1/28 Prestige Co. An Inside Look of Automotive Industry Prepared by: Cicillia Anggara Amanda Aprilia Peter Labib Jin Yong Park Loide Siahaan Andry Soenario Prepared For: Professor Robert Callahan Management 380 Date: July 22nd, 2007 2/28 Table of Contents Page 3………………………… Memorandum Page 4………………………… Executive Summary Page 5………………………… Introduction Page 6………………………… GM Management Structure & Management Cultures Page 7………………………… Communication Methods & Work Place Safety Page 9………………………… Looking at the Community as a Whole Page 9………………………… Training, Education & Environment Page 10………………………… Advanced Technology Page 11-13……………………… GM SWOT Analysis Page 13………………………. Toyota: Company Management & Strategies for Employee Motivation Page 15………………………. Analysis of Toyota’s Customer Page 16……………………….. Toyota’s Competitiveness & Community Page 16……………………….. Workplace Environment Page 17-18……………………. Toyota SWOT Analysis Page 19……………………….. Recommendations for the Entire Automobile Industry Page 20………………………. Integrity Page 21-22………………………. Motivation & Pull Strategy, Target Marketing Page 22-23………………………. Supply Chain Management & Leadership Page 23………………………. Workplace Recommendations Page 24………………………. Competitive Advantages Page 25………………………. Managing Relationships throughout the Company 3/28 MEMORANDUM TO: Robert E. Callahan, VP of Human Resources From: Analysis Group at Prestige Auto Company Date: July 22, 2007 Subject: RECOMMENDATION REPORT Enclosed we have included a report regarding strategies for creating a new management structure, which you requested that we complete by the end of July. This report is an analysis of how management at Prestige Auto Company can successfully structure the company in order to become very profitable and competitive in this already very competitive industry. We approached this analysis by comprehensively analyzing Toyota and GM as our two focal points, and as leaders in the automotive industry, and then applying what we learned to our situation at Prestige. We feel that our analysis will serve Prestige well as it could be applied to any automobile manufacturer that is seeking to grow and learn from the mistakes of other companies. In order to attempt to restructure these institutions, we have done research regarding the strengths and weaknesses of Toyota and GM. As a result, we have found many positive and negative characteristics and practices that these companies possess which we can learn from; and from which we can subsequently apply the lessons learned into making Prestige a very successful competitor within this industry. As part of this analysis, we are including a new mission and vision statement that will help our organization to stay on the right path throughout our growth and building process. There are other key requirements in addition to those already stated, which are essential to ensuring success in the areas of management, training and advancement, employee protocol and other competitive strategies that will ensure our organization will be competing at maximum capability in this industry. We emphasize team work as one of our key solutions to solving problems. Lastly, we have come up with a communication system, as well as leadership and motivation practices that will work well when implemented by management at Prestige. 4/28 Executive Summary Having taken into consideration Toyota’s and GM’s relative situations within the automotive industry, we incorporated the findings of our research into a cohesive strategy within our proposal. We have come up with new recommendations for a new structure to increase our organization’s chances of striving in the industry. Our new mission statement: To provide the most reliable and innovative products by implementing a superior supply chain that fosters communication, while taking care of daily business operations. Our vision: Be innovative and passionate in management, in order to create a better society through continuous improvement, driven by integrity and teamwork. To achieve the following, we need to successfully: 1. Develop a positive culture that every employee can understand and agree to. 2. Create an effective and long-lasting supply chain relationship by empowering everyone within the supply chain. 3. Promote diversity throughout the organization. 4. Motivate through internal and external relationship management 5. Develop an imperfectly imitable competitive advantage that clearly differentiates our company in the industry. 6. Match production with demand through the “Pull System” The result of this project is a system that can help improve our company, through the empowerment of employees, making them aware of the new proposal and encouraging their support, their hard work, and the ultimate achievement of our goal. 5/28 Introduction The automobile has enabled people to travel and transport goods farther and faster, and has opened wider market areas for business and commerce. The auto industry has also reduced the overall cost of transportation by using methods such as mass production, mass marketing and globalization of production. In the past few years automobile companies have demanded more efficient management that can serve to increase their annual sales. However, these companies have not found the most effective management strategies that attract customers to buy. Therefore, our group is using the information that we have compiled from General Motor and Toyota to create new and different styles of management for all segments of the automobile industry. As result of easier and faster transportation, globalization that was previously unimagined has now occurred, a consequent result of the easy and convenient transportation that automobiles provide. This mobility allows remote populations to interact with one another, which increases commerce. The transportation of goods to consumers and consumers to goods has become an industry in itself. Unfortunately, the automobile has also brought related problems along with these amazing efficiencies, such as air pollution, the emission of greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming, congested traffic, and driving related fatalities. Nevertheless, the automobile industry continues to be an important source of employment and transportation for millions of people worldwide. The goal of this report is to develop new management recommendations for the automobile industry in order to help these organizations improve their current management practices. We firmly believe that our recommendations apply to the entire automobile industry and if used will help bolster the performance of any company in the industry. GM: Management Structure & Culture Control Method 6/28 General Motors (GM) has created a Public Policy Committee (PPC) to reply to rapidly changing demands of society in terms of corporate responsibility, automotive safety, energy and environment, diversity, healthcare, research and development, and trade. The mission of PPC is to forecast external trends and changes, to support positive cultural objectives, and to execute and ensure an environment conducive to changing public policy. The PPC consists of four departments such as: Environment and Energy, Corporate Responsibility and Diversity, Government Relations, and Economics, with each department being responsible for several issues. In addition, GM controls their employees and suppliers with a code of conduct called “Winning with Integrity.” GM’s “Winning with Integrity” helps GM employees make ethical decisions when faced with difficult situations. For example, these guidelines introduce create an environment that is conducive to fair treatment and equal employment opportunities. These guidelines are instrumental in teaching employees how to deal with suppliers and the government. In short, these practices operate as the cornerstone for how employees are to conduct themselves in the work environment at GM. Management Culture Changing management culture is difficult for GM because of how large GM is and how many brands are contained within GM. Thus, it takes time and efforts to institute change for this company. In addition, changing company culture in a big organization such as GM is always a painful process. GM attempts to deal with this situation by emphasizing four specific cultural priorities: act as one company, stretch, have a sense of urgency, and remain product and service focused. The first step in analyzing GM’s culture is looking at their past. In the past decades, GM had solid market shares and was financial thriving in North America because of fewer competitions in the market. This business atmosphere led to a company culture of arrogance, in which GM largely ignored what their customers really wanted, and had an attitude of building most cars to the minimum qualifiers of customers, because they would buy them anyway. As fierce international competition came in from Japan, Korea, and Europe, GM was stuck dealing with trying to sell a less attractive and reliable product than their competitors sold, GM has been slow to change their company culture and this has resulted in year after year loss of market share, as the imports are perceived to be better