ABSTRACT
The same scenario has always been true for Toyota Motor Corporation. Toyota started as a tiny player in the automotive industry, making vehicles for the domestic market in Japan. Early company estimates pegged Toyota’s productivity as less than one-ninth that of Ford Motor Corporation. Profits margins were also small in Toyota in the early stages of the company. In fact, Toyota almost went bankrupt in 1950 and was forced to release 2,146 employees or about a quarter of the workforce of the company through early retirements, layoffs, or firings.1
