In Keith J. Tuckwell's class, Toyota was used as an example
of a company that advertises using a mission: “Harmony with People, Society and
the Environment”.
Indeed, Toyota’s “hybrid cars” do better for the society and
the environment than the conventional cars, but is it really harmonic with the
people? If they refer the people here as the consumers, I think Toyota does a
good job, but certainly not with the manufactures.
Toyota’s head office
is located in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture. There are also many auto parts
manufactures making car components for Toyota. However, we consumers only know
about the cars and the reputation of the company. We don’t take our time to think about the deep meaning of “Harmony with People, Society and the Environment”,
sometimes the commercials and their marketing strategies can be misleading and even deceiving to us.
Like Wal-Mart treats their employee badly, Toyota does not do better with their
suppliers, and that’s what has been ignored. Toyota’s suppliers have been
struggling with low profit and high competition. Ironically, most of these
small manufactures can’t live without Toyota as it is often found to be their
only business partner.
However, the profit from Toyota’s order is too low for the manufactures to expand their business, and
without expanding, they will never have the opportunity to trade with anyone
else other than Toyota. Sadly, the vicious cycle continues to exist behind the
shadow of this shinny “Harmony” slogan.
So what is the real “Harmony with People”? Is it there to
only satisfy the consumers’ desire? I am utterly confounded.
Comments
Post a Comment