The Toyota cultural exception

In 2007, Toyota dethroned General Motors as the world’s leading auto-maker. With more than nine million vehicles sold in the world and close to 14 billion euros in operating profits, the Japanese automaker is one of the most admired companies in the world and one of the most feared by its competitors.

Toyota's success is commonly attributed to its “just-in-time” production system, which revolutionized automotive manufacturing and inspired innumerable change methodologies even in sectors far removed from the car industry. However, this system is only one of the concrete reflections of the management philosophy introduced by the company’s founders, which permeates the whole Toyota culture and influences the day-to-day behavior of every employee.

The publications we have selected analyze how this culture makes Toyota different from other companies, why it is one of the keys to its success and make suggestions on how other companies can learn from it. Four conclusions in particular can be drawn from the Toyota experience:

– Toyota derives great strength from its ability to maintain strong internal cohesion across the world.

– Toyota is able to reconcile great organizational stability with a philosophy of continuous change.

– Toyota has never fallen into complacency and has remained faithful to its founding values.

– Toyota practices what it preaches when it says that people are its greatest assets.