Japan and the Global Automotive Industry

Eminent industry specialist Koichi Shimokawa explains the current state of the Japanese automotive industry.

The Japanese automotive industry enjoyed spectacular success in the 1980s. This was largely due to the so-called 'Lean Production System' - the combination of an efficient production system, an effective supplier system, and a product development system. In the 1990s the industry fell on hard times because of the Japanese asset price bubble and extreme currency appreciation. In this book, eminent industry specialist Koichi Shimokawa draws on his thirty years of research and fieldwork with Japanese and American firms, to show how the Japanese automotive industry has managed to recover from this difficult period. He shows how firms like Toyota were able to transfer Japanese systems to overseas plants and how they have changed in order to compete in increasingly globalized markets. In addition, the book also addresses the two major challenges to the current industry model: the rise of China and the environmental and energy supply situation.

Lists of figures
Lists of tables
Preface
Introduction
1. International comparison of automobile productivity between Japan and USA
2. The internationalization of the Japanese automotive industry and local production overseas
3. The resuscitation of the European and American auto-makers and its meaning - in relation to the relocation and change of the Japanese-style production system
4. The fall in international competitiveness of the Japanese automotive industry and the development of restructuring strategies: the early 1990s
5. The restructuring of the global automotive industry and the structuring conversion of the auto-parts industry
6. The restructuring of the world's auto-parts industry and the transfiguration of the Keiretsu parts transaction
7. Global M&
A, and future of the global auto industry: bright and dark sides of merger and re-alignment
8. The Asian and ASEAN automotive industries in the global era
9. A perspective on China's automotive industry in the global era and strategies by the Japanese auto-makers
10. Conclusion: the global world automotive industry's perspective on the 21st century and the tasks of the Japanese automotive industry - retrospect and perspective as conclusion
Index.