Toyota Motors Is a Worldwide

Toyota Motors is a worldwide company that has grown to be one of the most successful in the world. In the United States, the company started as Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A. On October 31, 1957. When sales began in 1958, the company sold only 288 vehicles. With the arrival of the Land Cruiser, American sales gained momentum, which culminated in the Toyota Corona as the first popular Toyota in the United States. In 1966, the company's sales had increased to more than 20,000 units. Toyota built its reputation as a supplier of high-quality, reliable vehicles and sales continued to increase. At the end of 1975, Toyota has become the No. 1 import brand in the country, surpassing Volkswagen in this position. During the 1980s, Toyota became the first import automaker that sold more than one million vehicles in the United States in one year. During the same year, 1986, Toyota brought its first manufacturer into the country, and started building cars on American soil. During the next two decades, the company has grown exponentially. It currently has the annual capacity to build about 2.2 million cars and trucks. It has 15 plants across North America.

Toyota Motors is also focused upon its role in the community, a drive that grew particularly during the 1980s, when the company gained some prominence in the American market. In this spirit, the Toyota USA Foundation was established in 1987. In an effort towards more environmentally friendly products, Toyota began the new millennium with the Prius, the first mass-produced gas/electric hybrid car in the world. The tailpipe emissions from this vehicle were 90% less than conventional cars at the time. This was followed by the 2004 Prius, featuring Toyota's new, breakthrough hybrid technology. This technology was expanded in various environmentally friendly efforts, including the luxury hybrid, Lexus RX 400h and a hybrid option for the Toyota Highlander. The third-generation Prius, with an estimated EPA fuel economy of 50 miles per gallon, was launched in 2009. The company therefore positioned itself to become one of the most socially and environmentally responsible in the vehicle business. Furthermore, its focus on quality, social and environmental responsibility has provided Toyota with the leading edge in motor manufacturing.

According to Stapp (2005), environmental legislation has rapidly become a necessity with the increasing carbon dioxide emissions from the U.S. transportation system. The author notes that the industry is responsible for more emissions in the United States than any other national economy. The author cites the Pew Centre on Global Climate Change in estimating that only China tops the United States in the amount of these emissions.

To curb the increasing danger posed by the emissions, each American state has implemented its own legislation regarding emissions from vehicles. The state of California, for example, was the first in the world to implement a law requiring limits on greenhouse gas emissions not only from factories and commercial vehicles, but also from passenger vehicles. The effect was that car companies were given a decade to reduce the carbon dioxide emissions from all new vehicles sold in the state by 30%. This is significant, as state residents are responsible for more than 1.5 million new vehicle purchases per year. Other states that have followed suit include New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Maine, and Vermont.

While many vehicle manufacturers have resisted the new legislation on the grounds that it would result in unmanageably high vehicle prices, Toyota manufacturers have created a platform of responsible, clean vehicle manufacturing operations. At the time of writing, Toyota has sold 100,000 hybrid cars in the United States, counting from the year 2000. The company is also part of the California Fuel Cell Partnership, consisting of various entities that collaborate to advance cleaner vehicles. Nevertheless, Stapp (2005) notes that even Toyota Motors have met the new legislation with some misgivings, despite its focus on curbing its contribution to global warming and implementing action plans to address environmental issues.

In recognition of the current state of the earth and the effect of human activities upon the climate, the public has increasingly supported the purchase and manufacture of hybrid vehicles. These purchases have also steadily climbed in response to the increasing oil and fuel prices throughout the world.

In its 2010 Environmental Report for its United States branches, Toyota professes to recognize the need for environmental measures in the motoring industry. At the heart of this recognition is the fact that the increasing global, and urban, population will include increasing mobility needs, creating challenges in terms of sustainability (Toyota, 2010).

In response, Toyota has created the Global vision 2020, providing precise guidelines for the company's future sustainability. To accomplish this, the company has taken a global view of the sustainability issue, in terms of creating a sustainability plan not only for the finished product, but also for the process of creating the final product, as well as the environment and society within which this process occurs. As such, the environmental, social, and economic consequences of the company's actions are carefully considered in order to decrease the negative impacts and increase the positive ones across all the stages of vehicle manufacture, including the supply of materials, design, manufacturing, sales, and end of life.

