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Thoughts about Toyota

I am very disappointed with the issues surrounding Eiji Toyoda’s masterpiece. My disappointment is not about financial numbers and the threat of losing the crown of World Number One car-maker by the numbers. It is about losing Toyota’s true development way and neglecting priorities that have been driving its development for the last decades.

I am frustrated to watch how Toyota has fallen a prey to reckless races of the latest decades of the 20th century under the influence of the common world tendency “to lead by numbers and by beating earning estimates”. It has lost its true development way and, as a result, it has lost its reputation, respect and social honor. I am frustrated to watch how Toyota is betraying its simple development priorities: quality, safety and value. It has fallen a prey to monetized and logical management methodologies that treat the quality and safety as another component of the economic value added. The quality, safety and value are the core of the social value added and other stuff spins around it.

Toyota has neglected its business philosophy, which has been methodically structured and monetized by Western companies. But Eastern and Western way of thinking and world views will never match, because they are based on different perceptions and real value views. Western nations may logically structure perceptions of Eastern nations, but they cannot not inherit their way of thinking and world views thus. It is the matter of historical spiritual and mental evolution of Eastern and Western nations. Unfortunately, under the influence of globalization, the Land of the Rising Sun has lost its ground and replaced its true way of thinking with monetized management principles. And it played a cruel trick on Toyota. Hence, it has got into quicksands.

The true value can be created only when the relevant social value added is created. In the case of Toyota, it must return to its roots. It must reshuffle its current way of business thinking and philosophy. It must return to principles of quality, safety and value. They must overthrow the way of thinking that force it to win support from investors and analysts driven by numbers and possessing monetized minds, though it is hard to achieve in the present time of dominating monetized way of thinking. Toyota, as any other company, must strive to win support from society and people, who buy their vehicles because they are safe and high-quality.

Though nowadays it is hard to overthrow the stiff principles of beating earnings consensus and of earnings management, Toyota must be the first who puts the social value added in the heart of its business. The reckless race does not add the social value, it builds up debts and leads to the loss of trust and respect. Ultimately, it leads to loss of honor, reputation and creation of weak society as a whole. Even if you can recover financial numbers, you may fail to return the respect and reputation. As for me, I prefer businesses with the strong social value added and the sound reputation of “the business of quality, safety and value”.

Now it is time for Toyota to return back to its roots that have made it the World Number One, even if not by the cherished numbers so beloved by monetized minds of modern investors and analysts but definitely by the social value added, owing to the reputation of business with the socialized way of thinking and “the business of safety, quality and value”. The latter will ultimately make the company the World Number One by numbers as well. Lead by example, be the World Number One in the society first of all and only then among analysts and investors with monetized minds.