'Identify the strengths and weaknesses of Tokai UK’s international strategy. Essay\r'

'The Tokai Company was founded in 1947 in Hamamatsu, Japan and produced all forms of musical instruments,including a intumescent range of pianos. Tokai instruments first appeared in the UK in the beforehand(predicate) 1980s when they were conditional relationed by a friendship called Bluesuede medicinal drug. At that time the two biggest names in electric guitars were those produced by the American companies pilot burner and Gibson, who some(prenominal) produced high quality electric guitars hardly at a price that was prohibitive for the average nonprofessional guitarist.\r\nTokai competed against Fender, with products that replicated the Fender quality and also closely esembled their guitars merely for half the price. Not surprisingly the Tokai product stood only when in the marketplace and competed with Fender by fashioning quality instruments available to customers who couldn’t afford a genuine Fender or Gibson guitar. Tokai’s biggest vendor at the time was the ST50 which resembled the famous Fender Stratocaster. However, Fender issued writs against Tokai which forced them to change the designs so as to non infringe Fender’s copyright.\r\nImports continued on for a further three years and Bluesuede Music did remarkably well with the product, using sales agents break on the road selling guitars to retailers. Unfortunately, in the mid-eighties one of the partners left Bluesuede owing the partnership and Tokai a lot of money. At that point Bluesuede had to stop the import of Tokai guitars.\r\nAt the beginning of 2002 Nick unfold, a British entrepreneur, went to Japan to see Mr Shohei Adachi, the managing director of Tokai, and agreed a deal to import the company’s guitars at a time more into the UK. This started as a small movement and the products began to trickle into the UK. Shortly afterwards Nick genus Grus approached Bob Murdoch, who had 25 years’ experience in the music wholesale and retail business. Bob Murdoch saw the potential of these instruments on the European market and became a partner in Tokai UK in early 2002.\r\nThe company began by working from a small garage, but over the subsequent 18 months turnover increase by 200 per cent and they are in a flash selling into Ireland, Italy and Spain. They had a huge market in Germany but, as we will see later, have presently pulled out of the market. Tokai UK now operates from premises on an industrial estate at Dinnington, South Yorkshire. Nick Crane left the company to follow other interests in Spain; Bob Murdoch bought out his partner and now has boilersuit control of Tokai UK and plans to launch Tokai across the pan-European market.\r\n'