Essay - Business - Management Theory: Toyota Case Study Toyota Case Study...

Business - Management Theory: Toyota Case Study

***** ***** Study

I. Introduction.

In an increasingly globalized marketplace, m*****y companies have been forced to reduce costs and staff, improve supply chain management techniques ***** generally become leaner competitors just to survive. Some companies, though, have managed to prosper in the face of these challenges to assume leadership roles in their respective *****dustries and one such company today is Toyota Motor Corporation. According to Warner, "Toyota Mo*****r ***** is the largest of eleven car manufacturers in Japan, be*****g responsible for about 40 per cent of ***** sales in ***** Japanese market. It is also now undoubtedly one of the biggest automobile manufacturers in the world." To help identify how ***** achieved this success where o*****rs ***** failed, ***** study uses Henry Mintzberg's "Five Managerial Mindsets" management model. According to Mintzberg, "You can't create a manager in a classroom. Management is a practice that has to combine a good deal ***** craft, namely experience, with a certain amount of art, as v*****ion ***** insight, and some science, particularly in the form of analysis and technique." According to *****, each of the components of the managerial mind has a dominant subject ***** its own that can be analyzed ***** discern valuable insights (1):

*****. For reflection, the subject is the self: There can be no insight without self-knowledge;

Relationships. Collaboration takes ***** subject *****yond the self into the manager's network of relationships;

Organization. Analysis goes a step beyond relationships to ***** organization -- organizations depend on the systematic decompositi***** of activities that ***** is all about;

Context. Beyond the organization lies the subject of ***** worldly mindset, context - in other words, the worlds around the *****; and,

Change. The action m*****dset pulls everything together through the process of change -- in self, relationships, organization, ***** context.

A description of the focal organization, Toyota Motor Corporation, ***** provided ***** Section II below.

II. Description of the Focal Organization.

Toyota Motor Corporation (hereinafter "Toyota" or "the company") ***** three principal business segments:

Automotive Operations.

***** segment engages in the design, manufacture, assembly, and sale of passenger cars, recreational and sp*****t-utility vehicles, minivans ***** trucks, and related parts and accessories.

Financial Service Operations. ***** Financial Services Operations segment is principally engaged in the provision ***** f*****ance to dealers and their customers for the purchase or lease of Toyota *****. This ***** also provides retail financing, retail leasing, wholesale financing and insurance, credit cards, ***** mortgage loans.

Other Operations. The Other Operations segment is responsible for the design and manufacture of prefabricated housing and in*****ation technology related *****es, including intelligent transport systems and an e-commerce marketplace, called Gazoo.com.

The ***** was founded in 1933 ***** is headquartered ***** ***** City, Japan; the company markets its vehicles in Japan, North America, Europe and Asia.

Toyota is recognized around the world for ***** progressive ***** ***** and efficient manufacturing ***** that have taken the best ***** what ***** available ***** made them uniquely their ***** (2). For example, the