Task: Strategic Management: Strategic Choices
For decades Toyota has been one of the most admired companies in the world. They were able to turn their image in the 1960's and 70's from cheap Japanese import to the car of choice for millions of consumer's world-wide.
What strategy (or combination of strategies) did Toyota use to make the company into the powerhouse we know today? Has it changed over the years, or been constant? How does this strategy "fit" with the environment of the automobile industry? How does it fit with the internal resources and competencies of the firm?
Step One. Consider the SWOT model. In addition, do some research into the environment of the early years (1930's on ) and how it has evolved. For a quick-and-dirty analysis, ToyoLand gives a pretty good overview of Toyota's history, from which you can make some deductions about Toyota's strategies in the early years:
Toyota history: Corporate and Automotive (2010)
ToyoLand can be retrieved from https://www.toyoland.com/history.html
Conduct some original research to gain some insight into Toyota's recent strategic moves.
Step Two. Consider which strategy (or strategies) Toyota has used over the years. Draw on Porter's four generic strategies.
Step Three. Explain how this strategy takes fits with the elements you identified in the external environment as well as the internal environment of the firm.
Step Four. Write up your analysis using APA format.
Expectations:
Evaluate both the degrees of good and bad fit between Toyota's strategy and its industry environment. Be sure to document all sources with citations and a reference list.