products by many customers. GM, while slow, has begun to adapt to these customer demands by putting out more attractive and reliable vehicles. Despite the turnaround, many customers still perceive that GM produces an inferior product compared to the imported cars. Furthermore, GM has had a company culture consisting of bullying suppliers that still exists today. GM has a long history of spinning off parts of the company that are not profitable, such is the case with Delphi. GM spun off their parts division which is now called Delphi with little available cash leading to Delphi quickly going bankrupt. Another goal of spinning off Delphi was to demand lower costs of obtaining parts. These lower costs could only mean less profitability for Delphi. Moreover, in investigating GM’s relationship with employees, GM made 10,000 temporary layoffs in 2004 closing their 7/28 plant, without providing employees adequate notice that could have helped them find a new job in the interim time before they would be rehired. As a result, GM employees look at their jobs as largely expendable, and this has lead to lower GM brand loyalty. Also, negotiations with GM always seem to have one goal: less benefits and workforce cuts. GM must deal with these negative cultures in order to get back their good reputation that leads to increased productivity. Communication methods GM has struggled to implement good communication methods in the past. An example of this is a major strike in 1998, which lasted 54 days and caused a loss of $2.6 billon as well as 2 % market share, due to a breakdown in communication. This is why GM reorganized internal communications, calling the new system “Internal Communication Improvement Process,” (ICIP) as a new way of communicating internally. The process was implemented by CEO Rick Wagoner in order to build stronger relationships among leaders, managers and employees. Therefore, GM hired communication professionals called “Business Communication Integrators (BCIs)”, which were journalists with media backgrounds recruited to fix GM’s central communication departments. BCIs are located in local facilities, and work to update information with GM headquarters, and find possible improvements through education, information sharing and feedback. Specifically, BCIs teach and help employees understand how the communication process works. They also work with the local management, not only sharing useful information but also giving some feedback. Once the facility successfully implements its recommendations, the BCIs move to different facilities. The purpose of establishing the new internal communication method has a list of five core aspects: 1. Business Updates: BCIs deliver key business issues to local employees, local management, and local plant levels to develop core local goals consistent with GM headquarters. BCIs build trust between employees and top managers by sharing and communicating local management problems. 2. Newsletters: BCIs establish newsletters aimed towards fixing plant issues, and providing employees a better understanding of the competitive realities. 3. Diagonal slice meeting: BCIs have monthly face-to-face meetings from the top to the bottom of the management lines, which represent each facility’s concerns, and allow everyone to voice their concerns regardless of their positions and names. In addition, they sometimes change their roles to better understand each other. 4. Supervisor support: BCIs have regular meetings with local supervisors to support communication roles and to soften the relationship between employees and supervisors. BCIs teach how local supervisors treat their employees based on rolemodeling elements. 5. Feedback: BCIs collect new ideas and concerns from local plant employees. Workplace Safety 8/28 An atmosphere that inspires employees to do their best, empowers decision-making, rewards accomplishment, embraces challenges and embodies high expectations is the key in creating a competitive, profitable and satisfying workplace. No matter how much an organization redesigns, reconfigures, or reorganizes for efficiency and productivity, highperforming people ultimately drive successful business results. GM has embraced four priorities to create a unique performance culture: Focus on the customer Act as one company Embrace stretch target Moves with a sense of urgency There are some challenges that GM is facing currently. Competitive industry pressures, rising health care costs and company responsibility to shareholders are key challengers for GM. In order to meet these challenges, GM requires the best people and the best company culture. GM needs to manage its culture, facilitate quick change, and think strategically. GM has the objective to be committed to developing and deploying employees skills, talents, and potential effectively, improving the diversity of the workforce, influencing and shaping GM’s performance to drive business outcomes and giving employees unmatched career opportunities. Thus, GM can see a distinct link between their investment in human performance and their market performance and financial results. Employees usually perform best when their personal safety needs are met. GM is wellknown as one of the safest U.S. companies by Occupational Hazards magazines. GM pays a lot of attention to the customers’ safety issues. An example of this is the fact that GM will provide prove standard StabiliTrack on all cars and trucks by 2010. StabiliTrack requires vehicles to have antilock brakes and traction control, and rolling out ESC requires a major change to the chassis. GM is committed to perpetually improving the crashworthiness and crash avoidance of its vehicles, and GM assists programs targeted at encouraging safer motor vehicles use, especially child passenger safety programs, driving education efforts, and anti drunkdriving measures. One of the things that could follow StabiliTrak relatively quickly is a technology known as panic brake assist. Everything is in place with GM’s StabiliTrak systems to enable the activation of panic brake assist. GM will roll that out on all StabiliTrak-equipped vehicles in coming years. There are other safety technologies that ESC systems can enable, but when it comes to protection in a crash or near crash, the most effective technology remains the safety belt. Community 9/28 Facing competition in the automobile industry, GM has tried to build a better community, so that GM will once again become a trusted company. In many of the challenges surrounding corporate responsibility are opportunities: Opportunities to drive values into GM’s business Opportunities to reach new customers Opportunities to create greater efficiencies and better manage social risks GM has also emphasized the importance of living core values and promoting GM’s corporate reputation. The company is trying to make an impact in areas where business and societal need meet together through focused connected actions. GM has been measuring its performance and creating an open dialogue with global stakeholders. There are some ways to evaluate citizenship. One way is through GM Foundation and GM Corporate contributions; GM and the GM Foundation contributed more than $68 million to charitable causes through cash contributions, in-kind donations and participation in charity events. Another measure of GM’s performance is the 9 million parents and caregivers that have attended the company’s SafeKids Buckle Up events. GM is now working hard to build innovative solutions to the challenges of community involvement and corporate responsibility every day because GM wants to be the kind of company customer’s trust. Training and Education (Guidelines and Rules) GM trains and educates their employees to ensure that they know what to do and not to do in any kind of situation. GM highly ensures that the employees are well adapted in any kinds of situation so that the customers will still receive the best service. The guideline called “Winning with Integrity” is the fundamental base of GM’s commitment to those values, beginning with the core value of integrity. The guideline also tells us what GM values the most in how it deals with their employees, suppliers, and customers. When employees face difficult situations, the guidelines instruct employees that it is better for them to discuss the problems with the leadership or legal staff, before dealing with the issue. This is to avoid further complication in solving the problems. With well-organized training guidelines, GM employees are able to perform their jobs in the most ethical manner possible. GM is committed to educational enthusiasm that will help them find the most suitable and workable situations to future challenges, featuring: 1. 2. 3. 