Toyota – a Visionary Company:
Since its inception, Toyota Company has continued to use its guiding principles to develop reliable vehicles and sustainable development of the society through the use of innovative and high-quality products and services. One of the major goals of the firm is to develop products that exceed the expectations of customers with regards to quality and safety. Moreover, Toyota is currently working towards the achievement of zero traffic-related injuries and fatalities, which is the eventual objective of the mobility society. However, the company has faced numerous legal troubles in the recent years, especially in 2010, that were mainly characterized by probable class-action lawsuits filed across the country. In attempts to avoid such legal troubles, Toyota has established its global vision that outlines the kind of firm it seeks to be and the values to cherish. Therefore, the main concern is whether the Toyota Company is currently moving towards its global vision and whether its strategic direction is aligned with the needs of its stakeholders.
Toyota’s Global Vision:
Toyota’s global vision is primarily geared towards the contributing to the achievement of the ultimate goal of mobility society, which is the realization of zero traffic-related fatalities and injuries. Through this vision, Toyota Corporation seeks to lead the way to the future of mobility by enriching lives across the globe with the most responsible and safest ways of moving people. In order to ensure that this vision is realized, Toyota is committed to quality, ongoing innovation, and respect for the environment as part of exceeding expectations. These vital components are accomplished through involving the talent and passion of people who always believe in a better way (“Toyota Global Vision,” n.d.).
The global vision clarifies the kind of firm Toyota seeks to become and its goal of realizing regional initiative structure for sustained growth and development. Generally, the company aims for co-prosperity and co-existence with customers and the society through developing better cars and building good communities and society. As part of its contribution towards realization of the ultimate goal of the mobility society, the company has introduced three major perspectives. The three perspectives that seek to provide the highest level of safety worldwide include Toyota’s basic safe philosophy, use of leading-edge technologies for developing safer vehicles, and the future direction of safety technologies (“Annual Report 2011,” 2011).
Toyota’s global vision strategy was adopted after the company experienced challenging circumstances in efforts to improve earnings and profits. The strategy was coupled by the revamping of the management structure to help in achieving the new mission through prompt management decisions. As previously mentioned, the challenging circumstances included the numerous legal troubles that were probable class-action lawsuits filed throughout the country (Patton & Estep, 2010). This was the first time that Toyota Corporation had experienced such legal troubles in its history.
Since establishing this vision or strategy, Toyota has made significant steps in realizing the vision through undertaking several measures. First, the restructuring of its management is a crucial step towards the vision since the goal requires timely management decisions that are based on the events taking place at actual sites. The other significant steps towards realizing the global vision include the introduction of three perspectives based on Toyota’s safety technology and introduction of smart grids to develop necessary infrastructure for this vision. Generally, Toyota has to a huge extent proceeded towards achieving global vision through undertaking these measures.
Current Strategic Direction and Stakeholders’ Needs:
Based on an evaluation of the company, the vision of Toyota is to become the leading company in the future of mobility that enriches the lives of people globally through creating high-quality and safe vehicles. On the other hand, its mission is to build and develop advanced technologies in order to offer high-quality products and services that meet the needs of customers across the globe (“Guiding Principles at Toyota,” n.d.). The needs and objectives of stakeholders can be understood and clearly evaluated through the firm’s vision and mission. In this case, the needs and goals of the stakeholders are to obtain high-quality and safe products and improved profits from their investments. Therefore, the vision and mission of Toyota has taken into account the needs and goals of its stakeholders. In light of the 2010 quality problems, Toyota adopted a new strategy known as the global vision. The current strategy is in line with the stakeholders needs since the firm seeks to become the leading company in the future of mobility society. This strategy has taken the stakeholders needs into consideration because it’s geared towards high-quality products and services as well as improved earnings.
Recommendations and Conclusion:
The recent quality problems that Toyota Company experienced in 2010 resulted in considerable damages to the firm’s reputation and image. However, Toyota has adopted a new strategic direction i.e. global vision to avoid the quality problems and improve earnings. There are several recommendations that Toyota should undertake in addition to the new strategy. First, Toyota should evaluate its quality control initiatives to address various improvements (Kageyama, 2010). This should be followed by strengthening its supplier quality controls, expanding its product development duration and efforts to include more safety testing, and promote extensive employee development through improved training.
References:
“Annual Report 2011.” (2011, March 31). Toyota Annual Report. Retrieved October 15, 2012,
from http://www.toyota-global.com/investors/ir_library/annual/pdf/2011/ar11_e.pdf
“Guiding Principles at Toyota.” (n.d.). Toyota Motor Corporation. Retrieved October 15, 2012,
from http://www.toyota-global.com/company/vision_philosophy/guiding_principles.html
Kageyama, Y. (2010, July 13). Toyota to Study Quality Panel’s Recommendations. Retrieved October 15, 2012, from http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/195912/economy/toyota-to-study-quality-panel-s-recommendations
Patton, J. & Estep, B. (2010, February 11). Toyota Debacle could be Largest Consumer-fraud
Case Ever, Expert Says. Retrieved October 15, 2012, from http://www.kentucky.com/2010/02/11/1132961/scott-county-plant-named-in-federal.html
“Toyota Global Vision.” (n.d.). Toyota Motor Corporation. Retrieved October 15, 2012, from http://www.toyota-global.com/company/vision_philosophy/toyota_global_vision_2020.html
