Page 251 - Toyota Under Fire

TOYOT A UNDER FIRE

Under normal circumstances, the growing weaknesses in the
culture would quickly become apparent as problems were en-
countered and not optimally solved. But along with rapid growth,
Toyota was experiencing unprecedented success. The five years
leading up to the recession were the most profitable in the com-
pany’s history. It had successful vehicles in almost every category
of the market, from compacts to hybrids to large SUVs. This suc-
cess allowed the weakening of the culture to be hidden from view.
Long periods of success are actually the most difficult times
to put values front and center. Fulfilling demand, expanding ca-
pacity, introducing new products, and planning for growth take
up all the available energy. There seem to be no negative conse-
quences from taking shortcuts and choosing “good enough” over
excellence. Those shortcuts create weaknesses that steadily build,
and when success starts to drain away, the consequences can be
severe and difficult to deal with.
One of those consequences that Toyoda saw within the com-
pany was a drift away from a true understanding of the company’s
vision, as encapsulated in Global Vision 2010’s target of 15 per-
cent market share:

I realized that sometimes the people were mixing the
goals and the means. To put it in a different way, for
Toyota, the goal is to contribute to society through the
automotive business. As a means to get to that goal, we
need to sell more vehicles so that we have resources to
reinvest. But if you put more sales and profit in front of
the goal, we are going to make a big mistake.

That’s a mistake that can be directly traced to weakness in in-
culcating the Toyota culture, helping team members to not just

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