The Toyota System of Production - Focusing on Customer Relationship Management - Case Study Example

 Customer Relationship Management Toyota Introduction Customer Relationship Management is a strategy used by businesses such as Toyota to manage outlay and solidify the bottom line through generation of customer loyalty. When used effectively, CRM gathers and collects data from each facet of the organization as well as outside the organization where necessary, to provide a comprehensive up to date picture of every consumer. This information can then be used by employees while dealing with the clientele enabling them to deal successfully in such areas as sales, marketing and customer support. They can also be assisted in expedient decision making on such issues as cross-selling, upselling opportunities, target marketing strategies or competitive positioning (Editor, 2010). Customer Relationship Management has developed from an instrument once thought of as a kind of software into a concept centred on the customer that must pervade the whole company. A successful CRM initiative has three important elements. These elements are people, process and technology. The people portion comprises everyone in the company from the CEO to the last customer service representative. The business processes are also an essential element that may have to be re-engineered to make the CRM initiative robust in terms of provision of better customer service. This includes selection of the right technology that will be the driving force behind the enhanced processes in order to generate optimum information for use by personnel yet be simple enough to run so that users are not intimidated. Should one of these pillars of CRM not be robust, the whole structure will fall (Editor, 2010). CRM involves getting to know what customers need and how they behave in order to strengthen the relationship between company and client. Having this good relationship is fundamental to business success. This is done by using technology to gather information on sales, customers, the effectiveness of marketing strategies, market trends and responsiveness. This leads to enhanced customer service, call-centre efficiency, increased opportunities to cross-sell and upsell, better closing rates, enabling streamlining of processes in sales and marketing, better customer profiling and targeting, which naturally decreases costs and increases market share (Editor, 2010). Social media is an essential tool in modern communication and many companies around the world are coming to this realisation. ‘Toyota Friend’ is one such example in which owners of Toyota cars are treated like a friend by their cars. They do this in the same way that other such friend sites work, by posting information about their current state on the owner page of Toyota Friend website, as well as other social media sites like twitter, Facebook, and their mobile phone (Singh, 2012). Toyota signed with Salesforce.com which is a CRM provider to develop the customer only social media network online and on mobile with built in telematics. This is taking customer relationship management to a whole new level. The use of Salesforce’s Chatter Technology will enable Toyota to innovate their Japanese electric cars and plug-in hybrids that are to be debuted in 2012. The details of how ‘Toyota Friend’ works are sketchy but it is known that the owners who register will have a connection to their cars, dealership and with the mother company and will be able to access information as well as tips on maintenance through the network. An example of how this works is if there is reduced battery power in a hybrid vehicle, Toyota Friend alerts the owner of this development through a text similar to those sent on Twitter. The community is accessible to members via smartphone, tablets and other mobile devices (Chiappinelli, 2011). Companies have in recent years, significantly increased their social media presence and have created communities for customers and fans alike within the established sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn. The innovation that Toyota has incepted is different because it is exclusive to their consumers only and relies on telematics which links the driver to his car status information directly (Singh, 2012). The most crucial predisposition that a company must possess in order to deal successfully with external customers is to have robust teamwork and networking within the organisation. Flow of information should be fluid and unimpeded within and between departments. According to Toyota President, Akio Toyoda, there is a transformation taking place in how humans interact and with what modes of communication and it is important for automobiles to keep up with these changes. This is why Toyota not only partnered with Salesforce.com to innovate Toyota Friend, but also future projects like the open cloud platform to be powered by Microsoft Azure as well as exploration of other opportunities (Chiappinelli, 2011). Customer Acquisition There is a shrinking availability of market share with more and more companies fighting for the limited pickings. This has prompted them to adopt a paradigm shift from transactional