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Book The Toyota Way to Success EBOOK BUNDLE

Download or read book The Toyota Way to Success EBOOK BUNDLE written by Jeffrey K. Liker and published by McGraw Hill Professional. This book was released on 2013-09-20 with total page 1658 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Four E-Books in One The Toyota Way TOYOTA. The name signifies greatness—world-class cars and game-changing business thinking In factories around the world, Toyota consistently makes the highest-quality cars with the fewest defects of any competing manufacturer, while using fewer man-hours, less on-hand inventory, and half the floor space of its competitors. The international bestsellerThe Toyota Way written by Jeffrey Liker, is the first book for a general audience that explains the management principles and business philosophy behind Toyota's worldwide reputation for quality and reliability. The Toyota Way Fieldbook The Toyota Way Fieldbook is a companion to the international bestseller The Toyota Way . The book builds on the philosophical aspects of Toyota's operating systems by detailing the concepts and providing practical examples for application that leaders need to bring Toyota's success-proven practices to life in any organization.. The Toyota Way to Lean Leadership In The Toyota Way to Lean Leadership, Jeffrey Liker and Gary L. Convis present a four-step model top leaders can use to create a culture dedicated to continuous improvement. The authors provide the tools to getting employees to refocus their efforts—from simply performing their singular function to delivering value across all functions. Managers learn how to foster self-development in every employee, at every level; put each employee in the position to develop others; and remove obstacles and set the types of goals that ensure every team contributes to continuous improvement and the attainment of long-term goals. The Toyota Way to Continuous Improvement In The Toyota Way to Continuous Improvement, Jeffrey Liker, bestselling author, teams up with former Toyota production engineer James Franz to explain the underlying thinking behind continuous improvement and why any company needs a disciplined approach to process improvement in every part of the organization. Liker and Franz outline the common mistakes in thinking that limit results, and they reveal how Toyota achieves its dual objectives of improving business performance and developing its people through following Dr. W. Edwards Deming’s teachings of Plan-Do-Check-Adjust (PDCA).

Book The Toyota Way   Management Principles and Fieldbook  EBOOK BUNDLE

Download or read book The Toyota Way Management Principles and Fieldbook EBOOK BUNDLE written by Jeffrey K. Liker and published by McGraw-Hill Professional. This book was released on 2011-11-18 with total page 845 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Transform your company the Toyota way! Two essential guides streamlined into a SINGLE EBOOK PACKAGE Toyota. The name says it all: Innovation. Efficiency. Quality. Excellence. The Toyota Way—Management Principles and Fieldbook explains how the legendary automaker consistently achieves the highest levels of manufacturing and business success—and how you can achieve similar results with your own organization, regardless of your industry. Discover Toyota’s methods then learn how to put them to practical use with these groundbreaking books: The Toyota Way—INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER! The Toyota Way reveals the management principles behind Toyota's worldwide reputation for quality and reliability. Dr. Jeffrey Liker, the global expert on Toyota's Lean methods, explains how you can implement the company’s principles to: Double or triple the speed of any business process Build quality into workplace systems Eliminate the huge costs of hidden waste Turn every employee into a quality-control inspector Dramatically improve your products and services The Toyota Way Fieldbook Written as a companion volume to The Toyota Way, this hands-on guide takes the lessons of Toyota to the next level. Liker teams up with Toyota veteran David Meier to provide the diagnostic tools, worksheets, and exercises you need to craft the most effective approach for your organization. Learn how to: Develop leaders that “live” your system Transform your company into a true lean learning organization Create a culture of continuous improvement and innovation Meet all the needs of your customers Position your company for long-term success

Book Flexible Automation and Intelligent Manufacturing  Establishing Bridges for More Sustainable Manufacturing Systems

Download or read book Flexible Automation and Intelligent Manufacturing Establishing Bridges for More Sustainable Manufacturing Systems written by Francisco J. G. Silva and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2023-09-25 with total page 1237 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book reports on cutting-edge research and developments in manufacturing, giving a special emphasis to solutions fostering automation, sustainability and health, safety and well-being at work. Topics cover manufacturing process analysis and optimization, supply chain management, quality control, as well as human factors and logistics. They highlight the role and advantages of intelligent systems and technologies, discussing current best-practices and challenges to cope with in the near future. Based on proceedings of the 32nd edition of the International Conference on Flexible Automation and Intelligent Manufacturing, FAIM 2023, held on June 18–22, 2023, in Porto, Portugal, this second volume of a 2-volume set provides academics and professionals with extensive information on innovative strategies for industrial management in the era of industry 5.0.

