Marketing assignment on international marketing evaluation & strategy undertaken by Toyota in two culturally different countries

Question

Task: Which criteria’s would you refer to while selectingamong two culturally different countries to make an international expansion? How will you evaluate in the marketing assignment what the company has done internationally in terms of their market offering?

Answer

Introduction
Toyota is one of the largest automobile companies that has expanded its businessin more than 170 countries all over the world (Sun, 2022). For marketing and selling, the company have to implement a different strategy to enhance the sales in the countries. In this highly competitive market as per the marketing assignment, Toyota has to implement a different strategy that helps the organisation win the competition the market. The company is aware of the different culture of the country as the choices of the customers regarding the cars is different in different countries. Additionally, the purchasing power of the people is also different. In this marketing assignment, the different cultural countries, the UK and India, will betaken to discuss the marketingand sales of the company Toyota. The company profile and international look of the country are discussed, and additionally, the market environment of the two different countries will also be discussed. A marketing entry strategyused by the company to do business in India and the UK, segmentation, decision of the company regarding the marketing mix for both the countries, and different promotional strategy that used by Toyota in these two countries will also be discussed. This marketing assignmentwill be ended with the Conclusion by suggesting the right decisions that can be taken by the Toyota organisation.

International outlook image and profile of Toyotain the marketing assignment
In the Automobile industry as per the marketing assignment, Toyota is one of the most successful companies. The company manufactures and sells automobile parts all over the world. Toyota operates in the following sectionsAutomotive, financial and other services. The company was launched in the year 2008, surpassing General Motors. The brand image of the organisation is very high, and the company is trusted by all the stakeholders of the business (Gruber, 2018). Toyota also contributes tosociety, and the effect of this is fallen in the brand image of the business. The company introduces a new section known as "facilities” where people get all the services of their cars. As per the finding of the marketing assignment the company Toyotaplays the role of a good corporate citizen. The visual identity system of Toyota helps the company to differentiate the brand from the other organisation. The organisation also maintain the quality and price of the product so that the differentiation from the other international brand is highlighted. The six core elements used by Toyota as per the marketing assignmentare the company’s logo, the tagline (Let’s go places), typography, styles of the photography of the product, colour and design. All of these elements help Toyota to differentiate its product from all other brands.Toyota creates its strong brand image through its vehicles. All the vehicles offered to the customers are family-oriented that break down rarely, and are relatively affordable and economical. All the desirable features are offered by the organisation Toyota to the customers at an affordable price (Singh and Singh, 2018). As per the findings of marketing assignment, Toyota will lead the society of future mobility by providing the most responsible ways of moving people and enriching the lives of people all over theworld. Toyota is committed to ceaseless Innovation and always maintains the quality of the product. The company take care of the planet and society. Toyota granted the smile of the happy customers as a reward, and they do their best to satisfy the customers.

Marketing environment of India and the UK
Macro-environment

PESTEL Analysis of the UK

PESTEL Analysis of India

Micro-environment
Customer analysis:It is found in this marketing assignment that near about all the people of the UK is educated and able to use modern technology. The purchasing power of the people is also very high. All the customers prefer to maintain loyalty. The customers of the UK never want to sacrifice the quality of the product with its price. The customers prefer to pay a good amount for the good quality goods. Rather than creating a short-term relationship, people prefer to establish a long-term relationship with the product and the company. They prefer to get brand loyalty.

In India as per the marketing assignment, this scenario is quite different. Most people live below the poverty line. People prefer to get low-cost goods rather than payhigh for good quality goods. All the people are not educated, and the large companies have to target only the higher income groups, which is a small proportion of the total population. All the people are not so educated, and they do have the ability to afford luxurious goods like cars. The mobility is also very low. Competitor analysis in the marketing assignment: The biggest car brand in the UK is Ford. Other than these, large numbers of competitors are also available such as Jaguar, Volkswagen, Audi, Mazda, etc. All the companies have their own way of satisfying the customers, and it is difficult for Toyota to compete in the market, although the demand for cars is very high in the UK. The demand for Toyota cars is high in India. By defeating the demand of Tata and Honda, the company is able to enhance its sales and profitability in New Delhi. Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai, Mahindra & Mahindra, Renault, Honda, Tata Motors etc., are the strongest competitors of Toyota in India.

