On April 1, 2009, President Watanabe announced the fiscal 2009 (ended March 2010) Global Corporate Policy to all employees. As of the new fiscal year, the existing Corporate Policy was renamed the Global Corporate Policy pursuant to a principle of establishing a shared corporate policy for all 300,000 consolidated employees. That year's policy set three core themes as a first step on the path to overcoming the crisis: 1) reinforcing the foundations of universal measures that are not substantially affected by changes in the times, 2) companywide measures to address immediate issues, and 3) measures to address the customer-first policy, genchi genbutsu, and raising product appeal and responses to structural changes in demand.

At the time of the announcement of the global corporate policy, Executive Vice President Toyoda issued a message to employees prior to taking up his post as president. In this message, he said, "The most important thing is that our focus does not waver. And that focus must be on just one thing: Ever-better cars", making a simple and clear appeal in a difficult business environment. He pointed out that the foundations of "better cars" is high quality at low cost, and called on employees to achieve this by "always putting the customer first and going to the source to find the facts by carrying out genchi genbutsu." He also emphasized that "setting prices at levels that customers believe are affordable" is important and the starting point for product development and reducing costs. He concluded by saying, "The coming two to three years will be extremely difficult, but in Toyota's 70-year history, 60 of those years have been filled with hardship. We must never forget the Toyota concepts of being practical while avoiding frivolity and remember to be grateful at all times. I want to use the abilities of each individual to rebuild a strong Toyota."