1. Examine and critique an aspect of the company’s performance with regards to fulfilling the needs within society.
2. Analyse the company’s current corporate image.
3. Highlight both areas of achievement and those requiring improvements. Do not focus only the positive or negative aspects.
4. Examine and discuss the impacts and implications of the company’s action on society and stakeholders.
5. Provide you’re on – balance recommendations & conclusions about the company’s performance in society.
1. Toyota Company puts huge emphases to reach out to the social needs and the values the importance of the community surrounding their operations. The giant corporation makes decisions that directly affect the community and adds to their social responsibility. Among the lead activities to promote their social awareness and responsibility is the employee engagement. The employees play a huge role in the development of an assessment that aims to cover the needs of the intermediate society. The functions that Toyota carries out in their self-termed social contribution entail the protection of the environment, the emphasis on traffic safety, education engagements as well as giving back to the society as a whole[1]. The processes seem to be a normal expectation to the common person referring to the profits that the car manufacturer makes and with the steady lead in the car manufacturing industry. As early as 2003, there was the development of the Community Spirit Program that focused on the capacity building for non-profit members, offers eminent support for the business goals of all the involved parties, delivers benefits that would offer long-term sustainability and encourage employees and dealership. However, the program offered minute chances for the participation from the employees of the firm. 2011 saw the birth of the Toyota Community Foundation to combat the missing evaluation from the employees of the firm. The task of the appointed champions would to give input to what the community and social needs would entail to the manufacturing firm. The growth of the new foundation associated itself with disaster relief where there was a concrete connection to the matching donations from the employees. Moreover, there was an establishment of a community and employee fund that offered and still offer grants to the communities via partnerships with the local governments. The efforts get simplified and more diversified from the presence of fifty-two manufacturing plants in twenty-seven countries globally. Each plant in the diverse countries has tasks from the head offices to promote and deliver results of the social responsibility and facilitate social needs of the communities around them in their performance statuses. The company additionally offers employment to the people in regions where the firm establishes its manufacturing plants in efforts to create employment to the locals, and in a collective role with the local governments to increase the national income. Moreover, the firm announced a contribution towards sustainable development to boost its relations with the stakeholders. In August 2008, the move translated to the firm’s CSR policy. The policy traces efforts of contribution through sustainable development and takes into account the gradual environmental changes and the ever-increasing societal interests in the CSR. The specific input to the community has their commitment to respect the people by honouring the cultures, history, customs and laws of each region the firm has an operational plant1. In addition, Toyota focuses on finding safer, superior, and cleaner methods that satisfy the needs of the specific society to provide sustainable mobility. Importantly, Toyota vows not to take any form of bribery from any individual or institution and adds to maintain their fair and honest relations with the governmental institutions and with the authorities governing the public. Their fulfilment of the social needs leads Toyota to spell out that they actively engage and promote the social contribution activities that reinforce societies and give continued support to enrich the societies. The fulfilment happens in collaboration with individuals and with partners.
2. The current representation from the corporate Toyota to the world is that of a customer first image. The firm puts emphasis on the needs of the customers, with common phrases and ads that deliver the same image. The events leading to a strong brand creation to put the “customer is king”[2] mantra dig to the events that lead to the death of four people as the accelerator pedal stuck in a floor mat. The accident occurring in 2009 saw Toyota recall 3.8 million vehicles on November 2 and 400,000 vehicles in a recall four weeks after the incident. The effects of the accidents damaged the then positive image for the customers. Subsequently, the negative attitude from customers rose to 22 percent and the positive regard from the consumers fell by five points to settle at 78 percent. The recalls were not over since on January 21, 2010; the gigantic corporation recalled over two million vehicles following complaints about the accelerator pedal sticking in the cars without floor mats. There was an additional recall of other vehicles with an array of diversified faults. Following the recall and subsequent loss of trust from the consumers, the firm propelled a new motto “Moving Forward” in an attempt to push the new agenda and image of the fresh start and desire to communicate with the customers for a better future. The new motto also played a double role to revive the firm from the natural calamities in Japan and Taiwan at the period. A combination of smart pricing and intelligent artisanship works to create the new image for the customers, and the methods work due to the increase in the sales and growth of the firm over the past decade. Launching new models and running ads across mainstream media place the image of the firm at a new perspective to the eyes of the motor customers. Moreover, there was the establishment of the Toyota Marketing Japan Corporation and Toyota Motor Sales and Marketing Corporation dedicated to offering more efforts to advance genchi and genbutsu- and improve on the consumer based marketing engagements. In addition, the new extensions geared the strength to reform the operations of the sales and the development of the new models from the firm. Creation of ads to cover an extensive frequency of up to seven times in a year offering different ads for the various models changed the image completely to the current customer is king corporate image.
The up trick in the manufacturing success of Toyota goes to the low prices of fuel, economies getting stronger and the huge customer demand for Toyota automobiles. Toyota manufactures over fourteen models in over twenty-five nations. Apart from the huge economic and financial growth of the firm, a huge milestone in the manufacturing industry lies within the provision of current technological and engineering discoveries that guarantee safety and promote efficiency. Toyota plays top leagues in promoting safety and promoting the efficiency. The invention of green cars, recalls inspecting and correcting major faults in the models, and the inclusion of safety procedures in all of the models acts as a leading milestone for the company. Apart from the engineering aspect Toyota pushed immensely and achieved the customer trust through the production of the numerous and correction of errors in the released car models. Toyota grew the image to form a positive image for their customers. Hence, the growth in the customer demands the Toyota models all over the globe. A huge milestone and achievement from the gigantic firm are the increase in the viable ways that connect the firm dealer’s networks. The firm develops a special focus on manufacturing economical cars with a hinting range of the luxurious giants.