4. Enlightenment: Help them develop an awareness of questionable situations. Knowledge: Reinforce with solid concepts and real-world applications. Attitudes: Help them personalize their relationship with the global environment. Action: Help them learn how to make a difference. Environment 10/28 GM’s environment entails safety, technology, natural resources and energy. GM plant facilities and vehicles have an impact on the environment, as they produce emissions and green house gases. GM tries to improve environmental impact by using innovative technologies and GM environment principles called the “Coalition for Environmentally Responsible Economics” (CERES). GM is the automotive business leader for environmental protection, being the only company instituting CERES principles of all the Fortune 50 manufacturing companies. As a result, GM requires all 119 manufacturing facilities and their suppliers to conform to an environmental management system. According to environmental policy, GM seeks to find continual improvement and prevention of pollution, complying with local environmental regulations and requirements. For example, GM keeps improving internal combustion engines in terms of fuel economy and performance. Therefore, GM now produces more fuel efficient cars that get 30 mpg than any other company. In addition, GM has developed its patented Oil Lift System (GMOLS) which tells when the drivers more accurately when they need to change their engine oils. Lastly, they are developing hydrogen fuel cells which produce electricity from hydrogen and oxygen, a more detailed description of hydrogen fuel-cells ensues below. Remaining Competitive in the Environment According to turnaround plans, GM is trying to cut costs, and improve quality of their vehicles, by reducing retiree health-care liability and providing more products on all vehicle segments. For example, GM focuses on highly profitable segments such as luxury SUVs and compact cars. Lastly, GM will change the dealer-channel strategy implementing more GM’s subdivision brands selling at one spot. Advanced technology: GM is using advanced technology to make vehicles with improved fuel economy and lower emissions than typical internal combustion vehicles. Hybrid vehicles are a key piece of GM's strategy to increase vehicle fuel economy and reduced emissions. GM’s ultimate vision, however, is to lead the industry with hydrogen fuel cell vehicles — because (1) they are inherently much more efficient than all other propulsion systems, (2) they emit only water vapor, and (3) they provide a unique opportunity to reinvent the automobile around both customer excitement and societal goals. In order to reach the goal of cleaner and more fuel efficient vehicles, GM is taking a few specific steps. The company has announced that it has moved over 500 engineers from development duties over to groups focused on the production of fuel-cell-powered vehicles. According to GM, more than 400 of its fuel cell engineers will now report to its Power train Group to begin production engineering of fuel cell systems. A further 100 fuel cell experts are being moved to a separate group focused on integrating fuel cells into future models. 11/28 While GM has already committed itself to putting 100 fuel-cell-powered Chevy Equinoxes on the road this year as part of its Project Driveway Program, the sheer number of engineers that it is reallocating suggests that the company has its sights set on a much bigger deployment of hydrogen fuel cell cars in the foreseeable futurei. The company also has is working on a concept electric car which is called the Chevy Volt. Furthermore, GM features a new innovative product called “Experience On Star”. On Star Corporation is a wholly-owned subsidiary of General Motors which provides subscription-based communications, monitoring and tracking services throughout the United States and Canada. On Star services are only available currently on vehicles manufactured by General Motors, with a small select number of other car manufacturers obtaining a license from GM to put the technology on their premium vehicles, having to pay GM to do so. Experience On Star is a service rich with features, which provides services such as turn-by-turn navigation, monthly vehicle diagnostic checks, automatic notification of airbag deployment, remote door unlock, and hands-free calling, among other features. GM SWOT Analysis Strengths One of GM’s most important strengths is its robust revenue growth in Asia Pacific – For example, GM just recently announced that its sales and market share in Asia Pacific both reached new highs in 2006. GM sold 1,254,615 vehicles in Asia Pacific, which was an increase of 17.9 percent over 2005. This marks the second consecutive year that regional sales topped 1 million units. GM's market share in Asia Pacific is now an estimated 6.4 percent, up from 5.8 percent at the end of the previous year. GM sales figures are quite good, particularly in China and South Korea. In China, GM and its Shanghai GM and SAIC-GM-Wuling joint ventures sold 876,747 vehicles, which represented an increase of 31.8 percent over 2005. Shanghai GM sales rose 27.0 percent on a year-to-year basis of 413,367 units. SAIC-GM-Wuling, GM's mini-vehicle joint venture, registered sales growth of 36.5 percent to 460,155 vehicles. China remained GM's second-largest global market in 2006, following the United States. GM Daewoo sales likewise remained strong in 2006. Its sales in Korea rose 19.2 percent on an annual basis to 128,332 units. The Tosca sedan and Winstorm SUV accounted for more than 36 percent of domestic sales. Exports of complete vehicles and knockdown (KD) kits from Korea jumped 33.1 percent to 1,397,487 units. This was a GM record.ii Besides growing market share in Asia, strength of GM is its strong brand portfolio, particularly in the SUV market with the ever popular Chevy Tahoe, GMC Yukon, GMC Suburban and Cadillac Escalade, as well as smaller SUV’s like the Chevy Equinox. GM has a particularly strong hold of the large SUV market with the Chevy Tahoe and GMC Suburban consistently outselling the Ford Explorer and Ford Expedition, as well as the foreign competition likely the Toyota Sequoia. At the high end, GM’s Cadillac Escalade continues to sell well, and outsell the Lincoln Navigator, Lexus SUV offerings, and the like, as it has a strong following from high-profile celebrities, and is featured in many rap videos. Furthermore, GM has listened to feedback from many celebrities regarding the Escalade and improved it, putting chrome detailing all over the body, based on their recommendations. This has led to an increased market share for the Escalade in the large luxury SUV segment. GM strength is the continuing improvement in reliability of its 12/28 vehicles. GM and other domestic car makers have considerably improved in reliability over the past few years. One example of this is the GMC brand, which has been rated very highly for reliability by both JD Powers and Consumer Reports. iii, iv Weaknesses The first GM weakness worth mentioning is GM’s poor performance in North America. GM has consistently lost market share, GM at its high point had a 60% market share, and in 1991 it had a 35% market share. Fifteen years later its market share has dropped to just 24.7% with Forbes predicting that its continual drop in market share will not level off until it continues market share reaches 20%. Another large weakness of GM is its post retirement health care liabilities. While domestic automakers are all hurting in this category, of all automakers GM is hurting the worst. GM is currently providing healthcare to three retired employees for everyone one employee it has working. The estimated cost of this healthcare is over $100 billion, translating to a $1650 cost of healthcare per each car manufactured. This leads into the next GM weakness, which is weak profitability. Because GM has such a large healthcare liability, its costs of manufacturing cars are considerably high, and this, among other factors, cuts into the profitability of GM’s car sales. Another GM weakness is the fact that GM cars, while having made significant reliability improvements, are still less reliable than many Japanese imports. This can be seen as measured by consumer reports, where the vast majority of reliability awards that the magazine issues for any given year go to the Japanese vehicles. Small cars and minivans are a particular place where GM has had spotty reliability. This is not the case for many Japanese imports such as Toyota, which have highly reliable vehicles in every category. Another weakness of GM is that the U.S. Market perceives that GM’s product portfolio is plain and largely unattractive. GM has many cars and even car segments like Pontiac and Buick that do not appeal to a wide segment of the American population. Pontiac and Buick cars have not sold well for a number of years, because of basic-looking exteriors of most models and cheap interiors filled with hard plastics and unattractive features that are an evident by-product of GM’s cost cutting strategy. GM is working hard to address this problem with its product renaissance plan, part of its four-point turnaround strategy issued last year. The next two weaknesses tie into each other; they are a negative company culture and a lack of worker loyalty to the brand. GM’s company culture has long been one of aggressiveness. GM has been aggressive and demanding with its main supplier Delphi, causing threats of frequent boycotts at Delphi. This sort of company culture is not seen in more successful car manufacturers like Toyota. Moreover, this