Toyota
Response to the following problem:
Toyota Motor Corporation was started in 1918 by Sakichi Toyoda as the Toyota Spinning and Weaving Company; in fact, a subsidiary of Toyota still makes spinning and weaving equipment today. By 1995, Toyota was the third-largest motor vehicle producer in the world, manufacturing 4,512,076 vehicles (behind General Motors at 7,997,794 and Ford at 6,401,495). In January 1997, Toyota made its 100 millionth vehicle. Despite a difficult world economy since 2000, Toyota has continued to prosper. In 2005, Toyota reported its consolidated net income at 1.17 trillion yen ($10.91 billion). In the 2005 annual report, Katsuaki Watanabe, president of Toyota, noted three main factors behind his company's strong financial performance in 2005. First, the Japanese economy recovered mildly due to an increase in employment. Second, Toyota claimed a larger share of the Japanese market with a 44.5% market share. Finally, Toyota's hybrid cars were successful throughout the world; Toyota shipped 151,000 units in 2005, 2.5 times higher than in 2004.
Toyota attributes its constant growth in net income to three factors: improvement in the Japanese economy, increase in market share, and the increase in sales of hybrid vehicles. Consider conducting a performance evaluation on the following people, and decide which of the three factors should be considered in the evaluation of:
a. an assembly-line worker
b. a factory manager
c. a sales manager
d. the company president