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Product Description
Product Description
The definitive inside account of Toyota's greatest crisis—and lessons you can apply to your own company
"Those who write off Toyota in the current climate of second guessing and speculation are making a profound mistake and need to read this book to get the facts. Toyota is a company that will channel the current challenges to push themselves to even more relentless continuous improvement."
—Charles Baker, former Chief Engineer and Vice President for R&D, Honda of America
"Toyota Under Fire is a superb book and should prove very helpful to American industry's understanding of the problems faced and how any company can prevent similar occurrences in the future."
—Norman Bodek, author, founder of Productivity Press, and inductee in 2010 Industry Week Manufacturing Hall of Fame
"As a former automotive supplier executive and student of Toyota, I was concerned to see the many negative reports and investigations into the quality and safety of its vehicles. Toyota Under Fire tells the story of how this great company is growing wiser and stronger by living its culture and values."
—Michael Fisher, CEO, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center
"Just as Toyota has put itself through excruciating soul-searching in order to understand what went wrong, so should we all take advantage of the opportunity for learning presented to us by Toyota's misfortune. In these pages, you will find that the actual circumstances were far more complex, nuanced, and uncertain than you saw reported in the news."
—John Y. Shook, Chairman and CEO, Lean Enterprise Institute
"The most comprehensive and detailed review to date of the circumstances that led to the crisis, and the events and contexts that caused it to escalate.”
—Strategy & Business
About the Book
For decades, Toyota has been setting standards that are the envy—and goal—of organizations worldwide. Its legendary management principles and business philosophy, first documented by Jeffrey K. Liker in his influential book The Toyota Way, changed the business world's approach to operational excellence.
Granted unprecedented access to Toyota's facilities worldwide, Liker, along with Timothy N. Ogden, investigated the inside story of how Toyota faced the challenges of the recession and the recall crisis of 2009–2010. In both cases, the company was caught off guard—and found that a root cause of the challenges it faced was its failure to live up to its own principles. But the fundamentals were still there, and the company has ultimately come out of the most challenging years of its postwar existence even stronger than before.
Toyota Under Fire chronicles all the events of the recession and the recall crisis in detail, providing valuable lessons any business leader can use to survive and thrive in a crisis, no matter how large:
- Crisis response must start by building a strong culture long before the crisis hits.
- Culture matters far more than decisions made by top executives.
- Investing in people, even in the depths of a recession, is the surest path to long-term profitability.
Because it had founded its culture on such principles, Toyota didn’t need to amass an army of public relations, marketing, and legal experts to "put out the fire"; instead, it redoubled efforts to live up to its founding tenet, going "back to basics." Toyota began solving this crisis more than 70 years ago, when its organizational culture was first established.
Apply the lessons of Toyota Under Fire to your company, and you'll meet any future management challenge calmly, responsibly, and effectively—the Toyota Way.
About the Author
Jeffrey K. Liker is the author of the bestselling The Toyota Way and 10 other related books. He is a professor of industrial and operational engineering at the University of Michigan and consults and speaks through his own consulting firm and The Toyota Way Academy.
Timothy N. Ogden is cofounder of Sona Partners and a writer and editor who has developed nearly 20 business books for major publishers. His work has appeared in Harvard Business Review, Stanford Social Innovation Review, Strategy+Leadership, and Miller-McCune, among others.
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Most helpful customer reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
It's the Culture, stupid.,
By
This review is from: Toyota Under Fire: Lessons for Turning Crisis into Opportunity (Hardcover)
Main takeaway from this book: A company's Culture determines how well it copes with crisis. And in Toyota's case, its Culture was instrumental in dealing with both, the global recession and the recall crisis.The only thing I'd like to see Mr. Liker delve into more detail is how the sales organizations of Toyota (distributor arm) really live up to the Toyota Way standards. Distributors are at the front line interacting with customers. Since, as explained in the book, the recalls were more a Customer Perception/Customer Concern issue than a real Safety Issue, how strong the Toyota Way culture is lived at the sales organizations of Toyota seems to be crucial. Being a Toyota employee I enjoyed the book. Kudos for the investigative work and for trying to keep an unbiased view of Toyota's problems and solutions.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Some Lessons to be Learned,
By Ian Gordon Malcomson (Victoria, BC) - See all my reviews (HALL OF FAME) (TOP 10 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)
This review is from: Toyota Under Fire: Lessons for Turning Crisis into Opportunity (Hardcover)
While this book should not be regarded as the most independent authority on what makes Toyota one of the world's a successful corporations, it does offer some helpful insights as to how it works to overcome major problems that have wrecked other less resourceful companies. "Toyota Under Fire", while mainly focusing on the big picture, has a lot to tell us about our own personal lives as we grow in knowledge and maturity. The reader is introduced to the main Toyota strategies that have allowed it to grow from a small-end manufacturer of commercial products to the world's leading auto producer. The Toyota family and a well-appointed management team operates on the principle of on-time production that includes well-tested parts assembled in a most efficient and professional manner. Things that go wrong in a vehicle are identified immediately, removed and replaced with more reliable components. Asia, Europe and North America have their own management oversight that involves a coordination of design, production, sales and trouble-shooting. So when the double whammy of the 2008 Recession and the massive recall of the Lexus for SUA (sudden unexpected acceleration) occurred, there were some initial delays as to handling the growing threat of litigation arising from accident claims. Everyone, including yours truly, was second-guessing the hither-to great track record. Had the sterling Toyota image finally become tarnished because it had failed, in its efforts to become No. 1, to take care of a major design flaw in its accelerator and throttle systems? It is the authors' position that once Toyota responded to the growing public concerns by ordering a major recall of the Camry and the Lexus, did the company start to recover its product reputation. Involved in this recall were a succession of rigorous