type of company culture lends to a lack of worker loyalty to the company. Workers are frequently laid off every few years without any forewarning, have their benefits decreased, and are spun off to different companies when GM feels that the company could make a financial gain by this strategy. This sort of company culture leads to the worker belief that the company sees each worker as expendable and individually unimportant to the success of the whole organization. This, in turn, can lead to a decreased work ethic, which causes decreased production and more defects in cars.v 13/28 Opportunities GM has many opportunities for growth. One of its strongest opportunities is in increasing market share in Asia. Sales are going strong in this region as mentioned above. This is the reason why GM needs to further capitalize on this region, as this region has the fastest growing demand for vehicle purchases in the global automobile market. Perhaps GM’s biggest opportunity is represented in its North American turnaround plan. The plan has four main points: health-care cost reductions, product renaissance, sales and marketing improvements, and a decrease in workers and production capacity. Introduction of new attractive vehicles has begun in GM, representing yet another one of its opportunities. New, more attractive models have begun to come out this year and in the next model year, including: Saturn Aura, Chevy Tahoe, GMC Yukon, and Cadillac Escalade hybrids. They are forecast to sell well, and have won design and consumer reports awards. Saturn is a GM bright spot as this GM brand has moved away from cheap plastic body paneling and unattractive cheap looking cars, to a whole new lineup of vehicles that are more attractive and have already started to sell better than previous Saturn models. This represents a big turnaround for GM as Saturn is forecast to be profitable in 2007, the first time since Saturn’s inception in 1991. Lastly, but still of tremendous importance is the GM opportunity to roll out fully electric and hydrogen cars before Japanese competitors. If GM is able to rollout these types of vehicles before competition does so, than GM should profit handsomely for its endeavors in this area. A discussion of this topic is discussed more in detail in the advanced technology segment. Threats There are several threats to GM’s success in the competitive auto market. One of these is the fact that prices of raw materials are rising rapidly. As these prices continue to go up, costs will go up to, further eroding GM’s already weak profitability. Another big problem is with Delphi, GM’s main supplier. The company is bankrupt, and there are threats of strikes going on. This instability may threaten GM’s ability to get the parts the company needs in a timely fashion. In addition, large problem with GM is that there is low capital spending. As cash flow is decreasing rapidly (another big problem), and GM does not have a high level of profitability, there is less cash to invest in spending on new cars and projects for the future. Part of GM’s remedy to all these problems is the current restructuring plan that the company is doing, highlighted above. The problem with this plan is that it will cost billions of dollars, is too costly, and will further erode the limited amount of cash on hand that the company possesses. Part of GM’s cost cutting strategy is to make compromises with the United Auto Workers (UAW) union. The problem with using this as part of their strategy is that the UAW has already conceded on a lot of benefits in the recent past and may not be willing to budge any further. Another threat that GM faces is the threat of the Japanese rolling out hydrogen and/or electric cars before they are able to. Rolling out new technology before foreign competition would be a good showing for GM and might bring back some market share. If the Japanese roll out these types of vehicles first, then GM market share might erode further. 14/28 Toyota: Management Structure & Culture Company Management Toyota’s management is second to none in the automotive industry. Some companies have even tried in vain to duplicate Toyota’s imperfectly imitable resource for its competitive advantage. As overall management is the crux to the successful management of any company, and effective (not efficient) management is evident in Toyota and its companies across the world, learning from them will benefit us in the long run. The core of Toyota’s management system: include, empower, and relationships. Some say that these three elements are not difficult to achieve. However, how many CEOs of companies have said this, but failed to implement them? Almost every one of them! They do not have the willingness to share information as Toyota does. Supply Chain Relations Respect, trust, and commitment are the three factors that Toyota emphasizes in building and keeping any kind of relationship. Toyota has managed to instill these into their supply chain, from one generation to the next, internally and externally. Each of the senior staff has the initiative (Toyota’s language for “required to”) to pass on what they perceive of the company, and their norms. Empowerment for Supply Chain As perceived views and norms are passed down, empowerment becomes automatic. Not only do they not have to research on the company culture just for the job, Toyota matches the skills and cultures of each supply chain to their own, empowering them for more effective partnerships. For example: Toyota trains each supplier what to expect from Toyota’s management to avoid possible miscommunications, Toyota then gives them the resources to satisfy those expectations, and finally working together becomes fun and easy. Diverse Bodies of Supply Chain The term “supply chain” not only includes external partners, but also it includes internal work partners. Diverse work teams provide multiple views of one problem, making it more efficiently and effective solved. Just-In-Time Strategy Probably the most-emphasized part of Toyota is its management system in most scholarly journals, it prevents waste and accumulation of defects, making mistakes surface easily. Order of raw materials occurs according to demand, keep inventory in storage low to 15/28 avoid rising expenses, and matching the slowest part of the production process to demand. These are the basic parts of Toyota Production System. Toyota’s management rules to include participation of the supply chain in every level of decision-making, and quality is ensured at every level for effective, productive output. Employee Motivation, Reward, and Miscellaneous To motivate employees to work, managers let employees know how the company’s success links to their individual work. Toyota understands that motivation has to be kept up on a day-to-day basis—or even shift-to-shift basis. It accomplishes this by the following: 1. Employee Empowerment “Empowerment” here means giving employees a sense of responsibility over what each person does; in other words, let each employee “be their own boss,” Empower them to make important decisions, trust them to do so, and leave them alone. Toyota does this by ensuring that each employee thoroughly checks their work, offering advice only when needed by employees, and instilling that norm within the workplace. 2. Feedback from Supply Chain Feedback is the easiest way to improve vehicle production; without someone else telling Toyota what they did wrong, how does Toyota take corrective actions? As another way to empower employees, feedback is reinforced positively. Toyota’s workforce supplies a system of feedback in each work level; from CEOs to suppliers, from dealers to customers, each feedback is customized according to what each individual has or has not done well. 3. Technology A new automated robot may discourage old-timers (who do things manually) from working. Toyota has prevented this occurrence, so employees are more motivated and satisfied, leading to low employee turnover rate. Positive word-of-mouth ensues, and so Toyota flourishes. Toyota’s Customer Every year, Toyota Motor Sales distinguishes its best dealerships with the “President’s Award.” It’s the highest honor a dealership can receive from Toyota Company, and is only given to those dealerships that have confirmed a promise to continuing the highest customer satisfaction. For Toyota and its dealerships, customer satisfaction is not only at the time of purchase, but as long as they own their vehicle including service and maintenance. Toyota wants to satisfy its customers not only with the best quality of automobile but also with the best service. Toyota has also been able to build relationships with its customers by showing its concern with environmental issues. The company pays attention and takes care of its waste, ensuring a better environment for all of us. It also offers environment friendly vehicles that are fuel efficient and reliable. Toyota shows that it cares not just for people 16/28 but also the environment and that’s one way to get to its customers’ hearts. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on October 5 recognized three of Toyota's U.S. vehicle assembly plants with an Energy Star Plant Award for their commitment and leadership in protecting our environment through energy efficiency. Automobiles of the future must increase both environmental and safety performance, while significantly increasing driving performance. By using the Toyota Hybrid System (THS), however, the Prius is able to achieve high levels of both environmental performance and power. Toyota’s Competitiveness To meet a globally varied market and competitive challenge Toyota has developed an equally diverse and global strategic response. One is the use of IT to enhance Toyota’s lean production and lean design strategy. The Toyota’s lean production is a production system that will carry an individualized product instantly on order but maintain no transitional inventories. The concepts include: Identify and deliver value to the customer, eliminate anything that does not add value, organize production, perfect the product and create reliable product, distributing information and decision making, and deliver on order a product meeting customer requirements with nothing in inventory. The principles of lean production enabled Toyota to deliver on order, minimize inventory, maximize the use of multi-skilled employees, flatten the management structure, and meeting point resources where they were needed. By doing this, Toyota can compete well against almost all the automobile manufacturers around the world. In addition, Toyota is the role model for the other automobile companies in the production system. Community Toyota, as a global company, is very aware of the well-being of the community. Toyota believes in helping people to improve their quality of life in society. Toyota shows its concern toward the community in a variety of aspects, for example: Education, environment, art and culture. As far as education goes, Toyota helps many high school students with scholarships. This scholarship is reserved for the students who have an outstanding academic record. Not only that, the students must have good leadership skills and participate actively in the community. In addition, Toyota supports many programs that promote a healthier and greener environment. Toyota is the leading manufacturer of hybrid vehicles in the United States. Moreover, it also develops solar panel systems that help conserve approximately 11 million gallons of drinking water annually through special pipelines that supply recycled water for cooling and landscaping. Workplace Environment Toyota, a world-class automaker, puts huge emphasis in creating a safe and enjoyable workplace environment for all of its employees. First and foremost, Toyota wants to build labor-management relations that are based on mutual trust and respect. Furthermore, Toyota has worked to strengthen its labor-management relations through 17/28 active dialogue. In order to achieve those goals, personnel management is organized following four basic principles. The principles are: Creating a workplace environment where employees can work with their trust in the company, creating a mechanism for promoting constant and voluntary initiatives in continuous improvements, fully committed and thorough human resources development, and promoting teamwork aimed at pursuit of individual roles and optimization of the entire team. Secondly, Toyota adopts the habit of “stable employment.” That gives Toyota an incentive to avoid layoff and termination of workers which result in low employee turnover. Toyota’s management system is based mainly on bringing out the maximum potential of each employee. In addition, Toyota always prefers to take a medium to long term management perspective because they believe that it is the good recipe for continuing success in the industry. Furthermore, creating a safe working environment is also within Toyota’s radar. From top to bottom level management, they prioritize safety for employees. Toyota minimized the accident level within the company by implementing policy that orders employees to be extra careful when handling equipment. The policy helps reduce the risk of accidents associated with work or equipment. In terms of a healthy workplace, Toyota encourages its employees to go for physicals. On the other hand, managers and supervisors also have to undergo active listening courses that are effective in preventing mental problems. Through these activities, Toyota aims to create a workplace with better communication in the future. Lastly, Toyota strongly supports the issue of diversity in the workplace. Major factors like globalization have helped women and other minorities to gain equal employment status. Women have started to hold higher management positions, and they are treated similarly to their male colleagues. Toyota even makes an extra effort in hiring people around the world with various abilities and values. Those people bring something different to the table and that will only benefit Toyota’s future. In addition, Toyota practices a policy of not discriminating against the disabled. Instead, they are given equal employment opportunities. As of March 2004, Toyota has employed about 800 disabled people at various positions. Toyota believes in helping disabled people achieve autonomy within the society. With all of the above policies that Toyota has planned out, it manages to stay ahead of the competition and remain one of the most recognized automobile brands in the world. Its employees also are happy and motivated enough to work hard in order to help Toyota grow even bigger in the future. Toyota SWOT Analysis Strengths One of the strengths that Toyota has is that they have high commitment and truly believe in their company. Toyota is known to be one of many companies that are committed to building a strong relationship with its employees. Everything is based on trust and commitment. The company believes that it grows as the employees grow. One 18/28 way to make this happen is by giving education as a motivation to its employees. It relies on their employees therefore keeping them up to date of any changes in business, technology, or other things.. In addition, Toyota is known to have a high diversity when it comes to its employees; making it possible to have better solutions in problem solving. These diversities also allow the company to provide more ideas when it comes to new products or in making changes to its pervious products. Secondly, Toyota is also known for its TPS (Toyota Production System) program. This program keeps the company to stand strong when it comes to efficiency compare to its competitors. After all these years, Toyota has done a really good job in eliminating waste and time in making its products. Moreover, the company has been doing well when it comes to building strong relationships with its customers. The company is known to satisfy its customers. Knowing the kind of demand that comes from the customers is another strength, which the company holds. By having this information, the company is then able to create cars that can satisfy its customers. In order to fulfill different demand, Toyota’s solution is to offer various choices of products. The company holds three brands of cars, all manufactures by Toyota. These are Toyota itself, Scion and Lexus. All these brands are targeted for different social classes, which makes it possible for the company to offer great vehicles for all people. One thing that’s known by many people is that no matter how much money you spend on a Toyota, you’ll always get a great deal for our money. Weaknesses Toyota is a wholly owned overseas firm. Its CEO lives in Japan, who’s not yet completely knowledgeable about global business. He might be great when it comes to doing business in his own country, but he’s not as handy when it comes to ethics, marketing, management, etc abroad. The company could make greater profit if the CEO learns more about how to work in the global economy. Hence, this comes to be one of the weaknesses of the company, for Toyota is global. In addition, even though Toyota has been really successful in the American market, it is not successful in the European market. It can’t seem to provide what’s demanded by the European market which seeks smaller cars and high performance vehicles. Neither of which are Toyota’s forte. Threat Honda is one of its biggest competitors. As for the American market, Honda offers Acura for its high end customers to compete with Lexus. Moreover, soon Toyota will also have to compete with China, which has announced that it will begin exporting vehicles in 2010. Surely, China is known to be able to produce cheaper products. Hence, this will come to a threat in price competition, which Toyota has to face in the near future. Another threat comes from the American car manufacturers. Most of these manufacturers, such as GM, offer rebate, discount and no APR on finances. Money is not the only matter that Toyota has to compete with these manufacturers. The people who choose American manufacturer seems to value lifestyle and culture, and this is a difficult threat that’s not easy to overcome. Hence, Toyota still needs to come up with new strategies to break through these threats. 