Toyota Motor Corporation Australia - Business Strategies - Example

Toyota Motor Corporation Australia Business Continuity Plan Template Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 Introduction 3 Company Background Information 4 Company Stakeholders 5 Company Critical Activities 5 Company Resources 6 Company Legal Framework 7 Business Risks and Disruptions in Workplace 8 BS25999- 2006 Business Impact Analysis 8 Action Plans Based on Specific Disruption Occurrence 9 Fire Break out Incidence 10 Power Loss 10 Disruption in IT and Communication 11 Occupational Hazards 12 Hazard Matrix 12 Business Plan Evaluation and Control 13 Testing the Business Continuity Plan 14 Reference 14 Introduction The objective of the Business Continuity Plan is to devise the best way possible to coordinate recovery of critical business functions in managing and supporting the business recovery in the event of a business disaster within the corporation. This can include short or long-term business disasters or any other unforeseen business disruptions (British Standards Committee 2006). In the event of a disaster that is likely to interfere with Toyota Motor Corporation Australia’s ability to conduct business from one of its various departments, this plan is useful for the responsible individuals to undertake the business recovery of the affected departments. The plan design is in such a way that it provides reference to all the information necessary for business recovery. However, the plan does not cover the operations of Toyota Motor Corporation Australia’s separately structured Emergency Response Team. Choosing a company for business continuity plan requires various considerations to ensure that the company meets the required minimum requirements for consideration as an international company. With the current trends in corporate social responsibility, it is vital to choose a company that has an impeccable global reputation. It is also important to choose a company with enough and accessible source of information for easy access and analysis (Michael, 2004). In this regard, a company that is not new in the market is better off than a new company with no established records and base in the market. Besides these, the company’s products must also meet international standards in quality and serviceability. It should also value its stakeholders and any other business partner. Company Background Information Toyota Motor Corporation Australia is one of the most prominent companies in Australia, doing very well in its market performance. Having founded in 1958, the company is a subsidiary to Toyota Motor Corporation based in Japan. The company’s headquarters in Australia are in Port Melbourne, in the state of Victoria (Toyota, 2012). Generally, Toyota Motor Corporation is the third largest producer of automobile and related vehicles in the world, following General Motors and Ford. This reward did not come on a silver platter; the corporation has operations in 38 operational or assembly plants in over 25 countries across the globe. In 1994 for instance, Toyota Motor Corporation sold of four million motor vehicles worldwide with 3.3 million being passenger cars. Slightly below half of these vehicles sales occurred in Japan alone while 51.3% sold outside Japan (Toyota, 2012). The ultimate mission of Toyota Motor Corporation as it appears in its vision statement runs hand in hand with the vision of becoming a company devoted to facilitating the quality of life for people around the globe by designing and developing high quality and appealing products. In summary, the overall philosophical framework indicates that the mission of Toyota Motor Corporation is to become the world’s leading vehicle manufacturer and distributor. The idea of “leading” here is not basically the leadership in volume of sales and vehicle production but also the broader conception of Toyota Motor Corporation as the standard-setter in the industry, with the overall idea of setting benchmark of product quality and production efficiency in motor vehicle manufacturing for other motor companies to emulate (Toyota 2012). Finally, the global Toyota “Tree” has three aspects in its roots that include the Toyota percepts, the guiding principles at Toyota, and the Toyota way. At the “Trunk”, the tree has stable base of business as its core value while “branches” have sustainable growth that values constant drive towards better cars and enriching lives of communities through sustainable probabilities under long-range perspectives (Toyota, 2012). Company Stakeholders The company’s main stakeholders include the suppliers, customers, owners, and motor vehicle customers affiliated to Toyota brand. This is because the company deals in automotive products. Unlike other automotive companies such as Ford, equity compensations subject to shareholder approval and if the company deems it fit to desire adoption of an equity-compensation plan under stock acquisition are on favorable terms according to the rights granted to shareholders (Michael, 2004). In fact, the company has stakes in various fields of study ranging from environment, education, technology, and social factors. This range helps the company touch in many aspects of people’s lives. Since it also engages in design and sale of housings, the company is nonetheless engaged in a variety of