to relationship marketing (Coussement et.al, 2010). This means that the focus has shifted from making sales to acquiring and developing valuable customers into long-term partners in business by earning and retaining their loyalty (Kamakura et al, 2005). This is mirrored in the expansion of interest in customer relationship management both in theoretical as well as business circles (Ngai et al, 2009). Evolution in technology coupled with the reduced costs of warehousing data has meant that many companies including Toyota are able to accumulate vast amounts of data about their clients’ socio-demographic as well as transactional information. Due to the developments in the power of computers to mine data using various techniques, it is possible to use this data to maximum effect (Hosseini, Maleki and Gholamian, 2010). Thus we see the development of software such as Toyota Friend that can assist in converting this accumulated data into a goldmine of marketing information for decision makers. According to the theories in spatial interdependence and social influence (Grinblatt et al, 2008) durable goods such as automobiles like Toyota are good subjects for study because they are not frequently purchased and their cost is relatively high. This means that the client is more involved in purchase. The fact that the product is highly visible influences the interdependence in the purchasing decisions of different customers (Bearden &Etzel, 1982). For Toyota and other extremely visible products, it is easier to influence the reference group purchasing habits as compared to privately consumed products. Bearden and Etzel (1982) illustrated that the choice of brand of publicly consumed durable goods is affected by reference group. In customer relationship management, the correct identification of potential new markets is difficult because of the way the information is packaged that restricts it to socio-demographic as well as lifestyle aspects which are collected via outside sources of data (Baecke& Van den Poel, 2011). When we add spatial information to the framework however, the identification of prospects becomes more predictable. The conventional model of CRM is built on the assumption that customers are independent of each other in their actions although reality does not live up to this assumption. The behaviour of customers in reality is spatially correlated (Bearden and Etzel, 1982). Customer Retention Retaining customers after the sale of a Toyota model has been made is a challenge for them. In an ideal situation, the customer would return to them for all their after sales service including repair and servicing. However, independent outlets are perceived to be cheaper and therefore the challenge became appealing to the European customer’s need for quality, service and peace of mind driving as an after sales brand campaign. This was aimed at reducing customer attrition especially after warranty had expired. Toyota Europe dealt with this challenge by conducting in-depth planning sessions with Madhouse associates in order to examine the client’s lifecycle for identification of the benchmarks at which they may be tempted away from the dealership. This led to the construction of a comprehensive European communication programme which aims to address each of these focal points with forceful communiques which aim to retain the customers and lure back lapsed members. It is an on-going campaign which includes reminders for servicing, or out of warranty, breakdown service, seasonal health checks and pre-MOT checks. This is done both offline and online through digital content, websites, online campaigns, sales collateral and point of sale. The results produced include a broad acceptance in the majority of a total of thirty five Toyota territories andan emergence of after sales product as a key marketing area for Toyota (Madhouse Associates, 2012). In an annual survey on customer retention conducted by J.D Power, Toyota emerged at the top. They were followed by Toyota’s luxury brand, Lexus at number two. This despite receiving some bad press on not being as green as advertised. Customers at Toyota were re-upping within the brand at a significantly high rate. This happened for the second straight year with 65% of Toyota buyers in 2006 also trading an old Toyota for a new one. This customer retention rate is notable because of the decline observed in general car sales in 2007. The reason for this high retention was said to be due to high quality cars as well as service to existing customers that generates positive word of mouth referrals, thus bringing in new business. The industry average is just 49% further emphasising the significance of Toyota’s numbers (Kiley, 2007). Figure 1: Customers are the best salesmen. Source: Hill, 2006 In the years prior to 2009, the whole car manufacturing fraternity modelled itself on Toyota’s customer retention strategy of ‘Lean CRM’. This could be due to the fact that when it came to replacement 60% of previous Toyota owners chose the brand again. The Toyota internal marketing bible known as “The Toyota Way in Sales and Marketing” confirms that the success of Toyota is entirely dependent on the customers’ total satisfaction. The philosophy in Lean CRM states that in order to totally satisfy a customer, it is necessary to know what the client wants before the customer does. At the inception of implementation of Lean CRM, Toyota had already accumulated a large amount of data from clients collected from its regular customer touch points that they retained after a sale. This virtual library of information supplied Toyota with details of customers’ lifecycles and was a way to track changes in customer behaviour (Totten, 2010). An appropriate response to these changes enabled Toyota to see an upturn in repurchase rates and new market share. It was simultaneously able to bring down overall cost of marketing by as much as 80% due to the very specific targeting nature of Lean CRM which reduces waste. Lean CRM does this using three tools; customer pull, Toyota push and customer DNA (Totten, 2010). Customer Pull When a customer first begins to think of buying a car, he or she is highly receptive to marketing information. Toyota’s marketing guides all steer these customers to the website where they make available research on different automobiles. This prospect is first introduced to Toyota at the request for information stage. Since it is the customer who initiates this touch point, then it is coined as customer pull. This request for information automatically prompts a background check to see if the customer is known to Toyota already and this will serve as a baseline for Toyota personnel to initiate Toyota touch points (Totten, 2010). Toyota Push The data that Toyota has on the prospect will determine what kind of conversation they will have with the customer. Information about the cars is personalised toward the known preferences of the client. Toyota could further by offering to a customised option or pre-approved credit to that particular client. When the customer’s statistics are unknown, Lean CRM turns to statistical models and data analysis to find out which models would be most attractive to each prospect depending on the type of information favoured by the client. If these models or data is not available, then the people at Toyota fall back on best practises. The take home from Toyota push is that every pull from a prospect receives an answering push from Toyota, no matter how slight it is. Toyota answers expediently to supply the customer with exactly the information they are seeking. This synergy of customer push and Toyota pull is ongoing throughout the client’s lifecycle and ultimately is supposed to lead to his subsequent Toyota. Customer DNA Figure 2: Definition of Customer DNA. Source: Hill (2006) The prompts, conveyance and constitution of every touch point that exists between Toyota and their clients is filtered through the customer DNA. Once targeted, the customer is assigned a comprehensive list of suitable touch points whose implementation is carried out using UnicaAffinium campaign management system (Totten, 2010). Each touch point prompts an overhaul of the entire schedule. Should a car come in for inspection prior to being notified, that notification is cancelled and a new one set up based on the current date, data and state of the car. Should the client request a new model, the customer DNA is assessed to gauge how best to proceed. Due to the recalls that happened in 2009/2010, there has been a dent in Toyota’s dominance of customer retention. This is because of the doubt instilled by the revelation that Toyota knew for at least ten years that their cars had safety interests and did nothing. As a result, they have had to resort to drastic measures such as zero per cent financing for five years, publicly accepting responsibility and their mistake in being so slow to respond. The next step would involve incepting new Lean CRM touch points to illustrate how they have dealt with the issue (Totten, 2010) Customer Distribution Toyota adopts a Lean model in distribution as well. This method involves taking cycle time, variation and flexibility into account to produce a baseline for the levels of inventory kept in circulation, cost profiles as well as other aspects of the distribution chain in a way that their interactions are obvious and act as a point of reference. Lean is of the premise that the supply in stock must move in sync with the market rather than trying to make a projected forecast and working one’s distribution according to it. Customer Service According to the Toyota philosophy, they put the customer first and are focused on customer satisfaction (Toyota, 2008) however a review of the Toyota page on the customer service scoreboard website (2012) gives the company a scorecard in the lower reaches of ‘disappointing’ with 23 positive comments out of 329. The company was given a score of 2.0/10.0 for issue resolution, 3.5/10 for reachability, 2.3/10 for cancellation, 4.0/10 for friendliness and 3.4/10 for product knowledge. The overall rating given to Toyota on the site for customer reviews was 37.39/200. New Product Development The rapidity with which innovative products are brought to the market is critical for the competence of any company. The Toyota motto in 1951 stated that ‘Good Thinking, Good Products’. The