TOYOTA’S GLOBAL STRATEGY AND MANAGEMENT 7 INTERNATIONAL MANAGEM ✓ Solved

International business refers to all the commercial activities that enhance goods, services, ideas, and technology across national boundaries. International business can encompass the movement of goods and services between countries, contractual agreements, and other international activities such as research and development and sales operations in foreign markets. International managers are responsible for planning and implementing strategies that enhance international commercial activities to take place effectively. The international managers utilize their knowledge, skills, and cultural competencies of internal economics, trade regulations, governments, contracts, marketing, and finances to ensure that the corporation enters the international markets without obstacles.

By so doing, they promote the fulfillment of organizational goals and objectives in the international market. Globalization refers to the process through which people can move freely across national borders. Globalization is also an economic concept that promotes markets, trade, and investments without barriers between nations. Globalization affects organizational management by ensuring that planning takes a global market perspective by covering a wider market scope thus uses more resources.

Culture refers to beliefs, attitudes, values, and behaviors aligned with a group of people. Culture can include language spoken by a group of people, marriage practices, governance practices, social relations, and the general way of life. Culture plays an important role in supporting the survival of the people who associate with a particular society. Culture can be transmitted among individuals through horizontal transmission, communication among individuals who share common values, or through oblique transmission where the members of a society can talk to a member of a later generation. International business occurs across borders and cultures.

As a result, culture influences how people think, behave, and communicate. The application of culture dimension in international management enables the business managers to understand stakeholders' behaviors from other organizations, thus making it easier to make informed decisions. If international managers understand their counterparts' culture, they can avoid certain behaviors that can interrupt them during negotiations.

Understanding the economic environment is critical to the success of any business. Toyota operates in the automobile business; thus, it has to understand current trends in different geographical markets where it operates or where it wishes to operate. The company is able to understand customer preferences; for instance, customers are shifting to more fuel-efficient cars in the wake of rising global environmental pollution concerns.

The legal environment regards regulations that guide the operations in the foreign market. The legal framework of a country determines how businesses are conducted in such countries. Therefore, companies like Toyota must focus on legal requirements surrounding employment laws, health, safety regulations, discrimination, and antitrust laws. The company is thus able to prepare adequately when entering foreign markets and avoid possible litigations.

The political environment of a foreign market encompasses issues such as the role of government in business. This includes how the government implements tax policies, trade restriction regulations, and government stability, which determines the success or failure of the business. Toyota is able to understand how the governments in foreign markets perceive companies from other countries and develop a strategy for entering such markets based on the prevailing political environment.

The strategy that Toyota needs to develop is to focus on the customer and develop products that satisfy different segments of the market across the globe. Toyota currently operates on the principle of thinking global and acting local, which means developing products that meet international standards yet satisfy the local consumers' needs. Secondly, the company needs to understand the political environment in foreign to develop products to ensure they meet regulations such as safety standards, tax policies, and government stability to ascertain the market is friendly enough for business operation.

Leadership skills are those abilities that people possess and enable them to deliver projects, build a sense of common purpose, and empower others. The leadership skills required for Toyota Motors Corporation should include the abilities to steer and inspire others to achieve business goals, drive change, and deliver desired results. Unlike other organizations that have found it hard to implement lean leadership, Toyota has been exceptional because its success is based on a leadership system.

The skills imparted to the leaders are based on a challenging but nurturing environment so that the leaders are developed continuously. The leaders are coached on the job during their career time by experienced mentors to improve their management skills. Leadership skills that need to be possessed by leaders include coaching, encouraging the employees, and challenging them to ensure they develop the desired vigor to handle challenges. This approach enables the employees to develop problem-solving abilities, which the company requires.

The leadership should make every employee's contribution so that everyone implements the company's goals. The leaders should possess the power of influence over others by using tactics that motivate others to act in order to achieve business goals. Leaders should possess a professional network that enables them to share ideas, especially in the dynamic automobile industry. Leaders need to have strong negotiation skills, including striving to achieve a win/win scenario so that the needs of both parties in the discussion are satisfied to create an environment of trust and desire to work together in the future.

Leaders need to have strong emotional intelligence such that leaders have a strong sense of relationship and people management, social awareness, self-perception, and self-regulation. More importantly, communication is key in any leadership journey because it enables the leader to coordinate activities and receive feedback on various issues affecting the organization. These skills will ensure Toyota remains at the top of the industry and maintains innovation capabilities to satisfy the needs of the market.

Toyota Motors Corporation is on the move to win even a larger share of the global market. The company has continued to conquer the global market, with the largest increase in market share in Asian countries like China. Toyota has well-established markets globally in regions like Europe, America, Asia, and Africa. The company achieved tremendous success in the European market due to adherence to consumer preferences and focusing on the development of products that suit the consumers' needs.

As a result, the company is able to export its cars produced in the European market to other regions of the globe. Toyota has been focusing on taking advantage of the global market and adopting a global strategy. This is demonstrated in their strategy of thinking about the global business while at the same time sticking to the demands of the local consumers. Toyota has been successful in both the Japanese market and the global market by focusing on quality while leveraging technology and innovation to create new car models while ensuring quality is never compromised and hedging on the desire for environmental sustainability.

The company has concentrated on the production of cars that are eco-friendly by setting design labs where the products are tested for efficiency before they are released into the market. Toyota's marketing strategy also aims at entering emerging markets after rapid consideration of factors such as political stability, government policies, and market potential to avoid unnecessary costs. In addition, the company focuses on emerging countries with low wages and market flexibility. Toyota uses cost control as the primary approach to conquer new markets by selling at lower prices.

As a result, the company has managed to remain at the top of the industry. At times the company experienced some manufacturing problems; they withdraw such products from the market. More importantly, the company leadership has maintained company principles of honesty and loyalty to their consumers.

References

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• Estevez Greco, C. (2019). Plan de Marketing: concesionaria Toyota Jorge Ferro.
• Leuterio, P., & Vargas, D. (2021). Intergenerational Transmission of Food Cultures in the Philippines. Available at SSRN.
• Li, Z. (2018). Business Network Positioning Analysis of Toyota. American Journal of Industrial and Business Management, 8(07), 1693.
• Szymanski, M., Fitzsimmons, S. R., & Danis, W. M. (2019). Multicultural managers and competitive advantage: Evidence from elite football teams. International Business Review, 28(2).