investments. Company Critical Activities Internationally, Toyota Motor Corporation takes part in so many activities besides the primary activity of design, manufacture, and supply of automobiles. Some of these activities range from environmental conservation, facilitating traffic safety, offering education programs and support, and society and culture volunteering. To be specific, the Corporation has initiatives such as Toyota Environmental Grant Program, Toyota Community Spirit, Eco-Schools, and Together Green initiatives to support environmental conservation (Toyota, 2012). Concerning traffic safety, the Corporation has a variety of policies and initiatives to ensure road safety. Such initiatives include Toyota Driver Communication, Hands-on Traffic Safety Events, Toyota Safety School, Toyota Driving Expectation, and Donating Traffic Safety Education Material to Children among other initiatives. Likewise, the company’s educational programs include Toyota Family Literacy Program, Toyota Technological Institute, Toyota Teach, and The Toyota Technological Challenge in the United Kingdom among other initiatives (Toyota, 2012). Finally, the corporation has several reasons that support the Company’s participation in these critical activities. It is notable that since the company is international one, it has to comply with corporate social responsibility issues to ensure that its stakeholders and the general community reap the best benefits out of the corporation. It is also a strategy to widen its markets and reach out to more clients by maintaining good international reputation (Toyota 2012). Company Resources The company’s resources are metals for manufacturing vehicles and human resource working in its manufacturing plants. Furthermore, the company has no any political influence since it is a private entity. The corporation’s human resource is both elite and layman. It is the company’s intention to ensure that all its employees at all levels represent the faces of the entire corporation right from a strategist planning the next generation hybrid to a crafts judged with the responsibility of executing the design (Toyota, 2012). These staff, as acknowledged by the company poses as key contributors to the company’s success. Combining their efforts from top management individuals to support staff is the key factor of the success the company enjoys. Furthermore, through its slogan for customers, “the customer always comes first”, the corporation manages to maintain good relationship with its consumers (Toyota, 2012). This is another factor handed from one generation of employees to the next to always put the company’s customers in the forefront (Toyota, 2012). It also ensures the maintenance of already existing customers and attraction of new ones, thus increased sales. To accomplish this, the company employs staff with a variety of skills ranging from artisans to scientists and from human resource managers to research experts. The company also has a group of highly skilled information technology staff to aid in research and realization of new technology and thus boosts their competitiveness with its two rival companies, General Motors and Ford. On physical resources, the company utilizes minerals necessary for manufacturing vehicles. The main minerals used include columbite-tantalite (coltan), cassiterite, gold, wolframite, or their derivatives, which are limited to tantalum, tin, and tungsten. The main source of these minerals is the Republic Democratic of Congo or any other place where such minerals are present (Moh Heng Goh 2005). Company Legal Framework However, the company works within a specified legal framework as required for any corporation. This is because the corporation must meet some legal requirements concerning labor laws, human rights, workplace safety, and environmental sustainability. As such, the general duty of oversight in the mother company in Japan applies its law and sets forth in case law in the Daiwa Bank shareholder derivative litigation in Japan and the related subsequent statutory duty in its affiliate companies like the Toyota Motors Corporation Australia. This intends to establish a system of internal controls provided in the Companies Act of (2005). Potential director liability would depend on the filing of a shareholders derivative suit and the discovery of facts that generally show director’s negligence in devising, implementing, and monitoring specific measures to carry out the board’s existing overall policy on internal controls. Business Risks and Disruptions in Workplace Just like any other manufacturing company or any operating business for that matter, facing risks and disruptions is a common occurrence. Since in most cases such disruption are unforeseen and in most cases catastrophic to both physical and human resources, it is necessary that companies identify possible sources of such disruptions and develop a business recovery plan to help the company bounce back to business after such disruptions (Michael, 2004). This is necessary because in the event of disruption, profitability and general economy of a company with suffer a great loss and hence poor performance (Kenneth, 2004). Being a manufacturing company, Toyota Motors Corporation faces risk of disruption from sources such as fire breakout, power loss, Disruption in IT and