Augusta State University's Hull College of Business presents a lecture tonight with Toyota Motor Sales USA Inc. executive Jim Mooney.

The California-based company's customer relations strategy and development corporate manager will speak at 7:30 p.m. in the Jaguar Ballroom in the Student Activities Center on campus. The lecture is open to the public.

The Augusta Chronicle interviewed him about tonight's talk and his views on Toyota's customer service philosophy.

Q: What topics will you cover during your presentation?

A: (Hull's Associated Dean of Programs Barbara Coleman is) trying to create a globalization theme, so that speakers who work for global companies can come to offer that insight to students. Toyota is a top 10 global company, and I'll talk about who we are, our history, the Wall Street view of the company globally and locally, and the cultural specifics at Toyota.

Q: Could you briefly describe your work with Toyota, Scion and Lexus?

A: I'm very involved on the customer technology side, so I have a $60 million technology profile that I'm spearheading. We're replacing a lot of customer technology to improve our lifelong relationship with customers.

We'll have a new customer database that has household information on all of our customers, including what customers have bought from us, their service histories and other brands they may own. These initiatives are going to last a span of 10 to 15 years, and they're mainly going to support our work with our dealers and field organizations to improve customer satisfaction.

Q: Do you feel that customer service can affect an automaker's bottom line?

A: It most definitely affects our bottom line. That's No. 1 on our scorecard, what our customer satisfaction levels are. Our customer service philosophy is "fix it right the first time" and to have lifelong customers. The term "kaizen" is one of the pillars of the Toyota way. It's translated in Japanese: We improve our business operation continuously, always driving for innovation and evolution.

Q: What is your advice to business students so they can be competitive in the global market?

A: I recommend they take as many globally oriented courses as possible and travel and see the world. When a person has a proven track record in being creative and solving problems, we're attracted to that. We hire both undergraduate and graduate students depending on the position. For MBAs, we have a very select program called the Graduate Management Associates Program.