Sales, Jaerone Jay P. 5.

Communities
Pasia, Vincent V. Toyota is a role model for using corporate social responsibility
MET-2101 strategies to fulfill the interests of stakeholders. The company has a
PM 102- Industrial Operation and Management Practices comprehensive CSR approach that addresses all of its stakeholder
groups. Even with major challenges linked to the global recession and
Find a company in which you are interested. Once you have identified product recalls due to safety concerns, Toyota has taken the
the company, find its industry and its major competitors. necessary steps to ensure that the organization is on the right track
in maintaining its successful efforts to satisfy stakeholders for high
Answer: corporate social responsibility performance.

Toyota Motor Corporation- designs, manufactures, assembles, and 2. How does the firm’s level of social responsible actions affect
sells passenger vehicles, minivans and commercial vehicles, and its bottom line?
related parts and accessories. It operates in Automotive, Financial
Services, and All Other segments. Answer:

Major Competitors: The business environment surrounding Toyota Industries is

continuing to evolve rapidly and dramatically. Regardless of changes
1. Ford in the business environment and values, we remain unchanged in
2. Volkswagen our belief that realizing our Basic Philosophy is the cornerstone of the
3. Hyundai Toyota Industries Group’s corporate social responsibility (CSR).
4. General motors Acting on this belief, in March 2009 we formulated and implemented
5. Maruti Suzuki the Toyota Industries Group CSR Policy, which clarifies our
6. Fiat Chrysler Automobiles relationships with stakeholders, namely customers, employees,
7. Nissan business partners, shareholders and local and global communities.
8. BMW The CSR Policy is divided into nine areas, and the CSR Committee*
9. Tesla confirms and evaluates the implementation status of this policy and
10. Honda promotes CSR activities. In accordance with the Corporation Law of
11. Tata Japan, in May 2006 Toyota Industries’ Board of Directors adopted the
12. Renault Basic Policies for the Establishment of an Internal Control System
(Basic Policies) to ensure compliance, risk management as well as the
Then find the following: effectiveness and efficiency of business operations. The CSR
Committee, at its meeting held in March, assesses the progress made
1. Where the focal company ranks in responsibility toward its in implementing the Basic Policies in the year under review and
various stakeholders? determines actions for the coming year, including reviewing the
implementation structure and enhancing day-to-day operational
Answer: management.

As a global firm in the automotive industry, Toyota’s corporate social 3. What innovative actions have been taken in the
responsibility activity deals with various stakeholders with disparate industry/organizations to improve its reputation?
interests and demands. However, the following are the most
significant groups of Toyota’s stakeholders, arranged according to Answer:
significance in affecting the company:
1. Employees 1. Have a team in place.
2. Customers In late 2009, Toyota created a social media group that integrated PR,
3. Investors marketing, customer relations and agency partners. This came at the
4. Environment
beginning of a crisis that made it the lead story on national news
broadcasts on many nights for weeks.
“It couldn’t have come at a better time for us,” says Florence Drakton,
social media and integration manager.
2. Plan for the worst.
No one expects a crisis, but you should prepare for one anyway,
Gardiner says. “Have the communications channels available and
open so that, as you go through something like a crisis, you have the
immediate means to get to the right people to provide information,”
she says.
3. Get your executives out in front.
During the height of the recall, in February 2010, key Toyota leaders
held community chats via Digg Dialogg and Twitter. This put
executives like Jim Lentz— president and chief operating officer of
Toyota Motor Sales, USA—before the public in new ways.
This had not been the protocol, Gardiner says. Toyota’s identity lay in
the collective, but it realized that consumers needed to see a face and
know that high-level executives were taking their concerns seriously.
Says Gardiner: “It personifies the idea that, yes, Toyota is a brand,
but Toyota is also a collection of leaders and people who care and
who want to assure customers that we’re making every effort to do
the right thing. … It humanizes the brand.”
support on Facebook from loyal drivers. “We found a lot of owners
who were really positive and who’d advocate for our brand,” Drakton
says.
So Toyota created Auto-Biography on Facebook as a platform for
owners to share stories about their experiences with the brand. Cars
tend to be one of the largest purchases people make, after a home
and a college education, Toyota officials say. And people tend to have
strong memories of their experiences in the car.
Toyota played on those affinities, getting responses ranging from
family vacations to memories of driving cross-country to college.
Thousands of stories were submitted, and the number of Facebook
“likes” shot up.
6. Blend traditional and social media.
Toyota launched a nationwide promotion of its Sienna van, and its
“Swagger Wagon” campaign took off on YouTube as self-proclaimed
“world’s greatest parents” touted their own coolness to a hip-hop
beat.

4. Inform and direct consumers.

Toyota used Facebook and Twitter to update drivers who were worried
about the accelerator issue and the subsequent recall but weren’t
clear about what to do, Gardiner says. “They were thinking, ‘Is it my
car that’s involved? What do I need to do? What’s the next step?
When am I going to hear from Toyota? What does it mean?’”
Toyota directed customers to its “recall hub,” a micro-site that
enabled the company to inform the public directly, says Toyota
spokeswoman Carly Schaffner. This helped people cut through the
whirlwind of information and misinformation about the recall,
officials say.
In June it created a “safety hub” amid a campaign that included
another Digg Dialogg, this time with Dino Triantafyllos, vice president
of quality.

5. Let consumers be your advocate.

One might think the wake of a public relations disaster would be a

bad time to invite customer responses. But Toyota was gathering