...that the dominance of the two major Japanese car makers among U.S. small car and family sedan car market is shifting. The Los Angeles Times has a similar article involving the same two auto makers: Toyota and Honda. The article is entitled Honda, Ford Pass Toyota; the Two Car Brands Rank at the Top of a Consumer Report Survey on Quality. The article was written by a Jerry Hirsch. Hirsch explains that Toyota has been toppled as the leading top-quality automaker, with consumers now looking more favorably on Honda and Ford; this he states is from the Consumer Reports ‘2011 Car Brand Perception Survey (2011, p.12). “A series of massive recalls over the past 18 months has tarnished Toyota’s reputations for quality” (Hirsch, 2011, p.12). According to Hirsch, the Consumer Reports survey ranked Honda first, Ford second, and Toyota finished third (2011, p. 13). Ford has moved up in public perception while Toyota has declined. The Ford brand has outsold Toyota’s line of vehicles last year for the first time since 2006 (Hirsch, 2011). The purpose of this research article was to report and explain to average consumers and businesses alike; that Toyota, a household name among many in the U.S. for reliability is now starting to lose its glamour; and why it is happening. Three major and popular auto brands were studied in the report: Honda, Toyota, and Ford. The findings by Hirsch were both logical and sound. Both Honda and Toyota made headlines again...
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...Indian Auto Industry The Indian Auto Industry faired brilliantly in the year 2010 and 2011 so far. We can easily pass the statement that the industry is on a boom currently. After a rough late 2008 and early 2009, the industry has grown with a CAGR of nearly 25% since then. At this rate, the Indian auto market is expected to become the third largest in the world only after US and China. While Japan is also vying for this rank, but Indian auto market with its current growth rate will overtake it sooner or later. Global consultants Booz and Co. in a report has predicted the Indian passenger vehicle market to grow at a rate of 15-20% and auto exports to grow at 8% for the next few years. New production techniques, product innovation, effective after sales service, new plants, enhanced R&D, strengthen distribution network and supply chain etc. To pave the way for future growth, the Indian auto companies will have to evaluate M&A decisions as well. Deals like TATA-Jaguar have already made international mergers a viable option. Therefore, Indian Auto Industry is an important industry for the purpose of this paper’s study. Limitations:- 1) For the study, only top 10 companies from an industry has been selected and not all the companies. Therefore, the results might be affected from downward bias. 2) The researchers were not experts in the industry they were studying. 3) The researchers were not expert in the software used for the purpose of this study and relied heavily on...
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...The impact of aftermath of the earthquake on Malaysia’s trade with Japan can be seen in various industries especially in Japan’s main industries particularly the automotive, iron and steel as well as electrical and electronics industries (E&E). In 2010, Malaysia’s exports of automotive part and accessories to Japan registered at USD 154.65 million, up by 14.45 percent from the previous year. Electrical equipment such as car audio contributed a majority share of total exports of automotive part and accessories as well as rubber and plastic components. Japan's major automakers will produce about 400,000 fewer vehicles domestically as a result of the 11 March 2011 earthquake and tsunami. The disaster caused damage to only a few auto assembly plants, such as a new facility set up by a Toyota Motor Corp. subsidiary in Miyagi Prefecture. However, it has crimped automakers' parts procurement since many factories making auto and electronic parts are located in the hardest-hit regions of northeastern Japan. The nation's eight manufacturers of passenger vehicles and four truck makers are expected to cut production by a combined 385,000 vehicles or so. The figure represents almost 5 percent of annual output. Toyota shutdown domestic auto assembly plants from 14 March 2011 till 2 April 2011 and this caused reducing production by about 140,000 units. Honda Motor Co. suspended operations at two domestic plants through 3 April 2011, with its output likely to fall by 46,600 units. Nissan...
