Monday, January 27, 2020

Significant Market Position Toshiba Marketing Essay

Significant Market Position Toshiba Marketing Essay Toshiba is a strong and respected name in the market with a well-deserved reputation for innovation, high performance and reliability. We have represented the brand in Ireland since 1982 and, by combining our strengths with those of Toshiba, we have carved out a significant market share. Broad diversified product portfolio Toshiba is a diversified manufacturer and marketer of advanced electronic and electrical products. Its product portfolio includes information and communications equipment and systems, internet based solutions and services, electronic components and materials, power system, industrial and social infrastructure systems, and household appliances. Strong research and development Toshiba has strong commitment to research and development programs. In an average year Toshiba is awarded more than 5,000 patents, many of which find their way either directly or indirectly into our multi-functional office solutions products. Enhancement of customer satisfaction Adhering to the Toshiba Group Customer Satisfaction Policy established in 2003, we aim to enhance customer satisfaction (CS) through the provision of safe and innovative products, systems and services as well as through communication with customers. Toshiba Group Customer Satisfaction Policy We make the voice of customers the starting point for all ideas and provide products, systems and services that deliver customer satisfaction. We provide products, systems and services that are safe and reliable. We respond to requests and inquiries from customers sincerely, rapidly and appropriately. We value the voice of customers and endeavor to develop and improve products, systems and services to deliver customer satisfaction. We provide appropriate information to customers. We protect personal data provided by customers. Weaknesses High debt In fiscal 2008, Toshiba placed a high priority on recovering its drastically eroded shareholders equity. The company is now making efforts to reduce debt in order to establish a solid financial profile by March 2012. Towards this goal, the company announced a policy to constrain capital investment, particularly in the semiconductor business. Standard Poors considers Toshibas conservative financial policy to be further evidenced by the implementation of a number of planned financial activities. These include capital enhancement through an increase in common stocks and the refinancing of short-term debt by the issuance of subordinated bonds. Standard Poors will closely monitor whether the company can improve its financial indicators as planned, through the consistent reduction of fixed costs and capital investments. Lack of manpower After four months of struggle and weeks of intense negotiations, workers and management at Toshiba Consumer Products Indonesia reached a settlement: 682 workers will be reinstated, but 15 local union leaders will not get their jobs back. Over leveraged financial position Year over year, Toshiba Corporation has seen revenues fall from $80.4B to $76.6B. This along with an increase in the cost of goods sold expense has led to a reduction in the bottom line from $1.7B to $925.7M. Ubiquitiouegory, products, services Cloud services will become truly ubiquitous, omnipresent. It is the broader access to most recent content and information plus the benefit of a vast social community contributing to its discovery and consumption adding, recommending, rating and prioritizing content and information that will make cloud services an increasingly indispensable element in consumers evolving digital lifestyle. Sun Zi said: When victory is long overdue, weapons will be blunt and the morale (and motivation) of the troops will be adversely affected. In war, it is better to go for swift victories rather than engage in prolonged military campaigns. Sun Zi also said: Therefore, generals who do not thoroughly comprehend the inherent dangers of deploying troops are unlikely to understand the advantages of using troops. Opportunities Market Recently Toshiba just launch the 12 new products in the Bangladesh. Bangladesh have a large population approximately 160 million. Toshiba has working with Smart Technologies BD Limited (STBL) Bangladesh Company since last 3 years. In this 3 year, Toshiba Company found that Bangladesh market impressive increase in term of sales volume and growth. Bangladesh is developing and has high potential in market. Global expansion It can let the profit or income of the Toshiba Company to increase or growing the market value of the Toshiba Company among the world. The popularities can also increase by this way. Without affecting quality and customer service, global expansion can maximizing profitability in all areas of the Toshiba Company. For instance, by developing the new marketing strategies in those regions, it can make let Toshiba Companys loyalty customers to buy their products. Global expansion can also help to leads to leveraging of expertise. With global expansion, leveraging any know-how or expertise in overseas production is prudent. Future plans Toshiba aim to double its annual profit in three year. The worlds No.2 maker of NAND flashes chips, behind the Samsung electronics. The firm is going to shift its focus to emerge economies and growing market after the demand for television fall dramatically than expected in the previous year. Besides that, Toshiba Company also interested in making money through nuclear power, they plan to buy 20 percent of share from the U.S nuclear power company in the next January. Toshiba is going to invest about $4.3 billion dollar to build new flash memory facility, in order to catch up the leader Samsung electronics, aiming to triple its manufacture capacity. Moreover, Toshiba plan to roll out a home storage battery system that can keep the appliances running for a good part all the day long. Toshiba developed a storage battery system that makes use of the Toshiba technology for rechargeable batteries. This storage battery can work up to 12 hour. Threats Competition Being an electronic company, in this environment of course there will be a lot of competitor. For example, the competitor for the Toshiba Company likes Samsung, Apple, HP, Dell, and other company that focus electronic production. These companies have created threats for the Toshiba Company. The tablets that made by Toshiba is not really attracted by consumer, because Apple and Samsung are leading on this market products. Besides that, Toshiba main production is notebook, although this is their priority product, but a lot of competitor also produces various type of notebook. Although they made a quality, productivity and user friendly notebook, but Toshiba still behind the other competitor that leading them by brand name position on customer heart. External changes This changes is depends on the government taxes and politics in the certain country that the Toshiba company invest in. First and foremost, government taxes and politics have created a burden to all company. As taxes increase its have the same effect that the company need to cover the cost of the good that rise such as electricity and input, all company are established because their purpose is profit.

