How Toyota Became #1
Leadership Lessons from the World's Greatest Car Company
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5.0 • 1 Rating
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- £2.99
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- £2.99
Publisher Description
Everyone knows that Toyota has had an amazing twenty-five- year run, rising from a humble Japanese start-up to a thriving global giant. But how did it pass Ford and GM to become the world?s largest auto manufacturer? And how does it continue to thrive while so many competitors are struggling and failing?
Journalist David Magee dug deeply into Toyota?s past and present, interviewing senior executives who rarely talk to the press, along with many other sources. The powerful lessons that he distills, especially about corporate culture, are valuable for managers in all industries.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Magee, a columnistat the Chattanooga Times Free Press, ably chronicles the rise of leading auto manufacturer Toyota and the underlying principles that led to its ascendancy. From lean production to a long-term focus to specialized philosophies like "kaizen" (a system of continuous improvement in which instances of waste are eliminated one by one) and "genchi genbutsu" (a belief in practical experience over theoretical knowledge), Magee documents each contributing factor in Toyota's success. Going back as far as Toyota founder Kiichiro Toyoda's father Sakichi Toyoda, a successful inventor who inspired and financed the car company's first operations, Magee takes the reader through the company's current challenges and achievements. While he delivers some fresh ideas on how to foster innovation within a particular industry, his overwhelming praise for Toyota's methods reads suspiciously like hagiography, despite his frequent assurances that he wrote the book "in complete objectivity with no involvement or influence from the company." Still, this work will interest those involved in the automotive world or similar industries.