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...5/16/2015 3 Reasons Why Toyota Is On A March In North America (/) Micheline Maynard (http://www.forbes.com/sites/michelinemaynard/) Contributor I look at all the ways we get around Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. AUTOS (/AUTOS) 3/28/2012 @ 10:44AM 7,631 views 3 Reasons Why Toyota Is On A March In North America Comment Now Follow Comments Just a few years ago, Toyota’s world was Total Recall – not the movie that’s being remade, but the neverending wave of bad news about its cars. It lost its spot as the world’s best-selling car company to General Motors (http://www.forbes.com/companies/generalmotors/), and some people wondered if Toyota could ever get back its sterling reputation. What Pure Michigan Means to Business Leaders But this year, Toyota has been on an (Image credit: Getty Images North America via @daylife) investment march, and Canada and the United States are reaping the benefits. On Wednesday, Toyota announced http://www.forbes.com/sites/michelinemaynard/2012/03/28/3-reasons-why-toyota-is-on-a-march-in-north-america/ 1/3 5/16/2015 3 Reasons Why Toyota Is On A March In North America (http://toyotanewsroom.com/releases/toyota+canadian+manufacturing+operation+increase+rav4+volume.htm? view_id=30039)its latest move, involving its newest Canadian plant. The Japanese carmaker will invest $80 million (Canadian) in its factory in Woodstock, Ontario, about two hours west of...
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...Trade between China and Japan is worth about $345bn (£212bn). That alone, stands as a significant portion of trade, investment, and revenue. Short-term revenue, for example would be a one-time exchange of trade whereas long-term revenue would be long-term trade obligations between two business or parties. The full terms of the obligation are usually carried out over more than one year. Some industries are heavily dependent upon long-term revenue for sustained profits and to pay for basic operating costs. Long-term revenue, however, is not simple to define because it can mean different things in different industries. [http://smallbusiness.chron.com/definition-longterm-revenue-38225.html] Let's take a look at how Japan's economy and trade as well as long-term revenue has been hit as a result of the conflict over the Diaoyu Islands. Japan has the world’s third largest economy, and is the second largest holder of US treasury bonds. It has a large impact on global commodities and energy: it is the largest importer of liquid natural gas (LNG) and third largest importer of crude oil. Despite its financial troubles, it still carries considerable weight in financial global institutions like the IMF, the World Bank, and the World Trade Organization. However, Japan's economy contracted in the latest quarter, signaling that like Europe it may already be in recession, further weighing down world growth. Japan's outlook remains bleak, with most economists forecasting a further decline in...
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...on pre-assembled engine and gearbox or transmission mechanism that takes effect from April 1 this year. 'While the domestic automotive industry has posted strong growth across segments during 2010-11 so far, the cost push factors such as higher commodity prices, foreign exchange volatility (especially with respect to the yen) and increase in the landed costs of imports are some factors that may adversely affect the financial performance of automotive and auto-ancillary players over the short term,' said Subrata Ray, senior vice president and company head for Corporate Ratings divison. While the Indian subsidiaries of Japanese original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) in the two-wheeler segment and most players in the domestic commercial vehicle segment have limited dependence on imports, some of the OEMs (and the ancillaries) in the passenger car segment continue to import significant number of components, the ICRA report said. Also, while production at various sites of automotive OEMs and auto-ancillaries in Japan was halted for a few days beginning after the catastrophic...
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...or is it more the case that what is required at one place or time would not have the same effect at another place or time? Points of Agreement • The difference between the western viewpoint of Japanese society and the Japanese management style. (Smith, 1984, p. 123, col 1, par 1). Western society, mainly writers and movies, have presented Japan as a conformist society. The movie, Gung Ho (1986, Paramount Pictures) is about a Japanese auto company taking over an American auto company. The Japanese management is shown as working as a unit and not trying to rock the boat. They also lower salaries and try to get everyone trained on every job as to conform. A study by Klauss & Bass (1974) studied group decision making by managers in 13 countries (Smith, 1984, p. 123, col 1, par 1). Japanese managers showed the highest amount of high individualism and anti-conformity. They were more likely not to be influenced by the group and were willing to go in a direction not recommended by the group. The results of the study were very surprising for me based on the aforementioned points. I’ve always view Japan...
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...One of the effects of the Earthquake and Tsunami in Japan in spring 2011 was to bring to the forefront the issues of supply chain venerability. Use the article from the Congressional Research Service for an article review. In your review, discuss how the specific situation could have implications in a broader sense. This article was a great detailed as well as a depressing topic covering the events of the earthquake and hurricane occurrence on March of 2011 at the northeast coast of Japan. This happening was the most powerful natural disaster in Japan’s modern history. Affecting the challenge for Japanese government, businesses, and societies was the resulting ruining of several nuclear reactors in the region which supplied electricity for homes and industry. Located in the disaster expanse are a number of manufacturing facilities which are vital to the global motor vehicle supply chain. These areas took a big hit which was seemed to be preventive in resolution based off the imagery and cost factors of how the end result of the hurricane and earthquake effected those critical locations. These facilities include warehouses that assemble automobiles and many suppliers which build parts and sub-components for vehicles. The effects of these disasters has been first and foremost accepted by Japanese automakers, which closed many of their assembly plants for several weeks as they evaluated their supply chain issues and impact on their essential sub-tier suppliers. Japanese motor...
