The main features of the Toyota Production System (TPS) have been widely publicised and discussed since the 1980s. By now, other car manufacturers might reasonably have been expected to have learned the lessons and fully caught up with Toyota's productivity levels. This has still not happened. Part of the explanation is simply Toyota's high investment in plant and equipment. This article focuses on the complementary human aspects, the subtle elements of Toyota's organisation and culture which have ensured the continuing success of the TPS.
In the history of human migration, rarely has a situation arisen in which simultaneous voluntary immigration and emigration flows have dramatically transformed the ethnic composition of an independent country. Belize since its independence in 1981 provides an example of such an unusual combination of circumstances. During the late 1970s and early 1980s, anecdotal evidence began to accumulate suggesting that the country's population was undergoing profound structural changes that included realignment of its settlement patterns and alteration of its ethnic mix.
For a firm to experience long‐term sustained competitive advantage it must invest in human resources and deploy its scarce assets in the core areas that can most effectively provide the underpinning of a sustained competitive advantage. Gary R Fane, M Reza Vaghefi, Cheryl Van Deusen and Louis A Woods say that Japanese car maker Toyota is a supreme example of a company that has done just that.
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