Because of the number of entities affected by these efforts, sustainability cannot be ensured by the efforts of Toyota alone. Instead, the opinions of all stakeholders such as local communities, non-governmental organizations, and academia are considered. The sustainability drive is therefore a team effort rather than one that a single individual or company can accomplish.

In addition to customers and other stakeholders, Toyota also works with its business partners to ensure greater future sustainability. What the report refers to as the "mobility system," for example, includes planning, infrastructure development, traffic management, regulatory requirements, and transport types. Toyota sees itself as part of this system, within which it must also work to accomplish collective sustainability. The company therefore also recognizes the need to create a collective vision and strategy for sustainability across the industry.

One of the ways in which Toyota has worked to create this type of sustainability, as mentioned earlier, is its work to create environmentally friendlier vehicles to ultimately replace conventional vehicles; a plan at the core of which are hybrid vehicles. In addition, the company has also implemented a Comprehensive Environmental Technology (CET) solution, which recognizes that there is no single technological solution to create sustainability within the industry. Although hybrid vehicles are at the core of this effort, the company supplements this with additional and wider efforts towards developing sustainable technologies.

Various strategies have been implemented to accomplish this, of which one is the Advanced Technology Vehicle demonstration programs, which involves testing plug-in hybrid vehicles and fuel cell hybrid vehicles at partner locations. This makes a larger sector of the public aware of these vehicles, while also creating a platform for greater demand. Diversified energy sources are also being created for vehicles, including hydrogen for fuel cells, electricity used in PHVs and battery electric vehicles. Low-carbon biofuels are also being developed. Cooperative Agreements for further research are being negotiated with stakeholders such as government entities, universities, and industry partners. Support for infrastructure development is being developed, so that owners of energy-efficient cars can safely and easily access energy for their vehicles. Thought leadership means that Toyota officials participate in discussions and debates on sustainability and mobility for the future. Some of these occur at events such as Meeting of the minds, Governors' Global Climate Summit, and sustainable mobility seminars.

In terms of benchmarking, the most important of these was implemented in 2001 by former Toyota president Fujio Cho (The Manufacturer, 2010). The Toyota Way was an initiative to help share in the history, spirit and values of the company. The major components of this philosophy are continuous improvement and respect for all people. From this, the Toyota Way was developed to provide benchmarks and standards for each of the components of the company, including Sales and Marketing. The Toyota Way in Sales and Marketing differs from the Toyota Production System, in that the latter was established in Japan and transferred to other countries, whereas the former is developed in each respective country. Part of the Toyota Way benchmark is then also to create a vision and mission for each employee to adhere to. For the Toyota Company collectively, the vision is to become the most successful and respected car company in the world, while the mission for each individual employee is to create lifetime customers and adopt a customer-first approach in his or her work. An important part of this is the fundamental belief that overseas markets should not be controlled by Japan. Instead, each should be allowed its own platform to create a specific Toyota Way that is appropriate to the country in question.

Within the workplace, itself, important components include workplace vitality, invisible competitiveness and an environment that encourages continuous improvement. Invisible competitiveness refers to components of the manufacturing and research process that customers do not see. Hence, these are "invisible" to the end user, but no less vital to the success of the company for it. Components of this type of competition include production lead time, development speed in research and development, production quality, and the capacity of group companies and parts suppliers (The Manufacturer, 2010). Production quality is one of Toyota's great success benchmarks, as the company's inherent philosophy is that quality is a built-in component of all its products.

A further benchmark is the Toyota Global Vision 2010. Created in 2002, the Vision identified four areas of innovations. The first of these is the drive towards greener practices, known as "true to the earth" (The Manufacturer, 2010). The drive is to develop the most advanced environmental technologies, as seen above. The second component is "Comfort of life." This means that Toyota would create products that provide ease, safety and comfort for users. "Excitement for the world," in turn, means that Toyota would create a sense of excitement about their products and brand, while the already mentioned "respect for all people" means that the company would not only respect its employees and customers, but also command reciprocal respect from the world within which it works and functions.

