"While there are many books on Toyota, they have tended to focus on "Just In Time" and other facets of the company's famously efficient floor operations and how they might be transposed to American manufacturing, with less attention paid to Toyota's overall strategic vision. This book corrects the deficit by approaching the company from a more "white collar" angle, zooming in, not on inventory management, but on business management." "Author Masaaki Sato, Japan's premier auto-industry expert, brilliantly presents his case that Toyota's strengths, including efficiency on the floor, cannot be understood or emulated outside the context of tradition-not Japan's, but Toyota's own. Inventor and Toyota Group founder Sakichi Toyoda's "Precepts" have served as the backbone of the carmaker's executive culture since its inception and, even today, guide decision-making at the top echelons." "Toyota has not always been the global powerhouse that it is today. In the difficult post-war years it very nearly went under and only survived by conducting a mass lay-off in exchange of then-president Kiichiro Toyoda's resignation; the crisis forced the company to be sundered into separate manufacturing and sales divisions that were not to be reunited again for decades. The global ascendance of an automaker long routinely derided as a "hick daimyo" for its parochial bent was never a given. Throughout its history, down to the recent string of chief executives including Hiroshi Okuda who are not from the Toyoda family, it was leadership at the top that moved the company forward - paradoxically, by harkening back to its founding vision." "Readers of The Toyota Leaders will also learn that U.S.-Japan auto-industry relations have not always, or even primarily, been one of confrontation, but rather of mutual emulation and alliance. The very idea of kaizen (reform) arose from Toyoda scion Eiji's early tutelage to Ford, and the Japanese automaker may never have made it in the U.S. market without a jump-starting partnership with General Motors." "Indeed, this book suggests, American firms would be better positioned to absorb Toyota's lessons if they enjoyed greater familiarity with its lore beyond the superficies of production, just as their Japanese counterparts have ever been mindful of the august history of American enterprise. The Toyota Leaders: An Executive Guide is a must-read for those who find themselves in a management role or intend to one day, whether or not in the auto industry."--BOOK JACKET.

Masaaki Sato simply has no peer when it comes to reporting on the Japanese auto industry, his prominence dating back to the 1980's when he was on the auto beat for Nikkei (the Japanese Wall Street Journal). Currently an executive at Nikkei Business Publications, he is the author of highly regarded histories including one on the early days of home video technology (i.e., VHS vs. Betamax) and that has been adapted to the big screen. His most recent book is The House of Toyota.