Toyota Motor Corporation’s Business Success Strategies
Here are the strategies by which the management of Toyota Motor Corporation successfully built their business from start-up to becoming one of the biggest companies in the world, in spite of the huge competition and difficult economic environment the company operated.
Difficult Times Bring Out the Best in You
In any situation that your business might face, however tough it might seem, there always lie an opportunity for you to actually unleash your creativity and find the needed solution for your business.
As long as you don’t yield to the challenge, your mind would begin to work on possible solutions to them. And before long, you would come up with solid ideas that would crush the challenge to dust.
The fact that Japan was not much naturally endowed with resources did not discourage Toyota; rather, it was seen as a boost to create engines and vehicles that could efficiently use fuel, a position that became one of its strongest competitive advantages worldwide.
Research and Development – The Engine Room to Success
Whatever business you are in, to remain effectively in competition or to move to the top of your industry, you need to constantly develop products or services that consumers will gladly accept. That means you will need to have it as part of your operational activities to study your market and product offering constantly.
It is more rewarding if you have a unit or department in your organization to be responsible for research and development.
Toyota’s “engine room†for success has always been its belief in the importance of research and continual product development. This is reflected in it setting up research and development centers only four years after the company was formed.
Avoid Head-on Competition with Market Leaders
This is a warning you must register firmly in your heart if you do not wish to publish your business’ obituary sooner than it began. Even if you are coming with a higher quality product, the market leaders have already captured the hearts of consumers of that product type.
No matter the size of your advertising and promotional budget, you will only get a crumb, which will not be enough to sustain your business. Worse still, they may just decide to drive you completely out of business – they have the means and they know exactly what to do!
The wise thing to do when coming into a new market, which Toyota did, was to find a niche, a virgin land to plough.
Toyota skillfully avoided confronting the established American manufacturers by taking on the production of small cars.
Give Priority to Your Marketing
Being able to roll out top quality products without a complementary marketing effort will not give you the desired success. It is when you are able to make sales that money can flow in, and of course you need money to keep your operation going.
Therefore, adequate attention should be given to marketing your products. You must have a full-fledged sales/marketing department to be solely responsible for ensuring sales targets are met.
One of the smartest decisions Toyota made when faced with mounting debt from its inability to make enough sales was to incorporate Toyota Motor Sales Company Ltd to perform the function of marketing Toyota’s automotive products.
Do What Is Needed To Save Your Business
Especially at times of severe difficulty, entrepreneurs or business owners must have the courage to take tough decisions that might not be popular, but are the only way out of saving the company from collapsing. However, the reason(s) for such decisions should be communicated to the stakeholders, including employees.
To prevent the imminent liquidation of Toyota in 1950, Toyota’s management had to take the unsavory decision of laying off two thousand employees while the company’s President, Toyoda himself and all his executive staff resigned.
Get Fresh Insight
Remaining abreast with industry trend is surely a smart thing to do to be top in your industry. The importance of this is especially obvious in the present era of rapid technological innovations that can easily leave you behind to continue grapping with inefficient and less effective operational processes, while your competitors are achieving huge results.
Ways by which you can keep in touch with your industry include reading industry journals, going on excursions, and researching the Internet.
The visit of two of Toyota’s executives to Ford Motor Company’s factory, without mincing words, birthed great ideas that sky-rocketed the company’s fortune.
One of them, the “Suggestion System†that encouraged every employee to give their suggestions for the company’s improvement, helped the company to find solutions to its problems.
Another was the realization by Toyota of the need to continually invest in only the best modern technology for their operation.
Reducing Cost of Production and Increasing Product Quality
All over the world, people love to buy things of high quality at the cheapest possible price. This is basic human nature that is not faulted by race, creed, or even financial status of individuals. I haven’t seen or heard a rich man asking for the price of an item he wants to buy to be increased before he buys it, or have you? If you have, please let me know.
In the light of this, you will be on your way to great success if you strive to give your customers this desire.
Toyota’s relentless efforts at reducing its cost of production while stepping up its products’ quality did not only endeared it to its local customers, it also made it to be devastatingly competitive in foreign market.
Read Toyota Motor Corporation’s success story here: From Brink of Bankruptcy to World’s No.2 Auto Maker
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