Toyota Case

In 2009 Toyota Motors (TM) posted a net loss of $4.6 billion ("Market watch," 2014). From 2009 to 2011 Toyota encountered a number of factors contributing to their economic downturn. It began with recalling millions of vehicles, for quality related problems, followed by natural disasters hitting northeastern Japan. These disasters wiped out Toyota’s production capabilities (Tabuchi & Vlasic, 2014). While these events were occurring, the cloud of the 2008 global financial crisis was still being felt. This crisis weakened demand in the automotive industry. This weakened demand increased the competitive landscape for all automotive manufactures. This drove down automotive prices and effectively contribution margins (i.e. sold less

Toyota has implemented a learn culture that consist of problem solving, teamwork, and a continuous improvement culture to sustain lean. According to Toyota (Greto, 2010), “the world's leading automotive company and a global benchmark for quality and continuous improvement stumbled seriously. They faced a recall crisis unlike any they had seen before. Mr. Akio Toyoda, Toyota's president and grandson of the founder, was called to testify before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform about the company's response to the recall. Through the lens of the accelerator crisis, the case documents trade-offs Toyota made while pursuing a marketing strategy based on quality and customer experience, while simultaneously pursing an operational generic cost leadership strategy.” The Lean process used by Toyota was “the Toyota way”. This lean process focused on JIT (Just in Time), continuous improvement, JIDOKA (in station quality), people and teamwork, best quality, lowest cost, shortest lead time, leveled production (HEIJUNKA), and these were known as the Toyota way philosophy. The parties involved all stakeholders, employees, suppliers, government standard agencies, customers, creditors, and financial institutions. This event affects everyone related to the Toyota Company. The urgency

Toyota is a key player in global automotive market. Its structure constitutes if various production plants in different locations and a very strong branding which helps it capture a major market share. Like other enterprises, Toyota has several strengths and weakness which makes it what it is now. Toyota heavily invests in Research and development which helps it come up reputable product line which is spread out throughout the world because of its strengthening global distribution network however its recent product recalling, loose grip in key geographic areas and wrong allocation of resources shows that even a strong brand like Toyota has its weaknesses.

Since the 1970’s just about every vehicle manufacturer across the world has suffered some type of crisis as a result of unintended quality problems with the cars they manufacture. These types of crises threaten a company’s reputation for producing quality cars including their brand image. This paper aims to elaborate on two very well publicized auto makers and their respective crises and the critical management decisions that were made and their impact. Toyota and Ford as we all know have a very strong industry reputation as well as millions of loyal and faithful followers and owners of their vehicles; however, these two giants of the automobile industry had two of the most publicized cases in modern day history.

strong corporate brand are closed or small gaps between vision, culture and image. The relations

One of Toyota’s issues was their lack of organizational culture, perceived or real. Thus, organizational culture is the shared values that are accepted by members of the organization (Bethel, 2016). Unfortunately, Toyota’s corporate culture was one of total secrecy, which left many feeling there was something amiss. Further, “corporate arrogance, complacency, and company insular nature” were evident (Parnell, 2014, p. 603). Additionally, newly appointed CEO Akio Toyoda was invisible, which created contention amongst others in leadership. There seemed to be a belief that family members were focused on safety, while non-family members were focused on profits (Parnell, 2014).

One potential threat for Volkswagen is that Toyota may respond strategically by also cutting its prices. However, given Toyota’s quality problems over the past year, they will not be able to lower prices, as this possibly would create the perception of lower quality.. First and foremost, Toyota needs to ensure it handles its quality problems to its customers’ satisfaction. The auto maker needs to ensure the public perception is that Toyota is being upfront, honest, and responsible in dealing with recalls and the

This study identify current Toyota strategy problem. Toyota is a top leader in the automotive industry and this paper focus on how they can develop and manage their problem Later than, it will recommend some solution to them to protect the company from competitors.

There are several reasons why Toyota was chosen for this report. Some of them include the fact that Toyota managed to experience a significant growth in its global sales not only boosting its profits but pushing it to the top of the automobile industry. The other key issues that also became known include the design of Toyota global production and their distribution network. The principal purpose for any company to do a strategic planning is to develop a shared understanding by all stakeholders in a business, of the implications and trends that take place in the everyday business operations (Abraham, 2012). Through strategic planning, a company has the opportunity to develop its mission and vision statements. This help to describe and define the purpose of the company in relation to its operation and interests of its shareholders at a particular time. Through planning, companies are able to set achievable targets and consequently develop

Toyota is an industry giant and a global innovator in vehicle manufacturing. The company has a customer focused orientation that has served them well. The company is responsive to consumer needs and delivers them with both quality and safety built into their vehicles. One trend that was identified within the company is that Toyota will work to be more responsive to consumer needs in smaller geographical locations. For example, car buyers in India may not have the same preferences as those in the U.S. market and as a consequence a more regional strategy could assist them in developing both markets.

There are some areas that need to be improved at Toyota. Few sections can be explored more to beat many potential competitors ahead.

Takeuchi, Osono and Shimizu (2008) Toyota inculcates the values from the founders in employees by demonstrate their everyday relevance job training and working.

Toyota deliberately fosters contradictory viewpoints within the organization and challenges employees to find solutions by transcending differences rather than resorting to compromises. This culture of tensions generates innovative ideas that Toyota implements to pull ahead of competitors, both incrementally and radically.

Toyota Motor Corporation was founded in 1937 with the priorities of safety first, quality second, and volume third (Hamilton et al. 2013). This strictly-adhered-to mantra aided in the creation of the company’s reputation and the public perception of their products as reliable, quality cars (Hamilton et al. 2013). Toyota’s reputation helped it become one of the largest automakers in the world (Hamilton et al. 2013). Toyota’s reliability was such that it comprised only 0.034% of all cars recalled in 2000 (Hamilton et al. 2013). The company’s reputation has not fared as well in recent years, as the company succumbed to a thirst for growth and profitability and began focusing on volume instead of the quality they were known for (Hamilton et al. 2013). Without the focus on safety and quality, faults began being reported with Toyota’s vehicles, including unintended and

Throughout evaluation surveys by the consumers, Toyota has always configured the customers love their product because they deliver the reliability in their cars. Even after taking a setback like recalls on some of Toyota’s products, there still has been no hindrance in its sales and it has come back to after fixing all the glitches. Another reason behind Toyota success is that is focused on achieving a long-term business of their customer and it is also committed to delivering the best for the environment. Further in this paper will be discussed the specific primary and secondary markets Toyota targets and also what groups are targeted the most.