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The Origin of Competitive Strength

Fifty Years of the Auto Industry in Japan and the U.S.

  • Book
  • © 1998

Overview

Authors:
  1. Akira Kawahara

    1. Minato-ku, Tokyo, Japan

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  • This book has deep insights into two leading corporations, Toyota and GM, for comparison and examines the true nature of comeptitive strength not only between Toyota and GM but also among the auto industry as a whole *Total information contained is based on the authors deep involvement in strategic analysis of GM and other auto makers as one of Toyota executives Many factual data and actual experience are contained in this very plain readable book.
  • The author tells how Toyota had become worlds leader in auto industry

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Table of contents (10 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages N4-xxix
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  2. Prologue

    • Akira Kawahara
    Pages 1-21

  3. Toyota Moves into the Fast Lane

    • Akira Kawahara
    Pages 23-59

  4. A Flagship Car

    • Akira Kawahara
    Pages 61-84

  5. Management of the Automobile Industries in Japan and the U.S. in the Postwar Period

    • Akira Kawahara
    Pages 85-110

  6. The Success of NUMMI

    • Akira Kawahara
    Pages 111-128

  7. GM’s Tough Fight

    • Akira Kawahara
    Pages 129-155

  8. The Rebirth of GM

    • Akira Kawahara
    Pages 157-192

  9. Lean Production and the Challenge to the “World Car”

    • Akira Kawahara
    Pages 193-216

  10. Epilogue

    • Akira Kawahara
    Pages 217-243

  11. Addendum

    • Akira Kawahara
    Pages 245-261

  12. Back Matter

    Pages 263-278
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Keywords

About this book

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.

Authors and Affiliations

  • Minato-ku, Tokyo, Japan

    Akira Kawahara

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: The Origin of Competitive Strength

  • Book Subtitle: Fifty Years of the Auto Industry in Japan and the U.S.

  • Authors: Akira Kawahara

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-68419-0

  • Publisher: Springer Tokyo

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

  • Copyright Information: Springer-Verlag Tokyo 1998

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-4-431-68421-3Published: 22 February 2012

  • eBook ISBN: 978-4-431-68419-0Published: 06 December 2012

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XXXIV, 278

  • Topics: Innovation/Technology Management, Industrial and Production Engineering

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