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Toyota Prius Case Study

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Toyota Case

Toyota Motor Corp. (TMC)
Should the new Toyota president accelerate the launch scheduled for the Toyota Prius? The plan to introduce the car “at the end of 1998 with expected production of 1000 units per month…” (Reinhardt, Yao & Egawa, 2006) is an extremely aggressive and ambitious goal; but, is it in TMC’s best interest to speed up the planned launch? There is no doubt that the new president (Hiroshi Okuda) is under extreme pressure to compete in a global market, he believes the company should radically alter its image to attract new customers and gain a competitive advantage while systematically facilitating environmentally-socially responsible practices. It may very well be that TMC should push for a faster launch; but, there are a few things we must take into consideration before we encourage our Toyota team to make any hasty changes. The auto mobile industry faces many challenges (as most industries do) however; this industry is unique in its own way. The industries high barriers to entry, high capital cost, and unique manufacturing facilities make managerial mistakes extremely costly (complete failure is not easily corrected, much less when you change the economies of scale platform). Before making any drastic changes to the manufacturing process, TMC must first analyze its: competition, market, government regulations, facility capabilities, management practices and overall responsibilities (responsibilities include anything from: reaching Goals, Visions-Missions-Values (VMV’s) to reaching Ethic committee and Return on Investor expectations). No president, CEO or manger can see into the future, what they can do is help set up a business model that can lead to successful outcomes.
Toyota in the Auto Industry
“In 1994 global vehicle production was 49 million units” (Reinhardt, Yao & Egawa, 2006) as one of the world’s largest

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