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...which have in turn impacted the culture itself. The automobile industry is one of the largest technological industries that have developed in Japan. The growth of the automobile industry in Japan has had both positive and negative effects on the Japanese culture. The Japanese culture in 1950 prior to the accelerated growth of the automobile industry was complex and comprised of practices and institutions which developed based upon both ancient beliefs and contemporary influences. Ancient beliefs were a result of spiritual ideas, and internal political and economic structures that developed over time on this island nation, for the most part isolated from the western world until the 1800s. Western political and economic influences had an effect the culture thereafter. Spiritual beliefs in Japan are primarily an outcome of the influence of Shintoism, Confucianism and Buddhism, with some impact made by Christian missionaries who arrived on the island in 1600s. Shintoism, the earliest religious belief system of the indigenous people of Japan, is the belief that spirits that abide in natural elements (kami) influence all aspects of daily life. Buddhism, brought to Japan from China in the mid sixth century, first introduced the idea of the afterlife and the possibility of rebirth through spiritual progress. Confucianism also brought to Japan during the same period, lead to the development of...
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...American market, they were not considered as a threat to the American auto industry because it was believed their cars had no appeal to American consumers However, in the 1970s, due to several problems like environmental regulations, and quality control issues with American cars, a good number of American car owners began searching for alternatives to poorly made American cars. In response to these changes, Toyota and other Japanese carmakers aggressively marketed their cars to Americans as being fuel-efficient, environmentally friendly, and having better build quality than American cars. In addition, Toyota marketed their cars with commercials involving young Toyota drivers jumping in the air. As a result, the Japanese’s marketing campaign along with continuing problems from the Big Three auto manufacturers, allowed import cars to make up about 20 percent of the US car market by 1980. Stage1 General Motors, Ford and Daimler-Chrysler focused in the late 1990s on mergers and acquisitions for improving their business positions to meet future challenges. Toyota, meanwhile, centered its business strategy on technological innovation and persistent environmental product development. The price of oil was not especially high during the 1990s when Toyota started its hybrid car program. Oil prices were below US $20 barrel in 1994 and were to fall to a 50-year low around 1997 when the Toyota Prius was first sold in Japan. Clearly something else was driving Toyota and other Japanese companies...
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...in small engines, lawn mowers, and portable generators. Honda passed Chrysler to become the third largest U.S. seller of cars, but Toyota is close behind and even surpasses Honda when trucks are included in sales figures. The success of the company has been based on its selling of two cars in the U.S. for every one it sells in Japan, and the Accord has been the number one selling car in the United States for the past three years. However, the U.S. market share has dropped to less than 9 percent because of weak sales in California and inroads made by Ford's Taurus, Toyota's Camry, and Pontiac's Grand Am, undercutting sales of the Accord in spite of heavy sales incentives. Sales of Honda cars have also been much reduced in Japan, where the company has fallen from number three to number five, with a 7.6 percent market share. In order to promote sales, Honda has reorganized its North American, European, and Japanese auto operations into autonomous units that are more cost efficient. The company has also worked to introduce more Americans into management, and to accomplish this task some 50 employees from the Ohio plant are spending two to three years in Japan learning the Japanese methods. Honda manufactures products in 40 countries, and four of its seventeen largest manufacturing plants are located in the United States--Marysville, Ohio; Anna, Ohio; East Liberty, Ohio; and Swepsonville, North Carolina. The 1991 sales picture was as follows: As noted, though, these figures are much...