I feel Toyota needs to take initiatives to reform the corporate culture. They need to revitalize the venture spirit through the direct reformation of the consciousness to align with the Global Vision[3]. The introduction of cars that meet the local needs in the ever-evolving markets should be a priority for the firm. Performing those tasks will improve the global market share by a ten percent sure increase from the gigantic car-manufacturing firm. In the innovation for the development of better basic performance cars, the firm should aim to synthesize the design and the planning process to produce better and simplistic performing cars. It is also a thought for Toyota to improve on the Six Sigma, the quality of the car, and offer less focus to the lean of the car, the focus on time3. The firm will benefit even more from the continuous upholding of their improvement culture in their car manufacturing DNA. The production of green cars and fuel-saving automobiles is a region that needs constant improvement in anticipation to the changing dynamics of the world supply of petroleum commodities.
4. The recognition that Toyota has to the importance of involving the stakeholders and the society leads them to put more and more emphasis on the creation of rules that govern their CSR operations. Among the impacts of the firm engaging in the society and having a healthy relationship with the stakeholders, is the strong and positive image of the firm in the communities. The day-to-day decision-making process has a variable input from the stakeholders and the society and in so doing; the firm meets and operates within the expectations of all the parties involved[4]. Additionally, the firm has an easy time following the compliance procedures set in the locations of the manufacturing industries. To such regards, Toyota does not expose itself to risks of penalties and fines, legal costs, potential closure of operations, loss of corporate reputation, or even less productivity due to frequent and subsequent inspections. The sustainability creates financial value to the firm through the system of enhanced revenues and the lower costs of operating business from the integration with the society and their social needs. The revenues increase from the increased sales created by a god corporate reputation, and the low operation costs originate from the fewer processes improvements and a declined rate of fines and penalties. The increased moral obligation for Toyota acts as an obligation from their engagement with the society and their needs and with the inclusion of the stakeholders in the decision-making process. The corporate leadership of the Toyota firm increases their efforts in the mandate to protect the environment in the locations with their manufacturing facilities. Their obligation to protect the environment promises to control some pollutants to protect the community and the environment at a long short4. In so doing, the firm achieves two goals with one direct motive. Their moral standard and respect for the community surrounding their business ensure they protect the environment in their manufacturing process and at the same time provides a financial advantage from the sales of less-pollutant automobiles. Various stakeholders such as the customers have an open forum to engage with the company through the various response lines and social media outlets. The advantage that Toyota has over other motor manufacturing firms is the open channels to which the customers can contact the firm. Impacts include an improvement of the customer satisfaction activities and improved dissemination of information upon customer request. The relationship with the customer produces positive results in the creation of a positive brand and retaining the loyalty of the customers5. Engagements with the employees by having open channels where the employees can develop and express their creativity in the production and design of the automobiles places Toyota ahead in the processes that strengthen the labor management within the firm[5]. In addition, the open interaction improves the workstations, improves on the working cultures, and promotes the evaluation and planning activities for the various labor categories of the leading car manufacturer. Relations with the business partners and the shareholders produce relations that are mutually beneficial based on mutual trust and improve the management of the firm by allowing open and quality dialogues respectively.
5. Toyota is on the path to global leadership in car manufacturing in the world. The current situation places Toyota as the leading firm that incorporates the opinion of the stakeholders in the daily decision-making process. As a result, the company maintains strong corporate societal responsibility procedures that look into the varied interests of the stakeholders. The current state of the firm is one that maintains a strong and effective corporate responsibility and one that maintains an emphasis on the business advantage to the global automobile market[6]. Conclusions of the activities of the activities of the company show that the macro-environment factors associated with the firm provide immense opportunities to the firm. Hence, the firm should put effort on development of products to grasp a hold of the available opportunities. Additionally, Toyota should upgrade on the operations of its business and improve the market presence to exploit the opportunities present. Improving on the measures and frequencies of technology and encouraging more innovation will combat the internal threats the firm faces from the widening wealth gap and the increased activities of cyber crimes on a global platform6. Moreover, the presence of stiff competition gives Toyota an opening to come up with innovative capabilities that will steer it ahead of the existing competition from rivalry car manufacturers[7]. The organization of culture and optimization of the structural functions of the firm is a recommendation to maximize the flexibility of the firm in the process of decision-making and the combined role of solving existing problems[8].
Alsop R, The 18 Immutable Laws Of Corporate Reputation (Free Press 2014)
Amasaka K, Science TQM, New Quality Management Principle (Bentham Science Publishers 2012)
Ferguson E, ‘Toyota PESTEL/PESTLE Analysis & Recommendations – Panmore Institute’ (Panmore Institute, 2015) <https://panmore.com/toyota-pestel-pestle-analysis-recommendations> accessed 23 May 2016
Japan In The Bluegrass (University Press of Kentucky 2001)
The Global Achievement Gap (The Global Achievement Gap.)
‘Toyota Global Site | Stakeholder Engagement’ (www.toyota.co.jp, 2016) <https://www.toyota-global.com/sustainability/society/stakeholder/> accessed 23 May 2016
Zokaei A, Creating A Lean And Green Business System
Schermerhorn J, Management (John Wiley 2010)
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