Global Business Strategy
ASSESSMENT 2  (50% of module mark)

ACADEMIC CASE STUDY REPORT

TASK
 
You are required to prepare a well-structured, well-referenced analytical academic report (max 2500 words) on the case study: Toyota: The Evolution of the Toyota Production System (Mintzberg et al 2003). 
 

• Identify and discuss the main issues.
• Analyse fully the competitive environment, the company's capabilities and competences.
• Customize strategic tools (ie models) you have learned during the module to assist your analysis but put them in the appendix and refer to them in the text.
• Be critical of your sources and the models you use.
• Evaluate the company's strategic options.
• Undertake additional research to bring the case study up-to-date and write this in 1 paragraph.
• Make recommendations on suitable strategies for the company to follow and comment on whether any of the options you have evaluated above would have served Toyota better than the options they chose.

Note

 
If you comply with the grading criteria for presentation below, you will be rewarded with up to 5% extra marks.
 
 
Submission Date:  Friday, 10 May 2013.
Please submit on Elearn

Grading criteria

• The content of your work should show evidence of:

• evidence of research
• logical structure
• analysis based on strategic models/tools
• critical approach to your sources and the strategic models/tools used
• understanding of the concepts
• sound, well-rounded arguments
• attention to the brief (you must do what is asked)

• The presentation of your work will be assessed according to the following criteria:

• complies with instructions in the “Rules for presentation of written work” in MIP
• has appropriate format and headings
• is written in an academic style and language
• avoids use of shortened verb forms, 1^st/2^nd person or colloquialisms/journalese.
• is free of errors of grammar, spelling and typography
• is appropriately referenced, using the Harvard Referencing System, both in the text and in the list of sources.
• achieves a similarity of 5% or less on Turnitin.

Report on
 
The evolution of the Toyota Production System
 
 
Table of contents
 
Case study -The evolution of the Toyota Production System........................................ 3
1.0 Introduction............................................................................................................. 3
2.0 Identify and discuss the main issues........................................................................ 3
2.1 The matter of Mass production......................................................................... 3
2.2 Political matters................................................................................................. 3
2.3 Quality issues.................................................................................................... 4
2.4 Supplier-chain.................................................................................................... 4
3.0 Analyze fully competitive environment and Toyota’s capability and competence.. 4
3.1 Generally describe Motor Market Environment................................................ 5
3.2 The key competitors.......................................................................................... 6
3.2.1 Ford......................................................................................................... 6
3.2.2 General Motor......................................................................................... 6
3.3 Toyota's competitive in motor market............................................................... 7
3.3.1 TPS compared with the traditional mode of production........................ 7
3.3.2 Compared with the mass production mode, TPS take advantages as follows: 8
4.0 Customer relationship management......................................................................... 8
5.0 Evaluate the company’s strategy option................................................................... 9
5.1 Production system strategy............................................................................... 9
5.2 Management strategy...................................................................................... 10
5.3 Product strategy.............................................................................................. 10
6.0 Up-to-date the case study information.................................................................. 10
7.0 Recommendation for the Toyota............................................................................ 11
8.0 Reference............................................................................................................... 12
9.0Appendix -1............................................................................................................ 14

 
Case study -The evolution of the Toyota Production System
 
1.0 Introduction
 
According to this case study, at the beginning, the former of Toyota was a Toyoda Automatic Loom Works, Ltd. While the Toyota was found in 1933 with a small domestic company as the automobile division of Toyota Industries Corporation .Combining to the firm's management strategy, Toyota became a separate company in 1937.
 
2.0 Identify and discuss the main issues
 
2.1 The matter of Mass production
The mass production method was accepted by the method of manufacturing automobiles. Ohno Taiichi found the weakness of the basic-mass production system after visiting the U.S plant. Under this system, both various parts and stamping semi-finished products must be put in the storage firstly. All of those components were waiting for reprocessing to assemble. Therefore, the company needed a lot of warehouse to accumulate a large number of inventories. This was expensive in term of costs of warehousing and capital expenditure. There were a large number of defects in the mass production if the initial machine setting was going wrong. The worker’s job was relatively boring and single with a low responsibility for defects. The mass production is non-orientation customer preference. This basic- mass production system is not fit for the Japan domestic small market. Thus, Ohno Taiichi needed to develop a flexible system based on the mass production system.
 
2.2 Political matters
After the end of World War II, the United States occupied Japan. The Japanese economy implemented deflation and resulting of corporate without lending business. Toyota was serious in debt at that time; the company had to lay off a large number of workers and the results led to a serious Labor dispute and a 1950 strike. After a long negotiation, the Toyota gave the remaining employee two guarantees after cutting the 25 percent work force. The two kinds of guarantees were lifetime employment and getting company’s profitability bonus. This situation introduced a teamwork concept idea. In the early 1980’s political pressure, Toyota was reluctant to be accepted by the United Stated and Europe because of the local content regulation, importer quotas and trade barriers. Those reasons forced the Toyota to rethink its strategy.
 
2.3 Quality issues
Improving quality is necessary for the manufacturing automobile market. The Ohno Taiichi pointed out the quality of defects under the mass production system. Firstly, the workers had a little wariness of correcting errors because of the fixed at the end of the line. Secondly, there were enormous amount of rework defects. Thirdly, the defective parts would not be discovered until the final cars were tested. Combining the small production, the company has developed the Kanban system for the manufactory system to avoid this problem.
 
2.4 Supplier-chain
 
The volume production of Toyota increased in the 1950’s.Toyota wanted to avoid the capital expenditures and reduced the risk of sales slumped. The company did want to contract out their business to resolve the problem mentioned above. The firm built closed relationship with the supplier. This method really had an effective influence in Japanese. However, the company transplanted operation into oversee. There were oversea supplier chain network with serious quality problems. Toyota established the Supplied Support Center to change this situation in 1992. Through this center, eighty-ninth suppliers have been improving their parts.
 
3.0 Analyze fully competitive environment and Toyota’s capability and competence.
Since the 1990’s, the world's automotive industry has become the most typical product of globalization. Using global resources is an optimized allocation of sales in the international automobile industry to adapt to different environment and the demand of the market.
 
3.1 Generally describe Motor Market Environment
 
The industrial chain of auto industry extends on a global scale. Vertically, it is almost involving the various countries and regions of the world about the industry. Horizontally, the auto giants constantly merge and exquisite by cross-border to form huge automobile group. From regional zoon, European and American automobile production power strength remains strong since the market started early with a development and perfecting market mechanism, automobile industry constantly establishes toward mutual infiltration each other. Especially, the rapidly speed rise of the East Asia region and it has become the world's most comparable auto industry. Under this situation, the motor industries become more and more competitive.