Extreme Toyota: Radical Contradictions That Drive Success at the World's Best Manufacturer

7.5. Formal and Informal Support Mechanisms

Formal and informal support mechanisms have been established in the organization to contribute to effective functioning of the nerve system. The Toyota Institute was established at Toyota City in January 2002 to develop global leaders and middle managers cultivated with the values of the Toyota Way. The institute would educate 140 leaders and 300 middle managers each year. Fujio Cho, then President of Toyota, was named the institute's first president.

The Global Knowledge Center was established at Torrance, California, in July 2002 to disseminate The Toyota Way in Sales and Marketing. It is located at the University of Toyota, established by TMS four years earlier^[] and is a clearinghouse for the knowledge and expertise of Toyota distributors around the world. Just prior to establishing this center, Toyota organized a "Toyota Way in Sales and Marketing" forum in April 2002, gathering officers from the United States, Japan, Asia, and European regional headquarters, as well as major distributors from around the world. Speaking at the forum, Jim Press noted the challenges facing the Global Knowledge Center:

Transferring knowledge across organizational boundaries is very difficult to do. As leaders, we sometimes get frustrated because we can't get two people or two teams that sit next to each other to fully collaborate and share information. What we're talking about now is immensely more challenging. We're talking about moving know-how ...