Communication Plan For Toyota’s Innovative Car

Stakeholders

Describe about the Communication Plan for Toyota for Sold Worldwide.

Toyota is a Japanese automotive company that is known for its economic yet luxuries cars that are sold worldwide. The manufacturer has currently come up with a new product which is an innovative car and the below report is an analysis of the key stakeholders that need to be involved in the communication plan and how the communication plan goes about. The report identifies each of the relevant stakeholders for Toyota and the efficient communication channel for the sales of Innovative car. The advantages and disadvantages of each of this channels is analysed and how the communication would be evaluated is presented. The stakeholder’s analysis is done with the help of the financial records of the company, the website of the company and the several news articles that are available in regard to the company. All information is presented in tabular columns to make report easier to understand.

Toyota has a strong love towards each and every of its stakeholders. They believe that only through sustainable development with the various stakeholders Toyota can actually grow. In the very Corporate Social Responsibility Policy itself Toyota has ensured to inculcate the necessity to maintain an open and fair communication with the stakeholders making sure the impact of their actions are thought through and understood in regard to the stakeholder’s interests as well.

On performing a detailed analysis of the company’s website, an analysis of the company’s financials and the organizational structure of Toyota there are five key stakeholders that Toyota has great regard for.

No company forms without the customers. Customers are the revenue generators of any business and hence the companies works with the motto of producing goods that add value to the customer (Prahalad, 2013). In case of the Toyota Innovative car, the production has taken place to add a significant utility worth to the customer market. The car has been introduced for the customer and is expected to meet several demands of the customer and add an essence of luxury (Harrison, 2015). Pre and posts sales activities are also necessary part of the Toyota’s customer services. Since Toyota produces customer centric automobiles, customers are one of the key stakeholders in the company. In marketing and pricing criteria, the culture of the customer group is given high consideration (Gounaris, 2015). The marketing strategies in the western countries are different from that in the eastern countries making sure that they reach customers with regard to their background.

Customers

Employees are the core of the company and they represent the company. Employee satisfaction is of prime importance at Toyota. Employees make or break the system and ensuring employee growth has a major effect on how well the functions within the company are carried out (Bersin, 2013). With the innovative car production at Toyota, several employees have been given the opportunity to brainstorm for ideas that are creativity and producing a car that is attractive to the customer. Also, at Toyota, economic cars are given more importance and hence producing a new car at a competitive price has been successfully carried on by the employees. Toyota has a strict belief in the necessity of bilateral communication and makes effort to increase a sense of unity with all levels of employees. Labor management is done through mutual trust and responsibility (Suri, 2015).

The global presence of Toyota involves a collaboration with several business partners all around the world. These business partners are the several supplier and dealers with whom the company shares its policies and principles (Åstebro, 2015). In case of suppliers, Toyota believes that there is a need to form a firm bond with the vendors through a mutual trust, mutual benefit policy to make sure that the customer is served properly. To make this possible Toyota has an open door policy for the purpose of fair competition. Also, the company encourages local suppliers to have ensure CSR. The company also has close relations with its sales networks (Lazzarotti, 2014). These are the business partners that actually bring business and are in direct contact with the customer. Hence, it is crucial that the various parties involved know the values of Toyota and share similar vision to grow mutually.

Toyota contributes in marketing and sales activities and run with the principle of “Customers First, Dealers Second, Manufactures Third” emphasizing on the importance of dealers in a business. In a large scope there is almost no direct contact of the core manufacturing unit with the customers. It is the pre-sales, sales and post-sales team that actually bring value to the company (Kusari, 2013). It is hence crucial to have a clear involvement with both the suppliers and sales team to ensure that the innovative car is built with first class quality and is sold in the best possible way. To enhance the relations with its business partners Toyota has taken up several initiatives such as Motor Shows, racing activities, customized car shows etc.

Employees

As of 31^st March 2016, Toyota has about 682,802 shareholders with Japan Trustee Services Bank, Ltd. and Toyota Industries Corporation as the major shareholders. Every company has a responsibility towards their shareholders and are obliged to share financial information in regard to all the functions that happen in a company (Kieschnick, 2013). Introducing an innovative car is risky given the standard models that have been presented by Toyota. Such activities need the consent of the major shareholders as they have a say in deciding if the introduction of a new car would be beneficial to the revenue and reputation of the company. Also, the cost involved in research and development are relatively high and hence the shareholders often show concerns when new products are being introduced (Hope, 2013).

The shareholders at Toyota also share their philosophy of quality first and hence it is crucial to convince these first set of people to make sure the investments are made to produce the innovative car. Post production, the sales plan, marketing ways and how the car would make a difference and penetrate into the current market is keenly discussed and presented and signed off by the shareholders.

The companies today not only strive for profits but also make sure they make a difference to the communities they are involved with (Navi, 2012). In the production of innovative car, local suppliers where given equal opportunities with a fair competition policy.  The company has taken up initiatives to increase smart mobility society, afforestation, biotechnology and robotics. The company has nine rice production corporations and promotion of onsite kaizen. The company has also made investments in rehabilitation aid robots and human support robots. This is a part of their corporate social responsibility. The need to ensure that the local communities that are effected by the business of Toyota are required to be safeguarded. Additional Toyota also makes significant contribution to local communities around the world.