Book The Toyota Way Fieldbook

Download or read book The Toyota Way Fieldbook written by Jeffrey K. Liker and published by McGraw Hill Professional. This book was released on 2005-10-19 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Toyota Way Fieldbook is a companion to the international bestseller The Toyota Way. The Toyota Way Fieldbook builds on the philosophical aspects of Toyota's operating systems by detailing the concepts and providing practical examples for application that leaders need to bring Toyota's success-proven practices to life in any organization. The Toyota Way Fieldbook will help other companies learn from Toyota and develop systems that fit their unique cultures. The book begins with a review of the principles of the Toyota Way through the 4Ps model-Philosophy, Processes, People and Partners, and Problem Solving. Readers looking to learn from Toyota's lean systems will be provided with the inside knowledge they need to Define the companies purpose and develop a long-term philosophy Create value streams with connected flow, standardized work, and level production Build a culture to stop and fix problems Develop leaders who promote and support the system Find and develop exceptional people and partners Learn the meaning of true root cause problem solving Lead the change process and transform the total enterprise The depth of detail provided draws on the authors combined experience of coaching and supporting companies in lean transformation. Toyota experts at the Georgetown, Kentucky plant, formally trained David Meier in TPS. Combined with Jeff Liker's extensive study of Toyota and his insightful knowledge the authors have developed unique models and ideas to explain the true philosophies and principles of the Toyota Production System.

Book The Toyota Way

    Book Details:
  • Author : Jeffrey K. Liker
  • Publisher : McGraw Hill Professional
  • Release : 2003-12-22
  • ISBN : 9780071435635
  • Pages : 350 pages

Download or read book The Toyota Way written by Jeffrey K. Liker and published by McGraw Hill Professional. This book was released on 2003-12-22 with total page 350 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How to speed up business processes, improve quality, and cut costs in any industry In factories around the world, Toyota consistently makes the highest-quality cars with the fewest defects of any competing manufacturer, while using fewer man-hours, less on-hand inventory, and half the floor space of its competitors. The Toyota Way is the first book for a general audience that explains the management principles and business philosophy behind Toyota's worldwide reputation for quality and reliability. Complete with profiles of organizations that have successfully adopted Toyota's principles, this book shows managers in every industry how to improve business processes by: Eliminating wasted time and resources Building quality into workplace systems Finding low-cost but reliable alternatives to expensive new technology Producing in small quantities Turning every employee into a qualitycontrol inspector

Book Toyota Culture  The Heart and Soul of the Toyota Way

Download or read book Toyota Culture The Heart and Soul of the Toyota Way written by Jeffrey K. Liker and published by McGraw Hill Professional. This book was released on 2008 with total page 594 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Winner of the Shingo Prize for Research and Professional Publication, 2009 The international bestseller The Toyota Way explained the company's success by introducing a revolutionary 4P model for organizational excellence-Philosophy, People, Process, and Problem Solving. Now, in Toyota Culture, preeminent Toyota authorities Jeffrey Liker and Michael Hoseus reveal how Toyota selects, develops, and motivates its people to become committed to building high-quality products-and how you can do the same for your company. Toyota Culture examines the “human systems” that Toyota has put in place to instill its founding principles of trust, mutual prosperity, and excellence in its plants, dealerships, and offices around the world. Beginning with a look at the evolution of the Toyota culture and why its people are the heart and soul of the Toyota Way, the authors explain the company's four-stage process for building and keeping quality people: Attract, Develop, Engage, and Inspire. Drawing upon numerous examples from Liker's decades of research as well as Hoseus' insider access as a Toyota manager, Toyota Culture gives you the tools you need to: Find competent, able, and willing employees Start training and socializing your people as you hire them Establish and communicate key business performance indicators at every level of your organization Train your people to solve problems and continuously improve processes in their daily work Develop leaders who live and teach your company's philosophy Reward top performance-and offer help to those who are struggling Fascinating vignettes of Toyota's innovative culture highlight the nuances of translating and recreating a people-centric culture in factories and offices across the globe. These exclusive, behind-the-scenes details are just what your company needs to successfully learn from The Toyota Culture.