tests that complied with Toyota's business plan of dealing with mistakes before they get out of hand. There were fixes that involved replacing the mats under the accelerator and numerous memos clarifying why such incidents might occur but none pointing to an engine defect. To no one's surprise, the US government, confirming Toyota's test results, eventually aknowledged that there was no inherent issue with the engine design that would cause undue engine acceleration and that, if it did occur, it would have to be the result of pedal misapplication. At no time did this company attempt to downsize in order to mitigate losses in the billions. Out of this whole potential schmozzle has come a re-affirmation of the Toyota commitment to integrity, teamwork, product improvement and good-old Japanese humility. Though it hasn't been easy, recovery should be quick for Toyota given the fact that it has weathered the storm by holding fast to what made it a bona fide manufacturer. As a long-time Toyota customer, I also learned from reading this assessment that we should never rest on our laurels, and that shake-ups are often necessary to make a business stronger if viewed in the right light.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
4.6 out of 5 stars (17 customer reviews) 12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Brilliant! Read it: the inspiring inside story of how Toyota overcame its crises without betraying its principles,
By Michael Balle - Published on Amazon.com
"Problems first" is one of the tenets of Toyota's unique management approach and, indeed, the company is even more interesting to observe when it is dealing with catastrophic events - it's ability for self-correction and drawing powerful conclusions, emerging stronger from its trials has been, historically, astounding.When all pundits were claiming the "end of Toyota", "this time Toyota has gone too far" "Toyota has lost its way", these authors have resisted the siren song of the lynch mob and conducted an in-depth, fact-based investigation in what was really happening within Toyota. What they found was, first, a giant automotive company that hit the worst industrial crisis of working memory, a crisis that has claimed the life of no other than GM and has cost millions of taxpayers dollars to salvage the industry, and yet Toyota reacted without laying off any permanent employees or asking for subsidies. indeed it used the downtime to increase training and focus on improving its factory quality. This is an astounding industrial feat, and reading the account made by the authors is more than enlightening; it's inspiring. Corporations need not be slaves to the market, or justify treating people without respect because of "market conditions". Toyota demonstrates how faced with overwhelming market conditions, companies can still stick to their agreements and engage every one in working together towards turnaround. Second, as it was still reeling from the impact of the great recession, Toyota was bizarely attacked in the court of public opinion for designing "unsafe" cars, with everyone from the government to Toyota experts piling on to fuel the hysteria. Well, after untold damage done to its reputation, and millions spent in investigations by top engineering experts, the jury is in: no Toyota cars were found to be dangerous in any way. This is a fascinating story and a beautiful illustration of the madness of crowds, which is told lucidly step by step by the authors and which highlight both toyota's strengths in solving difficult engineering problems and its weaknesses in reacting quickly and well to public opinion moods. Whatever one's personal opinion, Toyota remains one of the most unique and interesting companies around, a company that offers the hope of doing business differently, by truly putting customers first and respecting one's people. Watching Toyota struggle is just as fascinating as watching it walk on water, and this book gives unique insight on the nuts-and-bolts reactions within the company, and how it manages to deploy its principles under fire and against considerable opposition. I found the book hard to put down, as it answered so many questions at once, both about the events, and the nuts-and-bolts reaction of the company. This book is a worthy sequel of The Toyota Way, as we see here the principles applied in adverse and fluid conditions. A great management read! 5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Deeper Insight into Toyota Decision Making,
By Joseph F Ely - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Toyota Under Fire: Lessons for Turning Crisis into Opportunity (Hardcover)
This book was very enjoyable yet in a surprising way.From the title and description, I expected a blow-by-blow review of the details of the rigors of the safety recalls and public scrutiny of Congress following the awful crashes of Toyota cars. I also expected this to be set against the context of the recession. This is certainly part of the book. But not the most useful. As someone who has followed and sought to emulate Toyota's manufacturing excellence for well over a decade now, what really grabbed me was the authors' ability to see behind the decisions and into the decision-making process of Toyota. They described this well and clearly. For example, the discussions of company governance, it's influence on the timing and nature of decisions, was deeply helpful. Toyota's system, now famous, are merely the outward expressions of a disciplined and deeply-ingrained approach to creating clarity out of the chaos which is business and manufacturing. This book enables the reader to better understand why. This is key because it is short-sighted to merely seek to imitate the Toyota Production System. Much better to understand the thinking and then flesh it out in one's own context. Jeff Liker, again, adds well to the knowledge of Toyota. . 5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent! A must-read for every business leader and improvement professional.,
By Karen Martin - Published on Amazon.com
There may be no other company that has faced as protracted and deep scrutiny as Toyota has over the past year-and-a-half. But while the media was reporting half-truths that fueled an outpouring of emotion bordering on hysteria, two men were methodically searching for the truth, sorting out fact from fiction. The result, Toyota Under Fire, is an important and compelling piece of work - in many ways perhaps even more so than The Toyota Way, in helping us understand the management philosophy and practices that have led to Toyota's success, and have allowed it to weather a potentially debilitating storm that many companies may not have recovered from.In some ways Toyota Under Fire reads more like a thriller than a business book. Liker and Ogden have created an easy read that takes a hard look at ALL of the facts, not just the ones the general public was privy to. And they do a brilliant job at outlining the leadership behaviors that anyone can use to mitigate and manage business crises. It's a thought-provoking book that caused me to once again rethink western business practices, while it deepened my respect for a company that trumps most others in terms of humility, problem-solving acumen, and process management know-how. Every leader and improvement professional should read this book. |
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