Toyota, situation recommendations and Impacts - Research Paper Example

Toyota, Situation Recommendations and Impacts Toyota, Situation Recommendations and Impacts Year 1937 saw the birth of one of the largest Japanese MNC’s of the current Automobile Universe. Company faced its first financial crisis in 1950, and after a series of rise and falls, successes and failures, joint ventures, out sourcing, expansions and breakthrough products (cars) Toyota topped the charts several times, giving beefy competition to General Motors, Suzuki Motors, Ford, Chevrolet and Honda Motors etc (History of Toyota, (n.d)). Recently, the giant, known for its low defect rate vehicles, reliable, premium and stylish vehicles since past 75 years, faced several problems related to manufacturing and management performance, spreading like fire in the business world (Cole, E.

Robert, 2011). The quality management problems in the cars produced in USA for local market, 2009, pulled the firm into a tight situation (Cole, E. Robert, 2011). The placement of inappropriate mats under the driver’s seat lead to uncontrolled acceleration and in an unfortunate incident the driver died because of it (Cole, E. Robert, 2011). Multiple other incidents of unintended acceleration from sticky gas pedals were reported (Cole, E. Robert, 2011). The company immediately pulled of its 3.

8 million vehicles from US market (Cole, E. Robert, 2011). This adversely impacted Toyota’s reputation in every possible way, and the financial losses incurred were there too. According to critics this manufacturing problem is not the cause but the outcome of some other root cause problem. The real problem is the lean style of management practiced by Toyota (Is lean to blame for Toyota’s current problems, 2011). Other side of the picture tells a different story though, giving credit to the lean management to keep pace with ever changing market conditions, trends, styles, demand and standardized communication contributed to Toyota’s success (Is lean to blame for Toyota’s current problems,2011).

Besides the above two problems, major issues were recorded in the functioning of Tundra Bed Bounce and Tundra Frame Rust (Toyota’s management problems have been on display for years, 2011). Unfortunately, Toyota did not show sportsman spirit in accepting its mistake and reimbursing for the problems occurring in the vehicles sold, the reasons which lead to serious concerns being raised over the management issues in Toyota like; firstly, Poor internal communication; secondly, cultural problem of individualism; thirdly, unaccountability of employees and management (Toyota’s management problems have been on display for years, 2011).

Toyota needs to come of this state of panic and start thinking of a way to get back into business and sustain the image it had build over past 75 years which is a lot. What Toyota can do is, firstly, to come up with a better management style which supports its ideology of Total Quality Management. This can only be done when/if appropriate amount of accountability held for any and every action taken by the employees or management. This will not only create in them a sense of responsibility towards the company and their assigned tasks, but also will inculcate in them a feeling that they are being supervised at the end of the day, and a reward process on basis of individual performance shall help to improve the efficiency of work.

Secondly, Toyota seriously needs to invest in its Research and Development sector to come up with more fuel efficient and good quality vehicles, this will not only help them retain current customers and retrieved the old ones, this will also help in earning customer trust that the company is keep to produce a consumer friendly product. Not to forget huge margins are inevitable in the longer run. Though, the investment cost in R&D shall be high, when the company currently bears a cost of $2 billion annually (The Toyota Recall; Understanding the Real Problem, 2010).

Thirdly, tasks in groups should be assigned to employees to build in them a tolerance towards others and the ability to work in a team like one group and to match up with the mindset of other members. All the three recommendations shall benefit the corporation in both tangible and intangible ways, such that it will help them increase their brand equity, brand life cycle shall be extended and so shall it heal the deteriorating reputation of Toyota in market. One good initiative taken by Toyota so far is the fact that President Akio Toyoda personally laid an apology for all the malfunctions occurring in their products and took full responsibility of it with an assurance that quality shall not be compromised in any way (The Toyota Recall; Understanding the Real Problem, 2010).

This step can be a signal that giant is planning to gear up and get back into the race with a bang, which will be interesting to watch. References History of Toyota, (N.d), Toyota, Retrieved from Cole, E. Robert, February 2011, What Really happened to Toyota?, MIT Sloan Management Review, Retrieved from Is lean to blame for Toyota’s current problems?, February 2011, Retrieved from Toyota’s management problems have been on display for years, 2011, Tundra Headquarters, Retrieved from The Toyota Recall; Understanding the Real Problem, 2010, Bloomberg Business Week, Retrieved form