Analysis of the Marketing methods used in Automobile Industries

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to take this opportunity to thank my lecturer who has always shown confidence in me. He has offered his patience, remarks, propositions and understanding. Here I would also like to mention my parents who have always believed in me for all my hard work. My family, including my parents, brother and sister have endlessly supported me during my life and academics. This has helped me in making positive decisions for my life. I would also mention my peers and co-workers and appreciate their collaboration and expert advice on every circumstance. I am also grateful towards my University and my Department, the administrators, faculty members and fellow students for their support throughout this study.

DECLARATION

I declare that the material stated in this dissertation/thesis is original and does not present work of any other scholar or research study conducted in the past. Material in this study is not partially or completely published elsewhere and collected only for the purpose of this study. I also acknowledge that I have complete understanding of the requirements, guidelines, regulations and procedures of the University with respect to the endowment of higher education degree and my research work. Here, I would also like to take the opportunity to declare that I have almost exclusively followed the requirements, guidelines, regulations and procedures of the University regarding this research study.

I certify that the work presented in the dissertation is my own unless referenced

Signature: ____________________

Date: ___________________

ABSTRACT

The dispersion of the automotive industry has a nested geographical and organisational structure. Global integration occurred through buyer-supplier relationships, especially between car makers and their largest suppliers. Production tends to organise regionally or nationally where parts and components, which are bulky and heavy, tend to locate in proximity with the assembler to ensure on-time delivery and to save transportation costs. Meanwhile, smaller, lighter and standardised parts and components can be located at a distance to take advantage of lower labour cost and economies of scale. Toyota Motors have adopted customised marketing, which requires thorough analysis of the domestic market of the country it is operating in. This means that Toyota motors have adopted different marketing strategies for its operations in UK and other parts of the world. The research aims at describing the market strategies of an organisation in the automobile industry. For the purpose of this research, the company Toyota is chosen.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTII

DECLARATIONIII

ABSTRACTIV

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION1

Research Background1

Company Overview4

Research Objectives5

Structure of the thesis5

Chapter I: Introduction5

Chapter II: Literature Review6

Chapter III: Methodology6

Chapter IV: Analysis and Discussion6

Chapter V: Conclusion7

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW8

Marketing8

Nature of Multimarket Competition8

The Global Automobile Industry10

Impact of Cross border trading on International Market12

Entity Survival and Profitability12

Market Access13

Profitability13

Differential Advantage14

Marketing Strategy15

Branding18

Country-of-Origin Effects and Implications on the Automobile Marketing19

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY28

Secondary Research32

Data Collection Sources33

Validity and Reliability34

CHAPTER 4: DISCUSSION36

History and Overview of the Automotive Industry36

International Automotive Market Overview36

Competitive Strategic Comparisons of Foreign Automotive Brands in UK39

Japanese and American Brands39

European Brands41

International Strategic Marketing on Automobile Industry41

Decision Making on Market Entry Mode41

Debate between Standardization and Adaptation43

Previous Research on Toyota's International Marketing44

Toyota's Differentiation Strategy45

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION48

REFERENCES50

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

Research Background

The automotive industry is one of the biggest in the world and employs more than eight million people making the vehicles directly, and more than forty million people indirectly through related manufacture and services sectors...