[PDF] The American Invasion By Japanese Automakers eBook

Author : Chetan I. Damania
Publisher :
Page : 206 pages
File Size : 15,67 MB
Release : 1991
Category : Automobile industry and trade
ISBN :

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Japanese automakers are rapidly increasing their share of the American car market. They have transformed their export-oriented Japan-based operations to full-fledge American companies' "transplants" with the ability to design, engineer, build and assemble cars in the United States (U.S.). The transplants, which had no domestic capacity in 1981, will build 2.5 million automobiles by end of 1991 and some 3 million by 1994. This massive transfer of Japanese production to the U.S. in less than a decade is indeed a historic landmark in the world automotive industry. It has posed serious threats to the U.S. Big Three automakers: General Motors, Ford and Chrysler. Their prospects for growth are more uncertain today than at any time since 1980, when they pushed for "voluntary" quotas on Japanese imports. Their sales are slumping, and they are being forced to weigh shutting plants, laying off workers and delaying investments. This essay gives a brief history of U.S. and Japanese auto industries. It highlights the important philosophies and strategies that led to the rapid growth of Japanese car makers--especially, Honda, Toyota and Nissan, in the U.S. It compares the Japanese and American approaches to auto manufacturing and analyzes their successes and failures. As discussed in the study, teamwork, communication, efficient use of resources, elimination of waste and continual improvements are the most important ingredients in the Japanese success. This extends upstream from factory to the research lab and design center, as well as downstream to the sales and dealer system . As the Japanese transplants prove the effectiveness of their system in the U.S., the Big Three will have to respond quickly. The study recommends that U.S. automakers should become leaders in globalization by integrating the innovative, flexible thinking of the West with the meticulous, strategic mentality of the East. They must focus on restructuring their management, strengthening manufacturing, reducing throughput, and enhancing product quality and diversity. They can achieve positive results by adopting some of the Japanese strategies and techniques, which can be implemented to counter their Japanese competitors.

Author : Akira Kawahara
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
Page : 288 pages
File Size : 47,5 MB
Release : 2012-12-06
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 4431684190

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When the war ended on August IS, 1945, I was a naval engineering cadet at the Kure Navy Yard near Hiroshima, Japan. A week later, I was demobi lized and returned to my home in Tokyo, fortunate not to find it ravaged by firebombing. At the beginning of September, a large contingent of the Ameri can occupation forces led by General Douglas MacArthur moved its base from Yokohama to Tokyo. Near my home I watched a procession of American mili tary motor vehicles snaking along Highway 1. This truly awe-inspiring cavalcade included jeeps, two-and-a-half-ton trucks, and enormous trailers mounted with tanks and artillery. At the time, I was a 21-year-old student in the Machinery Section of Engineering at the Tokyo Imperial University. Watching that mag nificent parade of military vehicles, I was more than impressed by the gap in industrial strength between Japan and the U. S. That realization led me to devote my whole life to the development of the Japanese auto industry. I wrote a small article concerning this incident in Nikkei Sangyo Shimbun (one of the leading business newspapers in Japan) on May 2, 1983. The English translation of this story was carried in the July 3, 1983 edition of the Topeka Capital-Journal and the September 13, 1983 issue of the Asian Wall Street Journal. The Topeka Capital-Journal headline read, "MacArthur's Jeeps Were the Toyota Catalyst.

Author : Robert Cole
Publisher : University of Michigan Press
Page : 251 pages
File Size : 14,65 MB
Release : 2020-08-06
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 0472902059

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This report was prepared for the Policy Board by the U.S. and Japanese research staffs of the Joint U.S.–Japan Automotive Study under the general direction of Professors Paul W. McCracken and Keichi Oshima, with research operations organized and coordinated by Robert E. Cole on the U.S. side, in close communication with the Taizo Yakushiji on the Japanese side. [preface] In view of the importance of stable, long-term economic relationships between Japan and the United States, automotive issues have to be dealt with in ways consistent with the joint prosperity of both countries. Furthermore, the current economic friction has the potential to adversely affect future political relationships. Indeed, under conditions of economic stagnation, major economic issues inevitably become political issues. With these considerations in mind, the Joint U.S.–Japan Automotive Study project was started in September 1981 to determine the conditions that will allow for the prosperous coexistence of the respective automobile industries. During this two-year study, we have identified four driving forces that will play a major role in determining the future course of the automotive industry of both countries. These are: (1) consumers’ demands and aspirations vis-à-vis automobiles; (2) flexible manufacturing systems (FMS); (3) rapidly evolving technology; and (4) the internationalization of the automotive industry. [exec. summary]

