If you were a chief executive of Southwest Airlines, in need of a new strategic vision, which course of action would you choose and why in terms of a "cost leadership" or a "differentiated" business strategy? Use table 5.1 in the text as a foundation for

Chapter 4: Video Case: Toyota: Building Cleaner, Greener Cars

1. Toyota wants to be the most respected car company in the world. The Toyota brand is devoted to contributing to society and the economy by manufacturing high-quality products and providing excellent service. Toyota was built upon two pillars: continuous improvement and respect for other people. This relates to the three connects of social responsibility.

· Profit responsibility – Providing good service and products has been proven with Toyota being the world’s largest automobile manufacturer bringing in $221 billion in profits.

· Stakeholder responsibility – Toyota brand is going green, trying to reduce its environmental footprint that is being left behind. With this initiative, Toyota was able to partner up with a number of National Parks around the United States. With the environment as the common denominator between the Toyota and National parks both find themselves supporting one another.

· Societal responsibility – Toyota brand is the world’s largest automobile manufacturer, the Toyota Corolla is the best-selling car in the world, 27 million in 140 countries. With the sturdy base that Toyota already built itself upon, it still wasn’t enough leading to the addition of two new brands. The first brand added to Toyota was the Lexus brand, followed by the Scion brand. Toyota- being the “for everybody/anybody” brand market, Lexus- being the “higher class/luxurious” brand market, Scion- being the “young/youth” brand market.

2. Toyota overall mission is to be the most respected and admired Car Company out there in the world. Toyota views of sustainable energy contribute greatly to Toyota’s mission because Toyota is making a positive impact on the environment. Toyota was able to make such a positive impact due to the development of the Toyota G21 which eventually led to the Prius. The Toyota Prius is seventy percent cleaner than all other cars manufactured. Toyota looks at all aspects of the vehicle from production, how it’s used, disposal of the vehicle and how parts could be used again. Toyota also looks into what type of energy would be used to power the vehicle whether plug in, whether it is the wind or electric and the effects the vehicle itself will have on the environment.

References

Kerin, R. A., Hartley, S. W., & Rudelius, W. (2015). Marketing. New York: McGraw-Hill

Education.