Lean approach to business has been termed as common sense, simple and logical. Toyota has stuck to this approach in the long term and that what separates it from its competitors. In spite of its simplicity, the concept of Lean is not easily understood by many in the industry. The Toyota Production System or TPS was learned and implemented by Samuel Obara in Japan, USA, Venezuela and Brazil. Most proponents in contemporary manufacture are familiar with the Toyota Production System which forms the foundation for Lean production. The nucleus of the concept is to eradicate waste from the system that does not enhance the value of the product, from the perspective of the customer (Kennedy, 2005). The aim for Toyota engineers is to create a continuous flow of innovative products and therefore teams are assigned to focus on subsystems which can then be mixed and matched to form various wholes, offering a plethora of possibilities. These subsytems are evaluated in terms of software, hardware, manufacturing and suppliers and these are assessed in comparison to widely defined parameters. This method has certain benefits when it comes to testing because should one subsystem not function as expected, a substitute is available and this removes the need to go back to the drawing board. All the theory is stored to be utilised in future. The concept of Muda or waste denotes any activity that does not provide any knowledge that can be used in the future to generate new projects. Those products which prove unworkable though are still valuable for their ability to inform engineers of where not to go with future endeavours. The Toyota system therefore is based on knowledge, unlike many western systems that utilise processes (Kennedy, 2005). This can be illustrated using the example of a company that wishes to develop three new products in a year. For conventional manufacturers, this would entail developing them one at a time, but with the Toyota system, all three are developed at once. The manufacture of these products is divided into subsystems, with alternatives being developed for the subsystems. Therefore, instead of developing three different items, company engineers would develop three interchangeable units of various subsystems. This system is advantageous because it reduces the risk for failure. Toyota has recently suffered a setback in customer retention when it was discovered that they had been keeping the fact that they knew that some of their most popular cars had safety issues a secret. This has caused clientele to think that Toyota are not as caring about them as they have been implying, leading to a drop in sales, and customer loyalty. As seen by comments left on the customer review board, there is a long way to go to get Toyota back where it was pre-2009. It would involve an intensive effort on the part of the organisation. The Toyota system is already well known for innovation. In order to attract back its old customers, generate new streams of revenue, and grow its market share, Toyota need to go back to the drawing board. They need to come back with something really radical that would change the driving experience for the better in order that drivers can be aware that they are still concerned for the safety of their customers. Two out of five drivers admit to falling asleep at the wheel according to the AAA (2012). This is a dangerous trend that is responsible for many deaths on the road. There are several car companies that are already studying methods in which a driver can be woken for sleep should they fall asleep at the wheel. This includes Volvo, Saab, Nissan and Mercedes Benz that have carried out studies on drivers deprived of sleep in simulated driving environments in order to discover the best way to wake them up should they actually fall asleep at the wheel. These tests have led to the inception of the driver alert system from Volvo. This involves having the car come to the conclusion that the driver is drowsing which will lead to it issuing a loud alarm and flashing an image of a coffee cup from the instrument panel (Edmunds, 2007). Saab also has something similar in effect known as the driver attention warning system which utilises a voice alarm. If a driver is falling asleep at the wheel, the car announces that “You are tired”. This is soon followed by a second alarm stating, “You are dangerously tired! Stop as soon as it is safe to do so.” This is accompanied by vibration of the driver’s seat which is supposed to assist in rousing the driver (Francis, 2007). This is only the first generation of driver alert systems and the second generation is slated to be even more high-tech. there are companies working on alerts that are able to return a driver to full wakefulness and contain additional features such as emitting puffs of air along the back of the drivers’ necks when they are dozing in order to wake them up. Other features include vibrating steering wheels as well as automatic steering whose job it is to return the driver to the correct lane should they begin to drift (Moran, 2007). The question then becomes how the car knows that the driver is falling asleep. This is done by utilising car safety