Toyota Prius on Australia Market - Research Paper Example

To what Extend Does Web Based Advertisement Contribute to Final Adoption of Toyota Prius in Australia Table of Contents Background information 2 Toyota 2 Toyota Prius 3 Advertisement 4 Web based advertisement 5 Problem statement 8 Research objectives 8 Research method 9 Approach 9 Study population 10 Data collection 10 Data analysis 11 Research ethics 11 Time table 12 Budget 13 Reference 13 Background information Toyota Toyota Motor Corporation has its headquarters in Toyota, Aichi, Japan. The firm is a global automaker. In 2010, the firm was ranked as the largest automobile manufacturer by production globally. Kiichiro Toyoda (Toyota, 2012) founded the firm in 1937. The corporation is made up of companies such as Toyota, Hino, Lexus, and Daihatsu motors in addition to other non-motors companies. Toyota entered the American market in 1957. Initially the name Toyota was associated with toys and pets in American markets and thus it was dropped for some time although the name continued to be used in other markets. The company was awarded the first Japanese quality control award in 1980s and started to engage in motorsports. The 1973 oil crisis saw many motor consumers turn to smaller cars, which were more fuel efficient (Toyota, 2012). Since American car manufacturers neglected small economy cars since they were seen as entry level products, their small cars were of low quality. During mid 1960s, USA imposed 25% tax on importation of light trucks. Consequently, Toyota and other companies started to build motor plants in US by early 1980s. In 1990s, Toyota entered luxury market after successful launch of Lexus in 1989. By 1997, the firm began production of the world’s best selling hybrid car, the Prius. The firm also had major presence in Europe (Toyota, 2012). The firm was listed on New York and London stock exchanges in 1999. The philosophy of the firm that has evolved over time is reflected in the terms “lean manufacturing” and “Just in Time production” that the firm is credited for their development. The values and methods employed by Toyota management are referred to as the Toyota way. The values of the firm are summarized into five principles: challenge, improvement, go and see, respect and teamwork. In 2006, Toyota was the most profitable automobile company and in 2008, it was the largest automobile in the world. The company has introduced new technologies in motor industry (Toyota, 2012). One of these technologies was the introduction of mass produced hybrid gasoline electric vehicles, which the firm claims to have sold in excess of 2 million by the end of 2010. Toyota is present in all parts of the world and has manufacturing plants or vehicle assemblies for local markets. Toyota Prius Toyota Prius is a hybrid car manufactured by Toyota Motor Corporation. The company is famed for being the first motor firm to produce and commercialize hybrid cars on large scale (Toyota, 2012). In the category of hybrid cars Toyota Prius has emerged as the best selling hybrid car in worldwide. Toyota Motor Corporation currently produces hybrid cars such as the Prius, Highlander, Auris and Camry. By the second quarter of 2007, the firm had sold one million hybrid cars worldwide. The firm is aiming at making all cars to be hybrid in the end. Toyota Prius was formerly a compact sedan but it has undergone some improvements into a mid size hatchback. The car is a full hybrid electric. The car is rated as the cleanest vehicle sold in US based on toxic emission and smog forming (Toyota, 2012). Toyota Prius was first sold in 1997 in Japan. The brand was the first of the hybrid cars to be mass produced. The introduction of Toyota Prius in global market occurred in 2001. It is in the same year that the car was officially launched in Australian market. The car is currently sold in more than 70 countries and regions world wide including Australia. Toyota Prius sales by 2008 totalled 1 million (Toyota, 2012). The third generation Toyota Prius was introduced in 2009 and by September 2011, over 1 million units of the car had been sold worldwide. In order to compete effectively with the Honda insight the prices of Toyota Prius was reduced from ¥2.331 million to ¥2.05 million (Toyota, 2012). The 3rd generation Toyota Prius has a new body that is more aerodynamic and an under body rear fin which enables the car to stabilize at higher speeds. According to U.S. EPA the oil efficiency of 3rd generation, Toyota Prius is 3.90L/100 km for Prius T3 Urban and 3.70L/100km for Prius T3 Extra urban (Toyota, 2012). Ecologically derived bioplastic were used in the construction of the car. This included cellulose from grass or wood instead of plastics made from petroleum. This implies that the plastics are eco-friendly since they are biodegradable. Thus in addition to being low fuel consumer, the Toyota Prius is made from biodegradable materials making it environmentally friendly product. Advertisement Advertisement is said to be any message that is paid for and that is non personal conveyed via the media. Advertisers