The Toyota Group and the Aisin Fire

The collaborative response of Toyota's suppliers to a devastating crisis holds lessons for businesses adopting the Japanese model of long-term supplier partnerships and for businesses moving away from that model. The cooperation and trust that develop in a supplier network promote flexible and...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inMIT Sloan management review Vol. 40; no. 1; p. 49
Main Authors Nishiguchi, Toshihiro, Beaudet, Alexandre
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Cambridge Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 01.10.1998
Subjects
Assembly lines
Automobile industry
Case studies
Collaboration
Contingency planning
Factories
Fires
Suppliers
Valves
Vendor supplier relations
Japan
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:The collaborative response of Toyota's suppliers to a devastating crisis holds lessons for businesses adopting the Japanese model of long-term supplier partnerships and for businesses moving away from that model. The cooperation and trust that develop in a supplier network promote flexible and coordinated responses to crises. They also foster long-term competitiveness through groupwide efforts to solve daily problems and improve performance. An examination of a fire at one of Aisin Seiki's plants demonstrates the benefits of clustered firm networks. In a JIT environment, workers and managers acquire capabilities for effective problem solving. Several practices within the Toyota group, including knowledge sharing and regular transfers of employees among group firms, support efforts to develop these capabilities.
ISSN:1532-9194