Fujio Cho, the head of Toyota, was named Monday as Asia Businessman of the Year 2005 by Fortune for what the magazine called his near flawless execution of the company's global expansion. Cho, who has spent his entire career at the Japanese auto maker applying lessons learned on the factory floor in the boardroom, is described by the magazine as an "affable and low key manager... known for his steady hand."
"By nearly every measure, Toyota is the world's best auto manufacturer... Toyota has long since kicked the Japanese habit of chasing sales and market share at the expense of profit," it says in its February edition.
"Earnings in fiscal 2003, which ended in March jumped 67 percent, to 10.3 billion dollars - more than the profit of GM (General Motors), Ford, DaimlerChrysler and Volkswagen combined."
A 68-year-old lawyer by training, Cho told the magazine that running the company was like "trying to pull a handcart up a steep hill - there's always tremendous danger if we relax, even for a moment, we could lose momentum and be thrown to the bottom."