CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY 2
Introduction
This essay presents a case of a company that has dealt with public criticism from various stakeholders. In the introduction part readers will be able to know the company, its mission, and the type of business that it provides. Later on, the essay identifies the event which was responsible for the strong criticisms promoted by stakeholders, what the specific criticisms were, and the business’ response to the criticisms. All researched information can be confirmed by consulting the reference list.
CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY 3
Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) was founded in Japan in 1937 by Sakichi Toyoda and is now considered one of the “giants” of the automotive industry. In the first year TMC produced 4013 units. In July 2012 - 75 years later - TMC “worldwide cumulative production tops 200 million units”. As reported by Lowry W. (April 29, 2014), in 2013, TMC is producing cars, trucks, and buses in five continents and leads the world market with 11.8% of share ahead of General Motors and Volkswagen. Financially, (and except for 2008) results have been very positive during the new century. From the FY 2014 Financial Report (May 8, 2014), the shareholder dividend as per March 2014 was 165 yen per share (Total Amount of Payment: 522.9 billion yen, Payout Ratio: 28.7%).
Although Toyota USA’s Mission states "To attract and attain customers with high-valued products and services and the most satisfying ownership experience in America." Toyota’s Group uses an official statement called The Global Vision (refer to http://www.strategicmanagementinsight.com/mission-statements/toyota-mission-statement.html or http://www.toyota-global.com/company/vision_philosophy/toyota_global_vision_2020.html...
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...cial Responsibility. University of Houston. Retrieved from http://www.instituteforpr.org/topics/corporate-social-responsibility/
Lowry, W. (April 29, 2014). Why companies like Toyota lead in global automobile market share. The Market Realist. Retrieved from http://marketrealist.com/2014/04/companies-like-toyota-lead-global-automobile-market-share/
(n.a.). May 8, 2014. FY 2014 Financial Results. Toyota Motor Corporation. Retrieved from http://www.toyota-global.com/investors/financial_result/2014/pdf/q4/presentation.pdf
(n.a.). (September 3, 2013). Mission Statement of Toyota. Retrieved from http://www.strategicmanagementinsight.com/mission-statements/toyota-mission-statement.html
(n.a.). 2005. The Role of Business in Society. International Organization of Employers. Geneva,
Switzerland. Retrieved from http://www.ioe-emp.org/fileadmin/ioe_documents/publications/Policy%
General Motors has made great progress towards diversity however, it took the lawsuit in order for the company to do so. Adding females and minority to the upper management. Had the HR department of General Motors followed the EEOC regulations, this lawsuit could have been avoided.
(5) Liker, Jeffrey K. The Toyota Way: 14 Management Principles from the World's Greatest Manufacturer. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2004. Print.
Toyota Motor Manufacturing, U.S.A. (TMM) is deviating from the standard assembly line principle of jidoka in an attempt to avoid expenses incurred from stopping the production line for seat quality defects. This deviation has contributed to the inability to identify the root cause of the problem, which has led to decreased run ratios on the line and an excess of defective automobiles in the overflow lot for multiple days. If this problem isn’t fixed quickly, an increased amount of waste will continue to be incurred and customer value will be threatened.
Salespeople need to know the history of the company, how the company has grown, and how the company runs currently. According to Toyota Global, the company was founded on August 28, 1937 in Japan, by Kiichiro Toyoda. The company has grown steadily over the years, and currently the Camry is one of the most popular cars in the world. Toyota has manufacturing companies it does business with in 27 different countries. Toyota’s vision statement is “Toyota will lead the way to the future of mobility, enriching lives around the world with the safest and most responsible ways of moving people” (Toyota Global). This statement shows Toyota places an emphasis on innovation, safety, and environmental responsibility. Forbes states the company has over $255.64 billion in sales making it the ninth most valuable brand in the
Toyota Motor Manufacturing, U.S.A. Inc. Case Study Question 1. As Doug Friesen, what would you do to address the seat problem? Where would you focus your attention and solution efforts? As Doug Friesen did, I also would have started with the idea of “let’s go see it” to address the problem. I would visit the cars in the clinic and overflow area and study Exhibit 8, the Group Leader’s Seat Defect Data, and Exhibit 10, Andon Pulls.
