I work in the Nagoya, the Town Toyota Built, though not for Toyota. (Well, to the extent that anyone in Nagoya can be said not to work for Toyota.)
The great thing about Japanese corporate discipline: when GM has a tough year, GM blames the year. No way we could have predicted spiraling gas prices, a down economy, and increased foreign competition. When Toyota has a tough year, Toyota blames Toyota. You can bet that somewhere in the bowels of that megacorp is a team of economists reevaluating their currency hedging strategy, while another team is working 16 hour days coming up with a car that captures the imagination of the American consumer but is priced to move as compared to the Prius.
Keep doing this whole "Learn from failure and overcome it" thing for a few decades and you end up the biggest car company in the world and make the competition look like sniveling amateurs.
There is definitely something to be said about being humble during a crisis. I think if more companies took this view during this time, we'd like exit this "down economy" faster.
The great thing about Japanese corporate discipline: when GM has a tough year, GM blames the year. No way we could have predicted spiraling gas prices, a down economy, and increased foreign competition. When Toyota has a tough year, Toyota blames Toyota. You can bet that somewhere in the bowels of that megacorp is a team of economists reevaluating their currency hedging strategy, while another team is working 16 hour days coming up with a car that captures the imagination of the American consumer but is priced to move as compared to the Prius.
Keep doing this whole "Learn from failure and overcome it" thing for a few decades and you end up the biggest car company in the world and make the competition look like sniveling amateurs.