In international business, much attention has been directed to the international expansion of firms based on their use of resources and competitive capabilities that have been built up in a home country to create a competitive advantage over host-country firms. More recently, the organizational...

This paper presents both quantitative and clinical data from comparative studies of automobile product development, which I have participated in during the 1980s, early 1990s, and mid 1990s mainly at Harvard University. It focuses on the Japanese advantages in the 1980s, the western "reverse...

The paper proposes a systematic explanation as to how the Japanese automobile suppliers system generated international competitive advantages in the 1980s and thereafter. Based not only on the survey of existing literature, some of which were never introduced in English in the past, but also the...

This paper is based on a lecture provided by Masao Nemoto, Former Senior Managing Director of Toyota Motor Corporation and former Chairman/President of Toyota Gosei Co., Ltd. in July 1997. Mr Nemoto is known as one of the leaders of Toyota's TQC activities (Total Quality Control) during its...

This paper collects summaries of 17 presentations made by various speakers at Korean Automobile Industry Study Group (Kankoku Jidosha Sangyo Kenkyu-kai), established at Tokyo University in 1994, during its first three years. The Korean automobile industry has achieved a remarkable success in...

This paper is preliminary note on an empirical analysis that compares different interpretations and implementations of so called lean production system, by different automobile manufacturers in the world. This paper outlines an analytical framework and hypotheses by which the author tries to...

In international business, much attention has been directed to the international expansion of firms based on their use of resources and competitive capabilities that have been built up in a home country to create a competitive advantage over host-country firms. More recently, the organizational...

This exploratory paper deals with some basic concepts of architectural strategy, or application of the concept of architecture to strategic management, as well as the issue of measuring architecture. First, the paper discusses definitions and types of product architecture, including integral,...

Along with the process of economic reform and policy of opening to the outside world, China's auto industry has come to a point of new development. Since the manufacturing technology of cars is much more complicated than that of commercial vehicles, China has adopted a different strategy to...

This paper describes an interview with Eiji Toyoda, former president and chairman of Toyota Motor Corporation, who has been engaged in the company's automobile manufacturing business since its beginning in the 1930s. The interview covers some important topics for the sources and developments of...