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1-4 Consulting Report: CSR Model
Dustin Calvert
Southern New Hampshire University
MBA 500: Building Business Leaders
Jarrett Walton
June 12, 2022
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The following consulting report prepared for ABC Beauty Company has been drafted to
analyze the organizational structure of Toyota Motor Corporation and its Corporate Social
Responsibility (CSR) successes. This report also provides recommendations on how ABC
Beauty Company can apply Toyota Motor Corporation’s best practices to set ABC Beauty
Company apart from the competition.
Toyota Motor Corporation, referred to as Toyota for the remainder of this report,
combines functional and divisional organizations to create cross-functional teams, also known as
a matrix organizational structure (Schermerhorn & Bachrach, 2020, pp. 224). Toyota’s Executive
leadership oversees both its Head Office and its separate yet connected Business Units. The
Head Office is organized as a functional structure with distinct departments dedicated to
Business Development, Public Affairs, Human Resources, and Accounting among others
(Toyota Motor Corporation, 2019). Toyota’s Business Units are bisected into two separate
divisional structures, the first being its six independent region-based divisions, and the other
being its ten product-based divisions responsible for focused market priorities.
Toyota’s Environmental Challenge 2050, a plan designed to achieve sustainable
development goals, provides excellent examples of how this diversified organization executes on
independent milestones all while remaining aligned with Toyota’s corporate strategy. In 1997,
Toyota’s introduction of the Prius brought hybrid electric vehicle technology mainstream,
challenging the automobile industry to innovate and pursue this emerging market. Since then,
Toyota has continued to predict market trends and listen intently to public opinions regarding
climate initiatives. Toyota’s Environmental Materiality Analysis is a four-step process that has
been used to develop its environmental strategies. Initially, environmental issues that address
Toyota’s principles and values are identified. These issues are then assessed and prioritized from
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two perspectives: the stakeholders and Toyota. In the third validation step, Toyota challenges its
own bias by asking international organizations to validate issues from a perspective outside the
company. The final step in the process is to review the environmental materiality at a regular
interval every five years. The fruit of this labor is the six challenges that target two primary
objectives: “achieve zero Co2 Emissions”, and “achieve a net positive environmental impact”
(Toyota Motor Corporation, 2020).
ABC Beauty Company and the future of its CSR strategy can benefit from employing
Toyota’s perspective on climate change. They see climate change not as a looming threat to its
current way of business, but rather as an opportunity: “…[I]f we can respond appropriately, this
will lead to enhanced competitiveness and the acquisition of new business opportunities”
(Toyota Motor Corporation, 2020). Toyota collaborated with its six regional divisions to develop
short-range 2025 targets unique to each region for each 2050 environmental challenge. If ABC
Beauty Company is to succeed as the world’s leading provider of health and beauty products,
recognizing that its customers represent a diverse demographic means that ABC’s portfolio must
also reflect an equally diverse range of products that address pressing climate and social
concerns.
To develop a robust and purposeful CSR strategy, ABC Beauty Company should
establish a working group to develop a matrix of social and environmental issues that weigh both
importance to its stakeholders, and alignment to the company’s values. Once this matrix is
developed and disseminated, the product and regional divisions of ABC Beauty Company should
be empowered to develop unique solutions to address each item on the issues list. Should this be
seen to completion, ABC Beauty Company will have developed product lines and locale-specific
objectives that align the company’s values with the customer’s social and global interests.
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References
Schermerhorn, J.R., Jr., & Bachrach, D. G. (2020). Management (14th Edition). Wiley Global
Education US. https://wileyplus.vitalsource.com/books/9781119497721
Toyota Motor Corporation. (2019).EToyota Motor Corporation 2019 Annual Report.Toyota
Motor Corporation.
https://global.toyota/pages/global_toyota/ir/library/annual/2019_001_annual_en.pdf
Toyota Motor Corporation. (2020).EToyota Motor Corporation 2020 Environmental
Report.Toyota Motor Corporation.
https://global.toyota/pages/global_toyota/sustainability/report/er/er20_en.pdf
