Strategy execution analysis for Toyota Volkswagen and General Motors

Strategy execution is the most sensitive part of management as it is considered by most managers to be the first or second most challenging issue. This is backed with statics which estimates that an average of 60% of most strategies is not successfully executed (Barrows, 2018). Strategy execution could be defined as the successful implementation of a strategic plan or getting a strategy done. In this paper, a homegrown approach will be used to analyze the strategy execution for Toyota, Volkswagen, and General Motors. This approach will be based on four parts which will include the organizational structure, strategy change, culture, and leadership. When it comes to geographic divisions, the company through its eight regional divisions has been able to improve the quality of products and services in accordance with the conditions of those regional markets (Gregory, 2018).

This has been enabled by the increased decision making powers accorded to the regional managers, which in turn ensures that the company effectively uses its organizational structure for a successful strategy execution. Product based divisions are the other component of Toyota’s organizational structure. The company has four product-based divisions which are Lexus international, Toyota 1, Toyota 2, and the Unit center. These divisions assist the company in creating brands and product lines, which also go a long way in ensuring the successful execution of the company’s generic and growth strategies. The organizational culture of Toyota takes into account the importance of people in an organization and the processes or roles that they are engaged in. The characteristics of Toyota's organizational culture include continuous learning, teamwork, secrecy and quality.

The first two features are based on people. Toyota as a company understands the value of teamwork as it believes that the synergy among employees can lead to greater success and capabilities (Meyer, 2017). For this reason, the company necessitates all its employees to undergo team building training programs which will benefit the company in the long run. Akio Toyoda is the current CEO of Toyota and he uses a transformational leadership style to run this company. He uses an ingenious leadership method which is referred to as the mentor-mentee system (Ede, 2012). This system embraces a lean kind of leadership which has equipped the managers in Toyota with certain skills that help in the successful execution of the company’s strategies. By being lean, the leaders in Toyota do not assume positions of authority and this gets them to be more engaged with the company’s employees and processes.

They also aim at uncovering the passions of their employees and this helps in changing the status quo of doing things. It is made up of three brand divisions which include the power engineering business area, the commercial vehicles business area, and the passenger cars business area. Each of these brand divisions is under a board of management which is responsible for the independence and a self-sufficient growth of the business operations of each brand. To increase the viability of its organizational structure, the company recently added the committees for digital transformation and that for liquidity and foreign currency to its structural composition. This has been instrumental in reducing the complexities and reinforcing governance within the company, which also reduces the troubles associated with how it executes strategy ("Volkswagen Konzern - AR 2017 - Structure and Business Activities", 2017).

To further increase the flexibility of its organizational structure, the Volkswagen group has assigned more entrepreneurial responsibilities to the brand groups and this has been instrumental in speeding up the decision making process and making the group more agile. 8% was cut to 5. 9% and it is expected to go down further to 4. 8% this year. This resulted in increased profits which are attested to by the 4. 5% profitability index attained by the passenger car brand, which is historically associated with low-profit margins (McGee, 2018). These engineers tried to develop a diesel engine that is within the limits of performance and price targets, with the aim of earning more and getting promotions. When they failed, they decided to install a software that will hide their failure (Armstrong, 2017).

The other disturbing issue that comes up is that after failing, the engineers were not even discouraged with the possible consequences their actions and still went ahead to device a cheating software. This shows that apart from the greed in Volkswagens culture, lack of accountability and responsibility was another feature of its culture (Armstrong, 2017). These unpleasant features of Volkswagens culture hindered a successful strategy execution in the company, and the consequences were evident in the costs the company incurred in fines. This is because his leadership style favors upward scalability. The strategy of Volkswagen is currently based on the development of electric cars and self-driving vehicles. The CEO will therefore be able to reach this goal by adding more teams and taking more work on this project because he will be sure that each project will be handled with the required level of skills and quality, thanks to his leadership style which offers upwards scalability.

Strategy execution analysis for general motors. Organizational structure. This is to ensure consistency and continuity in the overall development of the organization. By devising an organizational structure on the basis of regional differences, general motors stands out as a company that is flexible and can deal with any conditions that arise in the concerned markets (Kissinger, 2018). This ensures the successful execution of strategy, which benefits the company through increased sales volumes in the global market. Strategy change. Despite its flexible organizational structure, general motors has been struggling to keep up with the competitive levels set by Toyota and Volkswagen. The first characteristic of General Motors’ culture is room to learn, grow, and evolve. This is in line with the career development goals of employees, and it fosters innovativeness among employees to provide solutions for both the expected and unexpected challenges (Kissinger, 2017).

The second feature is fast thinking and this is because the automotive industry is considered to be in need of speed when addressing threats and opportunities in the market. The next feature is an emphasis on quality (Kissinger, 2017). This is for the company to be able to compete with the likes of Toyota and Volkswagen. She uses collaborations as her first method and this is evident in how she uses a consensus approach by conducting town hall meetings to get everyone’s perspective before making a decision. Her other method is openness to a wide range of input and this is evident in her excellent approachability and listening skills. She is also predisposed to innovation (Engelmeier, 2014). She has led teams in innovating some of the unpopular brands of the company and this has produced great results which have improved the sales of the company’s products.

Through her inclusive style, she has also embraced technology in fuel innovation. The Volkswagen scandal shows that corporate culture matters | Financial Times. Retrieved from https://www. ft. com/content/263c811c-d8e4-11e6-944b-e7eb37a6aa8e Barrows, E. What Is Strategy Execution? Retrieved from https://www. eu/lead_change/The_Toyota_Way_to_Lean_Leadership. php Engelmeier, S. Did Mary Barra’s Inclusive Leadership Style Propel Her to The Top?. Retrieved from https://www. industryweek. Toyota’s Organizational Culture Characteristics: An Analysis - Panmore Institute. Retrieved from http://panmore. com/toyota-organizational-culture-characteristics-analysis Miguel, B. Organizational Change: Case Study of General Motors. Retrieved from http://www. volkswagenag. com/group-management-report/structure-and-business-activities. html McGee, P. Volkswagen revival: what went so right? Retrieved from https://www.