Roadmap to the Development Process of Toyota Prius Essay Example for Free

Roadmap to the Development Process of Toyota Prius Essay Toyota Motor Corporation is a famous Japanese multinational corporation, and is considered the world’s second largest automaker of automobiles, trucks, buses, robots, and providing financial services. When Toyota and other Japanese carmakers entered the American market, they were not considered as a threat to the American auto industry because it was believed their cars had no appeal to American consumers However, in the 1970s, due to several problems like environmental regulations, and quality control issues with American cars, a good number of American car owners began searching for alternatives to poorly made American cars. In response to these changes, Toyota and other Japanese carmakers aggressively marketed their cars to Americans as being fuel-efficient, environmentally friendly, and having better build quality than American cars. In addition, Toyota marketed their cars with commercials involving young Toyota drivers jumping in the air. As a result, the Japanese’s marketing campaign along with continuing problems from the Big Three auto manufacturers, allowed import cars to make up about 20 percent of the US car market by 1980. Stage1. General Motors, Ford and Daimler-Chrysler focused in the late 1990s on mergers and acquisitions for improving their business positions to meet future challenges. Toyota, meanwhile, centered its business strategy on technological innovation and persistent environmental product development. The price of oil was not especially high during the 1990s when Toyota started its hybrid car program. Oil prices were below US $20 barrel in 1994 and were to fall to a 50-year low around 1997 when the Toyota Prius was first sold in Japan. Clearly something else was driving Toyota and other Japanese companies to invest so heavily in hybrid car development. There are three probable reasons: 1 . High petrol taxes in Japan, due to the Japanese government wanting to reduce the dependence of Japan on imported oil. While this would have certainly driven the Japanese development of hybrid cars, petrol was cheap in the key US market at this time. 2) The potential to gain a market advantage by developing the key technologies required to successfully commercialize hybrid cars, and then owning these developments via patents. 3) The expectation that ownership of these key fuel savings technologies would become very valuable when world oil prices rise from the lows of the mid-1990s, which was a fair long-term assumption to make during this period. Stage2: Decision Making Process: In 1994, the executive team acknowledged the potential threat of depleting oil reserves and climate change and change their strategy or products to meet the needs of future customers. Course of Action: Toyota set up a group tasked with meeting the challenge of creating a vehicle for the 21st century, which would work within the parameters of natural resource constraints and environmental issues. Commitment to course of action: Toyota pioneered the concept of Hybrid (petrol/electric) technology to mass produce the world’s first eco-efficient vehicle, the Toyota Prius. Evaluation of decision/re-engineering: The first prototype of the car had even faced starting problem. It took almost six months to roll the car. Finally, when the car started, it moved for a few yards only. It was hard to imagine that Toyota, which was known for its efficient production systems, was facing such trouble. Initially it felt that ‘Prius’ was a case of technological problems, impossible demands and multiple miscalculations. It proved how a great company could overcome obstacles and turn a dream into reality. Though ‘Prius’ represented only a small fraction of the nine million cars and trucks that the Japanese company planned to produce in 2006, it would be the first vehicle to provide a serious alternative to internal combustion engines, designed for a world of scarce oil and was branded as ‘The car for the future’. Stage3: Toyota carefully studied the US market and sees there is a growing oil crisis and foresees a need for change in the structure for cars, converting their needs to oil saving cars. While American car manufactures lacked producing such cars, then Toyota caught that opportunity and tried to occupy this niche market. By 2002, it was being sold in North America, Japan, Europe, Hong Kong, Australia and Singapore. Analysts opined that the demand for hybrid cars would rise because of the unstable oil prices and the growing need for environment friendly products. Post Evaluation By examining the external environment and acknowledging the potential threats of depleting resources and increased concern over environmental issues, Toyota have turned a threat into a business opportunity, boosting their reputation both as an environmentally conscious and as technological innovators and established themselves as leaders in this growing market. The car industry faces many complex issues, but the introduction of the Prius provided Toyota with a competitive advantage. RoadMap to the development Process of Toyota Prius. Stage1| Stage2| Stage3| Executive level| 1 Expressed concern about the future of the automobile2. Embarked a new project called G21 to the team3. Communicated the vision and priorities to the team| 1. The executive team acknowledged the potential threat of depleting oil2. Challenged the team for the innovation of new model using new technology| 1. Toyota unveiled the Prius in Japan in October 1997, two months ahead of schedule. 2. Made strategy plans for introducing cars to US and other prospective continents| Management and Team level| 1. Engaged in improving the existing internal combustion engine technology2. Started making refinements to the existing technology | 1. Team committed to the course of action using hybrid technology. 2. Came up with around 80 alternatives. 3. Identified numerous problems heat, reliability, noise, and cost. 4. Narrowed the list to four models. 5. After endless fussing and tweaking, the team finally reached 66 miles per gallon the 100% mileage improvement. | 1. Team has started putting efforts towards with second and third generation Prius. 2. Redesigned the model for making it more appealing to the consumers. | Marketing /Sales Team| 1. Identification of the growing oil prices. 2. Identification of Growing middle class around the world. | 1. Raised the concern that Premium price for the hybrid would make it impossible to sell. 2. Challenged with building consumer technology awareness. | 1. Devised new marketing ways to cut down dealership costs in US. 2. Devised new ways to boost the sales through internet, relied on grass-roots marketing, and public relations events|.