Market entry strategy
In the UK as per the information in the marketing assignment, Toyota established its manufacturing firm in the year 1989. All total two manufacturing units are started by Toyota in the UK. The company invests a lot in the development of the employeesin the business in the UK. As the UK is one of the greatest placesforthe business, as wellas the demandfor the cars, is also high the UK, the company invests a large amount in this country. The total investment of Toyota is more than £2.2 million in the UK. Training Academy is also established by the organisation for the development of the people andtheemployees. This type of people-oriented strategy as per the marketing assignment is not taken by Toyota in India. The management can ensurea high level of sales in the UK market, so the company invests a lot from the very start of the business.

Toyota entered the Indian market through a joint venturewith Vikram Kirloskar in the year 1997 and launched its first cars in 2000. The management of Toyota does not make sure about the sales in India, so the company do joint venture as it helps Toyota to reduce the risks of the business (Profiroiu et al., 2020). the demand for cars as per the marketing assignment is not so high in India asin the UK. So, the joint venture policy helps the company to share the losses and reduce the financial risks if any have to be faced by the organisation.

Segmentation, targeting and positioning
With the help of the STP model, the segmentation, targeting and positioning strategy of Toyota is discussed below.

Segmentation
Geographic: Toyota divides the customers on the basis of the country. For example, the customers of the UK are targeted whole, but in India as per the marketing assignment, all the people have not targeted customers of the company.

Demographic: The higher income groups are the targeted customers of Toyota between the age group of 30 to 50.
Behavioural: The purchasing behaviour of the customers is followed by the company. By using modern technology, the company choose the customers according to their search engine and the people who show interest in the website of the company.

Psychographic: According to the requirement of mobility, the customers are chosen by the company Toyota.

In the UK as per the marketing assignment, Toyota chooses the demographic segmentation of the customers, and on the other hand, in India, the company choose the behavioural and psychographic segmentation of the customers. The purchasing power of all the people is high in the UK, so the company chose demographic segmentation in the UK while following the purchasing behaviour and psychology of the people segmentation is selected by Toyota (Gokhale, Mishra and Veluchamy, 2021). Targeting:The main targeted customers of the company are the people who have the ability to purchase cars. Different targeting strategy is used by Toyota in different countries. The main aim of the organisation as per the marketing assignment is to satisfy the customers. The slogan of Toyota is let’s go place. It indicates that the companymain targeted the customers who were required to move from one place to another. The logo represents the vehicles themselves. It also indicates the targeting customers of Toyota. Positioning:The company wants to become a leader in the automobile industry by enriching lives around the world with the most responsibleand safe driving (Rouault, 2021).

Decisions regarding marketing mixfor both the country UK and India Product
UK: Toyota is producing near about 10 million vehicles every year (Madoh et al., 2019). As Toyota get a large market and a large number of customers in the UK, the company introduce a large variety of cars also to compete in the market. It alsohelps to acquire the market demand. As per the marketing assignment various high-rangecars and a range of electric vehiclesare also used by the organisation. Toyota is one of the leading companies in the UK for hybrid vehicle development. The company maintains the quality of the product as people prefer to get good quality goods although they have to pay the high cost for it. Various other services are also introduced by Toyota in the UK. People are also getting various other facilities online like booking for the services; customers care facilities,etc. In the UK, the car is granted as a necessity, and the demand for the car is also high. To get a competitiveadvantage in the industry, Toyota the company wants to reduce the priceof the product by implementing various technology in the manufacturing process of the business (Thummalapalli, 2019). As per the marketing assignment various modern technology in car-driving is also implemented in the product so that people get all the modern features in the cars of the Toyota company. An anti-lockbrake system, electric Brake-force Distribution, smart stop technology, Brake Assist, traction control and Vehicle stability control are some important features of the product that helps the company to attract customers. In addition to this,the family-oriented car is the new idea of the company. Most of the companies offercars having the facility of moving 3-4 people. A large range of the product helps to attract more customers like people the prefer to choose their product from a large variety.

India: Very few ranges of the product are offered by the company Toyota in India. Only seven types of models are sold by the company in India (Ray and Miglani, 2018) as the demand for the cars is low. Very few peopleaccording to the marketing assignment have the ability to afford cars. The cost of transportation is alsohigh, and the company have to face losses if large numbers of cars bring in India, but the sales of the cars become zero. The cost of the cars is also very low as the Indian people do not wish to purchase high-cost cars. The brand image of the product is also very high in India, exactly like in the UK. The innovations in the product attract the customers. Quality riding can be enjoyed by the people through Toyota cars.