technologies already in use, by finding new applications for them or modifying them to serve a new need. For example, digital cars today have blind spot warning systems which watch out for other vehicles in the driver’s blind spot. They are also used to assess whether the car is well aligned in its lane and whether the turn signal has been activated or not. An automatic steering system can be used to augment these features and produce an effective drowsy driver alert system. Luxury cars are also equipping cars with better means to get to know their drivers. The 2009 Mercedes has an on board computer that begins to analyse the driver’s automobile habits in order to create a baseline profile of their driving behaviour. It uses this profile to gauge the driver’s level of driving ability including manner of steering, length of drive, and the time of day. If there is a departure between the driver’s behaviour and their profile, an alarm is triggered and the car sends the driver an alert that all is not well (Gizmag, 2007). The car also has a profile for each driver (Motor Authority, 2007). The Saab has an onboard computer which utilises facial recognition software to decide whether the driver is asleep. Night vision cameras are trained on the driver’s face and carries out analysis on facial muscle tone, patterns of blinking and duration of time eyes stay shut between each blink. If the evaluation concludes that the driver is not awake the system attempts to wake the driver up (Francis, 2007). However, so far, none of these innovations has been put to practical use. With its Lean processing techniques, Toyota can come up with its own version of “Keep the Driver Alert” system aimed at increasing the safety of long distance driving. Development of this system would be done under the TPS system in which it is divided into subsystems. The first phase would be to examine already existing safety systems and see about modification. These subsystems include facial recognition software, on board computer profile, hardware modification such as vibrating seat, cold water spray, puffs of air spray, audible alarms, and autopilot. In order to keep the driver awake or rather to prevent an accident, the systems would have to work in tandem, and be effective with either waking up the driver or taking over from a sleeping driver until they can safely park the vehicle. The best measure of how a new product does is customer satisfaction (Zhang, 1998) and this will determine how well it succeeds in the market. It does not help Toyota to produce a highly effective drowsy driver alert system if it irks the driver to such an extent that they do not use it or even trade in the car because of it. Therefore any new product development process must begin with the consumer and finding out what they need. Toyota has vast databases of information on customers and their issues and this would be a good place to begin in conducting a survey on what concerns the customer the most. With a drowsy driver, it is safe to say that being able to arrive safely at one’s destination without causing an accident or injury on the road would top their list of priorities. Second would probably be, being able to be awakened from slumber before accident or injury occurred as a result. In order to develop a new product however, the cost must be taken into account. Toyota developed the preliminary target costing approach in 1959 according to Gopalakrishnan et al (2007). This system is widely used in Japanese manufacturing but Toyota Motor Corporation’s system is the oldest, yet the most technically advanced. It is perceived as an extremely effective cost planning as well as management tool according to Pesonen (2001). TC is also a cost reduction tool and a new product design tool (Monden& Hamada, 1991), strategic cost management tool (Castellano and Young, 2003), as well as a costing tool in profit management (Huh et al., 2008). When used as a tool in new product design, Ansari et al (1996) specifies that the time spent in the design stage is compensated for by the fact that it eliminates the need for changes to be made after the product hits the market that may be costly and time consuming. The cost is the focal point of all activities related to the product in the TC process according to Pesonen (2001). The logic behind it, according to Shank and Fisher (1999) is that the financial goals related to the product depend on the estimated selling price and the target profit. This selling price is dependent upon the current market place, as well as the length of value chain analysis and the breadth of company functions. The bottom line is set by top management working on the premise of the firm’s strategic and financial goals. In this case, Toyota’s goals are to regain its reputation as a firm that is interested in the safety of its consumers, as well as the retaining customers, increasing profits, acquisition, increased size and frequency and distribution of the Toyota products and services to the client. The development of this product can help them to do this because they would be addressing a fairly serious issue that many drivers face, not limited only to drivers of Toyota. The issue is