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



“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:




“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




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




Image 2: Toyota in Caribbean, specifically the Bahamas




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




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.




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


http://classroom.phoenix.edu/afm201/secure/view-thread.jspa?threadID=12975869


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=11896&zone=Zone+Legal+Info&id=L/egal%20Notice




http://www.toyota.ca/cgi-bin/WebObjects/WWW.woa/15/wo/Home.Legal-brmU4OERkLmXJeDlw5dAYM/0.9?h100000e.html




http://www.toyota.ca/cgi-bin/WebObjects/WWW.woa/39/wo/Home.Vehicles.Go.CamryHybrid-maaaMAKpG3NuibgpNULvaM/11.11?fmg%2Fcamry_hybrid%2Findex.html




http://www.toyota-caribbean.com/site_tools/policy.asp









































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