Price
UK: Value-based pricing strategy is used by the company Toyota in the UK. The people of the UK understand the value of the quality of the product rather than its price. If the value of the product is high, then people prefer to pay for it. The pricing strategy according to the marketing assignment of Toyota is sophisticated, expensive and high-end according to the features and quality of the car models. Market-orientedpricingstrategyisalso used by the company to get a competitiveadvantage in the industry (Li, 2018). In this case, the selection of the product price depends upon the market, such as the price of the similar product offered by the company at which price, the features available in the product, etc. The company at first calculate the value of the product and at what price the company is able to sell the product. After deciding the marketing assignment, the cost of the similar product of the competitors is analysed, and then the price is selected. By implementing technology in manufacturing, the company wants to reducethe cost of the product to acquire the market (Dave, 2020).

India: It is difficult for the company to make money in India. Small cars are mostly sold, and the company have to reduce the price of the product in this competitive market. Toyota is also using the value-based pricingstrategy in India, but theprofitability of the company is not increasing as people prefer to buylow-costproducts rather than justifying the value or the quality of the product. As per the marketing assignment it is difficult for the company to supply the low-cost goods with good qualityand modern facilities. So, the small cars are offered to the customer, which the company can offer at a low price.Toyota is unable to maintain a high-profit margin in India.

Place
UK:The main aim of the company Toyota is to lead future mobility in society (Ayad et al., 2021). The UK is one of the greatest places for business. Not only the demand for the product is high in the UK, but also the company get a large base of customers and employees. By developing the employees,the company can enhance the productivity of thebusiness in the UK. On theother hand, the business environment of the UK is also very well and helps Toyota to develop freely.According to the marketing assignment the people require moving from one place to another frequently, and the purchasing power of the people is also very high.Although a large number of competitorsare available in the UK, the company get the opportunity to sell the product by enhancing the quality and implementingdifferent modern technologies in the cars. People understand the value of the product and don’t value the low-cost product.The UK is one of the greatest places to develop business. According to the marketing assignment the market set up in the UK is also easy for the new business (Singh et al., 2019). the political environment is also stable, and the businessdoes not have to be faced any issues regarding rules, regulations, taxes and other business laws. The automobile industry in the UK has been growing rapidly over the last few years. All of these factors are effective for the business of Toyota.

India: India is one of the developing countries, and the Indian automobile industry is the fourth largest industry all over the world (Miglani, 2019). The spare parts business is stable, but it is difficult for Toyota to earn a good amount of profit from India. The company have to manufacture some low-cost model to acquire the market as per the findings of the marketing assignment. Although the demand for cars is low in India, if the company is able to offer low-costgoods, then it will be profitable for the company and helps the company, Toyota, to get a competitiveadvantage in the industry. The proportion of the higher income group in the total population of India is low. It is one of the large drawbacks of doing business in the automobile industry. Thebusiness of the spare parts is good, but the business of the cars is not so effective for Toyota.

Promotion
The promotional strategy of the company is very effective for the organisation (Ito, 2019) according to the marketing assignment. Various modern and traditional ways of promotions are utilized by the company for the development of the business, and it also helps the company to reach the targeted audience of the business.

Personal selling
In both, the countries same marketing strategy is used by the company, which is direct selling or personal selling through the dealers or the salesperson. They personally promote the product to potential buyers. This strategy in the marketing assignment is used by Toyota in all the countries whereToyota is operating the business. Upselling process of the marketing is done by the company after launching new models. After launching, the company offers the oldcustomers to furtherpurchase the new model of Toyota. Sales promotion By inviting in the special events arranged by the company, for example at the time of the launching, the new cars the old customers are invited by the company. Various discounted coupons arealsoprovidedto the customers to enhance the sales of thebusiness (Martins and Enes, 2020). at the time of purchasing cardgifts and loyalty, cars are also paid to the organisation. These types of sales promotionsare done by Toyota in both the countries, UK and India.

Direct marketing
According to data present in the marketing assignment, through various modern ways,Toyota communicates directly with the customers, such throughemail, different social media platforms, messenger marketing, phone messages, etc.It is one of the effective ways of marketing (Ahmadzadeh, 2020). The company collect valuable feedback from the customers through direct marketing. It helps the company to know about the choice of the customers in different countries and the changes required in the product.Email marketing s one of the greatestways ofmarketing, and that helps the company to achieve the targeted sales of the business.