Book The Toyota Way  Second Edition  14 Management Principles from the World s Greatest Manufacturer

Download or read book The Toyota Way Second Edition 14 Management Principles from the World s Greatest Manufacturer written by Jeffrey K. Liker and published by McGraw-Hill Education. This book was released on 2020-12-01 with total page 448 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The bestselling guide to Toyota’s legendary philosophy and production system—updated with important new frameworks for driving innovation and quality in your business One of the most impactful business guides published in the 21st Century, The Toyota Way played an outsized role in launching the continuous-improvement movement that continues unabated today. Multiple Shingo Award–winning management and operations expert Jeffrey K. Liker provides a deep dive into Toyota’s world-changing processes, showing how you can learn from it to develop your own improvement program that fits your conditions. Thanks in large part to this book, managers across the globe are creating workforces and systems that produce the highest-quality products and services, establish and retain customer loyalty, and drive business profitability and sustainability. Now, Liker has thoroughly updated his classic guide to include: Completely revised data and updated information about Toyota’s approach to competitiveness in the new world of mobility and smart technology Illustrative examples from manufacturing and service organizations that have learned and improved from the Toyota Way A fresh approach to leadership models The brain science and skills for learning to think scientifically How Toyota applies Hoshin Kanri, a planning process that aligns objectives at all levels and marries them to business strategy Organized into thematic sections covering the various aspects of the Toyota Way—including Philosophy, Processes, People, and Problem Solving—this unparalleled guide details the 14 key principles for building the foundation of a powerful improvement system and managing it for ultimate competitive advantage. With The Toyota Way, you have an inspiration and a model of how to set a direction, continuously improve and learn at all levels, continually "flow" value to satisfy customers, improve your leadership, and get quality right the first time.

Book Thinkers 50  Innovation  Leadership  Management and Strategy  EBOOK BUNDLE

Download or read book Thinkers 50 Innovation Leadership Management and Strategy EBOOK BUNDLE written by Stuart Crainer and published by McGraw Hill Professional. This book was released on 2013-09-20 with total page 808 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Four E-Books in One The World's Leading Business Minds on Today's Most Critical Challenges "Thinkers50 is now established as the definitive ranking of global thought leaders." -- Professor Costas Markides, London Business School Innovation used to separate extraordinary companies from average companies. Today, it's making the difference between those that succeed and those that outright fail. Business leaders have no choice: innovate or die. Stuart Crainer and Des Dearlove, creators of Thinkers50, bring you the very latest thinking on the subject of business innovation. Citing the ideas and insights of the world's leading thinkers and business practitioners, the authors present a guide to business innovation that will put you ahead of the competition. Chapters include: Disruptive Innovation Co-creating the Future Opening Up Innovation Innovating Management Leading Innovation Where Innovation Meets Strategy Where Innovation Meets Society Each book in the Thinkers50 series provides authoritative explanations of the concepts, ideas, and practices that are making a difference today, including specific examples and cases drawn from the original sources. "Innovation is where the worlds of business and creativity meet to create new value," Crainer and Dearlove write. Today's customers are more demanding than ever. They want the best, coolest, most advanced product available. If you don't deliver it, your competitor will. Read Thinkers50 Innovation and learn how to apply the best ideas from the brightest minds in business innovation.

Book Lean Thinking

Download or read book Lean Thinking written by James P. Womack and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2013-09-26 with total page 400 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Lean Thinking was launched in the fall of 1996, just in time for the recession of 1997. It told the story of how American, European, and Japanese firms applied a simple set of principles called 'lean thinking' to survive the recession of 1991 and grow steadily in sales and profits through 1996. Even though the recession of 1997 never happened, companies were starving for information on how to make themselves leaner and more efficient. Now we are dealing with the recession of 2001 and the financial meltdown of 2002. So what happened to the exemplar firms profiled in Lean Thinking? In the new fully revised edition of this bestselling book those pioneering lean thinkers are brought up to date. Authors James Womack and Daniel Jones offer new guidelines for lean thinking firms and bring their groundbreaking practices to a brand new generation of companies that are looking to stay one step ahead of the competition.

Book EBOOK  Operations Management in the Supply Chain  Decisions and Cases

Download or read book EBOOK Operations Management in the Supply Chain Decisions and Cases written by SCHROEDER and published by McGraw Hill. This book was released on 2013-02-16 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: EBOOK: Operations Management in the Supply Chain: Decisions and Cases

Book The Mulligan

    Book Details:
  • Author : Kenneth H. Blanchard
  • Publisher : Harper Collins
  • Release : 2010
  • ISBN : 0310328969
  • Pages : 82 pages

Download or read book The Mulligan written by Kenneth H. Blanchard and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2010 with total page 82 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Mulligan Participant's Guide is designed to help you and your small group more fully engage in The Mulligan six-session DVD group study. Golf pro Wally Armstrong and bestselling author Ken Blanchard will walk you through time-tested steps for improving your golf game and your life. A perfect shot of grace for you, for your foursome, and for every Christian.