Sunday, January 19, 2020

Hybrid electric vehicle Essay

What microenvironmental factors affected both the first generation and second generation models of the Toyota Prius? How well has Toyota dealt with these factors? When the Prius was introduced in the US, it was quite shocking that it became such a big hit. The US auto market had been dominated by SUV’s for quite some time, and it seemed that a car that was small, slow and lacked power wouldn’t be attractive to American consumers. The advanced technology was very attractive to the â€Å"early adopters† and the consumers were willing to pay over the asking price to get a Prius. When gas prices soared so did the demand for the Prius. Toyota has dealt with these factors well. Successfully introducing a small hybrid into a market dominated by SUV’s is no small feat. Toyota’s success with the Prius is mainly due to their targeting strategy. By targeting the perfect group of consumers, sales and demand grew exponentially, and pricing has and continues to be at a premium. 2.Outline the major macroenvironmental factors – demographic, economic, natural, technological, political, and cultural – that have affected Prius sales. How well has Toyota dealt with each of these factors? Prius sales benefited from a number of macroenvironmental factors. When the Prius was first introduced, Toyota targeted the â€Å"early adopters,† a group of consumers that were interested in the advanced technology of the vehicle. Many of these owners found creative ways to modify and hack the computer system and chatted about it online. Another group of consumers that Toyota targeted were the environmentally conscious and/or consumers that desired more fuel efficiency. Both groups showed high demand for the Prius and were willing to pay premium pricing for the vehicle. Prius sales also benefited from factors such as monetary incentives offered by the federal and/or state governments in the form of tax breaks. Some states started issuing permits to hybrid owners to drive in the High Occupancy Vehicle lanes (even if there was only one person in the car), or even free parking. Furthermore, some environmentally friendly companies offered employees money towards the purchase of hybrid vehicles. In 2007-2008 gas prices skyrocketed to 3 dollars per gallon and in some states above 4 dollars per gallon which only made the demand for the Prius greater. Studies about the various hybrid vehicles on the market were published and the Prius was at the top of the list for value. Studies indicated the Prius along with the Civic were the only hybrid vehicles that allowed consumers to recover the initial investment and actually save money after five years and 75,000 miles. Overall, Toyota has dealt with these macroenvironmetal factors very well. It is evident that targeting the right demographics has really paid off. All of these macroenvironmental factors were to Toyota’s benefit. All increased the sales and demand for the Prius. The only problem Toyota was facing was keeping up with the demand. 3.Evaluate Toyota’s marketing strategy so far. What has Toyota done well? How might it improve its strategy? Toyota’s marketing strategy has been focused on forward thinking and targeting the right consumer groups. The first consumer group targeted was â€Å"early adopters† or techies that found interest in the advanced technology of the car. This was a good strategy for the introduction of the vehicle. This group showed high demand for the Prius and spread the word through online sources. The second consumer group was the environmentally conscious, and those who wanted better fuel efficiency. Toyota predicted that gas prices would increase, and when they went through the roof, sales and demand increased. I believe that Toyota has done very well with this strategy. The truth is in their sales and demand for the Prius. An improvement that Toyota could make is better production planning. It seems that so far, this has been the biggest challenge. Though Prius sales are very strong, sales would only increase with more production as long as the demand stays consistently high. 4.GM’s marketing director for new ventures, Ken Stewart, says â€Å"If you want to get a lot of hybrids on the road, you put them in vehicles that people are buying now.† This seems to summarize the U.S. automaker’s approach to hybrids. Would you agree with Mr. Stewart? Why or why not? I agree somewhat with Mr. Stewart. I think that putting hybrids into popular cars and small SUV’s would work, but it would not work with sports cars and trucks. Sports cars and trucks are generally purchased for their power, speed, and towing ability, not their fuel efficiency. The current hybrid technology would diminish the performance of sports cars and trucks, and would eliminate most of the benefits of owning either type of vehicle. On the other hand, introducing the hybrid technology in popular cars and small SUV’s would work well if the option was available at an attractive price. Improved fuel efficiency is desirable when purchasing a car as the average price per gallon of gasoline is only rising. In my opinion, they hybrid technology would be an attractive offer. Not only would it be practical, but it would save the consumer a lot of money in the long run, assuming that they keep the car for five or more years