Public relations
With the help of effective communication in the shops and different social media platforms the company, Toyota wants to create a good customer relationship that helps the company to enhance its customer base. According to the marketing assignment the management and the higher authority of the company concentrate on creating good customer relations because it impacts greatly on the brand image and growth of the organisation. At the business conference, the company alsocommunicated effectively with a large number of people so that they could understand the quality and features of the product and show interest in purchasing the cars from the company Toyota (Kato, 2021).

Advertising
Toyota is promoting sales through banners and providing advertisements in the newspapers (Soviar et al., 2019). In both countries, the same strategy is used by the organisation. By providing advertisements on the walls of the playground and in the marketplace places, the company is also promoting the different new models of the cars through sponsorship. On the first page of the new papers is oneof the greatest places providing advertisementsforcars. According to the marketing assignment it does not attract the targeted customers but also helps the company to attract new customers. In the different business events, the company also promotes the goods in both countries.

Conclusion
At the end of the marketing assignment, it can be concluded that the company takes the marketing strategy for doing business in the two different countries as well, but the company can enhance the sales of the cars in India by reducing the price of the product. For doing business in developing countries, the company can introduce a new range of products that hasa low cost. The company can create transparency in the financial statement to the customers so that they can understand both the quality and cost of the product, otherwise in the case of the UK. Training of the staffs in India is required so that they can convince the customers. Toyota should concentrate on the number of customers rather than the number of cars. It is recommended in this marketing assignment that the company can acquire the Asian market by introducing more energy-efficient cars. Toyota can hire fresh ideasfor the production process and implement more customer-centric products and services. Construction of a worldwide plant is also effective for the company to get the effective global sales of the cars. By reducing customerdissatisfaction, the company can acquire the Asian market. Going by the marketing assignment, all the promotional strategy used by Toyota in two different culturalcountries is very effective and helps the company to enhance its customer base.

Reference List
Ahmadzadeh, A., (2020). Analysis of E-marketing using mobile in development of E-commerce. Journal of Management and Accounting Studies in marketing assignment, 8(3), pp.1-9. https://doi.org/10.24200/jmas.vol8iss3pp1-9
Ayad, L., Abdelghani, M., Halali, A. and Muwafak, B.M., (2021). Artificial Intelligence as One of the Development Strategies for Business Organisations “Toyota Model”. In Applications of Artificial Intelligence in Business, Education and Healthcare (pp. 3-21). Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-72080-3_1

Dave, P.Y., (2020). The History of Lean Manufacturing by the view of Toyota-Ford. International Journal of Scientific & Engineering Research, 11(8), pp.1598-1602. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Pranav-Dave-4/publication/344460563_The_History_of_Lean_Manufacturing_by_the_view_of_Toyota-Ford/links/5f787daa299bf1b53e09c53a/The-History-of-Lean-Manufacturing-by-the-view-of-Toyota-Ford.pdf Gokhale, A., Mishra, A. and Veluchamy, D.R., (2021). Factors Influencing Purchase Decision and Consumer Behavior in Luxury Cars. Dogo Rangsang Research Journal, 11(7). https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ramar-Veluchamy-3/publication/353444488_FACTORS_INFLUENCING_PURCHASE_DECISION_AND_CONSUMER_BEHAVIOR _IN_LUXURY_CARS/links/60fd3771169a1a0103b63e26/FACTORS-INFLUENCING-PURCHASE-DECISION-AND-CONSUMER-BEHAVIOR-IN-LUXURY-CARS.pdf

Gruber, M., (2018). Corporate Social Responsibility Rhetoric in Times of Crises: A Rhetorical Analysis of CSR Reports Prior to and After Major Corporate Crises. Medienjournal-Zeitschrift für Medien-und Kommunkiationsforschung, 42(1), pp.33-50. https://elibrary.utb.de/doi/abs/10.24989/medienjournal.v42i1.1626

Ito, H., (2019). Analysing Toyota City’s eco-policy through strategic marketing tools. Asian Social Science, 15(4), pp.23-36. https://researchmap.jp/hiroshi.ito50/published_papers/32954568/attachment_file.pdf

Kato, T., (2021). Functional value vs emotional value: a comparative study of the values that contribute to a preference for a corporate brand. International Journal of Information Management Data Insights, 1(2), p.100024. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jjimei.2021.100024 Langley, D.J., van Doorn, J., Ng, I.C., Stieglitz, S., Lazovik, A. and Boonstra, A., (2021). The Internet of Everything: Smart things and their impact on business models. Journal of Business Research, 122, pp.853-863.