Author : Wanda James
Publisher : McFarland
Page : 321 pages
File Size : 49,36 MB
Release : 2015-08-13
Category : Transportation
ISBN : 1476612803

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This study chronicles the success of the Japanese car in America. Starting with Japan's first gasoline-powered car, the Takuri, it examines early Japanese inventors and automotive conditions in Japan; the arrival of Japanese cars in California in the late 1950s; consumer and media reactions to Japanese manufacturers; what obstacles they faced; initial sales; and how the cars gained popularity through shrewd marketing. Toyota, Honda, Datsun (Nissan), Mazda, Subaru, Isuzu, and Mitsubishi are profiled individually from their origins through the present. An examination follows of the forced cooperation between American and Japanese manufacturers, the present state of the industry in America, and the possible future of this union, most importantly in the race for a more environmentally-sound vehicle.

Author : A.J. Jacobs
Publisher : Lexington Books
Page : 521 pages
File Size : 48,46 MB
Release : 2015-12-16
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 0739188267

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Over the past forty years, state/provincial and local governments in the United States and Canada have provided foreign automakers with approximately $4.80 billion in incentives in order to lure light vehicles assembly plants to their areas. This has included tax abatements, infrastructure construction, land giveaways, job training programs, and other subsidies. As of early 2015, ten foreign vehicle makers operated 20 light vehicles in developed North America. Despite the fact that all ten of these automakers have pursued a similar pattern—first exporting vehicles into the United States and Canada before launching vehicle plants in developed North America—each has followed its own specific historical development path and has created its own unique growth trajectory.This book provides a unique historical and qualitative review of these ten vehicle makers, from their early beginnings to their export entry into the United States and/or Canada through early 2015. In addition, it chronicles the histories of more than a dozen former automakers and potential future foreign light motor vehicle assembly plants in the United States and Canada. This includes the first foreign automaker to build its cars in the United States, De Dion-Bouton of France in July 1900, the early 20th Century endeavors of Fiat, Mercedes, and Rolls Royce, and the present day hopes of Chinese and Indian automakers. In the process, the text also provides an assessment of the top competing states and sites for any future plants, the possible incentives packages governments may offer to attract such facilities, and an estimated incentive value for each automaker. Overall, the goal of this book is to expand the knowledge of policymakers at all tiers of government in the United States and Canada and to help them take a more holistic look at the pros and cons of attracting Automobile Manufacturing FDI. It is hoped that this will enable them to make more informed decisions when pursuing a new foreign motor vehicle assembly plant. Its findings should also prove informative to urban and regional planning, political science, sociology, economics, labor, and international development scholars and students in North America and worldwide.

Author : Michael L. Berger
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing USA
Page : 516 pages
File Size : 50,52 MB
Release : 2001-07-30
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 0313016062

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This comprehensive reference guide reviews the literature concerning the impact of the automobile on American social, economic, and political history. Covering the complete history of the automobile to date, twelve chapters of bibliographic essays describe the important works in a series of related topics and provide broad thematic contexts. This work includes general histories of the automobile, the industry it spawned and labor-management relations, as well as biographies of famous automotive personalities. Focusing on books concerned with various social aspects, chapters discuss such issues as the car's influence on family life, youth, women, the elderly, minorities, literature, and leisure and recreation. Berger has also included works that investigate the government's role in aiding and regulating the automobile, with sections on roads and highways, safety, and pollution. The guide concludes with an overview of reference works and periodicals in the field and a description of selected research collections. The Automobile in American History and Culture provides a resource with which to examine the entire field and its structure. Popular culture scholars and enthusiasts involved in automotive research will appreciate the extensive scope of this reference. Cross-referenced throughout, it will serve as a valuable research tool.