Custom essays on External Analysis of the Automotive Industry

Today, Toyota is one of the largest car manufacturers in the world. In the course of its long-lasting rivalry with GM for the leadership in the automotive industry, Toyota has taken the lead recently and today the company has great opportunities to hold the leading position in the world market. On the other hand, gaining the leading position in the global automotive market may be an easier task for Toyota than the maintenance of its leadership in a long-run perspective. In actuality, Toyota has a great potential for the further market expansion but the company still faces a number of threats which may prevent the company from the successful business development.
Opportunities
In actuality, Toyota has great opportunities to maintain the leading position in the world market. The major goal of Toyota is to hold the leading position in the market and to increase its market share in the global market. Obviously, such goal needs substantial financial, material and human resources. Nevertheless, Toyota does have substantial opportunities for the ongoing progress and international market expansion.
In this regard, it is primarily necessary to take into consideration the popularity of brand, which allows the company to expand its market share. Consumers know the brand of the company and they feel confident in the products manufactured by Toyota. As a result, the company can use its brand to promote its products and expand its market share. The popularity of the brand opens large opportunities for the attraction of customers because, among the variety of products, customers choose products manufactured by companies which they know and which they are confident in.
Furthermore, highly technological vehicles put the company in an advantageous position compared to its rivals. Toyota was traditionally oriented on the introduction of innovations and its cars were equipped with advanced devices and new technologies were implemented in Toyota products. As a result, the company can develop its technologies and introduce innovations that will attract new customers, who prefer highly technological cars. In fact, the focus on technology is a crucial factor that allows the company to maintain its leading position, especially in the modern, highly technological world.
In addition, due to the process of globalization the company can count for new markets. In this respect, it is worth mentioning the rise of developing countries’ economies can stimulate the raise of sales of Toyota in the third world. The emerging economies of developing countries open new opportunities for Toyota, which was traditionally oriented on Japan, North American and European markets. Developing countries have great potential to the extent that they can compete with markets of developed countries in a long-run perspective. Therefore, Toyota needs to take the leading position in developing countries to have the opportunity to increase its market share even more and to accelerate its sales in the future.
Threats
Nevertheless, in spite of numerous opportunities, Toyota still faces a number of threats it can hardly cope with. What is meant here is the fact that Toyota is dependent on the situation in international markets and external factors which affect the customer behavior and, therefore, sale rates of Toyota. For instance, one of the major threats to Toyota is the high oil price. In fact, high fuel prices discourage customers from buying vehicles. In such a situation, the fuel-efficiency becomes one of the crucial factors that determine the choice made by customers. In such a situation, the company needs to develop its technologies to meet needs of customers.
In addition, it is important to remember about environmental concerns of the modern society, which is another threat to Toyota because cars are perceived by the public as one of the major sources of greenhouse gas emissions. As a result, Toyota can face the threat of the public pressure because of the negative impact of cars on the environment. Anyway, the company will need to focus on the improvement of its technologies to minimize the negative impact of its cars on the environment. Otherwise, the public image of the company will deteriorate.
At the same time, the emerging rivalry and new entrants, including Chinese car manufacturers, represent a serious threat to Toyota because the company needs to maintain its current position but the growing rivalry makes it more and more difficult. As the matter of fact, the high competition is one of the major threats because the high competition increases the supply of cars in the market, whereas the demand decreases because customers are satisfied with their cars and they cannot or are not willing to buy new cars. As a result, Toyota needs to invest into development of new, better cars to sell to customers and to attract them to its products.
Conclusion
Thus, taking into account all above mentioned, it is important to lay emphasis on the fact that Toyota has ample opportunities to maintain its leading position in the market due to its high technologies, brand popularity and new markets. On the other hand, the company can face the problem of growing competition and dropping demand because of high fuel price and environmental concerns of the public.