On February 13, Toyota held a press conference to outline its new management structure. The theme for this new era is "inheritance and evolution." Toyota Times shares the words of incoming President Koji Sato.
Right person in the right place and roles over titles
Sato
The hallmark of our management as a team, like a soccer team, will be flexibility in changing formation. Underlying this are the concepts of having the right person in the right place and emphasizing roles over titles.
First, the three executive vice presidents, who have studied management close to the president, will take the lead on the front lines of our three priority businesses.
Executive Vice President Kon, serving as Woven by Toyota’s dedicated CFO, will work with CEO Kuffner to advance Woven’s breakthrough transformation.
Executive Vice President Maeda, serving as chief executive officer of our Asia Region, will explore carbon-neutral paths for emerging countries and lead our new Asia strategy under the theme of social implementation of CASE technologies.
Executive Vice President Kuwata, as executive vice president of Toyota Motor Kyushu, will promote Lexus’ BEV business strategy and the restructuring of the production system in Kyushu, where we have a dedicated Lexus plant.
Our operating officers, centered on in-house company presidents and regional chief officers, will be in charge of implementing product-centered and region-centered management.
New executive vice presidents Hiroki Nakajima and Yoichi Miyazaki will each oversee work on the two axes of products and regions.
Tetsuo Ogawa, North American Region CEO, and Tatsuro Ueda, China Region CEO, will lead region-centered management as new operating officers, and Simon Humphries will lead brand creation as the new chief branding officer.
Kazuaki Shingo, the president of the in-house Toyota Compact Car Company, will promote the creation of a competitive production system.
Operating Officer Jun Nagata will continue to lead communication with stakeholders, which is the foundation for all efforts.
And I believe that my role, as president, will be to maximize the strength of our team as captain.
I will listen carefully to the opinions of those on the front lines and unite our team while making the most of the diverse personalities of its leaders.
13 years of learning
SATO
Many of our new management team members, including myself, were still at the manager or assistant manager level when President Toyoda took office.
Over the past 13 years, by taking on many challenges and experiencing many failures on the front lines, we have continued to learn from various perspectives the values of making ever-better cars and being the best carmaker in town.
Thanks to that, at Toyota, we now have many people capable of managing the company.
We would like to ask for everyone’s warm guidance and support.