Trends in production and product development in the Japanese automotive industry Online publication date: Wed, 02-Jul-2003
by Nick Oliver, Masayoshi Ikeda, Yochiro Nakagawa, David Primost
International Journal of Automotive Technology and Management (IJATM), Vol. 1, No. 1, 2001
Abstract: The Japanese automotive industry has been profoundly influential in shaping thinking about Operations Management. However, Japan's auto industry has been suffering during the recession that has afflicted Japan since 1991. Nissan, Japan's second largest car maker, merged with Renault in 1999 and Ford has substantial control of Mazda. Such developments have led some commentators to write-off Japan's business model, and to assert the triumph of the Western (US) model. This paper concludes that this may be premature. The paper is based on interviews with 14 Japanese component makers and three Japanese car makers which examined how operations had changed between 1994 and 1999. The findings indicate continuing efficiency gains in Japan, and little fundamental change in the structure of buyer-supplier relations. However, there were clear differences between the supply chains of different car makers, and in the future increasing foreign ownership of the Japanese auto industry may heighten these differences.
Existing subscribers:
Go to Inderscience Online Journals to access the Full Text of this article.
If you are not a subscriber and you just want to read the full contents of this article, buy online access here.Complimentary Subscribers, Editors or Members of the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Automotive Technology and Management (IJATM):
Login with your Inderscience username and password:
Want to subscribe?
A subscription gives you complete access to all articles in the current issue, as well as to all articles in the previous three years (where applicable). See our Orders page to subscribe.
If you still need assistance, please email subs@inderscience.com