Company Case MKT 202 Essay

1. Micro milieual factors involve actors, who remain close to the party and they affect the companys ability to serve its customer. The company, suppliers, marketing intermediaries, customer market, competitors, and publics in all of these are part of microenvironment. Toyota Prius introduction and relaunch were affected by several microenvironmental factors. These factors are discussed below a. Firstly, the Toyota Company itself was a major microenvironmental factor that affected its product at the very beginning.The marketing department of Toyota didnt do enough promotional activities for its new vehicle. In a country manage U. S. where as we all know all SUVs sell likes hotcakes, no one would in reality be interested to buy a dull hybridizing gondola cable car. Also the department involved in figureing the product was too weak to attract customers at first. When it was launched race considered Prius to be small, cramped pressure with a very dull design. Also due to its low horsepower, the pickup time was very long.The car took 14. 5 seconds just to go reach a speed of 60km/hr. No matter how such(prenominal) environmental friendly and energy saving the car was due to low promotional efforts by the company and too the dull design, the introduction of Prius was highly affected.Also, even if the car was worthy enough of a purchase because of its environment friendly quality and fuel saving, enough plurality didnt hear about it. just now ulterior on, Toyota did make its new random variable and the marketing of the product was raised as the brand image developed. b. Secondly, as we all know, the presence of a competitor can really make it hard for a company to position its product well. During the time Prius was being launched it had to face, Honda as its competitor. Honda successful launched its insight even before Prius came to the market.Of grade not to mention, vehicles like Hummer, Ford were already there before Prius to keep customers prud ence towards them. plainly Toyota did differentiate its product from its competitor on providing benefits which new(prenominal) competitors werent able to provide at a cheap cost. c. Third factor was the customer themselves, who were totally inclined towards the brands which they have been using all their lives like General Motors, Ford and others. So the international markets for Toyota in U. S. were pretty weak at first. But then again, as new version was developed with new style a design and as the cars horsepower was improved it did get customers attention.2. Macroenvironmental involves larger societal forces, which includes demographic, economic, natural, technological, political, and heathenish forces. There were several macroenvironmental factors, which played a role in affecting the introduction and relaunch of Toyota Prius. The factors are discussed below a. Firstly, demographic factors played a part in affecting Prius. Even though Baby Boomers and Gen X had raft who we re middle aged and old and were potential customers for Prius.But the Gen Y included the young bunches who were more than into sporty and stylish vehicle, attributes which Toyota Prius lacked. Toyota simply didnt speak Gen Yers language. But Toyota had been able to deal with it since people from Gen Xers had environment conscious people who were a big market for Toyota. b. Secondly, cultural factors played a big role too. American culture has been prone in using 4-wheel drives and they simply didnt need a weird looking car to be a part of their lives. Also, people view of society, under cultural factor, played a part too.A patriot American would buy his countries product instead than buying products from other countries. Another factor under culture is peoples view of organization. Companies like General Motors, Ford, Audi had a stronger brand image then Toyota during that period of time. As the time went, new version came out, Toyota was able to fit in the culture and the U. S. government on introducing various incentives on hybrid vehicles in any case helped it. c. Thirdly, technological factor.Technology has al steerings been there making our lives a better and there has been so much competition in the market on providing superior technology that, some company have difficulty to establish a image against those companies who have already established a strong position in the competition. Toyota was technologically inferior compared to its rivals like Audi, Ford, and GM. Also, Prius at its very initial stage was not the car which people took interest in driving because of its technical lacking. Low horsepower, high pick up time, dull design all of these affected its image. Toyota was able to deal with it on its new versions.3. Toyota market strategy was first utilise on people who were techies. It focused on early adopters, techies who were attracted to the advanced new technology. Techies were so into the Prius that they started modifying it technicall y and give a great deal of attention to it. Toyota was able to differentiate its product in a way that no other company could with such a low cost. Thats why Prius became the best car ever used in US. After absorbing large revenues from the techies, it used it second version to brand a wider market segment. Toyota was able to serve the bigger segment which consisted of those people who were environmentally conscious and as well as those desirous of fuel efficiency.Toyota did an immense amount of spending on media to let people know about its second version. In future Toyota can improve its strategy by introducing the hybrid feature into several models of car it has and thereby making a greater sales in return. But it shouldnt introduce the hybrid feature in all the cars, since if other competitors starts making the same gracious of car and has better brand image, then Toyota can no longer differentiate its product. But as demand for hybrids go up, Toyota should maintain a steady production and invest on making other new types for serving other segments and maintain a balance.