing and Todd Hunt’s public relation model. Regarding the Two-Way Asymmetric model, the nature of communication is two-way but imbalanced. It is mainly used for competitive business. Here, the organisation use different media to reach the public but it is not necessary that the public or the targeted customer also use same media to reach the company. In this case, usually the targeted customer or public give their verdict or feedback directly to the organization, avoiding the media. The Two-Way Symmetric model is more or less similar to the earlier one. Though there are few differences as it based on the mutual understanding instead of scientific persuasion and it has a balanced effect. Here, both the public and the organization give more importance in their responses and use of the media is much higher than that of the asymmetric model. In this model, both the parties use the media to convey their message to each other. The model can be described in simpler way as below: Organisation (Public Relation) < Media > Target Public Apart from this theory, the focus should be on public opinion also as public opinion is the initial stage of public relation. Public relation involves with managing, changing and creating public opinion. As the powerful publics have an impact on any organization that is why to bring commercial success, public opinion is necessary. Even on the basis of that the existing policy can be changed. The alternative response or proposal had been suggested here is not necessarily better than the responses had been taken by the company but the proposed response can provide the clear idea to the company regarding the customer’s needs and requirements. Somehow, it will help the company to take a better strategy, not only to recover the crisis but also to map future performance. Conclusion Toyota Australia had different ranges of vehicles for different segment of customers. Toyota Australia had recalled the customers who had purchased Prius. This was done because of the inconsistent break while driving the vehicle on the road conditions like bumpy or potholes, when ABS is set on. So, the management took response by informing the clients through mail about the services they will provide by upgrading the ABS system and also a task force was hired to measure the quality of Prius and other vehicles as they promised to look into the other problems of quality service for the future. Toyota Australia has utilized press agentry and public information to inform the customers who are using Prius through mail and press releases. Though the management informed the customers through electronic mails or press releases but on the other hand, management of Toyota Australia lack in ‘two way communication’ as they did not take any sort of customer feedback after selling the vehicle. Customer feedback is one of the most crucial elements for the management, as it provides the disadvantage and advantages of the vehicle and this can be utilized to upgrade the quality as well as services. Apart from it, this research will be beneficial while introducing any vehicle in accordance to the customers need and satisfaction. The analysis of the case clearly states that the importance of effective public relations mechanism that the public relations manager should have undertaken. References Bllackburn, R., (2010). Toyota recalls Prius. The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved Online on May 30, 2010 from http://smh.drive.com.au/motor-news/toyota-recalls-prius-20100209-npgt.html Brogan, M., (2010). Toyota Australia to step up quality, customer service after global recall crisis. Car Advice. Retrieved Online on May 30, 2010 from http://www.caradvice.com.au/64686/toyota-australia-to-step-up-quality-customer-service-after-global-recall-crisis/ Dave Fleet, (2006). Customer Service is Public Relations. Home. Retrieved Online on May 30, 2010 from http://davefleet.com/2009/01/customer-service-is-public-relations/ Education PR, (2007). Public Relation Theory II. Book Review. Retrieved Online on May 30, 2010 from http://educationpr.org/2007/01/12/public-relations-theory-ii/ EduCare Infoindia, (No Date). Introduction. Public Relation. Retrieved Online on May 30, 2010 from http://www.educationinfoindia.com/Rajasthan/CareerGuidance/business/pr.htm Pettendy, M., (2010). Toyota to fix Prius brakes, affecting 400,000 Prius owners – nearly 2400 in Oz. Go Auto. Retrieved Online on May 30, 2010 from http://www.goauto.com.au/mellor/mellor.nsf/story2/D572C1B6E52EE043CA2576C50041C462 Toyota, (2010). Toyota Australia advice to Prius customers. Toyota Newsroom. http://news.toyota.com.au/toyota-prius-recall-toyota-australia-advice-to-prius-customers Toyota, (2010). The Toyota accelerator pedal recall in overseas markets will not affect any Australian models. Toyota Recall Facts. Retrieved Online on May 30, 2010 from http://www.toyota.com.au/about/toyota-recall Toyota, (No Date). Star Maker 10. Toyota Country Club. Retrieved Online on May 30, 2010 from http://www.toyota.com.au/events/toyota-country-club Toyota, (No Date). Key Facts. About Toyota. Retrieved Online on May 30, 2010 from http://www.toyota.com.au/about/key-facts The University of Melbourne, No Date. Implementing a change management strategy the "Toyota Way": Toyota Australia. Executive Action. Retrieved Online on May 30, 2010 from http://mteliza.mbs.edu/go/who-we-are/what-our-clients-say/implementing-a-change-management-strategy-the-toyota-way-toyota-australia Zutphen, G. (No Date). It starts with one: changing individuals changes organisations. INSEAD Knowledge. Retrieved Online on May 30, 2010 from http://knowledge.insead.edu/ItStartsWithOne080705.cfm?vid=75 12 Manage, (No Date). Customer Satisfaction Model (Kano). What is the Customer Satisfaction Model? Retrieved Online on May 30, 2010 from http://www.12manage.com/methods_kano_customer_satisfaction_model.html Bibliography Broom, G. & Et. Al. (2000). Effective Public Relations. Prentice Hall. Grunig, J. (1992). Excellence in Public Relations and Communication Management. Routledge. Kithcen, P. (2006). A Reader in Marketing Communications. Taylor & Francis. Read More