Book Toyota Under Fire  Lessons for Turning Crisis into Opportunity

Download or read book Toyota Under Fire Lessons for Turning Crisis into Opportunity written by Jeffrey K. Liker and published by McGraw Hill Professional. This book was released on 2011-03-11 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.

Book Designed for Digital

Download or read book Designed for Digital written by Jeanne W. Ross and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2021-09-21 with total page 205 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One of Forbes's Top Ten Technology Books of the Year How to redesign ‘big, old’ companies for digital success—featuring a survey of 300+ business leaders and 30+ global organizations, including Amazon, Uber, LEGO, Toyota North America, Philips, and USAA. Most established companies have deployed such digital technologies as the cloud, mobile apps, the internet of things, and artificial intelligence. But few established companies are designed for digital. This book offers an essential guide for retooling organizations for digital success through 5 key building blocks: • Shared Customer Insights • Operational Backbone • Digital Platform • Accountability Framework • External Developer Platform In the digital economy, rapid pace of change in technology capabilities and customer desires means that business strategy must be fluid. As a result, business design has become a critical management responsibility. Effective business design enables a company to quickly pivot in response to new competitive threats and opportunities. Most leaders today, however, rely on organizational structure to implement strategy, unaware that structure inhibits, rather than enables, agility. In companies that are designed for digital, people, processes, data, and technology are synchronized to identify and deliver innovative customer solutions—and redefine strategy. Digital design, not strategy, is what separates winners from losers in the digital economy. Designed for Digital offers practical advice on digital transformation, with examples that include Amazon, BNY Mellon, DBS Bank, LEGO, Philips, Schneider Electric, USAA, and many other global organizations. Drawing on 5 years of research and in-depth case studies, the book is an essential guide for companies that want to disrupt rather than be disrupted in the new digital landscape.

Book Toyota Methods and Operating Models

Download or read book Toyota Methods and Operating Models written by Stefano Cortiglioni and published by . This book was released on 2020 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Examines the innovative and original applications of the values of the Toyota Way and the systems of management of the Toyota Production System and lean leadership.

Book The Success of Open Source

Download or read book The Success of Open Source written by Steve WEBER and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2009-06-30 with total page 321 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Much of the innovative programming that powers the Internet, creates operating systems, and produces software is the result of "open source" code, that is, code that is freely distributed--as opposed to being kept secret--by those who write it. Leaving source code open has generated some of the most sophisticated developments in computer technology, including, most notably, Linux and Apache, which pose a significant challenge to Microsoft in the marketplace. As Steven Weber discusses, open source's success in a highly competitive industry has subverted many assumptions about how businesses are run, and how intellectual products are created and protected. Traditionally, intellectual property law has allowed companies to control knowledge and has guarded the rights of the innovator, at the expense of industry-wide cooperation. In turn, engineers of new software code are richly rewarded; but, as Weber shows, in spite of the conventional wisdom that innovation is driven by the promise of individual and corporate wealth, ensuring the free distribution of code among computer programmers can empower a more effective process for building intellectual products. In the case of Open Source, independent programmers--sometimes hundreds or thousands of them--make unpaid contributions to software that develops organically, through trial and error. Weber argues that the success of open source is not a freakish exception to economic principles. The open source community is guided by standards, rules, decisionmaking procedures, and sanctioning mechanisms. Weber explains the political and economic dynamics of this mysterious but important market development. Table of Contents: Preface 1. Property and the Problem of Software 2. The Early History of Open Source 3. What Is Open Source and How Does It Work? 4. A Maturing Model of Production 5. Explaining Open Source: Microfoundations 6. Explaining Open Source: Macro-Organization 7. Business Models and the Law 8. The Code That Changed the World? Notes Index Reviews of this book: In the world of open-source software, true believers can be a fervent bunch. Linux, for example, may act as a credo as well as an operating system. But there is much substance beyond zealotry, says Steven Weber, the author of The Success of Open Source...An open-source operating system offers its source code up to be played with, extended, debugged, and otherwise tweaked in an orgy of user collaboration. The author traces the roots of that ethos and process in the early years of computers...He also analyzes the interface between open source and the worlds of business and law, as well as wider issues in the clash between hierarchical structures and networks, a subject with relevance beyond the software industry to the war on terrorism. --Nina C. Ayoub, Chronicle of Higher Education Reviews of this book: A valuable new account of the [open-source software] movement. --Edward Rothstein, New York Times We can blindly continue to develop, reward, protect, and organize around knowledge assets on the comfortable assumption that their traditional property rights remain inviolate. Or we can listen to Steven Weber and begin to make our peace with the uncomfortable fact that the very foundations of our familiar "knowledge as property" world have irrevocably shifted. --Alan Kantrow, Chief Knowledge Officer, Monitor Group Ever since the invention of agriculture, human beings have had only three social-engineering tools for organizing any large-scale division of labor: markets (and the carrots of material benefits they offer), hierarchies (and the sticks of punishment they impose), and charisma (and the promises of rapture they offer). Now there is the possibility of a fourth mode of effective social organization--one that we perhaps see in embryo in the creation and maintenance of open-source software. My Berkeley colleague Steven Weber's book is a brilliant exploration of this fascinating topic. --J. Bradford DeLong, Department of Economics, University of California at Berkeley Steven Weber has produced a significant, insightful book that is both smart and important. The most impressive achievement of this volume is that Weber has spent the time to learn and think about the technological, sociological, business, and legal perspectives related to open source. The Success of Open Source is timely and more thought provoking than almost anything I've come across in the past several years. It deserves careful reading by a wide audience. --Jonathan Aronson, Annenberg School for Communication, University of Southern California