also one of safety, an issue for which Toyota has lost credibility in the last three years. This initiative may go some way to repairing Toyota’s tarnished reputation. It may also increase popularity of the brand among truck drivers and other long distance drivers as well as family cars. This is because these are the ones most affected when it comes to falling asleep at the wheel and/or the danger it puts the occupants of the car into when it happens either to oneself or other road users. The first car maker to convert drowsy driver alert systems into practise would reap significantly from consumers experiencing these concerns. Cooper (1994) points out two main stages in TC. These are firstly the determination of the target price of the product and the target margin in order that its target cost can be arrived at. Secondly, the target cost is broken down into its individual components including cost of raw material in order that a budget for purchase can be arrived at. The TC system goes by the cardinal rule that the target cost of a product can never be exceeded. Toyota first employed the concept of Quality Function Deployment in 1976, improving it from the concept incepted by Mitsubishi in 1972 (Griffin and Hauser, 1992). QFD can be defined as a methodology used to encapsulate the interaction of customer requirements and technical abilities of a product (Bode, 1998). These relationships must be factored in in order to gain a high customer satisfaction. This is because identification of customers’ needs at the development stage of a product followed by discipline in ensuring that these requirements are featured in product design and production process (Ansari and Modarress, 1994) are the key to achieving this satisfaction. The QFD provides a language in which the customer’s needs can be translated into suitably technical attributes at each stage of the process (Bouchereau and Rowlands, 2000). QFD is the ‘voice of the customer’ in the process of manufacturing at every stage of product development. This voice provides guidelines in development of marketing strategies, planning and design of the product, tool design and manufacturing and distribution. Figure 3 illustrates the QFD model in practical terms. Figure 3: Four Phase QFD model. Source: Ansari and Modarress (1994) The QFD for the drowsy driver alert system would begin to follow the four stages of the model thus: Product Planning The design requirements for the drowsy driver alert system would include a means to: Determine that the driver is asleep, or drowsy and about to fall asleep. Initiate measures to keep the driver from accident or injury while attempting to wake them up. Bring the car to a safe stop. Wake the driver safely. The customer desires to be kept safe and to keep their families safe from not only their own tendency to fall asleep, but also the drivers of other cars who might fall asleep and cause an accident. Product Design The critical parts of the product design include hardware and software. Software as mentioned pertains to facial recognition techniques, the on board computer’s ability to detect dangerous driving and initiation of alarm systems. Hardware includes the vibration of the driver’s seat, release of cold water and/or air onto the driver’s neck and audible alarm systems. Process Planning The initial stage of planning involves identification of critical process parameters. This involves identifying which parameters are important. The first parameter is of course safety, then practicability and finally cost. The safety parameters must enable the driver, and other road users, to reach their destination safely without harm coming to anyone, or to the car. To this end, the final design must look at how fast the car can realise that the driver is incapacitated, and the steps to take thereafter including autopilot and waking the driver up or bringing the car safely to a stop. Practicability involves finding out how well these design products fit well in practical scenarios with actual drowsy drivers, and finally the financial outlay that would be needed to produce all of it. Production Planning Critical production characteristics include cost of raw materials, technical know-how and the TPS process. Once product identification has been done, the TPS process takes over to come up with subsystem prototypes can then be fitted together and may end up forming more than one safety feature in the drowsy driver alert system. Once this has been successfully done, the Toyota Friend system can be a good way for word of mouth to spread. Conclusion The Toyota system of production is one of the best in the world and its focus on customer relationship management in theory is very well advanced. The problems in recent years and the customer feedback in recent times has shown that in practical terms, a lot more work needs to be done to match the concept. What is required is not so much a shift in paradigm as bringing the paradigm to life. References Ansari, A. and B., Modarres. (1994). “Quality Function Deployment: The Role of Suppliers.”International Journal of Purchasing and Materials Management 30 (4), pp. 27-35 Baecke, P., & Van Den Poel, D. (2010). Improving