usually invest resources in buying time or space in different forms of media for their products to be advertised (Gray, 2004). These forms of media allow advertisers to communicate their message to their target consumers. Advertisement helps to draw attention toward a product (Taylor, 2008). Various media are employed in advertisement. They include both electronic and non-electronic media such as television, radio, magazines, newspapers, and billboards. Advertisement acts as a favourable representation of a product that allows consumers to be aware and familiar with a brand, goods and services (Kennedy, 2006). Advertisement helps increase sales. It does this by creating awareness in people about certain products (Williams, 2007). Adverts persuade consumers toward certain brands and make them buy such brands. Adverts are generally used for creating brand awareness in the general population. It is also used in popularizing businesses within the circle of potential target market. Advertisement is hailed for its ability to increase profits of a firm by increasing its revenue. Firms usually invest in advertisement with the hope that these expenditures will be turned into good boost in earnings. Traditionally, non electronic media such as newspaper have been deployed to advertise brands. Advertising using non electronic media such as banners and posters have been argued to be cheaper in comparison to electronic media such as television. In recent past, electronic media have become more popular means of advertisement (Gray, 2004). These media allows firms to cover a wide range of audiences of different demographic features using a single advert. For instance, an advert on TV will be watched in most homes especially if such advert is aired at prime time (Taylor, 2008). The popularity of online advertisement has been on the increase in the recent past as a form of electronic advertisement. It allows firm to advertise, share views and create awareness among its potential customers. Web based advertisement For many years, advertisers have utilized a myriad of media to reach specific target markets. Various media have been emerging over time that advertisers have made use of. Advertisers have been involved in a never ending tailoring of their messages to fit physical capabilities of each media to reach the target market. The advent of computer mediated environment (CME) has made advertisers to establish commercial web sites. Advertisement is the main source of revenue for web based businesses (Taylor, 2008). It has been hyped that online advertising is the source of a “gale of creative destruction” that has spread across the media and advertising landscape. Studies have indicated that newspapers are major causalities of web based advertisement. In some countries like United States of America, publicly traded newspaper businesses have declined greatly recording a 42% decline in the period between 2004 and 2008. Some newspapers have been forced to close down due to increased decline in revenue from advertisement. It is argued that online advertising is increasingly leading to reduction in transaction costs between traders and their consumers (Gray, 2004). The media enables marketers to deliver information that is targeted to consumers who value the information relayed and who are likely to act on the information they receive (Williams, 2007). Although it is widely proclaimed that half of expenditure on advert is wasted, no study has up to date evaluated whether online adverts are real converted to actual sales. This study will try to establish whether online advertisement is worthy undertaking with special focus on its use in the advertisement of Toyota Prius in Australia (Toyota, 2012). However, the effectiveness of these commercial websites has been questionable. Web sites that were initially developed were mainly text based but innovation and inventions in the technology have seen websites incorporate many features that have enhanced the richness of the interface (Taylor, 2008). This has meant that advertisers are now in a better position to combine the benefits of print and electronic media and allow for control of pace and exposure to customized information and more vivid forms of communication such as audio, motion and video (Williams, 2007). The World Wide Web (WWW) has been growing at unprecedented rate since its inception. Over the years, advertisement has formed the main source of income for most firms on the web. This is based on the unwillingness of many users to pay for internet based services such as search engines, online magazines or web directories (Williams, 2007). Advertisers have for long been relying on targeting techniques to ensure effectiveness of the web advertisement. The use of the web as a platform for advertisement has been growing astonishingly. Many firms have over the time been increasing expenditure on online advertisement. For instance, during the first half of 2009 online advertising withstood the recession to grow by 4.6% even though the advertisement sector generally contracted during that period (Toyota, 2012). In UK, it has been reported that online advertisement has overtaken TV advertisement and is now the largest advertising medium. However, web based advertisements are known to invade the privacy of users. In recent times, some large commercial sites on the web agreed to provide information about their customers’ shopping, reading and entertainment habits into a central system without the consent of the users. Studies indicate that most users are now increasingly becoming conscious of their online privacy (Taylor, 2008). In the past wide spread outcry by many web users has seen some online giants such as AOL reverse their plans to sell information from their consumer database to online marketing firms (Gray, 2004). This implies that even though many firms, including Toyota, have embraced the use of web based advertisement to promote their products, the effectiveness of this mode of advertisement is questionable (Williams, 2007). It is based on this that this study aims to establish the effectiveness of this mode of advertisement towards final adoption of Toyota Prius in Australian market. Problem statement Many marketing plans aim to attain a certain specified adoption of the product being marketed. The plan entails communication process that a firm’s information and its offerings are released to a certain segment of the market. Communication is essential in informing the buyer of the availability of an offering, its unique benefits and where and how to obtain and use the offering. Integrated marketing communication plan is a framework for the development, implementation and the control of the integrated marketing communication program of the organization. It helps in evaluation of the current situation of the firm (Taylor, 2008). It is also fundamental in the determination of the role to be played by each element of promotion mix. It also helps in developing strategies for each element of promotion mix (Gray, 2004). Many firms have increasingly in recent time been allocating a surmountable amount of their budgetary allocations on web based advertisement in their marketing plans as one of the promotional mix to be used in marketing plans. This has been on the background of growing number of people who spend more time online. Any advertisement must have a message, which focuses on the key benefits of the product. This is important to prospective buyers in making trial and adoption decision making. Toyota Prius is a hybrid car that is produced and marketed by Toyota Motor Corporation (Williams, 2007). The firm has invested a lot in online advertisement. It is based on this that this study aims at establishing the actual contribution of online advertisement of Toyota Prius on the final adoption or rather buying of the car (Toyota, 2012). Research objectives 1. To determine the percentage of people influenced by online advertisement to buy Toyota Prius 2. To determine whether increased expenditure on online advertisement of Toyota Prius is worthwhile 3. To determine whether online advertisement and adoption of Toyota Prius is related demographic factors Research method Approach This study will employ quantitative approach. Quantitative research is usually associated with the positivist paradigm. The positivist paradigm is closely related to objectivism and adopts the philosophical stance of the natural scientist in which the social world exists externally and its properties should be measured using objective methods, rather than being inferred subjectively through reflection or sensations. This approach is chosen because the researcher will not be affected by his own beliefs and values (Gray, 2004). Quantitative approach entails collection of data and its conversion into numerical form to allow statistical calculations to be carried out from which conclusions are deducted. This method will help in impartial collection of data by using structured procedures (Taylor, 2008). The quantitative method that will be employed will involve use of questionnaires to collect data. They will be divided into two sections (McGrath, 2009). The first section will deal with establishing how the consumer became aware, interested, evaluated, tried and finally adopted Toyota Prius. The second section will provide respondents profiles such as gender, race, religion, affiliations, and other relevant demographic features (Frey, 2008). Study population In any study, the sample ought to be a representative of the whole population. In this study, convenience and purposive sampling will be employed to sample the study respondents. Convenience sampling implies that data will be collected where the investigator will be able to access information more easily (Stephenson and Thurman, 2007). Purposive sampling implies that the researcher will be seeking for Toyota agents who sell Toyota Prius and people buying Toyota Prius alone and not any other motor consumers (Gray, 2004). This is because the people of interest to this study are consumers of Toyota Prius and not any other consumer. For the case of Toyota agents, stratified sampling will also be