Reference no: EM133424925
Case Study: Toyota One of Japan's leading auto companies, Toyota didn't gain a significant U.S. market share until the price of oil became an issue for Americans in the 1970s. Toyota made small, fuel-efficient cars, and Americans began to turn from large Detroit gas guzzlers to cars that got higher gas mileage. Then, for several years in the late 1970s to mid-1980s, the Big Three suffered severe quality issues.Consumers were frustrated and turned even more attention to those fuel- efficient Toyota models with a reputation for high quality. This shift revolution-ized the nation's car buying; by 2008, Toyota had become the largest automaker in the United States.62 However, a problem loomed on the horizon. Beginning in 2002, consumer complaints began pouring in to Toyota and to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the U.S. regulatory body over- seeing auto safety. More than 2,000 consumers reported that the accelerators in their Toyotas were sticking. Suddenly and without warning, the cars would accelerate and drivers found it almost impossible to stop their cars.63 Although
the complaints began in 2002, the company was slow to respond and repeatedly underestimated the severity of the problem. When the company did start to recognize the problem, its engineers blamed floor mats. In the fall of 2009, Toyota sent an advisory to millions of Toyota owners to remove the floor mats on the driver's side and stated that, "there is no evidence to support" any other cause of the sudden acceleration. The company added that the NHTSA agreed with this conclusion. The NHTSA, in fact, did not agree and responded with a sharp rebuke to Toyota. The event that truly altered the debate was a crash of a Toyota Lexus on a California highway in August 2009. An off-duty California highway patrol officer (who should know how to stop a speeding car) called 911 in a total panic. His Lexus was hurtling down the highway with its accelerator stuck and with no brakes. The 911 system recorded the call and the subsequent crash, which killed the driver and three passengers. In January 2010, Toyota ordered a massive recall of more than 7.7 million vehicles.64 The company also suspended sales of eight of its most popular models (including the Camry, the best-selling passenger car in the United States for the last 10 of 11 years) and even stopped making those models until the problem was solved. It's important to note that Toyota halted production because the NHSTA ordered it to stop.65
According to some analysts, the accelerator problem is the result of Toyota try- ing to grow too fast-so fast that its quality slipped.66 Toyota settled the case in 2014 by admitting that it had covered up problems related to sudden accelera- tion and paying a $1.2 billion fine.
Questions: For the above case study, what can be the answers for following sections:
- Introduction: short introduction that outlines the purpose of the strategy and identifies the reasons why ethics should be central to the organization
- Ethical principles: creating an MBA oath by identifying and outlining 5 core ethical principles that should guide all employee and business conduct
- Stakeholders: list 5 stakeholders representing different levels within the company and define their main concern or interest
- Organizational Culture: Describe the desired ethical culture that you seek to achieve with this strategy and define the organizational climates that make up this culture. Explain the steps that will be used to achieve this organizational culture
- Ethical Misconduct: Define each of the following examples of ethical misconduct and use scenarios from your case company to illustrate each concept. Create 5 policies to reduce or eliminate the occurrence of the examples of ethical misconduct listed below. Policies may address multiple issues at once:
- Discrimination
- Conflict of Interest
- Harassment & Bullying
- Data Management: examples of how data can be misrepresented. 3 data management policies to reduce biased data interpretation