Re: Automotive News

Posted by Owen_Dyneto On 2009/9/25 9:52:36

But the japanese auto invasion SUCCEEDED!! The ONLY reason it succeeded was due to the synthesised 'fuel crisis' of 1970's era.

I don't really agree fully with that statement, though it did give them an accelerated entree to the market. I think more at play was (is) a fundamental difference in corporate attitudes between the Japanese (and the Germans) and US corporations, and not just the auto companies; I speak with some background in the corporate American chemical industry as well.

American corporations tend all-to-often to have a VERY short focus, often centered around the next quarter's results, consequent short-term returns to the stockholders, and of course to the executives bonus plans. This is even more detrimental when top and mid-range executives are cycled frequently to different position every few years and thus focus their plans to their own tenure and benefit and not on what may be in the best long-term interest.

The Japanese and other foreign companies, to their credit, make longer range plans and are willing to sacrifice short term gains in favor of longer term success. The Japanese decided and kept to a long term plan to continually improve quality as the path, albeit long, to gain customer loyalty and market share.