Toyota, crisis managed?

• Thursday, 17 June 2010
• By Sam Martin
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What do you do when your a global company who is famous for quality and precision of products but then it all falls apart? I’m talking about Toyota, who over recent months have been battling quality issues in some of their product line whilst at the same time have been criticized by the media and consumers. It’s always a difficult time when companies make large scale mistakes, and it’s the level of contingency planning which will always determine how quickly a company will bounce back. Some important aspects of crisis management include ensuring that you are continually communicating to the public on all matters either positive or negative during the incident, as this blocks the media from spinning too many stories, top management must also make a public stance and not hide themselves from the problem, it is also necessary to ensure the public that you are committed to fixing the problem and rehabilitating the people who are effected. A great example of this is BP who on the backside of the oil drilling mega crisis, have today offered a 20 billion dollar fund to manage the costs of the disaster and also added funds to compensate oil workers and other effected areas. I’m getting off the topic now so back to Toyota. The company have recently completed an advertising campaign which aims to bring back the goodwill for the company, reinforce their commitment to the quality control of production, and also to promote that each worker treats every vehicle they pass on as if it was their own. The slogan for the campaign is “Your Toyota is my Toyota”. The ads have worked effectively on me personally, the pictures taken by Ewen Spencer have really made me believe that Toyota have sorted out their quality issues and they are committed to a defect free future.