Automakers ended March on a high note , with US sales up 24.3% from March, 2009, the Detroit Free Press reports . Toyota was among the companies with a big lift, with March sales up 40.7%. The company welcomed the good news after months of dealing with recalls and the ongoing investigation into problems with some if its most popular cars. A month of good sales does not get Toyota out of the woods, of course. And it doesn't mean the problems are solved. Takahiro Fujimoto , professor of economics at the University of Tokyo, is a leading expert on the company. And he says the challenge for Toyota is that its growth has brought an "expansion of complexity." And in that regard, all growth companies need to watch Toyota closely, as they are vulnerable to some of the same problems (not faulty accelerator pedals, exactly, but workflow mistakes that become company wide problems). Here is Fujimoto discussing Toyota with John Paul MacDuffie of the Wharton School :
Filed under: management, automakers, growth, wharton school, auto sales, manufacturers, manufacturing, complexity, Toyota, John Paul MacDuffie, managing complexity, Toyota recall, workflow, managing growth, Takahiro Fujimoto