Toyota's Strategic Management

Toyota's Strategic Management

Introduction

The selected company for the purpose of this assignment is Toyota, which is a Japanese multinational company, founded in 1933 by Kiichiro Toyoda. In the year 1980, Toyota first caught the attention of the world, when it came in to existence there was something special about Japanese efficiency and quality. Japanese cars lasted longer than American cars and require fewer repairs.

Toyota Corporation

After the WWII (World War II) companies were facing fierce competition imposed by mass production systems of American companies. The companies of Japan were especially facing this problem because of lack of natural resources, which made it necessary for them to import vast amounts of raw materials from other parts of the world (Shah and Ward, 2003, 149). This forced the company to rethink their strategies in order to cope up with the fierce competition. Therefore, the management of Toyota thought somewhat different from the rest of the world if indeed they want to sustain in this fierce competition (MacDuffie, 1995, 220).

Current reality

Toyota is striving to keep pace with the rapid expansion of the business and technological changes, these pressures are exerted by: meet demand, expand the ambitions and the increasing rate of technological change.

To meet demand, Toyota has the capability of producing three million cars over the next two years, perhaps it is the only automaker to increase production ever so quickly, according to industry experts, was Ford Motor Company, under the leadership of Henry Ford in the early 20's. Ambitions have expanded in an interesting way at Toyota:

The company wants to transform a Lexus luxury brand in Europe, rushing this way, the biggest source of profits of European producers.

Increase sales of its pickup truck large, Tundra, in the U.S., which means hitting the last stronghold of U.S. manufacturers.

Develop a new generation of vehicles for emerging markets like China and India.

There is a rate unprecedented technological change in both manufacturing processes and the products. For example, Toyota's vision is to build dream cars that are revolutionary in terms of safety and environmental health.

The Toyota Way

It has two main pillars: continuous improvement and respect for people, when people mention the term, we refer to employees, partners, suppliers and customers. One of the basic principles of the company is customer first, not just tell the clients but in the final assembly line, the person on the next line is also his client. By adopting this principle generates teamwork, allowing you to analyze on an ongoing basis to see if they are doing things without creating problems for his client. Also promotes the ability to identify problems and if you look at things closely, you will achieve the Kaizen (continuous improvement).

The root of the Toyota Way is dissatisfied with the status quo, at all times must ask: Why do this? Thus, people worldwide can apply these concepts, although it would have to ask you is how long it takes to train people to develop the mentality ...