Strategic Plan Analysis

Strategic Plan Analysis

Abstract

This paper will discuss the management style of Vintage Villa Motor Company and how it compares to the total quality management style of Toyota. Toyota's TQM characteristics will be compared to the characteristics of Vintage Villa, and the differences between the two companies will be discussed. Finally, this paper will address how Toyota's TQM practices could have been integrated into Vintage Villa and how applying these principles could have saved the business.

Vintage Villa

Vintage Villa Motor Company was a self storage facility with Budget truck rentals. On top of that, they sold used Mercedes vehicles and had an onsite antique shop for customers to wander through. The company was made up of the owner and her husband, a manager, a handyman, and two administrative assistants. The management style was more of a dictatorship than anything else.

The owner of Vintage Villa ran the company her way and only her way, even if her ideas did not make sense to her employees or customers. Technology was a taboo and a mission statement was none existent. Rules changed from day to day and quality was something that was perceived, not attained. Problems were hidden from customers and anything could be fixed by "changing the spark plugs" or dusting.

Toyota

Total Quality Management started as Total Productive Maintenance, TPM. This strategy was invented by Toyota, not "W. Edwards Deming or by the U.S. Navy as many people think," (Chamberlain, 2005). On a list of companies worldwide with the "highest reputation for quality management" (Gale, 2004), Toyota comes in at number six.

Toyota believes that the best way to run their business is by eliminating any possibility for problems. In order to do this, they strive to work in the best possible conditions. The optimum conditions improve job quality, therefore eliminating problems. They trust that this way of doing business is required to produce the quality products to satisfy customer needs and desires.

In the beginning, Toyota was struggling with product defects and low customer satisfaction. They took it upon themselves to fix this problem, hence developing TPM. They found that the main cause of the defects was a buildup of debris in the machines that made the parts causing the machines to wear and eventually break. Toyota decided to implicate preventative maintenance to ensure that the machines could be kept up and limit if not eliminate product defects.

Company Comparisons

The owner of Vintage Villa ran her business completely opposite to the way Toyota is run. Total Quality Management was just not in her vocabulary. Toyota strives on quality products and preventative maintenance. Vintage Villa struggled to keep their products working at all. If something broke at Vintage Villa, the owner would have someone get the product working just enough to say it works. If there was a problem with a product but it was not an obvious problem, the owner would try and downplay it or ignore it hoping that the customer would not notice.

Toyota strives to keep up with the latest technology. They work on improving already high quality products to guarantee that their company and their products exceed the competition. Toyota is innovative, wanting to be the first, or at least one of the first, to use a certain technology or idea. They came out with hybrid cars before many others and became the leader in hybrid technology.

Vintage Villa on the other hand was continuously outdone by their competitors. The owner did not believe in technology. She had the philosophy that technology was the demise of society and should be dealt with minimally. Vintage Villa did not have a website, nor did the owner think it was necessary. When the internet was installed in the building, the owner demanded that it be taken out immediately in fear that a virus would crash the whole business.

Toyota makes every effort to take care of their employees. They know that the employees are the link to quality products. If the employees are taken care of, they will care about their job. If the employees care about their job, they will take care in making sure that the products are up to the companies standards.

The owner of Vintage Villa did not respect her employees. She frequently dismissed any ideas that they had and had no problem telling them that they were wrong. She felt that she knew best and, even if the whole world disagreed with her, she was the only one who knew what was right. Mechanics were told that they did not know what they were talking about. A vehicle could be fixed by simply changing the oil or the spark plugs. If