Effects of Marijuana :: Free Essays Online

The dominant fear about marijuana has been that its effects were somehow similar to the dangerously addictive effects of opiates such as morphine and heroin. Scientists feared that , like opiates, it had an extremely high potential for abuse and addiction. Despite widespread decriminalization of marijuana in the United States in the 1970's, this concern has remained the basis for federal law and policies regarding the use and study of marijuana. But the discovery of THC receptor sites in the brain refutes that thinking and may force scientists to re-evaluate their positions. The 1988 discovery of the THC receptor site in the brain was the pivotal event which led to the legalization of marijuana. The receptor breakthrough occurred in 1988 at the St. Louis University Medical School where Allyn Howlett, William Devane, and their associates identified and characterized a cannabinoid receptor in a rat brain. Receptors are binding sites for chemicals in the brain, chemicals that instruct brain cells to start, stop, or otherwise regulate various brain and body functions. Before this discovery, no one knew for sure just how the psychoactive chemical in marijuana workes on the brain. Throughout the 1970's and 1980's, researchers made tremendous strides in understanding how the brain works by using receptor sites as switches which respond to various chemicals by regulating brain and body functions. The chemicals which trigger receptors are known as neurotransmitters. The brain's neurotransmitters are known as endogenous ligands. In many instances, drugs mimic thes e natural chemicals working in the brain. Scientists are just now confirming their determinations as to which endogenous ligands work on the cannabinoid receptors. It is likely that the neurotransmitter which naturally triggers cannabinoid receptors is one known as anandamide. Many important brain functions which affect human behavior involve the neurotransmitter dopamine. Serious drugs of abuse such as heroin and cocaine, interfere with the brain's use of dopamine in manners that can seriously alter an individual's behavior. A drug's ability to affect the neural systems related to dopamine production has now become the defining characteristic of drugs with serious abuse potential. The discovery of a previously unknown system of cannabinoid neural transmitters is profound. While century-old questions such as why marijuana is nontoxic are finally being answered, new fascinating questions are emerging. In the words of Israeli researcher Raphael Mechoulam, the man who first isolated the structure of THC, "Why do we have cannabinoid receptors?

