HONG KONG -- Japan's Toyota Motor has been named as one of the world's top ten most admired companies, Fortune magazine said on Wednesday.

Fortune's annual poll placed the Japanese automaker fifth in the rankings. It was the only Asian name to feature among the leading ten, which were topped by General Electric of the United States.

The business magazine polled 10,000 corporate directors, executives and analysts at more than 350 companies in 30 industry groups.

Respondents ranked the companies within their industry based on criteria including innovation, financial soundness, and social responsibility.

Other major Asian companies in the rankings included South Korea's Samsung Electronics (39), Japan's Sony (15) and Honda Motor (19) and Singapore Airlines (28). – AFP, February 24, 2005.

http://www.timesofoman.com/newsdetails.asp?newsid=11223

oh whatta felling TOYOTA

While some of Toyota's designs are a bit drab - no one can deny that Toyota has been the best managed auto company in the world for the last 2 decades.

IMO - Sony is ranked WAY too high - they have made too many missteps recently.

I always trusted Toyota. I never liked Honda though............

thats ridiculous

Toyota is a very trust worthy car company. They make sturdy cars, thats Japanese efficiency for you. I always admired the Japanese for their discipline.

its not just their discipline. their entire culture centers around doing things perfectly. they are also quick and practical. They absorb other people's ideas very quickly and can make them into their own.

Yes, yes I know that. Though they can also be stubborn and jump head on to problems. That is their weakness, for example WW2. But the Japanese work ethic is amazing, no doubt about it.

they are group-oriented. They do things for the success of the group. Common Japanese business practice at meeting is to attack each other's ideas or proposals and keep going at it until everyone agrees. Thats almost a guaranteed way to find the best solutions to problems.

They are not afraid to sacrifice for the group. Thats what makes them so successful. They trust each other not to backstab.

Back in the day, Japanese companies used to never fire any employee. Even if the employee screwed up something big time, they wouldn't fire him. This made each company almost seem like an army with its employees loyal to the teeth. Thats how companies like Sony, Toyota, Honda, Panasonic, Toshiba, Mitsubishi etc. made it so big.

where is your so called "respect" for other people's taste?

yeah.. Japanese are really just copy cats....

Prove why Honda is worse than Toyota by a wide margin

All Toyota cars my family has owned were far more reliable than Honda when it comes to safety. I don't like their delicate structure nor their designs. Am I saying Honda is worse? Of course not. I just don't like Honda too much.

I really prefer American cars for the engine and strength, and the abilities to take on crashes. However, japanese cars has the good design and looks, I might drive one anyway..

I really prefer American cars for the engine and strength, and the abilities to take on crashes. However, japanese cars has the good design and looks, I might drive one anyway..

The "group-think", however, has also been a weakness for Japanese corporations - resulting in less risk-taking, less quick adjustment to changes in business conditions and less willingness to cut dead-weight (although this is slowly changing).

Overall, Japanese autos (esp. Toyota and Honda) have done significantly better on safety crash tests than American autos (bigger does NOT necessarily mean safer). And the technology on Japanese engines (particularly Toyota and Honda) are usually more advanced than most American autos.

Nissan, while building some of the best engines, are more like American manufacturers, using larger capacity engines with older technology in order to produce more power.

eh I think Japan is past the copy cat phase, that was just an old stereotype, but whats a developing nation suppose to do?

they're on the frontiers of some car technology, they had to show GM just recently last year how to build a Hybrid car

I can get you a big list of better japanese companies....

Azusa Yamamoto
Asaki Yoshida
Nonami Takizawa
Kazusa Satoh

They can make me company whenever they want

Japanese sure make great cars. I drive a Chevy Silverado and I love it, but a while ago I drove my friend's piece of crap Nissan Altima and found how fun it was to drive it. Great handling, a nice sturdy feel of power(even though I can fart more horsepower than an Altima), and just generally a fun-loving feeling. If a P.O.S. like an Altima can be fun, I can only imagine how fun a high-end Japanese model can be.

For my next car, I'll probably get a Japanese pick-up instead of American.

Also, another buddy of mine backed-up his Toyota 4Runner into his boss' BMW recently and guess what, the side of the bimmer got owned while his rear bumpers on the 4Runner didn't even have a dent. Japanese cars having weak outer bodies is a damn stereotype I tells ya.

You know, it is hard to make love in a Datsun 1000

"you can't kill a toyota" thats what my dad says, we've gone through about 2

I'm pretty sure Lexus the best rated car on the planet, I read it somewhere from a reliable, it has the very best of what Toyota can engineer plus a first class luxury element

yeah Have a 94 toyota supra with the 2jz-GTE engine which has been known to be able to handle 1900 hp. great reliable with only 320 stock. Hopefully I'll run around 700 hp eventually.

Jigoku, who is that hot blonde in your avatar? Your girlfriend?