TOYOTA VS GENERAL MOTORS

Kiichiro Toyoda created Toyota in 1937. Toyota Aichi, Japan, serves as the company’s headquarters. Toyota automobiles are sold in over 170 countries, and the company is a pioneer in environmental innovations in the automobile business. Toyota’s manufacturing tactics include lean manufacturing and just-in-time production. These two are responsible for The Toyota Way (Fujimoto, 1999). Toyota’s personnel base is a diverse blend of cultures, ages, gender, religion, and values.

General Motors was founded in 1908 as a holding company in Flint, Michigan. The global headquarters is currently located in Detroit, Michigan. GM is one of the world’s largest automobile organizations in the world (Davis, 1999). The corporation has huge international presence with several branches in the world.

Company culture and performance

The culture of Toyota can be analyzed based on four main aspects namely communication, team work, leadership and motivation. Toyota has adopted a very efficient communication system that promotes the passage of information to all its employees through a streamlined channel (Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc. 1977). The employees are allowed to be part of the decision making process and they are able to work freely without any form of interference from the management. The positive culture adopted by Toyota promotes performance of the employees.

General Motors on its part has adopted an organization culture of agility. This culture focuses on the speed at which emerging issues are being addressed in the organization. This has allowed G.M to form its competitive advantage based on the increased rate of innovation and good relations that exist among all its stakeholders (General Motors Corporation.1976). The culture is in line with the set goals and objectives thus allowing for optimization of the rate of strategic implementation.

Promotion policies

The promotion policies of Toyota encompass all the different tactics of marketing communication. Promotional activities being undertaken by Toyota include advertising, direct selling, sales promotion, personal selling and public relations.

The promotional policies being applied by General Motors can be explained as a comprehensive advertising and marketing model that are applied to obtain positive brand awareness all over the world. Some of the platforms in which GM promotes its products include TV ads, social media, print media and celebrity endorsements (Davis, 1999). The corporation also promotes its products at auto fairs and publishing of its magazines.

Strategic decision making style

Decision making process at Toyota Corporation is based on five elements that include identifying what is really going on, getting to understand underlying causes, consideration of alternative solutions, building of consensus with employees and partners and making use of efficient means of communication (Adeniyi, 2007).

At General Motors (G.M), initially adopted a decision making approach that placed a lot of emphasis on the outcomes of meeting of top executives on strategic matters and the results of market research as well as the opinions expressed on focus groups. However, in recent times, GM has been keen on incorporating the views of the consumers in its strategic decision making.

Management style

Leadership and communication style

Toyota has adopted a leadership philosophy commonly referred to as The Toyota Way that can be presented using a 2-dimensional leadership matrix. The leadership styles under this format are divided into four areas namely bureaucratic manager, group facilitator, task master and builder of learning organizations (Kouzes, 2017). This style ensures effectiveness in communication in various aspects such as direct flow of communication.

The management of General Motors led by the CEO, Mary Barra, has adopted the transformational leadership style. Transformational leadership is enhanced by leaders who have a high degree of integrity and emotional intelligence. Such leaders are focused towards motivating their members to towards adopting the shared vision through effective communication. Such leaders are known to be authentic, empathetic, self-conscious and humble in their approach to duties.

SWOT analysis tool

SWOT analysis- Toyota

Strengths

The Toyota production system of JIT

The most valuable and readily available automotive brand in the brand

Sharp focus on research and development Weaknesses

Negative publicity due to increased cases of vehicle recalls

Poor brand portfolio

Lack of competence in autonomous vehicles

Opportunities

Increased demand for autonomous vehicles

Expected rise in fuel prices

The timing and frequency of the release of new models Threats

The rising exchange rate of the Japanese Yen

Increased government regulations on the automotive industry

Increasing competition from other automotive industries in the world.

General Motors (G.M)

Strengths

World-wide market coverage

Making use of core competencies to attain the specific customer needs Opportunities

Making us of knowledge obtained from joint ventures

Focusing on building customer confidence

Changing the demand of consumers for new models of vehicles

Weaknesses

Challenges in making technology work effectively

Product design problems leading to low public acceptance

High cost of production Threats

Emergent of more domestic and foreign competitors coming up with more fuel efficient cars

High research and development costs

Global economic crisis facing the company

References

Adeniyi, M. A. (2007). Effective leadership management: An integration of styles, skills & character for today’s CEOs. Bloomington, IN: AuthorHouse.

Davis, M. W. R. (1999). General Motors: A photographic history. Charleston, S.C: Arcadia Pub.

Fujimoto, T. (1999). The evolution of a manufacturing system at Toyota. New York: Oxford University Press.

General Motors Corporation. (1976). General Motors public interest report. Detroit, Mich: General Motors.

Kouzes, J. M. P. B. Z. (2017). The Leadership Challenge: How to Make Extraordinary Things Happen in Organizations. Jossey-Bass Inc Pub.

Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc. (1977). Toyota: The first twenty years in the U.S.A. Torrance, Calif.: Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A..