Management consultancy

As a management consultant, you have been asked to analyse Toyota’s performance:

(A) Identify which key principles/areas/systems of Total Quality Management went wrong at Toyota leading to the recent crisis and evaluate how the cost of quality reports and system can help the Group address these issues and improve their performance.
670 words)
• key principles underline TQM and various TQM systems, but you do not need to describe all the principles/systems in the assignment as it is not the best use of the words.
• Identify and summarise which key TQM principles/areas went wrong at Toyota leading to the crisis in the 2010s, i.e. do not list or simply describe everything which went wrong.
• You should apply the cost of quality report (COQR) and system to Toyota and illustrate how they can help the Company rectify some of the key TQM problems you identified.
• Provide examples to Toyota’s management to illustrate how they can use COQRs to drive performance.
• If you perceive any major barriers in adopting the COQR system at Toyota, you might want to make the management aware of these barriers.

(B) Critically evaluate how a balanced scorecard (BSC) approach and system may help Toyota improve performance and regain their leading position in the automotive industry. Your evaluation should include consideration of all four perspectives of the BSC and relevant examples wherever appropriate.
(35% – approximately 760 words)

• To increase the cohesion of your assignment, this section should follow on from Section A (i.e. the key principles/areas which went wrong in Toyota causing the recent crisis). The problems you have identified should reflect what Toyota needs to rectify.
• Apply the Balanced Scorecard approach to Toyota and illustrate how it might help the group improve performance.
• Use appropriate examples to illustrate how the four perspectives of the BSC can be implemented at Toyota to drive performance. You must justify the reasons behind your choice and recommendations.
• You should link up the discussion and examples of the four perspectives of Toyota’s BSC, i.e. demonstrate the cause-and-effect of the suggested objectives (goals) and measures to support Toyota in the recovery of performance.
• Discuss any issues of which you perceive might limit the usefulness of the BSC to the Company.

(C) Critically evaluate how Toyota might use benchmarking, alongside the Balanced Scorecard system you have discussed in (B), to help the company drive performance (financial and non-financial). You should provide relevant examples to each type of benchmarking methods you include in the evaluation.
(25% – approximately 570 words)

• Apply the benchmarking concepts to Toyota and discuss how different types of benchmarking methods might be implemented at Toyota to drive performance.
• Give relevant examples to each type of benchmarking method and use the examples to illustrate the usefulness of benchmarking to Toyota.
• To maximise your chance of gaining a higher mark, make sure you relate your benchmarking discussion to the four perspectives of the balanced scorecard (Section B) and illustrate how the two systems can work together to help Toyota regain their leading position in the industry and in the heart of the consumers.