The first component, "true to earth," provides a benchmark for sustainability. Toyota is concerned not only with creating environmentally friendly products but also with the direct effect of these upon the environment. In other words, both the principle of green technology and its practical applicability to the plight of the earth are important. This component then dictates that the company seek to balance the increasing demand for vehicle ownership with its responsibility as a corporate citizen. Increasing concerns such as global warming and air pollution will also mean an increase in this responsibility.

To address this, the Toyota Company recognizes that creating hybrid vehicles and promoting them as strongly as possible to the public is only part of the solution. As mentioned above, the recognition here is that there should also be a wider focus upon the context of manufacture. Not only should there be a recognition of the effects of emissions form existing vehicles, for example; the entire industry should be taken into account when addressing the problem of global warming and environmental deterioration. In other words, the focus should not only be on "tank-to-wheel" efficiency, but also on "well-to-tank" efficiency (The Manufacturer, 2010).

In the light of these benchmarks, Toyota has created a set of guiding principles for its operations worldwide (Toyota North American, Inc., 2011). The seven guiding Principles form the fundamental management policy for the company, which includes not only respect for the environment and a commitment to quality, but also a respect for the diversified cultures of the communities within which the company operates.

In terms of best practice, a large part of Toyota's operations is focused upon sustainability. Importantly, one aspect that relates to this is Toyota's coordination with other businesses in the industry to help reduce the company's environmental footprint. This involves all of Toyota's business relationships, including those with its affiliated companies. Essential functions in this regard include implementing the corporate principles of Toyota, along with its policies and action guidelines; setting direction and strategy for the achievement of the company's vision; establishing priorities and action plans; formulating a unified position as concerns environmental issues; and coordinating environmental activities.

Specifically, Toyota's best practice activities revolve around using ecological plastics in its vehicle design. These are derived from plant materials and emit less carbon gases than plastics made only from petroleum. The 2011 Prius has, for example, been redesigned to incorporate biobased plastics in the cushion of its driver's seat, scuff plate and cowl side trim. Other recycled materials are also used in the company's vehicles.

In terms of analyzing its current practices, the Toyota Company does not have an information disclosure policy. However, it does adhere to company-wide transparency in certain key aspects (One World Trust, 2006): In the Toyota Code of Conduct, the company indicates an understanding of the importance of disclosure. Particularly, there is a stated commitment to accurate communication and timely information to stakeholders. Open and fair communication seems to lie at the heart of this commitment.

There is an Information Disclosure Committee that oversees the company's transparency. There appears to be no training for staff on how to comply with the company's transparency requirement. Furthermore, despite its operations in several different countries, the code of conduct was found only in English and Japanese. Furthermore, the Website does not have a function that allows easy stakeholder communication with the company.

Another concern is that Toyota appears to have no specific policy on external stakeholder engagement. The Code of Conduct makes a statement to the effect that the company "listens to" and "respects" its stakeholders and their suggestions. However, this is too vague to meet the requirements for good practice in terms of stakeholder engagement. One important element is to identify the conditions under which stakeholders may be involved in decision making or how this involvement will affect the ultimate decisions taken.

In conclusion, the Toyota Company is extremely strong in a number of key areas, and specifically as far as the environment is concerned. Both the philosophy and the manufacturing process of the company indicate a commitment to the environment and its sustainability. It uses environmentally friendly materials and communicates with business partners and stakeholders to ensure green practices.

One of the most important factors Toyota incorporates in its best practice paradigm is lean manufacturing. Indeed, the company has been the pioneer in bringing this production paradigm from Japan to the Western world. To help companies establish their own profitable version of this type of manufacturing, the company has established the Toyota Supplier Support Center (TSSC) in 1992. It words with manufacturers to help strengthen their competitiveness. In this way, Toyota has been working with other companies to enhance the social paradigm of helping stakeholders become more profitable.