Toyota Has a "Systems" Problem Not Just a Quality Problem
NEW YORK--Professor Hess is available for comment on what likely caused Toyota's current crisis and what it can do to rebuild its business and regain customer trust. He is also the author of Smart Growth: Building an Enduring Business by Managing the Risks of Growth (Columbia University Press, 2010).
| What: | Professor Hess can provide Toyota and other CEOs a blueprint that promotes building enduring companies rather than taking risks to achieve ever-increasing quarterly earnings to appease Wall Street. For instance, Professor Hess recommends that Toyota conduct a system-wide “Growth Risks Audit” looking at the impact of its growth on its culture, hiring and training processes, outsourcing processes, product design process, quality control early warning systems, measurements of quality, and communication processes across geography and within its hierarchy. He also recommends that Toyota reward its teams for managing the risks of growth as they do for generating growth. | |
| Why: | Professor Hess has completed extensive public and private research on the complexity and risk of company growth. His latest book challenges Wall Street’s “grow or die” ethos and its dangerous mentality, which often deters real growth and pressures businesses to create, manufacture, and purchase noncore earnings just to appease Wall Street. He has studied companies that want to be better, rather than simply bigger, like McDonalds, Sysco, UPS, Best Buy and Costco, and can offer best practices that could help Toyota chart a way to smart and sustainable growth. | |
| Where: |
Available for in person or telephone interviews anytime. |
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| Who: |
Professor Edward Hess wrote the forthcoming book, Smart Growth: Building an Enduring Business by Managing the Risks of Growth (Columbia University Press, 2010). He also is a professor of business administration and Batten Executive-in-Residence at The Darden Graduate School of Business at the University of Virginia. Following link is to piece Professor Hess wrote for Forbes.com on Toyota’s problems. http://www.forbes.com/2010/02/03/toyota-autos-companies-growth-opinions-contributors-edward-d-hess.html |
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