19/28 Opportunities The company seems to be doing well in adjusting and fulfilling customers demand. Doing everything to take all the opportunities to increase sales and building better relationship with the customers through its products. Toyota has been making innovative and high tech cars for so many years, being the first from its competitors to see this kind of market demand. New Recommendations for Automotive Industry In this section, we include new workplace techniques, as well as: Leadership, community, motivation, communication, pull strategy, mission and vision, customers, integrity, supply chain, and competitive advantages. Mission: To provide the most reliable and innovative product by satisfying customers and suppliers, while communicating daily business operations. Vision: Possess innovate and passionate management to create a better society through continuous improvement driven by integrity and teamwork. Standard Company Culture Through analysis of Toyota and GM, our analysis team realizes the importance of building a good company culture for success in the automobile industry. From GM management culture, our management team becomes aware of that having a good relationship with suppliers is good for business. Therefore, our management team suggests that companies in the automotive industry need to establish the right relationship with suppliers through excellent communication. Furthermore, product development in the automotive industry is a complex process that is very time consuming, but product life cycles are growing shorter. It took about 60 months to bring a vehicle to product 10 years ago whereas it can be done in less than 24 months in today. As a result, companies in the automotive industry need to have a culture focused on scheduling and timing; and possess good program management, which is responsible for tracking, forecasting required resources and ensuring that tasks are accomplished on time and on budget. This program management culture encourages people to request help when they need it. In addition, using program management allows teams to determine the impact of the adjustments they have made, on what other efficiencies could be achieved and which tasks could run to minimize delays. Therefore, using program management culture can lead to good decision making, by producing better products for customers with minimal impact to the budget. What kinds of effective communications can new automotive organizations have? In answering this question, one of the most important things is to listen carefully to what employees complain about in order to reduce resistances. Dealing with complaints consists of collecting and sharing new ideas, and having regular face-to-face meetings to support local managers in delivering more accurate information from bottom line employees. Therefore, strengthened communication skills can lead to a culture of continuous learning. This learning culture alone is not enough to make organizations able to respond, adapt, and cope with the pressures of change, so organizations must go 20/28 beyond adapting to challenges and solving problems to generating new ways of looking at the world. Integrity We recommend specific guidelines for employee conduct as core values. Operating with these specific guidelines means honest and accurate reporting both internally and externally. As core values, our management suggestions are as follows: Customer enthusiasm, integrity, teamwork, innovation, continuous improvement, and individual respect and responsibility. These guidelines are in terms of personal, workplace, marketplace, society, community, and environmental goals. These guidelines must be followed by all employees of the company. Through personal integrity, employees can make decisions by complying with roles and policies. In a big company, people’s opinions may differ about the decisions of any given policy but the guidelines are not optional. In addition, each worker needs to voice concerns about workers who are not following the rules. Therefore, all workers necessarily must speak with leadership or legal staffs whenever they are in questionable situations. Lastly, when employees work, they take personal responsibility for performing assignments consistent with policies and all relevant government regulations. In the workplace, diversity is the key to success because a productive work environment accepts and tolerates differences. Organizations within the automotive industry should be committed to equal employment opportunity policies. In addition, productivity is directly related to the health and safety of each employee. If people do not feel secure, their productivity will not reflect their efforts because of the fact that safety and health are the basic needs of human beings. For example, promptly voicing safety concerns to supervisors helps reduce the occurrence of accidents. In the marketplace, automotive organizations must make purchase decisions based on supplier’s price, quality, and service. In other words, purchase decisions should not be influenced by illegal or improper considerations such as bribery, personal friendships and gifts. As most suppliers spin out from car manufacturing companies, they have to make sure that it is best to decline any gift, meal, or any cash from suppliers when making purchase decisions. In addition, when automotive companies donate something valuable, it needs to be carefully discussed with upper management about whether some items are appropriate or not. As unique characteristic in the automotive market, our management company recommends looking at export and import controls. For example, U.S has some sanctions against Iran, Cuba, Sudan, and Syria, and Libya, so the U.S refuses to do business with those countries. In addition, as global society becomes more concerned about the environment, our management company suggests that sound environmental practices be an integral part of all business decisions that influence the firm. Environmental actions include: Restoring, preserving, reducing waste and pollutants, and pursuing the development of innovative technologies that minimize harmful emissions. Target Different Segments to Keep Customers in the Family 21/28 Every automobile company has its own strategy to keep its customers buying that brand of automobile and building the company-customer relationship until they become loyal customers. Targeting different customer segments to keep customers in the family is one of the strategies that every automobile maker should use. For example, Toyota has the sub brands Scion and Lexus, and GM has Cadillac and Chevy. This is one of the keys to keeping consumers in family that is using different brands for different divisions. In this way, a company can fulfill all customers’ needs. With Toyota, if consumers want a luxury car, they can buy a Lexus; if they want an economical car, they can buy a Scion. Thus, the percentage of Toyota’s consumers turning to other brands is decreasing. The goal of using different sub-brands for different segments is to satisfy as wide a variety of consumers as possible. Almost all automobile companies face an age issue: younger consumers are going through a phase in which they reject their parents’ brand of car. Younger consumers seek higher performance vehicles and cars that illustrate their lifestyle, while older drivers are attracted to low-cost, roomy, and fuel-efficient cars. With these kinds of problems, providing different classes of automobiles will spur customers and their families to remain loyal to a brand. Motivation Motivation is one of the most important ways for a company to make sure its employees work at maximal productivity with a high level of job satisfaction. Every company employs a different strategy to motivate its employees. For example, GM has an employee medical plan that covers everything including vision and dental care. In addition, GM has approximately 14 paid holidays annually plus vacation time, beginning at two weeks for employees who have spent one to three years with the company. Moreover, if employees want to buy cars from GM, they receive a discount. This kind of motivation may seem simple or standard, but it is extremely effective at encouraging employees to work harder and do their best. Toyota implements a different strategy in that it attempts to motivate not only employees but also dealerships. This company rewards dealerships that build good relationships with customers or that provide the best possible service. Toyota values customer satisfaction; therefore, every dealership that treats its customers well will be rewarded. Another motivation that will foster productivity and good customer service is a scholarship program. Some automobile companies pay their employees’ college tuition so they obtain a better education, which helps them in the workplace. This kind of motivation benefits the company as well. With better-educated employees, the company will have access to more creative ideas. Automobile companies also can motivate their employees by giving them the freedom to express their ideas. In this way, employees will be happier at work, and they will feel they are part of the company. It does not matter what position an employee holds. With this kind of freedom, employees will feel invested in the company and will work hard to make it a success. 