Li, Z., (2018). Business Network Positioning Analysis of Toyota in marketing assignment. American Journal of Industrial and Business Management, 8(07), p.1693. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-824543-9.00002-5
Madoh, A., Alenazi, J., Alkhamees, L. and Panwar, A., (2019). Case Study on Market Mix Strategies of Toyota Motor Corporation. Asia Pacific Journal of Management and Education (APJME), 2(3), pp.70-78. https://doi.org/10.32535/apjme.v2i3.630
Martins, N. and Enes, J., (2020). Spot toyota: design and development of a mobile application for toyota’s promotion actions to the young audience. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Nuno-Martins-18/publication/342486413_Spot_Toyota_Design_and_Development_of_a_Mobile_Application_for_Toyota's _Promotion_Actions_to_the_Young_Audience/links/5f22737b92851cd302c8905f/Spot-Toyota-Design-and-Development-of-a-Mobile-Application-for-Toyotas-Promotion-Actions-to-the-Young-Audience.pdf

Miglani, S., (2019). The growth of the Indian automobile industry: Analysis of the roles of government policy and other enabling factors. In Innovation, economic development, and intellectual property in India and China (pp. 439-463). Springer, Singapore. https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.12657/23269/1006887.pdf?sequence=1#page=441 Profiroiu, M., Kaneko, H., Vlad, C., Dutescu, A. and Ishida, H., (2020). Toyota Motor Corporation's Culture Strategy. Revista de Management Comparat International, 21(4), pp.458-489. http://rmci.ase.ro/ro/no21vol4/04.pdf

Ray, S. and Miglani, S., (2018). Upgrading in the Indian automobile sector: The role of lead firms. Available at SSRN 3204258. https://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3204258 Rouault, G., 2021. Sustainability Marketing and The Toyota Way. Marketing assignmentPapers of the Research Society of Commerce and Economics, 61(2), pp.327-344. https://shudo-u.repo.nii.ac.jp/?action=repository_action_common_download&item_id=3084&item_no=1&attribute_id=21&file_no=1

Singh, A.N. and Singh, A., (2018). Lean IT-Principles to Practice: Toyota Way to Create Value for the Customer & Wealth for IT Organisation. Notion Press. https://books.google.co.in/books?hl=en&lr=&id=IMtfDwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PT11&dq=Singh,+A.N.+and+Singh,+A.,+(2018).+Lean+IT-Principles+to+Practice:+Toyota+Way+to+Create+Value+for+the+Customer+%26+Wealth+for+IT+Organisation. +Notion+Press.&ots=9Yr2SyAdJP&sig=pRfdjWpy0SOa6m6jPa0j22MrqkY&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=Singh%2 C%20A.N.%20and%20Singh%2C%20A.%2C%20(2018).%20Lean%20IT-Principles%20to%20Practice%3A%20Toyota%20Way%20to%20Create%20Value%20for%20the%20Customer% 20%26%20Wealth%20for%20IT%20Organisation.%20Notion%20Press.&f=false

Singh, J., Sung, K., Cooper, T., West, K. and Mont, O., (2019). Challenges and opportunities for scaling up upcycling businesses–The case of textile and wood upcycling businesses in the UK. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 150, p.104439. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2019.104439 Soviar, J., Holub?ík, M., Vodák, J., Rechtorík, M. and Pollák, F., (2019). The Presentation of Automotive Brands in the Online Environment of marketing assignment—The Perspective of KIA, Peugeot, Toyota and VW in the Slovak Republic. Sustainability, 11(7), p.2132. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11072132 Sun, Y., (2022), April. Capital Turnover of Chinese Enterprises with Other Countries. In 2022 7th International Conference on Social Sciences and Economic Development (ICSSED 2022) (pp. 400-407). Atlantis Press. https://dx.doi.org/10.2991/aebmr.k.220405.065

Thummalapalli, U.S., (2019). The Influence of Green Supply Chain Management on the Competitive Advantage: Case of Japanese Auto Manufacturing Company (Toyota) in marketing assignment. Unpublished Research for the Degree of Master of Business Administration, Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University, Japan. https://ritsumei.repo.nii.ac.jp/index.php?action=repository_action_common_download&item_id=12293&item_no=1&attribute_id=22&file_no=1&page_id =13&block_id=21