employed in order to allow well balanced Toyota agent participation from different parts of Australia. Thus, the Toyota agents will be divided into homogeneous subgroups based on the location of the agent (Toyota, 2012). This will allow stratification to be mutually exclusive in that a Toyota Prius agent will only be allowed in a single stratum (Taylor, 2008). Random sampling will be applied within each stratum in order to improve representativeness of the sample hence reducing sampling error. The study targets 100 Toyota Prius consumers from 10 Toyota agents in Australia. This approach will be used because of easier accessibility of Toyota Prius customers in Toyota agencies, which offer Toyota Prius in Australia. Data collection Questionnaires as a quantitative data collection method will be employed to collect data. They will be divided into two sections (Gray, 2004). The first section will deal with establishing how the consumer became aware, interested, evaluated, tried and finally adopted Toyota Prius. This will help to elucidate the extend to which web based advertisement influence the adoption of Toyota Prius The second section will provide respondents profiles such as gender, race, religion, and other demographic features. Data analysis Data obtained will be analysed in quantitatively in three stages. These will include data preparation, data description and testing hypotheses (Williams, 2007). During data preparation logging in the data, entering the data into the computer, data transformation and development and documentation of a database will be undertaken to integrate the various measures (Gray, 2004). Description of data will entail will employ descriptive data analysis such Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) to provide description of basic features of the data in the study (Stephenson and Thurman, 2007). This will be used to provide summaries about the measures and samples. Research ethics This research will observe and adhere to the ethical standards and issues with regard to: voluntary nature of participation and the right to withdraw by individual from the process. The research shall maintain the confidentiality of data provided by individuals or identifiable participants and their anonymity. Data collected and information will be exclusively used for the purpose of this academic work (Gray, 2004). A consent form will be provided together with the questionnaires to both accounting educators and students. The participants will be expected to sign the consent form prior to filling the questionnaires (Taylor, 2008). To ensure anonymity and confidentiality of data to be obtained will go directly to the database. Thus, ethical issues will be adequately covered in the research. The study will seek approval of the study in different Toyota agencies prior to commissioning the study. Time table The table below illustrates the suggested timeframe for carrying out this study. Once the project is commissioned, weekly progress reports will provided. This will ensure that activities allocated for each week are met and those that are not accomplished explanation are provided on why and how the activity will be completed. This will also provide amble time for any adjustments that will need to be made. Activity/Time May, 2012 June, 2012 July, 2012 August, 2012 W1 W2 W3 W4 W1 W2 W3 W4 W1 W2 W3 W4 W1 W2 W3 W4 Read through the literature review x x Finish writing the literature & methodology x x Approve last version of questionnaire from the supervisor and prepare to travel to conduct it. x Conduct pilot study x Analyse pilot study data and revise the questionnaire x Distribute questionnaire in the Toyota agencies in Australia x x Collect questionnaire x Analyse data x x Prepare theses report x x Submit theses x Defend theses x Budget The fees quoted in the table below are subject to standard terms and conditions. Adjustments might be made on the figures provided in order to cater for any changes Activity Fee Desk research $4,000 Travelling and instrument production $12,000 Total fee $16,000 Reference Frey, R. 2008. Successful Proposal Strategies for Small Businesses: Using Knowledge Management to Win Government, Private Sector, and International Contacts, 5th Ed. New York: Artech House Gray, D. 2004. Start and Run a Profitable Consulting Business, 2nd Ed. London: Kogan Page Publishers Kennedy, D. 2006. The Ultimate Marketing Plan: Find Your Hook. Communicate Your Message. Make Your Mark., 4th Ed. London: Adams Media McGrath, B. 2009. 100 Steps for Improving Your Website and eBusiness - Effective Tips for Building a Better Web Business. New York: Brian McGrath Stephenson, J., and Thurman, C. 2007. Ultimate Small Business Marketing Guide, 2nd Ed. London: Entrepreneur Press Taylor, V. 2008. The Complete Guide to Writing Web-Based Advertising Copy to Get the Sale: What You Need to Know Explained Simply. London: Atlantic Publishing Company Toyota. 2012. Toyota. Available www.toyota.com Williams, B. 2007. How to Open & Operate a Financially Successful Web-Based Business. London: Atlantic Publishing Company Read More