Decisions in Paradise Paper
Chris
University of Phoenix
MGT 350/Critical Thinking: Strategies in Decision Making
August 17, 2009 Critical Thinking in Decision Making: Business Ideas

Bill Gates once remarked that he approached business ideas by looking at it through a range of positions: certifying, authorizing, and modifying ---- as he would any of his software programs. The solution, is putting together a personal viewpoint that is conversant by decision-making strategies. A organization then is in essence a dilemma awaiting to be unraveled so it can be put into practice correctly. Recognizing and assessing options is what decision-making is in relation to. In our everyday life, we make decisions that have prejudiced what we initially intended it to be either by practice, urge or by motive.

Situating Kava and Toyota

Kava is an island in the South Pacific. Primarily a tourist destination, Kava’s economy revolves around this industry. Nik is a student in one of Kava’s universities. A senior in Marketing, he hopes to find work in as soon as graduation comes along in order to help his family. As of the moment he is an intern at a local Toyota dealership working under the guidance of Alex, a junior manager who oversees Toyota’s marketing relations. So far, Nik has worked under Alex arranging ads for Toyota with the local newspapers and TV stations as well as arrangements for sponsorships. Alex welcomes new ideas from his staff, even interns. Fresh ideas he believes are always a good source for the next best marketing move.
The Proposal

Nik, eager to help sustain tourism in Kava as well as become a ‘full-time’ recruit within the Toyota dealership proposed a marketing plan that would help in sustainable Tourism as well as market Toyota’s products. Kava, he believes as an island cannot sustain heavy traffic congestion. In addition, gasoline and diesel are expensive, as they have to be imported from oil-producing countries. His proposal incorporates these basic premises towards marketing. First, he wants to use the fact that Kava is a tourist destination. Hence, he proposes to Toyota not just to market to the residents of Kava but to use Kava as a platform to introduce Toyota to the Tourists who visit to translate to revenue even if they do not buy their Toyota vehicles in Kava. For this he proposes a tie-in with the hotels in Kava providing them with hybrid cars to use as ‘hotel cars’ available for rent by tourists. In addition, he proposes Toyota-sponsored events that promote sustainable tourism in Kava, for example, the annual traditional boat race. To deepen the experience of the tourist in understanding Kava culture, Toyota will sponsor local boat teams as well as sponsor tourists who wish to join the local ‘teams’ in terms of training. Being, the largest annual event, he hopes that Toyota being present would create a presence that would enable tourists and locals’ notice. He proposes that on these events, the marketing will draw on sustainability of tourism and preservation of nature cross-referencing this to Toyota’s low-impact hybrids with zero emissions. Leaflets and programs on Toyota Products are made available in all participating hotels. Tourists who are interested to buy Toyota products can register with Kava’s Toyota Dealership and an arrangement is made with the Toyota dealerships close to the tourists’ hometown. When a purchase happens, the sale is awarded by Toyota to the Kava dealership who in turn sales profits with the dealership that would deliver to the purchaser’s home. In addition, Kava’s Toyota Dealership to Kava’s Ministry of Culture, the agency overseeing traditional events like the boat race to help keep Kava traditions alive, will donate part of the profit.
The second part of his proposal relates to preservation of Kava’s tranquil destinations and non-congested roads. He proposes that Toyota initiate a ‘trade-in’ program in which residence can trade in their cars for a Toyota Hybrid. To deal with the bought-back Toyota & non-Toyota vehicles, he proposes an agreement with a second-hand car dealership that resells in less developed neighboring islands to make transportation available for them too.
Alex’s Reaction: A Critical Analysis

Alex as Toyota’s marketing manager in Kava knew right away the merits of Nik’s proposal, and the difficulty that it entails. The latest concerns of his group center on the idea of sustainability and bought tourism-focused marketing and the buy-back program can solve this. The logistics however, seem quite challenging. While Alex can authorize local sponsorships and arrangements within Kava, the decision of sharing profits with other dealers ultimately lay with Toyota HQ and not within the local dealership. Alex however, knows that when it comes to catching new market (and essentially what Nik has envisioned is a ‘market’ that they have never really truly ‘caught’ before), Toyota is eager to hear and would probably allow and design a system to make it happen if the numbers allow for it. What Alex has to decide now is a system of approaching Toyota HQ on Nik’s tourist-focused proposal. Alex will have to identify the potential market, quantify the regions/countries they will be coming from in order to layout the necessary arrangements needed. Alex knows that the Toyota Kava Dealership Executives will all be happy to support this idea if it works. After all, they have been marketing only to locals and not translating into the tourist market. As for the Buy-back program, Alex saw that while the idea behind it has great merit (preservation of the environment, affordable cars, providing cheaper transport to outer islands), he will have to conduct a quantitative analysis of car market value in order to come up with a standard systematic pricing for vehicles to buy back. In addition, while he has agreements in place with banks for those who will use bank financing, he will have to guarantee the agreement of a second-hand car dealership whose interests are not within Kava but in the outer islands. This means finding the right partner whose interests does not conflict with Toyota Kava within Kava island itself in terms of sales. The idea after all is to lessen congestion and to make hybrid and zero emission cars the majority in the island. Then there is the question of social responsibility. The second-hand cars for sale must be checked by Toyota for quality before being shipped out. Toyota after all is a leading carmaker and they have to take responsibility for cars they buy-back to make sure that the cars ending up in the outer islands work well. He knows that if he can make this possible then Toyota Kava will be able to step up it’s marketing, something that the shareholders of the company will appreciate as well as the people of Kava.

References

http://www.gdrc.org/uem/eco-tour/whatis-sustour.html ---- sustainable tourism

http://www.toyota-hawaii.com/Distributor/Toyota/Dealerships/Default.aspx --- a mirror sample of an island dealership

http://www.ideamerge.com/leasing/benefits.html --- sample, buy-back/ownership program

(print)
Rainey, D.L. (2006) Sustainable Business Development: Inventing the Future Through Strategy, Innovation, and Leadership. Cambridge University Press.