TOYOTA GLOBAL COMPETITIVE STRATEGY

Toyota's Global Competitive Strategy

Toyota's Global Competitive Strategy

Introduction

If an organization lacks in competitive advantage it is more likely for it to fail over time, reason being the competitors who will continue to grow and excel. It is essential for an organization to have a competitive strategy as it will help in survival and growth. It also plays a vital role in setting an organization's strategy and thus differentiates one company from another.The term global competitive analysis and strategy refers to the relation between international business meets geography. This strategy is based on the belief that a company and its manager cannot implement domestic strategy in the international market. The duplication of strategy is not possible because of the historical and traditional changes. Hence the manager and the company have to be very keen while making strategy for their supplier country, home country and international market. It is advised that the best way to create a strategy is by thoroughly going through the economic conditions and the traditions of the supplier country and international market. Spulber's Star Analysis provides a framework which makes it very easier for any company to create an effective competitive strategy, as it assists in organizing our knowledge and thoughts about a specific international business and its geography.

Discussion

With the main feature of this theory being it's teaching about the gathering of information about company's geography and its international market and then organizing it, helps the managers a lot. Under Spulber's framework there are five factors that are considered to be essential and the main focal points as the company's competitive advantage is based on them (Spulber, 2007, pp. 25-39). These five factors are home country, supplier countries, customer countries, partner countries and competitor countries. The manager initiates research from the home country, where he studies about the positive and negative effects of political and regulatory climates on the company's national standing and its global position. Other factors like legal dynamics and consumer behaviour influence the demand and supply are also considered. Once this lengthy process is completed by the manager, the same research is carried on the supplier countries, customer countries, partner countries and competitor countries.

While studying about the economic and legal dynamics of the home country, the main focus is on company's launching pad, its history and corporate culture, political conditions and brand image etc. However when the research is being conducted on the supplier countries the main areas in focus are its minimum wage rate and productivity levels, infrastructure facilities, capital and the risk attached to it. Similarly there is a research conducted on the customer countries but the main areas of interest differ and the factors considered are standard of living of the citizens, per capita income, level of demand, rules and regulations and tradition etc. During the study about partner countries the main focus is on the demand side and supply side factors, sufficient market knowledge and complementary products and technologies etc. On the other hand study is being done on competitor ...