Chapter 12
Case Study 1
1. What were some of the key steps that led to Caterpillar's becoming the industry leader in earth-moving machinery?
First things first, CAT has unmatched quality and consistency; their product reliability and reputation was the key factor in their success. Caterpillar also invested a great amount of money on market research. They have and continue to innovate to meet the needs of their consumers. They also targeted and developed equipment for different industries such as agriculture and infrastucture. They invested in a factory modernizing program that improved product availability for consumers. This made the company more efficient and competitive. Caterpillar also has an immense product range to serve each …show more content…

In the market there are different people with different perceptions, in Europe luxury doesnt have the same meaning as it would in the U.S. So toyota markets its product differently depending on region. There are times Toyota designs differently depending on region to accomadate needs. Toyota has built their Manufacturing plants to do just that which is assemble a variety of vehicles. I believe that they have established an even understanding of what consumers want. They have developed vehicles for just about every price range which in turn attracts a greater amount of consumers.
3. Did Toyota grow too quickly as Toyoda suggested? What should the company do over the next year, 5yrs and 10yrs? How can growing companies avoid quality problem in the future?
Yes Toyota did grow too quickly as Toyoda suggested. The year before Toyota had surpassed General Motors becoming the worlds largest car maker. In that year 2007 they produced 1 million more vehicles than GM. This is an indicator that Toyota was growing rapidly. The demand for Toyota's put pressure on the company to expand. This put Toyota in a predicament where they pursued growth to meet the needs but their team was not properly trained. They strived away from their initial goal which was quality and reliability. Over the next few years the company has to reel consumers back in with incentives which they have already started to do. Perks like two year