Toyota Motor Corporation is a Japan based company, whose headquarters are located in Aichi Prefecture. The company was founded by Kiichiri Toyoda in 1937. Currently the company’s CEO is Akio Toyoda. Toyota is basically into cars and it is one of the top players in the world in this industry. Toyota also owns two other brands namely Lexus and Scion, which gives the company a lot of advantage over it’s other competitors. Toyota manufactures sedans, saloons, suvs, muvs, pick-up trucks and buses. During the year 2013 Toyota had approximately 333,498 employees, who were working globally. In March 2013, Toyota was ranked as the thirteenth biggest organization globally in terms of its revenue. In the following table we can see the financial report of Toyota Motor Corporation in the year 2013-
This merger happened in the year 1999 where Renault acquired 36.8 percent equity stake in Nissan, 22.5 persent stake in Nissan Diesel and 100 percent in Nissan’s European Finance subsidiaries amounting to USD5.4 billion. This merger is based on the principal that both companies will share resources but will retain their separate identities. This was done to improve their individual competitiveness. While Nissan is somewhat stable in North America and Asia, it is supported by Renault in Europe and South America. They share responsibilities for Africa and Middle East.
In the auto mobile sector, General Motors and Toyota are the two biggest player that rank in the world ranking of manufacturers (OICA, 2010). Toyota corporation faces prosecution for covering up severe safety problems with “unintended acceleration,”according to court documents, and continuing to make cars with parts the FBI said Toyota “knew were deadly” (Ross et al., 2015). The brakes of the vehicles are defect because it is unable to break when the pedal is press; besides that, another problem arises when the model vehicles that is equipped with keyless ignition cannot turn off their ignition even when the ignition buttons only requires 3 second to stop the engine due to the poor instruction manual that is not posted on a place that is visible to the driver in times of crisis (Ross et al., 2015). The issues with the brakes shows that Toyota is doing a irresponsible business by acting it out unethically such as putting their sales level over the customers safety which is similar to the General
Toyota’s Integrated Differentiated Strategy is very unique to the automotive industry. Its main focus, according to the president of Toyota, is that Toyota is not trying to rival other automakers; Toyota is trying to conquer customers with great products and service to obtain high customer satisfaction.
Toyota's mission is aligned with the needs of their stakeholders - to a degree. Toyota mission is in line with long-standing philosophies; they have designed their mission to supersede short-range decisions. Toyota's philosophical principle is to "work, grow, and align" the enterprise in the direction of a universal rationale, which to the Toyota Motor Corporation states is "bigger than making money" (Toyota, 2010). According to Jim Press, the C.O.O. of Toyota Sales North America and Executive VP, Toyota's chief purpose is not to see a corporate gain, or for the stakeholders to see their portfolio's grow; the purpose of Toyota is to "reinvest in the future so that Toyota can continue to do business; as well as give back to the communities in which we do business" (Ramusson, 2008). Toyota uses this idealism as the basis for all its principles. So, while the stakeholders do make money, it is not the prima...
The nonmanufacturing companies can learn and apply from Toyota’s philosophy and practices as listed below:
Toyota- focused differentiation, medium pricing, breadth of product line is low. Company is known for quality products, and nice styling.
Toyota’s uses both differentiation and low cost as generic strategies to try and gain a competitive advantage over their competitors in the automotive industry. The market scope that Toyota uses is a broad one that encompasses nearly every type of customer that is in the market to purchase an automobile. Toyota is able to target such a large market because they have something for everyone. Toyota has four wheel drive trucks and SUVs for the outdoor types or those who live in areas that face severe weather conditions, hybrid models like the Prius for the eco-friendly customers that are interested in saving the environment, along with the standard cars for general, everyday use. Additionally, Toyota provides vehicles for all price ranges.
Toyota Motor Corporation is one of the largest automakers in the world. At its annual conference in Tokyo on May 8, 2008, the company announced that activities through March 2008 generated a sales figure of $252.7 billion, a new record for the company. However, the company is lowering expectations for the coming year due to a stronger yen, a slowing American economy, and the rising cost of raw materials (Rowley, 2008). If Toyota is to continue increasing its revenue, it must examine its business practice and determine on a course of action to maximize its profit.
Toyota has adopted an expansion strategy aimed at increasing the company’s market share through sustainable growth. This will be done based on the delivery of high quality, and safe cars, at an affordable price. As the company seeks to expand to new markets, focus will be on maintaining an organizational culture that allows optimum efficiency in the ever dynamic global market.