Another Toyota Exec leaves - This time for Ford

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071011/BUSINESS01/71011028

Jim Farley, Group VP of Lexus.

Official press release from Ford: http://media.ford.com/article_display.cfm?article_id=26997

Another cornerstone of Toyota North America has left for a domestic automaker. The article below offers some insight why Farley may have departed:

Perhaps more damaging, the company's inability to retain Messrs. Press and Farley and Ms. Meyer highlights what some insiders describe as growing discontent among American ranks about heavy-handed interventions from their bosses in Japan in formulating pricing and other key strategic decisions.
Those insiders, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said American managers were particularly upset about the pricing strategy forced on them for the redesigned Toyota Tundra full-size pickup truck. Relatively high prices of the Tundra, which went on sale in the spring of this year, have forced Toyota to offer big discounts and other costly sales incentives to help them meet its sales on target. Toyota wants to sell 200,000 of them this year.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119210943242155968.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

No doubt it also had something to do with the amount of money that Ford offered him.

This sucks. But oh well. Too bad for Toyota, but at the same time give them a wake up call on this matter.:sosad::disappoin

No doubt it also had something to do with the amount of money that Ford offered him.
Oh, I'm sure money was part of it, but this is the third executive to leave Toyota in the last three or four months. And we're not talking small-timers either, these are people that helped grow Toyota North America. I read a response from Toyota where they put a positive spin on this saying it allows other talented members within to rise up...but corporate bs aside, these departures have to be hurting the company internally. So the real question is, why are they leaving? I think money is only part of the answer.

Oh, I'm sure money was part of it, but this is the third executive to leave Toyota in the last three or four months. And we're not talking small-timers either, these are people that helped grow Toyota North America. I read a response from Toyota where they put a positive spin on this saying it allows other talented members within to rise up...but corporate bs aside, these departures have to be hurting the company internally. So the real question is, why are they leaving? I think money is only part of the answer.

Could it be that the reason that these marketing people are leaving is because there is no more challenge at Toyota? Perhaps these three super-talented people like the challenge of fighting to get to the top. Now that Toyota is at the top, the fight is over, and the work now to be done is to maintain that top position, a job that can be perceived as very boring compared to the fight to gain supremacy.

At Chrysler and Ford, they have problems selling their vehicles. No, they have problems marketing their vehicles. They need talented people at the top of their game to be able to prove to the new-car buyer that Ford and Chrysler do build products that deserve a look. They need a talented person at the top who can design a program that will attract buyers into the showrooms and look at the vehicles that are sitting there. They need talented people who can tell the Ford family and Cerberus what buyers are looking for when they go shopping for new cars. Ford and Chrysler need people who like the fight to get to the top, and they now realize that, and are willing to hire these people.

Mullaly and Cerberus know what they need, know where to get the talent, and are willing to spend the money to invest in marketing. I say that we should thank Deborah Meyer, Jim Press and Jim Farley for the work they have done at Toyota/Lexus/Scion, and wish them the best of luck in their new positions.

Could it be that the reason that these marketing people are leaving is because there is no more challenge at Toyota? Perhaps these three super-talented people like the challenge of fighting to get to the top. Now that Toyota is at the top, the fight is over, and the work now to be done is to maintain that top position, a job that can be perceived as very boring compared to the fight to gain supremacy.

At Chrysler and Ford, they have problems selling their vehicles. No, they have problems marketing their vehicles. They need talented people at the top of their game to be able to prove to the new-car buyer that Ford and Chrysler do build products that deserve a look. They need a talented person at the top who can design a program that will attract buyers into the showrooms and look at the vehicles that are sitting there. They need talented people who can tell the Ford family and Cerberus what buyers are looking for when they go shopping for new cars. Ford and Chrysler need people who like the fight to get to the top, and they now realize that, and are willing to hire these people.

Mullaly and Cerberus know what they need, know where to get the talent, and are willing to spend the money to invest in marketing. I say that we should thank Deborah Meyer, Jim Press and Jim Farley for the work they have done at Toyota/Lexus/Scion, and wish them the best of luck in their new positions.

I agre with ya on everything u said except that....

Toyota doesnt even think they are on the top, cause they are not satisfied with the position and numbers they have accomplished so far, thats why they the goal of over 10 million vehicles for 2010, so the top number is always going higher and higher. Then, the fight there remains. And of course, the big issue isnt getting to the top, is keeping yourself in the top, thats the hardest work.