Purchasing Behavior Predictions ByData Augmentation With Situational Variables. International Journal of InformationTechnology & Decision Making, 09(06), 853-872. Bearden, W. O., & Etzel, M. J. (1982). Reference Group Influence on Product and BrandPurchase Decisions.Journal of Consumer Research, 9(2), 183-194. Bode, J., and R.Y.K., Fung. (1998). “Cost Engineering with Quality Function Deployment.”Computers Ind. Enging.35 (3-4), pp. 587-590. Bouchereau, V., and H., Rowlands. (2000). “Methods and Techniques to Help Quality FunctionDeployment (QFD).”Benchmarking: An International Journal 7 (1), pp. 8-19. Castellano, J.F., and S.S., Young. (2003). “Speed Splasher: An Interactive, Time-Based TargetCosting Exercise.” Journal of Accounting Education 21, pp. 149-155. Chiappinelli, C. (2011). Toyota Taps Salesforce CRM Technology to Link Customers to Their Cars. Thomas Publishing LLC. Cooper, R. (1994). “Japanese Cost Management Practices.”CMA-The Management AccountingMagazines 68, pp. 20-26. Coussement, K., Benoit, D. F., & Van den Poel, D. (2010). Improved marketing decisionmaking in a customer churn prediction context using generalized additive models.Expert Systems with Applications, 37(3), 2132-2143. Customer Service Scoreboard. (2012). Toyota Customer Service. Viewed 11-Dec-12 from: http://www.customerservicescoreboard.com/Toyota Editor. (2010). What is CRM? CRM Magazine .Feb, 19th. Viewed 10-Dec-12 from: http://www.destinationcrm.com/Articles/CRM-News/Daily-News/What-Is-CRM-46033.aspx Gizmag. (2007). New Mercedes-Benz system warns sleepy drivers. Viewed 10-Dec-12 from: http://www.gizmag.com/new-mercedes-benz-system-warns-sleepy-drivers/8497/ Gopalakrishnan, B., A., Kokatnur, and D.P., Gupta. (2007). “Design and Development of aTarget-Costing System for Turning Operation.”Journal of Manufacturing TechnologyManagement 18 (2), pp. 217-238. Griffin, A., and J.R., Hauser. (1992). “Pattern of Communication among Marketing Engineeringand Manufacturing - A Comparison Between two New Product Teams.”Management Science38 (3), pp. 360-373. Grinblatt, M., Keloharju, M., &Ika, S. (2008). Social Influence and Consumption:Evidence from the Automobile Purchases of Neighbors. The review of Economicsand Statistics, 90(4), 735-753. Hill, G. (2006). CRM Across Borders Today, Toyota, Tomorrow IDM, Successful International CRM June, London. Hosseini, S. M. S., Maleki, A., &Gholamian, M. R. (2010). Cluster analysis using datamining approach to develop CRM methodology to assess the customer loyalty.Expert Systems with Applications, 37(7), 5259-5264. Huh, S., K.H., Yook, and I.W., Kim. (2008). “Relationship Between Organizational Capabilitiesand Performance of Target Costing: An Empirical Study of Japanese Companies,” Journal ofInternational Business Research 7 (1), pp. 91-10 Kamakura, W., Mela, C. F., Ansari, A., Bodapati, A., Fader, P., Iyengar, R., Naik, P., et al. (2005). Choice Models and Customer Relationship Management.MarketingLetters, 16(3-4), 279-291. Kennedy, M. (2005). The Open Door Implementing Toyota’s™ Product Development System.Appliance Magazine.January issue. Kiley, D. (2007). Toyota Leads in Customer Loyalty. Viewed 10-Dec-12 from: http://www.businessweek.com/stories/2007-12-06/toyota-leads-in-customer-loyaltybusinessweek-business-news-stock-market-and-financial-advice Madhouse Associates. (2012). Keeping customers loyal with Toyota customer lifecycle campaigns. Viewed 10-Dec-12 from: http://www.madhouseassociates.com/delivering-results/customer-relationships/keeping-customers-loyal-with-toyota-customer-lifecycle-campaigns Moran, Tim. (2007). Viewed 10-Dec-12 from: "Keeping tired drivers alert, with no snooze button." New York Times. Viewed 10-Dec-12 from: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/11/automobiles/11WAKE.html Motor Authority. (2007). "Mercedes Attention Assist nears production." Viewed 10-Dec-12 from: http://www.motorauthority.com/news/safety/mercedes-attention-assist-nears-production/ Ngai, E., Xiu, L., & Chau, D. (2009). Application of data mining techniques in customerrelationship management: A literature review and classification. Expert Systems withApplications, 36(2), 2592-2602. Pesonen, L.T.T. (2001). “Implementation of Design to Profit in a Complex and DynamicBusiness Context”, Ph.D. Thesis Department of Process and Environmental Engineering, University of Oulu. Shank, J.K., and J., Fisher. (1999). “Target Costing As a Strategic Tool.”Sloan ManagementReview (41), pp. 73-82. Singh, D. (2012). Social CRM & Sales force - Part 1. Viewed 10-Dec-12 from: http://www.infosysblogs.com/apps/mt-tb.cgi/5470 Edmunds. (2007). "Tech watch: Volvo's driver alert control finally ready for prime time." Viewed 10-Dec-12 from: http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/News/articleId=122411 Totten, M. (2010). A look at Toyota's customer retention strategies. Viewed 10-Dec-12 from: http://www.helium.com/items/1869467-a-look-at-toyotas-customer-retention-strategies Toyota. (2008). Toyota in Europe. Viewed 11 Dec. 12 from: http://www.toyota.co.uk/bv/1024downloads/ToyotainEurope.pdf Zhang, Z. (1998). “Application of Experimental Design in New Product Development.”TheTQM Magazine 10 (6), pp. 432-441. Read More