22/28 Pull Strategy The best management for automobile industry would be pull system as it avoids overproduction. In a pull system, the consumer demands the product and “pulls” it through the delivery channel. An example of this is the car manufacturing company Toyota. So far, Toyota only produces cars when the customers order for the cars. This is to avoid overproduction and also the dealers will save a lot of money in putting the cars in the warehouse. A pull system can be practiced in various situations and can be applied to the portion of the supply chain where demand uncertainty is high, production and distribution are demand driven, where there is no inventory, and there is a decrease in lead time. In a pull-based supply chain, production and distribution are demand driven so that they are coordinated with actual customer orders, rather than forecasted demand. The industry is able to provide the down line customers in the production process with what they want, when they want it, and in the amount they want. Material replenishment initiated by consumption is the basic principle of just-in-time. For the automobile industry, the pull strategy is highly recommended, as it would bring more benefits to the industry. The automobile industry is able to increase the profits as they are actually saving more money. It minimizes the work in process and warehousing of inventory by stocking small amounts of each product and frequently restocking based on what the customer actually takes away. Empowering supply chain One of the features of empowering the supply chain is inclusion. Empowering leaders creates an atmosphere of inclusion across all levels in the company by making sure that everyone has a voice and that their voice is listened to. This is because they understand that they cannot become a successful company unless new ideas are allowed to penetrate the decision-making processes. In the automobile industry, empowering the supply chain is highly recommended as it allows the industry to improve. The employees have to know the roles of other employees. The key point is that people must receptive to input from different areas in the company. The company may not realize how important empowering the supply chain can be. It contributes a multitude of benefits to the company. Leadership Every company needs leadership in order to achieve company goals. Leadership is needed in the automobile industry, as the leader will lead others to do the right things. Trait theory is one way to describe who leaders are. It says that effective leaders possess a similar set of traits or characteristics. Traits are relatively stable characteristics, such as abilities, psychological motives, or consistent patterns of behavior. Leaders are different from the rest because they have the traits that other do not have: Drive, the desire to lead, 23/28 honesty/integrity, self-confidence, emotional stability, cognitive ability, and knowledge of the business. With all of these traits, leaders in the company will be able to drive the people that they work with to be prepared for the any kind of situation. Leaders always ensure that the company is doing the right thing. This means that they put high level of effort to the work that they perform. They will always try to make improvements or achieve success in what they are doing. Because of their initiative, they have strong desires to promote change or solve problems. Successful leaders also have a stronger desire to lead. They want to be in charge, and think about ways to influence or convince others about what should or should not be done. Honesty and integrity is also an important characteristic of leaders. Without honesty, others will not trust leaders. Leaders may be honest and have good intentions, but if they do not consistently deliver on what they promise, they will not be trusted. Self-confident leaders are more decisive and assertive and are more likely to gain others’ confidence. Moreover, self-confident leaders will admit mistakes because they view them as learning opportunities rather than a refutation of their leadership capabilities. This also means that leaders have emotional stability. Even when things go wrong, they remain even-tempered and consistent in their outlook and in the way they treat others. Leaders are also smart. Leaders typically have strong cognitive abilities. This does not mean that leaders are geniuses, but it does mean that leaders have the capacity to analyze large amounts of seemingly unrelated, complex information and see patterns, opportunities, or threats where others might not see them. Leaders must have superior technical knowledge about the businesses they run. Leaders who have a good knowledge of the business understand the key technological decisions and concerns facing their companies. A good leader must be role models of the company’s philosophy and way of doing business. It is very critical for leaders in car industry to know good strategies for selling cars. The leader not only is required to know basic information about the products, but also detailed information about the products. In addition to that, the products must be guaranteed to work properly without any major defects. Therefore, the customers will be fully satisfied when they buy the products. The path to become a great leader is not easy. There are a few steps that someone must under go before they become a great leader. First, they must get a proper training and education about the car industry. Thus, a leader must already posses the ability to deal with the all of the component of this industry, including the customers, employees and suppliers. In the end, the leader must know how to solve problems in real-life situations and understand how to work as group. Since most problems are solved quicker and more efficiently with group decisions. Work Place Every company must possess these qualities in order to be successful. The qualities are good teamwork within the company, diversity in the work force and employees’ compensations. The company must not think solely on profitability but they must also care about the well being of the employees. 24/28 Firstly, teamwork is the best characteristic for harmony inside every company. Teamwork will lead to effectiveness inside the companies. Teamwork is the best way to help the employees solve problems. With teamwork, every members weaknesses will be minimized, and their efforts and strengths will be maximized. Many companies believe that teamwork can make work easier. Effective teamwork is exemplified by groups that work together, this type of group can collect all the information and come together with new solutions. Thus, this team has an intermediary goal towards getting good, sustainable results. To have a good teamwork we must have the abilities to listen, question, persuade, help, share, participate, and communicate. Secondly, diversity in the workforce is a good thing in the company. Having employees from different backgrounds and cultures will give companies a lot of benefit in term of a variety of skills and knowledge. A diverse work place is a work place that respects and includes differences and recognizes the unique contributions that of every individual. It is very important to put diversity inside company cultures because it can help company to know the necessity of the market. In the end, the purpose of diversity is to maximize company’s profits. Thirdly, to create a harmonized environment inside the company, an organization must also care about its employees well being. To do so, employees must be provided with health care insurance, retirement fund such as 401k, and overtime compensation. Having an imperfectly imitable competitive advantage Just like Toyota is infamous for its reliability; our company also has to create an imperfectly imitable competitive advantage to differentiate ourselves from our competitors. Our competitive advantage should be large and attractive in the short run, but also very significant to customers in the long run. If our aim is to become the “Starbucks” of the automobile industry, providing our customers with pre-, during, and post-sale services that support their judgment in choosing our auto brand over the other. Learning from Toyota, we should integrate our supply chain into management processes to accommodate the full understanding of our goal. We want to let them know what is expected of them, supporting each other to achieve what we want for our supply chain: reasonability, satisfaction, loyalty, and support. A way to achieve that is to improve technology: through intense research and development, our company will be able to develop an engine that runs more smoothly, and need less maintenance to accommodate tour customers’ hectic life; our company needs to develop a braking system that reacts more quickly than the current system to ensure child safety; and also help develop the currently-tested hydrogen fuel cells to replace gasoline fuel and decreasing vehicle emissions of harmful gases. All these cannot be achieved if we do not have a communication system that transports information as quickly and safely as needed—we should implement virtual teams to ensure that processes are dealt with quickly. 