Let’s have some wa, hansei and kaizen

Those in the second category will tell you: “For the Japanese, business partnerships are not only about making money. They are about seeking, preserving and promoting wa or harmony, a quintessentially Japanese principle, which they practice within their own companies, in product design, art and society in general. They have an elaborate and often time-consuming way of ascertaining whether a particular decision harmonises with their culture of doing business. But once they know that you are trustworthy and the right partner, decisions are taken very fast, often without the formality of legal documents. You then begin to realise how scrupulously they keep their word, care for your feelings, respect your ideas and suggestions, and make the relationship an opportunity for mutual growth.”

In Toyota’s superior business paradigm, its long-term vision of value-creation supersedes pursuit of short-term money-making. Every employee is made to feel important, honoured, empowered and responsible to achieve the company’s objectives of zero-defect, zero-waste and complete customer satisfaction. This is what helped Toyota beat American auto giants Ford and General Motors in most markets globally. Liker’s book presents amazing case-studies of how Toyota doubled or tripled the speed of every business process, reduced production cost through constant innovation, and made quality control a company-wide obsession.

But The Toyota Way’s principal lessons are not for car-making alone. For example, as a political activist, I believe that all those political parties that are concerned about problems within and genuinely desire long-term growth would profit by paying heed to the following principles.

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