The path of samurai

In the fight against the crisis, Toyota employees will buy their production machines the notorious Japanese corporate spirit is connected to the salvation of Toyota. To pull out the concern from the crisis not only the new leadership in the person of the grandson of the founder of the company Akio Toyod (it is planned that he will take the president’s chair this summer), but also ordinary employees.

As it became known yesterday, the middle -sized managers of Toyota decided to buy for personal use for a new car of their own production.

In total, 2.2 thousand employees will acquire new cars. According to the Associated Press , such a decision was made in order to increase sales and demonstrate the support of the company by employees during the global financial crisis.

For the first time, such an idea was announced at the end of December last year and widespread in the form of a letter among Toyota managers using an internal mailing list. According to the representative of the Utah Kag concern, the purchase of a car is a voluntary step. “No one is forced to buy a car. If there is such a desire, you can buy any Toyota model, ”he said.

According to the analyst of IR Prospekt Dmitry Parfyonov, the decision of Toyota employees cannot be regarded as a measure aimed at the financial salvation of the company, but the decision made by managers is a good PR driver aimed at increasing brand loyalty.

“This will not help to save the company from the financial crisis, even if everyone is buying a car,” the analyst says. “However, this will contribute to the rallying of the team and will help Toyota cars grow in the eyes of consumers.”

Recall that according to the results of the 2008 financial year, ending in March 2009, the Japanese concern is expected to suffer losses for the first time since 1938, the estimated size of which will be approximately $ 1.66 billion. In this regard, the Toyota leadership was developed to maintain the concern in crisis time.

According to this plan, it is planned to reduce production volumes, freezing projects, reducing wages, as well as reducing bonus payments to employees. According to the company’s reports, prizes have already been reduced by 10%, and in February and March it is planned to stop production at all Japanese Toyota plants for 11 days.

01/14/2009 / Ekaterina Sorokoy material published in the newspaper No. 4 of 01/15/2009.