The Damage to Toyota's Brand Image Essay

Another behavior I have observed is that most of the members do not think ahead and plan their activities. This behavior when analyzed further points to fact that the members are expected never to challenge their superiors. This results in relatively frequent priority changes. Even though they know the business and the functionalities around the business they tend not to look at alternative solutions before working with the business.

The product that Toyota was introducing to the consumer was not ground breaking and did not set itself apart from any other product on the market, not only did it not set itself apart it was producing vehicles that closely resembled the competition. Toyota was losing their competitive edge of reliability because other companies were able to replicate their efficient production and reliability and have the same success they Toyota previously held. The customer base for Toyota was not growing and more of a following due to loyalty to their past performance. The company had also lost its innovative edge and with this was losing its market share. I see due to Toyota’s lack of initiative by not moving more manufacturing to the US and innovation as an opportunity to enter the small car market that was previously dominated by the Japanese manufactures. With all this said Toyota still had a great reputation for producing a very reliable product, with this reputation Toyota could be one change away from becoming a major player

Toyota was thought to be the best quality car in the 1970s and 1980s but, due to Japanese competition, American car manufactures soon began to close the rankings gap. At the top of their game in 2010, Toyota had to stop manufacturing and order a large recall of automobiles. While leadership was probably considered great at the height of Toyota’s success, changes were obviously needed during the recall period and management needed to be as adaptable to those changing conditions. The only thing regarded as permanent in a market economy is change

Toyota has hit the headlines over the years over the defects in several of their models which has sent it on a public relations and safety campaigns relating to its vehicles. Notably is the Toyota safety campaign in North America for certain models of Toyota as well as Lexus brands concerning the floor mat entrapment of accelerator pedals, later on it extended to other models in November 2009.

Toyota grew at a record speed and could not keep up with the speed in which it was growing. They are a centralized company and Japan only made the decisions. This prevented the company to keep up with the safety problems. The process that Toyota external suppliers follow when improving product and making sure the product is functioning properly before shipping to Toyota needs to be improved before they release the product from their warehouse to be sent to Toyota. This problem began when the company started to rapidly grow. Toyota’s lack of communication led to the faulty gas pedal recall.

Belief in inherent morality- Professionally expert people alleged what they know was ethically wrong, they ignored their own sense of responsibility by trusting their fellow members who allowed misconduct was right. The pressure of groupthink is very powerful in corporate organization, and it forces people toward uniformity of norms, often at the expense of their own personal values.

As if this weren’t enough, quality problems mounted week after week. Only months later in February 2010, the NHTSA revealed that it had received claims citing another life threatening defect in the break system for the Toyota Prius. More than 400 thousand Prius recalls resulted. In April of 2010, customers reported handling issues in the Lexus brand which resulted in another recall of 9,400 Lexus cars and a “Don’t Buy: Safety Risk” rating from Consumer Reports. Also in April, the company voluntarily recalled Siennas to address a problem with corrosion on a spare tire cable. Later that month, Toyota voluntarily recalled 2003 Sequoia SUVs to improve the stability controls. 2010 Tacomas were also recalled for defective front drive shafts. Once the quality icon, Toyota had hit a really low point; so low that credit

Many companies’ techniques and ways of doing things have been around for a long time, and eventually have become accepted as the best way of running things. Corporation employees that are worried about their job and becoming successful are shy to object to the views of the other members. Which eventually results in decisions being made not based on overall agreement, but on the basis that the norm way of making decisions stands unopposed. Members of corporations groups often disagree but for fear of criticism, and the pressure of others, they remain silent. Which I believe supports, “Chapter 8 and the Symptoms of Groupthink, by Janis 1982” Whether it’s for fear of losing their jobs or just out of greed for money and success, the dangers of group-think decision making is a very serious one.

Due to Toyota’s financial greed and unethical practice, vehicles were wrongly equipped with faulty brakes, sticking pedals and poor quality door looks, which caused death of many Toyota customers and hundreds of dollars in damages. When a company like Toyota acts in an ethically questionable manner, it causes the company to lose customers and develop a negative reputation. Customer tend to lose faith in the company and have to look for better service

The purpose of this report is to examine if the reasoning behind well-known car manufacturer, Toyota’s loss of revenue and leading market position is alone as a result of extensive product recalls following a fatal crash of a Lexus ES 350 on August 28th 2009. The journal article, “Toyota Crisis: Management Issue?” (Yuanyuan Feng 2010) provides an outline of the key factors that triggered the 2009 Toyota crisis, and explores whether the fall in the company’s returns by 19% were caused purely as a result of the recall and safety concerns, or something much deeper.

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 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.

Challenging all the company stood for, in 2009, Toyota faced a series of recalls that would test their resolve and force the organization to examine their culture, methods and overall practices. The end of 2009 brought a recall of over 3.8 million vehicles for Toyota. Triggered by a deadly accident from an apparent stuck accelerator, reports of similar instances began pouring in. Publicity was brutal following the ordeal and the repercussions for Toyota were

It has been created also a gap between Image and Vision. After the crisis Toyota's relationship with its main stakeholders (suppliers, national and international customers, employees, dealers and investors) was not so strong as before, because it was loosing its reputation. The investors and the suppliers were complaining because recalling million of vehicles, and the customers were disappointed because they were not receiving what they expected.

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