This 8 page paper looks at Toyota; which gained the title as the world's largest car and truck manufacturer in 2008, taking the position from General Motors (GM). The way the firm competes is examined and an in-depth SWOT analysis is presented. The bibliography cites 11 sources.
Name of Research Paper File: TS14_TEtoyotaswot.rtf
Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
loom patent. Today the firm is a highly diversified firm, having interests across a number of interests from cars and trucks to sewing machines and other electronics. The best known
market is that of the automotive market, where Toyota has become the worlds largest car and truck supplier, taking the top position from General Motors (GM). In 2008 General motors,
the former world leader, sold 8,355,947 globally, with Toyota selling 8.972 million, taking a lead of about 616,000 (Nonor, 2009). Toyota had been catching up for some time and in
2007 GM had retained the lead by about 3,000 vehicles (Nonor, 2009). The move into the leadership position was gained during a
declining market, with both firms seeing sales in 2008 lower than in 2007, the decline for Toyota was less that that of GM, with Toyota seeing a fall of 4%,
the first time Toyota had seen a decline in global sales for a decade, compared to this GM suffered an 11% drop (Nonor, 2009). The firm has always undertaken
a strategy that support the cost advantage as well as seeking to differentiate itself with new ideas and developments, the founder himself was known as the King of Inventors and
the development of new ideas has been seen widely, as seen with the development of the hybrid Prius, which to date has sold more than a million cars in the
US alone (Kyodo News International, 2009). The way that the firm competes, its successful strategies and the positron of the firm can be assessed with the use of a SWOT
analysis. The firm has a number of strengths. As well as the global leadership position the firm is also the dominant firm in its home market; Japan; where about