communication, occupational hazards, exploitation of physical resources, employee disruptions such as unprecedented strikes, and utility failure. BS25999- 2006 Business Impact Analysis The BS25999- 2006 standards are useful in presenting methods of analyzing business impact. The standards describe the analysis of business disruptions and disasters based on the frequency of occurrence, probability of their occurrence, and the possible consequences of the disruption in the event where it occurs (British Standards Committee 2006). As mentioned earlier, no business entity would wish to experience a business disruption due to its devastating impacts. Furthermore, the BS25999 (2006) presents a numerical scale that is useful in quantifying the potential consequences of a disruption. In determining probability of disruption occurrence, the scale prescribed, of 1 to 5, is quite effective. The scale reading for occurrence and that of consequences are then multiplies to attain the score. The analysis of disruption occurrence and their consequences is classified into three categories as green status, ember status, and red status. Green status: in the probability range, this status has a score of 1 to 5 and its interpretation is that everything in the organization is working in good condition. In this case, the cost of planning for occurrence outweighs the costs of combating the impacts of the occurrence. Ember status: according to BS25999, this status has a score of 6 to 20. In this case, the interpretation is that some few elements of the organization are not working as expected and therefore, the need for a planned action to return the status back to green is necessary. Red status: this is a serious status with a score above 20 in the scale. A dangerous stage requires the full attention of crisis management team to come up with recovery process to prevent disruption of the business activities (British Standards Committee 2006). Action Plans Based on Specific Disruption Occurrence In the event where an event occurs, the corporation’s top management has a full authority to execute the business continuity plan. However, in the event where the management is unreachable or not available, the disaster management team will take the necessary action to ensure full execution of the plan to prevent further damage to business activities (British Standards Committee 2006). To ensure maximum effectiveness and efficiency of the plan, the management team should ensure a maximum revision of the plan at least once a year to cover emerging trends and changes in the corporation. Whenever an annual review is conducted, the new version of the plan should be tested to ensure it meets the required minimum standards to cover employees and the business resources. Fire Break out Incidence Fire breakouts in workplaces and homes are quite hazardous and such situations pose one of the most catastrophic circumstances in an industrial establishment. In most severe cases, fire situations have the greatest potential loss of lives and property while at the same time posing serious damages to the environment. The company should therefore develop training programs aimed at guiding employers, employees, residents, and fire management personnel on their responsibilities to combat fire situations (Michael, 2004). Careful fire assessment plans, initiating firefighting team, developing well-planned & engineered fire situations prevention measures, and proper response measures by trained personnel on fire management play an important role in reducing the risk and potential damage caused by fire outbreaks within the organization. The management should take not that fire outbreak within the organization does not only affect the company’s resources but also may be hazardous to human life and the entire environment. Furthermore, fires may affect the company’s supply chain and greatly reduce productivity. Therefore, the company should remain vigil and conduct fire risk assessments regularly to remain prepared for unanticipated fire breakouts (Moh Heng Goh 2005). Power Loss Interruption of power supply in any manufacturing company could result from factors such as power rationing, breakdown of the power infrastructure and an industrial action by the people working in the energy sector. When these situations arise, manufacturing activities such as welding remains at a standstill, communication and information technology is disrupted, thus worsening the situation (Michael, 2004). This could lead to exhaustion of supplies of vehicles in the go downs. To restock the go downs after resume of power will have caused a great loss of time and reduced profitability, hence realization of loss. To enable us fulfill run on its manufacturing activities in the event of power loss, the company should come up with initiatives and implement some set actions. The situation would necessitate the introduction of alternative sources of power to be utilized in the event the main source of power is cut off (Moh Heng Goh 2005). Arrangements have been made to ensure that the company has standby and automatic generators to serve its power needs when there is shortage of hydropower energy. It is also necessary to devise other methods of developing green energy sources such as wind and solar to ensure environmental pollution and emissions are at manageable