The introduction of the new innovative car would need to be communicated to a large group of stakeholders. The communication scope would involve all the five major stakeholders, however the extent of communication would vary.

The below is an analysis of the stakeholders expectations and ways the innovative car would fulfill each of these expectations

Stakeholder	Need	How need is fulfilled?
Customers	Economic and comfortable automobile that has new and attractive features	Innovative car is different from the standard cars produced at Toyota and at the same time is economic and new (Goetsch, 2014)
Employees	Apart from monetary gain, employees look for a chance to learn and work on new technologies (Chen, 2013).	The employees where given a chance to brainstorm and come up with significant changes to the existing car models.
Business Partners	Suppliers look for a chance to do business with Toyota and sales team look for an innovative, easy to sell and economic products to sell.	Suppliers are given fair competition policies and local suppliers are given chance to be a part of Toyota. Sales team have a new product to endorse that is both innovative and economic and has several new features (Jamieson, 2012).
Shareholders	CSR and revenue	The prime concern of shareholders is making money. Having a financial strong product will not only please the maximum shareholders but will also improve the investments of smaller shareholders (Brandt, 2016). Also, every shareholder again have a responsibility towards the community and generating revenue will ensure enough funds for investing in CSR initiatives
Local Communities	Need for environmentally concerned products that do not have a negative impact on the communities and ecology	Innovative car is an initiative of the eco car sector of the company that is fuel efficient and economic. The company’s sales would also increase the investment the company would make in CSR activities.

The main objective of communication plan is to make sure that every stakeholder except the local communities is kept in constant update of the innovative cars release. Given that the car in new and there are no other cars in the genre it is crucial that its features are highlighted and given appreciation. Convincing the shareholders post production of the profits, the customers of the economic and luxury benefits the care provides, the sales team as to why the car has to be bought and how it needs to be sold and the employee of what needs to be done in case of further productions phases are the key aspects. Significant importance is also given to the need to ensure that the sales team is highly aware of the features of the car and efficient marketing is done throughout. Local communities are not included as a part of the communication plan as key focus is on the sales of the car. In case someone comes up with an issue, the fuel efficiency and the other ecological features of the car would be highlighted.

Business Partners

Below are the regularly used communication channels with various stakeholders that have proven to be effective over the years. The frequency of the same is given below as well.

Stakeholders	Communication Method	Frequency
Customers	Website, Advertisements, Customer service centers, product service centers, social media, direct sales and valuable customers gatherings	The new car would be introduced in the presence of elite customers. The marketing for the same is communicated through several methods mentioned from 2 months before launch till a 3 months post launch. Post first three months communication plan will be modified based on sales
Employees	Labor management Conferences and employee satisfaction surveys	Constant communication is done with employees all around the production cycle to make sure that they are kept updated with all the company plans. Also, all concerns are heard and addressed. Post first phase of production, employee survey is taken to analyze what else can be done to help the employee satisfaction (Gailloux, 2012)
Business Partners	Conferences	There would be one meeting with suppliers post production to thank them for their cooperation. There would be one meeting one month prior to model release with dealers to provide them insights of the new car, its features and how it is one the most innovative cars. From release the sales teams would be provided sessions as and when required
Shareholders	Briefing on business initiative, one on one meetings and shareholder meeting	They would be kept in loop at all major decision points. Post release the shareholders would be given weekly updates on sales numbers for a month and then monthly reports will be sent.
Global Society	No communication	There is no communication done with local communities during sales phase of the innovative cars

Communication Method	Advantage	Disadvantage	Metrics
Marketing methods with customers	Mass communication	Customers do not feel special or individually valued	All the mass communication channels are rated based on the number of views, shares and likes they get (Bruns, 2014). This would help in understanding how many customers where actually approached (Peters, 2013)
Elite Customer Group	Customers feel valued	Fewer Customers are covered	Since elite customers are those who bring huge business making they feel valued. Post gathering questionnaire are distributed as a mode of feedback and their opinions are considered to analyze how well the communication was done.
Conferences with stakeholder	Group interaction	Chances of debating	The agreement and non-agreement is the only way to analyze the communication with the stakeholders in conferences
One on one meetings	Face to face interactions	Varied opinions	Post meeting the shareholders are given a survey to understand if the communication was efficient (Yanggratoke, 2016)
Sales Conference	All the dealers are briefed on the product at a time	–	After each conference each dealer and sales representative is requested to write a test kind of a survey. Scores of the test will show how efficient the conference has been

Conclusion

Identifying and analyzing the key stakeholders of a company is key to develop an effective communication plan especially when launching a new product. Making sure that the communication is efficient and effective and channelizing information through appropriate media is required to ensure that everyone involved has a clear idea of what is happening. The communication of Toyota’s innovative car is designed keeping these aspects in mind as it is of high importance that all the communication media is thoroughly analyzed, listing its advantages and disadvantages and finding ways to understand how well the communication has been made.

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