Five Moral Dimensions Of The Information Essay

1.The Moral Dimensions of Information Systems The moral dimensions that can control the major ethical and social concerns generated by information systems are as follows: (i) Information Right and Obligation What information rights do individuals and organizations possess with respect to themselves? What can they protect? What obligation do individuals and organization have concerning this information? (ii) Property Rights and Obligations How will traditional intellectual property rights be protected in a digital society in which tracing and accounting forownership is difficult and ignoring such property rights is so easy? (iii) Accounting Liability and Control Determining who should take responsibility for decisions and actions. Many of the laws and court decisions and actions establishing precedents in the area of accountability, liability and control were firmly in place long before information systems were invented. (iv) Quality of System This has to do with data quality and system errors. As werely more on information systems, data quality issues are gaining more importance. These issues affect you as a consumer and as a user. (v) Quality of Life An interesting quality of life issue that affects more and more people personally is the ability to work from home. Before the advent of  information systems most people used to have a regular day job 8.00 a.m. to 5.00 p.m., five days a week in a typical office setting in our society. But with the introduction of information systems people can work seven days a week, all hours of the day, at home and on their wayse specially the management staff in a company. Also, the quality of life issues would be incomplete without mentioning online love affairs. People also lose their jobs and ways of life because of information systems. All these are valid concerns of information systems. 2.Ethical Analysis This section presents various step processes of how one should analyze ethical concerns when confronted with such asituation: (i) Identify and Clearly Describe the Facts This involves finding out who did what to whom, and where; when and how. In most cases, you will be astonished of them is takes in the initially reported facts, and you will find that simply getting the facts straight helps in defining the solution. Also, this assists other opposing parties involved in an ethical quandary to agree with the facts. (ii) State the Inconsistency and Identify the Higher-Order Values Involved The parties involved in disputes over ethical, social and political concerns always claim to pursue higher values such as privacy, freedom and protection of property. It is very important to clearly define the conflict in ethical concerns and identify the ones with higher values. (iii) Identify the Stakeholders You must find out the identity of the stakeholders as every ethical, social and political issues have stakeholders; players in the game who have an interest in the outcome and that have invested in the situation and what they want. (iv) Identify the Reasonable Options to Select It may be discovered that none of the options may ever satisfy all the interest involved while some of the options performs a better job than others. So, sometimes concluding at a good or ethical solution may not always be a balancing of consequences to stakeholders. 3.Property rights and obligations trade secrets copyright patent law Trade secrets are any intellectual work or product used for a business purpose that can be classified as belonging to that business. Copyright protects the creators of a property against copying by others for any purpose during the life of the author. Patent law grants the owner an exclusive monopoly on the ideas behind an invention for 20 years.

The Subculture Of Sports A Little Girl - 990 Words

When I was four years old I was introduced to a tall, petite, beautiful ballerina who spun around the room with elegance, and effortlessly captured the crowd with her stunning abilities. As a little girl, I sparkled with admiration and was inspired to be all she was, it was from that point on, that I ventured into an unknown world of art, strength and expression. Now being eighteen years old with about fourteen years of experience in the dance world, I have learned and developed the norms, values and practices of the culture, and the conflicting theory within it. Subcultures are â€Å"A set of distinctive values, norms, and practices within a larger culture.† (Brym and Lie 2012: 47). Dance in this case is placed under the subculture of sports; sports in many ways obtain special kinds of standards within the culture. Sports value the need for strength and courage to be the best; in other words, the importance of competition, is quite relevant within a player and team. To compar e, dancers value competition as a way to strive for the winning spot; if they fail to do so, they believe they have destroyed all they have worked for. In spite of that, sports have set numerous norms with in the culture, norms are defined as certain types of ‘standards’ which were created for the players to avid by as guidelines to how they should act, or react in certain situations. For example, if you do not place first, you are taught to not show your defeat in public, as it shows bad sportsman ship toShow MoreRelatedVolleyball as a Subculture1650 Words   |  7 PagesSociety â€Å"Dig† Volleyball as a Subculture? I. Introduction The individuality within diverse subcultures has given so much to society already. Subcultures such as volleyball have been given a chance to grow in our society and spread to other cultures connecting nations across the globe. It takes time for a subculture to be accepted by our society today. 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