levels. Communication should be done to all the staff, suppliers, our esteemed customers and other key stakeholders, about the situation on the ground. Disruption in IT and Communication Toyota Motors Corporation Australia has a team of specialized Information Communication Technologists to oversee its IT and Communication needs. Departmental IT managers play many roles within the organization that involve testing integrity and performance of various information networks and software applications (Moh Heng Goh 2005). Since the field of ICT continues to experience rapid changes and trends on daily basis, IT experts in the company also have the responsibility of reviewing and evaluating current systems and applications to ensure that they are up to date (Michael, 2004). Therefore, in the event of an IT disruption occurring, its impacts would be too minimal as the IT experts are well equipped with sophisticated computer systems. Occupational Hazards Occupational hazard is a working condition that can lead to injuries or death in workplaces. Often, people in working environments that pose a high level of risk need training programs to understand the risks involved in their working environments and understand the safety measures to ensure reduction of risks and hence their safety and those of others. Since the company deals with manufacturing of vehicles, risks such as falling metals, sparks from welding, noise, and cuts are prevalent (Michael, 2004). However, the company conducts training programs to ensure that its employees are keen and understand their working environment and risks involved. However, in the event of risk occurrence, measures such as first aid administration and ambulance services are readily available. Hazard Matrix The risks that Toyota Motor Corporation Australia faces can be illustrated as follows in a hazard matrix: Negligible Marginal Critical Catastrophic Certain Likely Disruption/Failure in IT and communication Possible Power Loss Unlikely Fire Breakout Rare Occupational hazards This indicates that, the most likely hazard for the company to occur is Disruption/Failure in IT and communication and is the most critical as it will affect communication services and data networks. Therefore, stringent measures are put in place by the company management to ensure that there are qualified IT managers equipped with the ability to take care of response measures in the event of hazard occurrence. Firebreak out is an unlikely event but very catastrophic in its occurrence. Although it is unlikely to occur, there are measures to keep constant assessment of fire risks to prevent its catastrophes. There is also the possibility of loss of power within the organization. However, its impact is not much felt as there are standby generators and other source of power to be utilized in the event of main power supply breakdown. Finally, the company is unlikely to experience occupational hazards such as falls, cuts, or accidents as staff is well trained and equipped with knowledge of their working environments. This, coupled with emergency response team reduces the effects of occupational hazards. Business Plan Evaluation and Control A monitoring and evaluation team will be set to watch over the progress of the company in realizing the strategic goals. The short term goals will be clearly watched and corrections put in place where targets are missed for they are the keys to fulfilling the long term goals (Yin Nah Leo 2004). Currently, the Company has made a clear step forward in ensuring that hybrid vehicles are being produced, and so far the market has started improving in terms of overall reception of these brands of vehicles. Another aspect that is supposed to be considered here is the speed of the rollout program of pricing mechanism introduced. Currently, it has taken the market by surprise as most of Toyota products are found to be customer friendly. The Company has been able to come up with a differentiation program for its products and this has helped it to have a huge market share. It is projects to improve and reach the target within three years, this will be determined by the rate of growth, and the total number of market reached (Toyota 2012). Testing the Business Continuity Plan Testing and reviewing the Business Continuity Plan on an annual basis is a recommendation to be implemented by the company’s management team. This review and testing is solely with the intent of ensuring that the plan is up to date and meets current and emerging trends in the corporation (Moh Heng Goh 2005). Considering previous reviews and tests by our competent IT experts, it is evident that the system is sufficient to attain the required business continuity needs of the corporation. Reference British Standards Committee 2006, Business Continuity Management (BS 25999- 1:2006). Michael, B 2004, Business Continuity Management: Building an Effective Incident Management Plan, John Willey and Sons, New York Moh Heng Goh 2005, Developing Recovery Strategy for Your Business Continuity Plan, London, BCM Institute. Kenneth, L 2004, Business Continuity Planning: A Step by Step Guide with Planning Forms on CD-ROM, Rothstein Associates Inc, London. Toyota 2012, Toyota Australia, viewed from www.toyota.com.au Yin Nah Leo 2004. Implementing Your Business Continuity Plan, London, BCM Institute. Read More