BM_IMD_REPORT-How-Authentic-is-your-Corporate-Purpose

adequately assess the risk, Toyota continued to maintain its long-term focus and kept working on
long-term projects, such as the mobility project, described below.
Mobility project
Toyota’s mobility project provides a clear example of how purpose affects decision-making. As part
of its contribution to society, Toyota views its role as leading the way to the mobility solutions of the
future. Out of conviction that truly sustainable future mobility can only be achieved if it works
together cross-sectorally with other industries to improve the mobility system overall, Toyota
initiated a sustainable mobility project within the working frameworks provided by the World
Business Council for Sustainable Development. The project seeks to align different sectors involved
in mobility such as, infrastructure providers, public transport operators, automotive industry and so
on, and to facilitate all parties to work in one direction, in order to take an integrated approach to
issues such as mobility, energy, information, and citizens’ behavior and choices. Another example is
Toyota’s commitment to the fuel cell. There is a great deal of resistance to changing business models
in the market currently, and there might be other solutions that help to reduce CO2 in the shorterterm.
However, when evaluating resource availability in the long-term, Toyota considers the fuel cell
to be the better option. The fact that Toyota takes a long-term view (looking ahead 20-30 years) is
the driver behind its decision to introduce and invest in the fuel cell today.
The company feels it is important to understand the practical elements of the barriers to its longterm
projects – and how to overcome these. It used the word Genba to describe this; a Japanese
term meaning “the real place.” For example, it volunteered to run the mobility project “hands-on” in
Bangkok, in order to deepen its understanding of how to change the behavior of people using roads
and mobility solutions in that area. This focus and experience will allow it to find the right tools and
methodologies to achieve its vision. “It’s not just an abstract vision, but it’s combined with very
practical hands-on experience”; in the words of a General Manager interviewed at Toyota Motor
Europe.
Recommendations to increase organization’s “embeddedness”
In order to build the ability to remain connected to other actors, an organization’s leaders and
stakeholders should focus on:
1) Making sure the organization is connected with the external world.
2) Taking care not to distance the organization from its stakeholders.
3) Making sure the organization is connected with society at large.
4) Relating the organization to the environment it serves.
8.3 Transparency
An organization that is transparent openly shares information with its stakeholders. Leaders and
stakeholders concerned about transparency should ask themselves these questions:
- Does the organization tell the truth?
- Does the organization admit mistakes when they are made?
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