the global impactof intellectual properties
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Global Impact of Intellectual Properties
Kelly Knight
Coronado Sunsets LLC
January 19, 2009
Copyright Kelly Knight, 2009, Coronado Sunsets LLC, Calera, AL 35040
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“Intellectual Capital is that store of information within an organization that will, when
acted upon, generate revenue for the organization. Intellectual Capital includes all of the ideas,
research, development, designs, drafts, concepts, marketing tools, advertising, accounting, and
creativity of the organization that can be translated into viable goods and services. It also
includes the knowledge of same held by the competition such that this knowledge provides an
edge to the possessor.” (Knight, 2009) The Worldwide Web provides a plethora of information
regarding global organizations, including legal disclaimers, marketing techniques and strategies,
and information that is important to the consumer, both in factual relevanceand presentation.
Toyota is a global organization and through its Toyota Worldwide Website provides access to this
information for every country in which it markets.
Copyrights and Legal Disclaimers
Copyright is the intellectual property of the author, whether that author isan individual or
organization. Copyright, by law, belongs to the owner upon conception and there is no law
requiring that a formal copyright notice be on file with the legal repository for copyright of the
country. In the case of the United States, that repository is the Library of Congress. In the
instances of Toyota Worldwide, the copyright noticecontained in the Legal Notice section of the
website was reviewed. A comparison of the copyright notice for four different countries- U.S.,
Canada, Great Britain, and the Caribbean- indicate only slight variation, but also provides an
indication of the likelihood that each website is maintained by the “local” Toyota organization as
opposed to the Toyota Corporate office in Japan. The language is duplicated in some instances,
but in others is decidedly different. Most notable is the fact that on the site for Toyota Great
Britain, reference is not given to the full content of the website, as is on the other three, but only
specifically to pictures:
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“Restricted Use of pictures from official Toyota sites- Toyota (GB) PLC
acknowledges the nature of the Internet Web as a medium to share information and
allows individuals only to reproduce pictures from Toyota site provided a request to the
Toyota site administrator is made to [email protected]. For your information,
the criteria assessing any demand shall amongst others be based on the following:”
(Toyota.co.uk, 2009)
Also noticeable was the nature of the language of the legal notices posted. Again, except
for Great Britain the formality of the language is decidedly legal. The legal notice posted on the
Toyota Great Britain site, however, is rather informal, as if written for the common man and not
the legal system.
In addition to the copyright notice which states that the information contained on the
website is the sole possession of the site owner, the legal notices also disclaim any errors or
omissions on the various sites as a way of excusing mis-information. The language contained in
the sites for the U.S. and the Caribbean isvirtually identical. Again, the language is largely legal-
eze except for Great Britain: “Toyota tries to make sure that all information contained on this
web site is correct but it does not accept any liability for any error or omission.” (Toyota.co.uk,
2009) Toyota Canada has a rather lengthy disclaimer of the information contained on its
website, and makes the following statement, in bold lettering: “All of the risk associated with
your use of this Site, including but not limited to, the risks associated with the quality and
performance of this Site and with the accuracy, comprehensiveness and timeliness of the
Content is assumed solely by you.” As an interesting aside to the disclaimer contained on
the Toyota Caribbean site is the fact that the initial statement refers to the idea that “The
TOYOTA products described in this site are offered for sale only in Africa…” (Toyota.caribbean.com, 2009)
Marketing Techniques and Strategies
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Intellectual Capital in the form of marketing must be tailored to the country and culture
in which the global organization conducts business- “when in Rome, do as the Romans.” A
comparison of the four different country websites for Toyota demonstrate stark differences in
the way Toyota has chosen to make its internet presentation. As seen in the following four
graphics demonstrate the differences in how the home page presentation represents not only
Toyota in the respective country, but the level of sophistication, or the format in which the
people of those countries prefer to receive their information. Images 1 and 2 show a simplicity
of information intimating that Canadians and those living in the Caribbean prefer simple,
straight forward information without a lot of fuss. Images 3 and 4 demonstrate a level of
technological advancement, at least in the way in which viewers prefer to see their internet.
Image 1: Toyota- Canada Home Page
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Image 2: Toyota in Caribbean, specifically the Bahamas
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Image 4: Toyota in the U.S., which also includes the use of flash technology.
Information important to the consumer
Toyota is a world leader in the automotive industry. Understanding the value and
importance of the consumer is paramount to building a world-class leader and organization,
including the wants and needs of each potential customer, and the marketplace as a whole. Of
considerable note is the information contained on the Toyota.com website which services the
U.S. that is missing, or a best very difficult to find on the other three sites selected. When
hovering the word “Cars” on the homepage of the U.S. website, the viewer sees a drop down
display of information (see Image 5) that is forefront in the advertising schemes for the U.S.
Each car type is listed with the starting price, and the fuel economy rating.
Image 5
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Click on the link for the Camry found on the website for the Bahama’s, however,
information about economy standards or price are not found. On the website for Great Britain
one finds only information regarding the amount of CO2 emissions for each car. Even on the
Canadian site for the Camry Hybrid there is no mention of the MPG/LPK for the car, only the
statement “Power. Efficiency. Performance. Low emissions” (Toyoto.ca, 2009)
Conclusion
Based on this preliminary study of Toyota Worldwide, including reviews of consumer
websites for the U.S., Canada, the Bahamas, and Great Britain, Toyota has utilized its Intellectual
Capital to capitalize on the cultural differences, legal standards, and consumer interests and
needs of each market. Clearly the vault of Intellectual Capital contains all of the knowledge and
understanding Toyota possesses, but Toyota puts forth only that information that is relevant to
the country and people of that specific target website. Fuel economy is not only a government
requirement within the U.S., but is of significant interest to the buying public. In the other three
countries in question, fuel economy takes a back seat to emissions standards, regardless the
actual cost of driving the car from point A to point B. In addition, Toyota appears to have
designed the websites for the various countries based on data that indicates that for at least two
of the countries, Canada and the Bahamas, glitz and glitter are of little consequence. Flash is
paramount, however, to attracting the review of the consumer in the U.S. and Great Britain.
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References:
Knight, K., 2009 retrieved from http://classroom.phoenix.edu/afm201/secure/view-
thread.jspa?threadID=12975869 January 19, 2009
Toyota Great Britain, 2009, retrieved from http://toyota.co.uk/cgi-
bin/toyota/bv/generic_editorial.jsp?navRoot=toyota_1024_root&edname=siteinfo_home
&edname=gmt_legal_notice&catname=%2ftoyota_1024_root%2fmain_nav&menuid=11
896&zone=Zone+Legal+Info&id=L/egal%20Notice January 19, 2009
Toyota Canada, 2009, retrieved on January 19, 2009, from http://www.toyota.ca/cgi-
bin/WebObjects/WWW.woa/15/wo/Home.Legal-
brmU4OERkLmXJeDlw5dAYM/0.9?h100000e%2ehtml
Toyota Canada, 2009, retrieved on January 19, 2009 from http://www.toyota.ca/cgi-
bin/WebObjects/WWW.woa/39/wo/Home.Vehicles.Go.CamryHybrid-
maaaMAKpG3NuibgpNULvaM/11.11?fmg%2fcamry%5fhybrid%2findex%2ehtml
Toyota Caribbean, 2009, retrieved on January 19, 2009 from http://www.toyota-
caribbean.com/site_tools/policy.asp
Copyright Kelly Knight, 2009, Coronado Sunsets LLC, Calera, AL 35040