Long-Term Objectives of Toyota - Essay Example

Toyota: Current Long-term Objectives The Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) or simply Toyota is a multinational automaker headquartered at Toyota in Japan. The company was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda on 28th August 1937. By the end of 2010, Toyota employed 317,734 people globally. Toyota is the world’s largest automobile manufacturer in terms of sales and production. This paper will discuss the current long-term objectives of Toyota Motor Corporation. From the very beginning of its origin, the company’s management philosophy has reflected the concepts of Lean Manufacturing and Just In Time Production.

However, the suppliers’ competency is one of the current long-term objectives of Toyota (“Helping Suppliers Compete”). The TMC believes that a steady and long-term relationship with suppliers would be beneficial for the company to spawn mutual benefits through mutual trust. The company has also formulated specific strategies to augment the competitiveness of its suppliers in the auto-manufacturing marketplace. For instance, as reported (in “Helping suppliers compete”), the company’s annual purchasing policy sets certain annual performance expectations for customers in some specific areas such as quality, delivery, cost, and supplier diversity; and in addition, the company dispatches experts to work with suppliers when they struggle to meet their annual expectations.

Mitigation of the environmental impact of automobiles is another long-term objective of the company (“our stance on biofuels”). Nowadays, consumers are increasingly concerned about the issues like global warming and green gas emissions. It has been identified that fuel combustion in vehicles contributes to environmental issues. Therefore, the company has made certain sets of environmental leadership core principles with the intent to amplify future growth. Presently, Toyota is dealing with a broad range of technologies that would effectively minimize the implications of environmental difficulties.

According to Pearce and Robinson (chapter, 7), the most fascinating environmental leadership feature of the company is that it still works to develop alternative fuel sources such as biofuels. Since the non-renewable energy resources are largely exploited, the company believes that biofuels can provide a sustainable and lower carbon alternative to fossil fuels. The company’s renewable fuel strategy aims to “have the right vehicle at the right time and in the right place to meet the needs of our customers” (“Toyota’s Renewable Fuel Strategy”).

Recently, Toyota has announced that its all vehicles would gradually change their technology to hybrid gasoline-electric motors. Currently, the TMC has adopted an innovative concept called Toyota Recycling Vision that sets the long-term goals for recycling end-of-life vehicles (ELVs). This policy of the company would address the growing concerns about resource depletion and environmental issues from wastage. Under this program, the company’s objective is to attain a 95% vehicle recycling rate. In total, the company has currently set certain long-term objectives in order to improve its present financial position.

Supplier competency and environment-friendly product designing involve the major long-term objectives of the Toyota Motor Corporation. It has also formulated a long-term program to achieve a good vehicle recovery rate.