Toyota must discount product to survive

This has not been Toyota's year. The Japanese auto giant put itself in such a bad position by failing to do the right thing.

In capitalism, your first responsibility should be to serve the customer. Now we have news that Toyota was ecstatic because they conned the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration over safety issues. They even had projections how much money they saved by not properly addressing brake problems. Come on, people!

The consequences are so clear, and there's a teaching lesson here. If you're in an MBA program, remember, a narrow-minded focus (aka myopia) is the curse that's hit so many companies.

For example, Sprint has had an uphill battle trying to remain viable after so many years of bad customer service. Clark recalls his wife bursting into tears when she was told to go into a Sprint store to resolve a problem. The company had such a bad reputation that people would rather wait in a government office!

In any business, if you take your eye off the ball of serving the customer, the marketplace will teach you a lesson. Toyota spent a generation building up brand equity and then their internal corporate culture fouled it all up.

If you've seen pictures of Toyota chief executive Akio Toyoda testifying here in the United States, you saw a portrait of a man who didn't want to be there.

Toyota now must survive in the short-term by discounting. You'll see special lease deals behind the scenes and offers of zero-percent financing. Clark has typically spoken out against leases, but when you can get a special manufacturer-subsidized one like Toyota will have to do, they can be a real deal.

The Detroit News reports Toyota is so on the ropes that they're even offering deals on the Prius.

So the deals will be there, but the question is will you even consider them?