Chasing the Rabbit: Official Blog by Author Steven Spear

Here is one link to my interview last night following Akio Toyoda’s Congressional testimony.

Steve

MIT’s Spear Discusses Toyota’s Corporate Culture: Bloomberg TV Wednesday, February 24, 2010

FIRST TRUE STATEWIDE CELEBRATION OF “MADE IN MICHIGAN” PRODUCTS AND SERVICES TO TAKE PLACE IN OCTOBER

The Michigan Experience aims to boost Michigan economy by connecting thousands to high quality consumer products, foods and services from hundreds of Michigan companies

Farmington Hills, Mich. – The Made in Michigan Movement today announced plans for The Michigan Experience, Michigan’s first truly statewide celebration of Michigan-made products and services. The event will take place October 16 and 17, 2010 at Rock Financial Showplace in Novi, Mich. Designed to provide a boost to the Michigan economy, the event will be a two-day celebration of the wide variety of high quality consumer products, services and foods produced by companies across all Michigan geographies.

“With the termination of the Michigan State Fair and the countless blows this state has endured, Michigan has a void for a unifying, uplifting event for all to embrace,” said Made in Michigan Movement Founder and CEO Neil Yaremchuk. “Michigan Experience is more than an expo. It’s a celebration of everything this state has to offer and a look forward to the bright future we can have ahead.”

Yaremchuk expects at least 10,000 consumer attendees to visit The Michigan Experience and is planning for the participation of approximately 300 businesses, small and large, from across the state. Consumers will have the opportunity to purchase products from many of the participating businesses. The celebration will be the keystone annual event of the Made in Michigan Movement. Information on sponsorship and exhibitor opportunities is available at http://www.madeinmichiganmovement.com or by calling (734) 677-0503.

“Michiganders from Grand Rapids to the Upper Peninsula to Metro Detroit to Lansing and Flint are telling me they want to support the Michigan economy and they want to purchase more from Michigan companies,” Yaremchuk said. “The demand is there. The Michigan business community now needs a rallying point to connect with consumers and show off the great things produced right here.”

Michigan companies signing early commitments to participate range from the Detroit-based manufacturer of the Talegator pickup truck sports tailgating accessory (http://www.thetalegator.com) to Selestial Soap (http://www.selestialsoap.com), a Traverse City, Mich.-based maker of natural cleaning products.

“I know I make truly 100 percent pure and natural cleaning products, and I’m proud that I make them in Michigan, but as a small business with a tight budget, it’s tough to gain exposure,” said Selestial Soap founder Ruth Smith. “The Michigan Experience is going to help me get my Michigan-made products in front of thousands of people who want to buy Michigan-made products.”

Preliminary plans for The Michigan Experience also call for entertainment from some of the state’s most talented performers, displays of artwork from Michigan’s creative community and a preview night supporting multiple Michigan charities. Additional details will be announced as they are finalized.

The Made in Michigan movement counts more than 14,000 members in its growing Web community, operates a popular online Michigan business portal at http://www.madeinmichiganmovement.com and produces periodic gift guides featuring Michigan-made products.

Follow the organization on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/madeinmich or search “Made in Michigan Movement” on Facebook.

About the Made in Michigan Movement
The Made in Michigan Movement is an action-oriented grassroots network of businesses producing high quality goods and services in the state of Michigan and consumers who feel purchasing from those companies is in the best interest of the state’s economic future. With more than 14,000 members, the organization’s motto for Michigan consumers is “Earn it here. Spend it here. Keep it here!”

For additional information on the Made in Michigan Movement, visit http://www.madeinmichiganmovement.com or contact Neil Yaremchuk at madeinmichiganinfo@gmail.com.

Through this series of recalls and production and sales suspensions, my main thoughts are:

• Toyota has succeeded in converting itself from a crummy auto maker in the 1950s to the world leader on quality, productivity, and technology on the basis of its capacity for improvement and innovation.
• This capacity depends on a long standing, historical commitment to developing people to be exceptional problem solvers, improvers, and innovators.
• This capacity might have been stressed with expansion in volume (new models, brands, plants, suppliers, and regions) and expansion in leadership in complex technology (e.g., power train generally, hybrid drive specifically).
• Toyota saw the stress and tried to remediate proactively its approach to developing people–e.g., Toyota Supplier Production Support Center, Global Production Center and North American Production Support Center, etc. (See Chapter 8 of Chasing the Rabbit.)

• Lastly, if the stress comes from volume and complexity with Toyota showing strain as a result, imagine what field problems exist at other companies which were never as good at developing great innovators.  Today’s announcement that Honda is recalling on airbags (”Honda Expands Air Bag Recall to 378,000 More Cars,” NYTimes one line Feb 9) is an inkling of support to that last point.

For decades, Toyota has been viewed as a paragon of corporate improvement, innovation and effectiveness, qualities that helped it become the world’s largest automaker. But the firm’s reputation has been sorely tested in recent weeks amid a string of well-publicized recalls involving millions of Toyota vehicles due to problems involving sticking accelerator pedals and brake systems. In the words of Toyota’s president, Akio Toyoda, the firm is “in a crisis.”

Steven Spear, a senior lecturer in MIT’s Engineering Systems Division, is one of the leading experts on Toyota’s management system. He wrote about the topic extensively in his book, Chasing the Rabbit: How Market Leaders Outdistance the Competition (McGraw-Hill, 2008), and in a 1999 Harvard Business Review article, “Decoding the DNA of the Toyota Production System.” With Toyota in unprecedented turmoil, MIT News talked to Spear about the Japanese automaker’s problems — and potential solutions.

Long the quality and efficiency standard-setter, Toyota now has an ostrich-sized egg on its face — a problem with sticking accelerator pedals that led to global product recalls and a suspension of production and sales.

There are important lessons to be learned from Toyota’s stumble:

Competitive success is fluid. It depends on continuously discovering better ways to do work. The capabilities to do this are powerful but fragile and need constant reinforcement. Relentless attention to their development can lead to great success; conversely, a loss in attention can have grave consequences.

Please see the rest of the piece, “Learning from Toyota’s Stumble,” at blogs.hbr.org.