Strategic Operations Management: The Toyota Motor Corporation

Things went out well for Toyota and the years 2003 to 2007 could be inferred as the most profitable years in the company’s history. But it faced a major problem in the events of recession in 2008 and the recall crisis of 2009-2010. “Toyota Under Fire” describes the recall crisis in details and provides valuable lessons and leadership techniques to survive at the time of crisis and how to turn a crisis into opportunity by three principles – i) Build strong culture long before the crisis hits, ii) culture matters far more than decisions made by top executives, iii) Investing in

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

INTRODUCTION Toyota is one of the world’s best-known and most successful businesses, building cars and trucks in 27 countries for sale in more than 170 markets around the globe. Worldwide production was 9.5 million (8.5 million for Toyota and Lexus brand vehicles) in 2007, placing Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) firmly among the world’s leading vehicle manufacturers. This result keeps it on course to achieve its ambition of becoming the world number one by the end of the decade, with a 15 per cent market share.

Toyota is one the most storied companies in the world today, an aspect that has led to it drawing the attention of researchers, journalists and executives who are seeking to benchmark its production system that is extremely famous across the world. This is influenced by the company’s ability to outperform its competitors in terms of cost reduction, reliability, quality and market capitalization. This was exhibited by the company’s ability to replace Daimler Chyrsler as the third largest car company in North America in 2005 in terms of both sales and production.

It is important that Toyota improve their communication and process of evaluating their parts because if they don’t they risk losing customers and market shares. An improved process would also give them reassures that this issue does not arise again. According to Porter (1996) “Delivering greater value allows a company to charge a higher average unit price; greater efficiency result in lower average unit cost” (p.62). Toyota needs to focus more on quality than quantity. After quality is critiqued then they can continue to grow at a lower rate. If Toyota gives their North American companies power to make decisions than it would be a huge improvement to the companies and less risk of safety issues.

For more than 50 years, Toyota Motor Corporation has been one of the world’s leading manufacturers of motor vehicles in the United States. It was born a Japanese company in 1935 and came to America in 1957. Now headquartered in Toyota City, Japan, it employs more than 300 thousand employees globally (Toyota Motor Corporation Company Profile, 2012). In addition Toyota is a global marketing organization. It strategically operates primarily through Japan, Asia, Europe, and North America; but its vehicles are sold in more than 170 countries and regions across the globe (Toyota Motor Corporation Company Profile, 2012). The Toyota brand is traditionally defined by brand attributes such as global leadership, innovation,

Yet, the public perceptions may be at odds with the objective measures. In Toyota’s case, there have been indications that the quality level of the company’s products had fallen off in a span of few years. There are changes that have taken place during a period when most of the company’s close competitors, such as Fords, were producing more cost-effective and efficient automobiles. In addition, the company’s unique production approach and the emphasis on continuous improvement and learning coupled with a matrix structure are key reasons for the company’s leadership in the cat manufacturing industry. Toyota’s Production Systems (TPS) was founded in the principles of “Just-in-time. This approach has less opportunity for slack resources and focuses of the benefits of efficiency on the part of employees and reduction on waste resources (Griffin and Gregory, 5). Further, Toyota Company enacts its production system with the assistance of its human resources strategies, culture, and organizational structure. Toyota’s Production System emphasizes on learning and modesty when it comes to assessing past success and differentiated them from

2) As with any successful business strategy, the Toyota Production System is an interlocking group of many strategies and business practices.

Toyota today is one of the leading lean example in today’s manufacturing market. Starting back in the 1930’s with the idea of Just-in-Time to cut down cost in waste from overstocked storage rooms to a better efficient assembly lines who produced what was needed at a certain time. The Kanban system is one of the most used methods that the Japanese found during the 1950’s during a trip to United States in a super market.

When Toyota managers as well as its executives were interviewed, they are asked why the company was there as a business. Based on their opinion, it is evident that the company’s success is a result of motivation and consistence in their labor. In addition, they argued that the purpose of the company is not to make money. The company only makes money in order to focus on the future. The company invests in order to ensure that it continues to grow and develop in investments. According to managers and executives response, it is evident that Toyota makes money to help the community in many ways.

The Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) is in an interesting position. The company has a long history of innovative quality solutions and manufacturing dominance. The company invented the foundation for the Total Quality Management (TQM) method of production. However, Toyota has been subject to a lot of negative publicity for quality concerns in the last few years. Furthermore, the number of defects has resulted in a large number of vehicles having to be recalled for repairs. One of the quality issues was a defective throttle control system that in some cases caused the cars to idle, turn off during operation, or even accelerate uncontrollably (Toyota, 2012). Another involved 7.43 million vehicles worldwide sold under the Toyota and Scion brands was the largest safety-related service

It is important with the proper planning that Toyota establishes a proper plan that will begin to organize, plan and control the process of the various Toyota recalls. This type of plan is an effective management tool to alert their customers through the dealers to let them know if they are part of the recall. By meeting the demands of the customer’s Toyota is helping to rebuild their reputation as being the top manufacturer in automobiles. This helps them stay in the run against their competitors with having the best vehicle in the market by proving they are willing to fix the problems they are responsible for.

While there are opportunities for Toyota; also, there are the threats. They are as follows:

Toyota is among the leading automobile manufacturers of the world selling almost 9 million models at all the five continents. Toyota has been awarded a position in the top 10 fortune global 500 enterprise and the company was ranked among the most renowned automaker and it have the dedication towards providing complete customer satisfaction. And the company has also tended to provide and shape up the effective set of values and principles which have

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.