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...Cause and Effect of Out Sourcing Auto Parts Jim Banta Strayer University English 115 Professor Daniel Burrello November 25, 2012 An increase in foreign auto parts supplier has cause grave concerns amongst some American suppliers the protectionists have set their sights on eliminating these new competitors: The foreign manufacturers, especially Japanese auto parts makers that have built plants and limited distribution in the United States and according to some are having an adverse effect on the U.S. economy. A small but politically vocal coalition of American auto parts manufacturers and their unions is complaining that the Japanese auto parts suppliers located in the United States do not supply the quality of parts for their cars. By purchasing auto parts from Japanese suppliers located in Japan and in the United States, automakers are accused of nothing less than a conspiracy to "colonize" American industry. The increased competition provided by Japanese auto parts manufacturers provides significant benefits to the auto industry and workers and to consumers. Consequently, any legislative action that restricted such competition would have harmful effects on the economy. As with all protectionist legislation, such actions would provide short-lived benefits to a small segment of the auto parts industry but would be harmful to the industry in the long run by reducing its incentives to produce better products. An estimated 15,000 parts and accessories...
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...4Influence * 4.1Other media * 5Vehicles used * 6References * 7External links ------------------------------------------------- Plot[edit] The local auto plant in fictional Hadleyville, Pennsylvania, which supplied most of the town's jobs, has been closed for nine months. The former foreman Hunt Stevenson (Michael Keaton) goes to Tokyo to try to convince the Assan Motors Corporation to reopen the plant. The Japanese company agrees and, upon their arrival in the U.S., they take advantage of the desperate work force to institute many changes. The workers are not permitted a union, are paid lower wages, are moved around within the factory so that each worker learns every job, and are held to seemingly impossible standards of efficiency and quality. Adding to the strain in the relationship, the Americans find humor in the demand that they do calisthenics as a group each morning and that the Japanese executives eat their lunches with chopsticks and bathe together in the river near the factory. The workers also display a poor work ethic and lackadaisical attitude toward quality control. The Japanese executive in charge of the plant is Takahara Kazuhiro (Gedde Watanabe), who has been a failure in his career thus far because he is too lenient on his workers. When Hunt first meets Kazuhiro in Japan, Kazuhiro is...
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...Comparative Advantage Christopher L Kearney University of Phoenix ECO/GM 561 International Economics Watson T. Ragin June 27, 2011 Comparative Advantage This writing will begin by defining the concept of comparative advantage while comparing the automobile industry in the United States and the industry in Japan and expound of the similarities and differences of both of the countries. According to InvestorWords.com comparative advantage is defined as the ability of a business entity to engage in production at a lower cost than another entity. Comparative Advantage, rather than absolute advantage is useful in determining what should be produced and what should be acquired through trade. Japan is the country being compared to the United States. Japan is in Eastern Asia and has a population of 126.9 million with the capital Tokyo. Most people who reside in the climate speak Japanese and the major religions practices are Shintoism and Buddhism. The money unit used in the country is yen and the country exports vehicles, computer parts, chemicals, scientific instruments, and watches. Whereas, the United States is l in North America, bordering the North Atlantic Ocean and the North Pacific Ocean, between Canada and Mexico and has a population of 317.6 million with the capital being Washington DC. The predominate language in the United States is English and the major religion practice is Christianity. The currency used in the United States is the American Dollar. The...
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...ASSESSING THE POWER OF PORTER'S DIAMOND MODEL IN THE AUTOMOBILE INDUSTRY IN MEXICO AFTER TEN YEARS OF NAFTA SALVADOR BARRAGAN Master in Business Administration, IPADE Business School, 1996 BSc in Industrial Engineering, Universidad Panamericana, 1994 A Research Project Submitted to the School of Graduate Studies of the University of Lethbridge in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree MASTER OF SCIENCE IN MANAGEMENT Faculty of Management University of Lethbridge LETHBRIDGE, ALBERTA, CANADA © Salvador Barragán, 2005 ii Abstract It has been ten years since the signature of the NAFTA agreement among Canada, U.S., and Mexico. For Mexico, this was a decisive step away from a protectionism model toward a free trade market. One of the main purposes for Mexico in joining NAFTA was to increase the competitiveness of its manufacturing sector, especially the automotive industry. In this paper, Porter’s Diamond Model of national competitiveness and some critiques that attempt to extend the usefulness of the model are analyzed. The Doubled Diamond and the role of MNEs in a host country are both examined through a case study research of the foreign-owned automobile industry in Mexico. The findings of this study show evidence of a broader role of MNEs than in the original framework, as well as the usefulness of the doubled diamond extension to explain alternative sources of competitiveness in early stages of development. iii Acknowledgments...
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