Book The Elegant Solution

Download or read book The Elegant Solution written by Matthew May and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2008-09-04 with total page 314 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One million. That's how many new ideas the Toyota organization receives from its employees every year. These ideas come from every level of the organization - from the factory floors to the corporate suites. And organizations all over the world want to learn how they do it. Now Matthew May, Senior Advisor to the University of Toyota, reveals how any company can create an environment of every day innovation and achieve the elegant solutions found only on the far side of complexity. A tactical guide for team-based innovation, THE ELEGANT SOLUTION delivers the formula to the three principles and ten practices that drive business creativity. Innovation isn't just about technology - it's about value, opportunity and impact. When a company embeds a real discipline around the pursuit of perfection, the sky is the limit. Dozens of case studies (from Toyota and other companies) illustrate the power and universality of these concepts; a unique 'clamshell strategy' prepares managers to ensure organizational success. At once a thought-shaper, a playmaker, and a taskmaster, THE ELEGANT SOLUTION is a practical field manual for everyone in corporate life.

Book The Toyota Leaders  An Executive Guide

Download or read book The Toyota Leaders An Executive Guide written by Masaaki Sato and published by Vertical. This book was released on 2008-12-16 with total page 362 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "While there are many books on Toyota, they have tended to focus on "Just In Time" and other facets of the company's famously efficient floor operations and how they might be transposed to American manufacturing, with less attention paid to Toyota's overall strategic vision. This book corrects the deficit by approaching the company from a more "white collar" angle, zooming in, not on inventory management, but on business management." "Author Masaaki Sato, Japan's premier auto-industry expert, brilliantly presents his case that Toyota's strengths, including efficiency on the floor, cannot be understood or emulated outside the context of tradition-not Japan's, but Toyota's own. Inventor and Toyota Group founder Sakichi Toyoda's "Precepts" have served as the backbone of the carmaker's executive culture since its inception and, even today, guide decision-making at the top echelons." "Toyota has not always been the global powerhouse that it is today. In the difficult post-war years it very nearly went under and only survived by conducting a mass lay-off in exchange of then-president Kiichiro Toyoda's resignation; the crisis forced the company to be sundered into separate manufacturing and sales divisions that were not to be reunited again for decades. The global ascendance of an automaker long routinely derided as a "hick daimyo" for its parochial bent was never a given. Throughout its history, down to the recent string of chief executives including Hiroshi Okuda who are not from the Toyoda family, it was leadership at the top that moved the company forward - paradoxically, by harkening back to its founding vision." "Readers of The Toyota Leaders will also learn that U.S.-Japan auto-industry relations have not always, or even primarily, been one of confrontation, but rather of mutual emulation and alliance. The very idea of kaizen (reform) arose from Toyoda scion Eiji's early tutelage to Ford, and the Japanese automaker may never have made it in the U.S. market without a jump-starting partnership with General Motors." "Indeed, this book suggests, American firms would be better positioned to absorb Toyota's lessons if they enjoyed greater familiarity with its lore beyond the superficies of production, just as their Japanese counterparts have ever been mindful of the august history of American enterprise. The Toyota Leaders: An Executive Guide is a must-read for those who find themselves in a management role or intend to one day, whether or not in the auto industry."--BOOK JACKET.