Knowledge Management in Toyota Malaysia Organizational Background The history of Toyota started in 1933 with the company being

a division of Toyoda Automatic Loom Works devoted to the production of automobiles under the direction of the founder's son, Kiichiro Toyoda. Toyota Motor Co. was established as an independent and separate company in 1937. Although the founding family's name is Toyoda, the company name was changed because the name Toyota is considered to be luckier than Toyoda in Japan because eight is regarded as a lucky number, and eight is the number of strokes it takes to write Toyota in katakana. Toyota is headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi. Its Tokyo office is located in Bunkyo, Tokyo. Its Nagoya office is located in Nakamura-ku,Nagoya. In addition to manufacturing automobiles, Toyota provides financial services through its Toyota Financial Services division and also builds robots. Toyota has factories in most parts of the world, manufacturing or assembling vehicles for local markets. Toyota has manufacturing or assembly plants in Japan, Australia, India, Sri Lanka, Canada, Indonesia, Poland, South Africa, Turkey, Colombia, the United Kingdom, the United States, France, Brazil, Portugal, and more recently, Argentina, Czech Republic, Mexico, Malaysia, Thailand, Pakistan, Egypt, China, Vietnam, Venezuela, the Philippines, and Russia. The table shows the overview of the Toyota Company.

Company Name President and Representative

Toyota Motor Corporation Akio Toyoda

Director

Company Address 1 Toyota-Cho, Toyota City, Aichi Prefecture 471-8571, Japan Head Office Phone: (0565) 28-2121 1-4-18 Tokyo Head Office Phone: (03) 3817-7111 4-7-1 Meieki, Nakamura-ku, Nagoya City, Aichi Prefecture 450Nagoya Office 8711, Phone: (052) 552-2111 Date founded Capital Shareholders Fiscal Year Main Business Activities Business Sites Number of employees 317,716 (as of March 31, 2011) (consolidated) Number of employees 69,125 (as of March 31, 2011) (non-consolidated) August 28, 1937 397.05 billion yen (as of March 31, 2011) Shareholder Composition From April 1 to March 31 of the following year Motor Vehicle Production and Sales Information on Business Sites Japan Koraku, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 112-8701, Japan

Vision and Philosophy Guiding Principles at Toyota 1. Honor the language and spirit of the law of every nation and undertake open and fair business activities to be a good corporate citizen of the world. 2. Respect the culture and customs of every nation and contribute to economic and social development through corporate activities in their respective communities.

3. Dedicate our business to providing clean and safe products and to enhancing the quality of life everywhere through all of our activities. 4. Create and develop advanced technologies and provide outstanding products and services that fulfill the needs of customers worldwide. 5. Foster a corporate culture that enhances both individual creativity and the value of teamwork, while honoring mutual trust and respect between labor and management. 6. Pursue growth through harmony with the global community via innovative management. 7. Work with business partners in research and manufacture to achieve stable, long-term growth and mutual benefits, while keeping ourselves open to new partnerships. Established in 1992, revised in 1997. (Translation from original Japanese)- cited from http://www.toyota-global.com/company/vision_philosophy/guiding_principles.html

Sakichi Toyoda, Founder of Toyota

Five Main Principles of Toyoda

Always be faithful to your duties, thereby contributing to the company and to the overall

good.

Always be studious and creative, striving to stay ahead of the times. Always be practical and avoid frivolousness. Always strive to build a homelike atmosphere at work that is warm and friendly. Always have respect for spiritual matters, and remember to be grateful at all times.

Since its foundation, Toyota has continuously strived to contribute to the sustainable development of society through the manufacturing and provision of innovative and quality products and services that lead the times. The foundations of these endeavors are the Guiding Principles at Toyota and an explanation paper entitled "CSR POLICY: Contribution towards Sustainable Development" that interprets the Guiding Principles at Toyota.

COMPANY STRATEGY Toyota's management philosophy has evolved from the company's origins and has been reflected in the terms "Lean Manufacturing" and Just In Time Production, which it was instrumental in developing. Toyota's managerial values and business methods are known collectively as the Toyota Way. In April 2001 Toyota adopted the "Toyota Way 2001," an expression of values and conduct guidelines that all Toyota employees should embrace. Under the two headings of Respect for

People and Continuous Improvement, Toyota summarizes its values and conduct guidelines with the following five principles; Challenge Kaizen (improvement) Genchi Genbutsu (go and see) Respect Teamwork

According to external observers, the Toyota Way has four components:[41] 1. 2. 3.

4.

Long-term thinking as a basis for management decisions. A process for problem-solving. Adding value to the organization by developing its people. Recognizing that continuously solving root problems drives organizational

learning. Nature of Service The nature of the organization is automotive where it is started in Japan. Later on, Toyota's expertise extends beyond its automobile manufacturing business into a variety of other fields, including housing, financial services, communications, marine and biotechnology and afforestation. Other product line of the Toyota are electric technology, plug-in hybrid, all-electric vehicles, cars, SUVs and crossover, pickup trucks and luxury type vehicles. As for the motorsport, Toyota has TRD- Toyota Racing Development. While for the non-automotive activities include the aerospace, philanthropy, higher education, robotics and agriculture biotechnology.

Environmental Record Toyota has been a leader in environmentally friendly vehicle technologies, most notably the RAV4 EV (produced from 1997 to 2003) and the Toyota Prius (1997 to present). Toyota is now working on their next generation Prius and second generation RAV4 EV both due out in 2012. Toyota implemented its Fourth Environmental Action Plan in 2005. The plan contains four major themes involving the environment and the corporation's development, design, production, and sales. The five-year plan is directed at the, "arrival of a revitalized recycling-based society. Toyota had previously released its Eco-Vehicle Assessment System (Eco-VAS) which is a systematic life cycle assessment of the effect a vehicle will have on the environment including production, usage, and disposal. The assessment includes, "... fuel efficiency, emissions and noise during vehicle use, the disposal recovery rate, the reduction of substances of environmental concern, and CO2 emissions throughout the life cycle of the vehicle from production to disposal."2008 marks the ninth year for Toyota's Environmental Activities Grant Program which has been implemented every year since 2000. Themes of the 2008 program consist of "Global Warming Countermeasures" and "Biodiversity Conservation." Since October 2006, Toyota's new Japanese-market vehicle models with automatic transmissions are equipped with an Eco Drive Indicator. The system takes into consideration rate of acceleration, engine and transmission efficiency, and speed. When the vehicle is operated in a fuel-efficient manner, the Eco Drive Indicator on the instrument panel, lights up. Individual results vary depending on traffic issues, starting and stopping the vehicle, and total distance traveled, but the Eco Drive Indicator may improve fuel efficiency by as much as 4%.[83] Along with Toyota's ecofriendly objectives on production and use, the company plans to donate US$1 million and five

vehicles to the Everglades National Park. The money will be used to fund environmental programs at the park. This donation is part of a program which provides US$5 million and 23 vehicles for five national parks and the National Parks Foundation. However new figures from the United States National Research Council show that the continuing hidden health costs of the auto industry to the US economy in 2005 amounted toUS$56 million. The United States EPA has awarded Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, Inc (TEMA) with a ENERGY STAR Sustained Excellence Award in 2007, 2008 and 2009