Saturday, January 11, 2020

What is This Divinity That Surrounds Us?

Should we embrace it or fear it's intelligent design? In the poems, â€Å"The Tyger† by William Blake and â€Å"Design† by Robert Frost they marvel and fear this design, ultimately leaving the reader with more questions than answers. Each poet portrays irony, figurative language, imagery, and intelligent design while trying to understand God and and his creations. Let's explore the similarities between each poets poem, first beginning with imagery. The use of this particular animal and insects provides a vivid in depth analysis. This appeals to the readers senses to help them understand what the writer is trying to convey. Blake's statement, â€Å"Burnt the fire of thine eyes†, illustrates a sense of fear of the tiger. He wants to know by whom such a creature was created. Surely God would have not created something so feared. In the third stanza Blake asks, In what distant deep or skies.† Deep in this sense we assume is being applied to the underworld. Frost states something similar to this, â€Å"What but design of darkness to appall?† The â€Å"designer† or â€Å"immortal hand† must have bad intentions because he seems to be associated with some sort of darkness. The imagery both poets left in my mind was the use of nature to illustrate there point. I could not help but to think the animals were a metaphor for humans. Some people live nice quiet lives while others are are murders and rapists. How can both sets of people come from one God who is purely full of goodness? They are seeking to see if in some way God's design is flawed; but how can that be coming from a divine being? The imagery can be seen as frightful yet beautifully realistic, and the language used to describe the animals are simplistic and powerful. There's an emphasis on the animals power but at the same time this could be seen as God's power being conveyed through this animal and insects. Ultimately, the violence and ferocity of the tiger and spider are vivid, terrifying, and has a deep, dark undertone to them.Figurative language is used by both poets as well. According to Webster's dictionary, figurative language is a language that uses words or expressions with a meaning that is different from the literal interpretation. We see examples of this all throughout both poems. Starting with Blake's poem, it reads â€Å"Tyger! Tyger! burning bright in the forest of the night.† Here the tiger is not actually boring, it's more so used as a metaphor to demonstrate its ferociousness, or it can also be seen as the tigers appearance. The yellowness of its eyes mixed with its orange fur in the night could remind one of fire. In design the word white is mentioned several times. This is unique because white is usually associated with good and purity, yet all throughout this poem it alludes to something dark and evil. â€Å"Like a white piece of rigid satin cloth†, the spider holds up the moth as in some sort of victory it has obtained. The spider who is seen as evil has now triumphed over the moth who is viewed as good. This ties back into that design is either flawed or has a dark side to it. Another place we see an example of this in the poem is when Frost states, â€Å"On a white heal-all, holding up a moth.† After doing some research I discovered a heal-all is actually blue in appearance and is known for its medicinal use. This demonstrates irony because the spider is preparing the moth for its death on something that is meant to heal. Later on in the poem, line ten, the heal-all is now blue. â€Å"The wayside blue and innocent heal-all.† Initially the poet just describes the flower, here he proclaims its innocence, implying the flower had nothing to do with it being white. Therefore this was the work of its designer. Figurative language as well as irony is seen throughout both poems as a way to hyperbole and understand the poets outlook more vividly.Lastly, we come to intelligent design, which seems to be the overall theme of both poets. Each questions God's purpose from a Christian's viewpoint. They ask a series of questions seeking to find or understand this divine design seen in nature. To the readers dismay though, the questions go unanswered. The questions are only presented, I believe it was left up to the reader to truly seek, in a philosophical way, the answers to the questions. The real philosophical question seems to be, â€Å"Why?† Did all these events happen by chance or did a complex entity bring it all about? We get the sense from each poet that there is a higher being behind the spider and the tiger, be he deems to be far to complex for our understanding. In conclusion, I leave you with a quote from Hamlet that draws into what I feel both poets were fundamentally trying to get at. â€Å"There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.† Just perhaps it is not our creator and his design who is flawed, but us from our outlook on nature that is flawed.