25/28 All these will lead our company to communicate more efficiently throughout the supply chain, creating a unified sense of direction to achieve the competitive advantage. In that, reliability and affordability will be achieved. Supply Chain Relationship Relationships based on trust, commitment, and respect last a lot longer than those based on immediate advantages. Each party is more willing to sacrifice for the other, creating a mutual understanding and desire for other members of the supply chain to succeed, supporting each other for the ultimate goal of the company. Like Toyota which constantly is in communication with its supply chain, each member of the supply chain has no trouble accommodating whatever Toyota needs to produce each car with minimal cost for superior quality, serving its customers through its official dealers, and the adequate availability of its spare parts. Weeding out ineffective supply chain members, and maintaining and rewarding supportive supply chain members are the keys to successful implanting good supply chain relationship management. The best way to select supply chain members is to select them as if you are buying a car for yourself: Look for members that are reliable, committed to your convenience, and support what you need from them. Not forgetting after buying your car, you have to maintain its performance; similarly, maintain the relationship in the supply chain with respect and trust. In other words, treat them as an extension of your own company. By treating them as an extension of your company, a sense of ownership will follow. Like a team member who cares very much about the result of a project, he/she will want to contribute to the project—a very carefully thought contribution at that. Successful relationships are not built overnight, it takes time to develop these relationships; and when harvested correctly, the relationships can be sustained to achieve a result that everyone desires. Relationships throughout the company While relationships are important within the supply chain, it is also as important within the company itself. Without a good relationship in the company, the most important factor for success—effective communications—cannot be achieved. In sync with the importance of trust, commitment, and respect, relationships have to be instilled with these factors to grow and sustain. Many organization development books state that to be successful internally, each organization must have good management. To achieve an effective management, each employee needs to understand and agree to the processes of the organization. To do that, relationships that emphasize trust, commitment, and respect must be nurtured. Setting an example to avoid hypocrisy can also be implemented to support employees’ confidence in the company, boosting their positive outlook for themselves, the management system, and the company. 26/28 Maintaining happy employees within the company can be achieved through effective relationship management. Happy employees will be loyal, committed, and are more willing to sacrifice for the organization. By creating positive relationships, workplace will be a friendlier place to be in, where employees can concentrate on their work, instead of complaining about what a company should provide them. Productivity and satisfaction increases simultaneously, benefiting both the company and the workers. With that said, how do we manage relationships within the company? The goal of this is to balance the welfare of the employees and the processes of the organization. Motivation, rewards, encouragement, punishment, and realization has to be balanced in the relationship management to avoid misunderstandings, bribes, or any kind of unwanted activities that may suggest discrimination. “Fair and square” is the ideal way to maintain long-lasting relationships internally. Works Cited “GM walks the walk on hydrogen fuel cells” http://news.com.com/8301-10784_3-9730436-7.html ii GM’s four-point turnaround plan for North America <http://www.mindfully.org/Industry/2005/GM-Cut-30000-Jobs21nov05.htm> iii Brand Quality Ratings < http://www.jdpower.com/autos/quality-ratings/> i iv U.S. Automakers Starting to get it. <http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/291854_autoreliability10.html> v Can GM Stop Blowing Cash? < http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/05_47/b3960085.htm> The AUTO channel (July 7, 2007) “Consumer Reports: Reliability: Some Made in US Models Challenge Frontrunning Japanese Brands” < http://www.theautochannel.com/news/2006/11/09/028196.html> BusinessWeek, (July 8, 2007) “Can GM stop blowing Cash?” < http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/05_47/b3960085.htm> David Highfill, Matt Baki, Sean Copus, and Jennifer Smith (July 18, 2007) “Automotive Industry Analysis –GM, DaimlerChrysler, Toyota, Ford, Honda” <http://www.academicmind.com/unpublishedpapers/business/management> Datamonitor (July 8, 2007) “GENERAL MOTORS COPORATION SWOT ANALSYS” < Gary F. Grates, (July 15, 2007) “The role of communication integrators at General Motors” <http://www.allbusiness.com/human-resources/workforce-management/10459051.html?yahss=114-3470923-1045905> GM website (July 7, 2007) “GM North America’s Four Point Turnaround Plan” <http://www.mindfully.org/Industry/2005/GM-Cut-30000-Jobs21nov05.htm> 27/28 GM website, (July 8, 2007) “Health Care Costs: The Continuing Burden For General Motors and Fords” <http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=1254663161&sid=4&Fmt=4&clientId=19 912&RQT=309&VName=PQD> GM website (July 16, 2007) “Integrated Management” <http://www.gm.com/company/gmability/sustainability/reports/01/sustainability_ and_gm/integrated_management/manage_structure.html> George F. Will (July 10, 2007) “What Ails GM” <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wpdyn/content/article/2005/04/29/AR2005042 901385.html> Jeff Jacoby (July 9, 2007) “GM’s Healthcare dilemma” <http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2005/06/16/ gms_healthcare_dilemma/> John Odenthal (July 9, 2007) “What’s Good for GM” <http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=1289046431&sid=4&Fmt=3&clientId=19 912&RQT=309&VName=PQD> Martin Zimmerman (July 8, 2007) “Autos; Toyota Ends GM’s Reign As Car Sales Leader” <http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=1259825591&sid=4&Fmt=3&clientId=19 912&RQT=309&VName=PQD> Phillips David (July 2, 2007) “Subaru sees Toyota project in Indiana as chance to learn.” <http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=7&hid=106&sid=3f482ec5-c06e4c1d-a1eb-6a68dc2dedd0%40sessionmgr106> Robert Sherefkin (July 2, 2007) “GM prepares new supplier price grogram” <http:web.ebscohost.com/ehost/delivery?vid=14&hid=5&sid=9776aa96-43e14517> SWOT Analysis Toyota (No author) <http://www.marketingteacher.com/SWOT/toyota_swot.htm> Tom Krisher (July 7, 2007) “Big Three priority: cutting labor costs” <http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2003747001_autotalks14.ht ml> Toyota Industries, Inc. SWOT Analysis (2007, June 28th) <http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdf?vid=6&hid=106&sid=3f482ec5-c06e-4c1da1eb-6a68dc2dedd0%40sessionmgr106> Toyota website: Toyota Code of Conduct < http://www.toyota.co.jp/en/vision/code_of_conduct/index.html> Toyota website (July 7, 2007) “Arts and Culture” <http://www.toyota.co.jp/en/environmental_rep/04/download/pdf/c72_75.pdf> Toyota website (July 11, 2007) “Toyota website: Message From Top Management” <http://www.toyota.co.jp/en/vision/message/index.html> 28/28 Mogelluzzo, Bill (2006) Not For Everyone. Supply Chain Management. Commonwealth Business Media., Inc. Retrieved June 23, 2007, from http://www.joc.com Chappell, Lindsay (2005) Find More Like This, Toyota Boosts Minority Spending, Authomotive News, Vol. 80 Issue 6179. Retrieved June 23,2007, from http://proxy.seattleu.edu:2048/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?d irect=true&db=bth&AN=19190039&site=ehost-live Page, Leigh (2005) Getting the Skinny On Lean Management, Special Report: Process Improvement. Materials Management In Health Care. Retrieved June 23, 2007, from http://matmanmag.com Huber, Sig (2004) Supplier Relations are the Key to Toyota’s North American Success, Professional Profile. Retrieved June 23, 2007, from http://joc.com Teague, Paul E. (2006) Supplier Partnership Help Solve Design Problems for Special Parts, Metals. Retrieved June 24, 2007, from http://joc.com Hoffman, William (2006) Supply Chain Initiatives Help Toyota Increase US Market Share and Sales, Shipping Digest. Retrieved June 24, 2007, from http://www.shippingdigest.com Andel, Tom (1999) (no title) Transportation & Distribution 40, no. 9: SCF2 ISSN: 08958548 Number: 2098098 Copyright: Copyright 1999 Penton Publishing, Inc. Retrieved June 24, 2007 (anonymous) (2006) Chain Reaction, Economist, 00130613, 6/17/2006, Vol. 379, Issue 8482. Source: Business Source Complete. Retrieved June 25, 2007