Toyota's Drive for Global Leadership

Akio Toyoda's leadership style could be best described in the context when the automobile industry began to take off during the earlier periods of the the 21^st century.

For instance, at a time when Toyota's US divison suffered competitive price cuts and affected share and profitability, Akio Toyoda, proved to be a leader whose focus was on the globalization of the company.

When Toyoda was appointed head of China business in 2001, he made use of the gradual approach in liberalization while undertaking development cooperation in this process. Toyota Japan,  specifically, convinced other developed countries like the United States of the effectiveness of this approach.

Many economists, moreover, believe Japan’s preference for a gradual approach is associated with its experience of success after World War II.

Most important, the directional leadership Toyota advocates also promotes institution-building, the notion of followership here becomes crucial.  In this sense, if leaders have a good relationship with their followers, it would be easier for the leaders to get them to conform. Leaders’ good relations with followers are instrumental in creating a common interest in international relations between them, which makes it easier for leaders to establish an international institution.

Next, Yoshi Inaba is first and foremost, a salesman. Inaba is concerned about instilling a bottom-line orientation. He made sales personnel understand how their activities affect financial performance. As a managing director, meanwhile, he helps Toyota managers grapple with decisions about balancing market share and profitability. Still, as a salesman, he is more concerned with profits and the marketability of Toyota.

In the continuum of leadership, meanwhile, Inaba is placed in the middle where he is able to show the transparency of the managers.

But, it is unclear whether Convis used power, task structure or even leader member relations to exercise his leadership at the Georgetown plant. Instead, what he utilized were quality improvement skills and training to at least guarantee the future of its managers to become leaders in the future.