Why does Toyota come through crises more successfully than many others?

Why does Toyota come through crises more successfully than many others?

“Toyota navigates through the pandemic and chip crisis more successfully than many others. The Japanese corporation is currently showing the automotive world how crisis resilience works through cooperation with suppliers. Thus, VW has sold just over three million cars in the first five months of 2022 due to supply chain problems – about 25 percent less than last year. The world market leader from Japan, on the other hand, has increased its sales by 2.1 percent to 4.2 million vehicles. (…) The secret of the Japanese is that the inventors of just-in-time production have been making their organization crisis-proof for 15 years. (…) Japanese suppliers say they share detailed information about their own supplier network with Toyota, actually trade secrets. One reason for this openness is that Toyota does not squeeze suppliers to the limit, but rather sees them as partners who are challenged hard, but also promoted if necessary – and who are helped in an emergency.”

– Martin Kölling, Asia correspondent of Handelsblatt, in “Why Toyota does it better – The automotive industry suffers from chip shortage, but the world market leader from Japan escapes the supply chain problems. This is due to the Japanese term ‘Keiretsu'”, Handelsblatt, July 28, 2022, page 21