Named one of the Best Business Books of 2021 by The Wall Street Journal In Japan it's called the "Ghosn Shock"-the stunning arrest of Carlos Ghosn, the jet-setting CEO who saved Nissan and made it part of a global automotive empire. Even more shocking was his daring escape from Japan, packed into a box and put on a private jet to Lebanon after months spent in a Japanese detention center, subsisting on rice gruel. This is the saga of what led to the Ghosn Shock and what was left in its wake. Ghosn spent two decades building a colossal partnership between Nissan and Renault that looked like a new model for a global business, but the alliance's shiny image fronted an unsteady, tense operation. Culture clashes, infighting among executives and engineers, dueling corporate traditions, and government maneuvering constantly threatened the venture. Journalists Hans Greimel and William Sposato have followed the story up close, with access to key players, including Ghosn himself. Veteran Tokyo-based reporters, they have witnessed the end of Japan's bubble economy and attempts at opening Japan Inc. to the world. They've seen the fraying of keiretsu, Japan's traditional skein of business relationships, and covered numerous corporate scandals, of which the Ghosn Shock and Ghosn's subsequent escape stand above all. Expertly reported, Collision Course explores the complex suspicions around what and who was really responsible for Ghosn's ouster and why one of the top executives in the world would risk everything to escape the country. It explains how economics, history, national interests, cultural politics, and hubris collided, crumpling the legacy of arguably the most important foreign businessman ever to set foot in Japan. This gripping, unforgettable narrative, full of fascinating characters, serves as part cautionary tale, part object lesson, and part forewarning of the increasing complexity of doing global business in a nationalistic world.

When Holden signalled that it would close its Adelaide factory, it struck at the very heart of Australian identity. Holden is our car made on our shores. It's the choice of patriotic rev heads and suburban drivers alike. How could a car that was so beloved - and so popular - be so unprofitable to make? The story of the collapse of Holden is about the people who make and drive the cars; it's about sustaining industry in Australia; it's about communities of workers and what happens when the work dries up. And if it's not quite about the death of an icon - because Holdens will remain on Australian roads for a long time to come - then it's about what happens when an icon falls to its knees in front of a whole nation..

Tesla disrupts the automotive industry by creating many innovative pieces that fit together. Its marketing, production, sales and technology strategies are all notably different from its competitors. The Tesla Way is an elongated case study looking at Tesla's business model and how this can be applied to existing manufacturing and production strategies in other companies. The author also includes case studies from Michelin, Mass and other consumer goods manufacturing companies. The Tesla Way will look at the origins of Tesla, its journey to success, new business models and what will come next. The author includes a mixture of the theory behind the Tesla business model and its applications, examining the combination between the manufacturing world and the digital world. He has also interviewed a cross-section of Tesla's current employees in both the USA and France. At the end of each chapter an interview with a CEO or top manager of an industrial firm is featured: among others, the stories of Luxor Lighting, ThyssenKrupp, Bosch or Kimberley Clarke. There are also insightful questions for managers. Online supporting resources include sample templates for analyzing efficiency of processes on the factory floor.

There are many books on the market that discuss the Toyota Production System but few that insightfully analyze its marketing strategy. Authored by former Toyota marketing executives, this is the first book of its kind to detail how Toyota's thinking habits go beyond the shop floor and influence and guide Toyota's marketing function. Toyota has expanded from a venture enterprise to one of the biggest global enterprises because of its innovative mindset (Toyota thinking habits) using Breakthrough Thinking, which supports a new philosophical approach to problem solving, turning 180 degrees away from conventional thinking. Written by Toyota's former executive managing director and founder of Breakthrough Thinking, Toyota's Global Marketing Strategy: Innovation through Breakthrough Thinking and Kaizen: Explores Toyota's "Breakthrough Thinking" Examines how Toyota conducts information gathering. Illustrates how Toyota builds and maintains its unique business culture Shows how Toyota "goes to the customer" and comprehensively studies how customers use their products Reveals Toyota's cars have become some of the biggest selling models in the USA The authors of this book explore Toyota thinking habits as well as Toyota's global marketing strategy, which, since the 1980sa, has been expanding exponentially. The reader will understand the importance of thinking habits in the workplace and will know how to apply them using Toyota as the prime case study.

This book is a pictorial study of the workers who built the legendary line of MG sports cars. With over 160 period photos depicting factory life, car building, and the war effort, this is a fascinating story. The demand for these fiery little cars exploded, eventually pushing to a massive facility outside of Abingdon. The factory included everything needed to build the vehicles, as well as soccer and cricket fields, a pool hall, and a hockey rink. The facility even had its own volunteer fire department, it was so well developed. MG Abingdon's famous racing reputation gained in the 1930s made it the obvious place to site BMC's Competition department with its maiden venture the 1955 Le Mans 24 hour race. The many original pictures in this book chronicle every aspect of the factory, from its opening amidst great euphoria in 1930 to its closing amidst great recriminations in 1980.

The automotive sector represents more than a simple industry. It embodies the economic and technological power of nations, the lifestyle and consumption patterns of societies, the dynamics of urban and territorial development, and acts as a national barometer of economic success and failure. This book explains how the car industry works and analyses the challenges both for the sector and for the economies that rely on the industry for jobs, growth and innovation. It explores an industry that has been under severe pressure in industrialized countries for many years - factories have closed, jobs have gone and brands and manufacturers have disappeared - yet world production has never been higher, reaching new peaks annually. The authors investigate how western and Japanese manufacturers still dominate the market, despite the challenge posed by Korean, Chinese and Indian competitors. They examine how changing environmental policies and consumer preferences are moving the industry towards electric vehicles; how usage patterns are evolving, favouring car-sharing; and how advances in electronics and digitalization are set to further reshape the sector with autonomous and self-driving vehicles. The book offers readers a short, non-technical guide to the workings of a fast-moving industry that remains of huge importance to both national and global economies.

As it spreads its tendrils across the globe, one of Neoliberalism's most important policy demands has been labour flexibilisation coded language for tearing up collective bargaining agreements and dismantling trade unions. In this well researched and insightful study, Santella focuses on the auto industry in Argentina between 1990 and 2007 to draw out how workers have resisted these changes.

In this classic text, Taiichi Ohno--inventor of the Toyota Production System and Lean manufacturing--shares the genius that sets him apart as one of the most disciplined and creative thinkers of our time. Combining his candid insights with a rigorous analysis of Toyota's attempts at Lean production, Ohno's book explains how Lean principles can improve any production endeavor. A historical and philosophical description of just-in-time and Lean manufacturing, this work is a must read for all students of human progress. On a more practical level, it continues to provide inspiration and instruction for those seeking to improve efficiency through the elimination of waste.

Most great figures in American history reveal great contradictions, and Henry Ford is no exception. He championed his workers, offering unprecedented wages, yet crushed their attempts to organize. Virulently anti-Semitic, he never employed fewer than 3,000 Jews. An outspoken pacifist, he made millions producing war materials. He urbanized the modern world, and then tried to drag it back into a romanticized rural past he'd helped to destroy.
As the American auto industry struggles to reinvent itself, Vincent Curcio's timely biography offers a wealth of new insight into the man who started it all. Henry Ford not only founded Ford Motor Company but institutionalized assembly line production and, some would argue, created the American middle class. By constantly improving his product and increasing sales, Ford was able to lower the price of the automobile until it became a universal commodity. He paid his workers so well that, for the first time in history, the people who manufactured a complex industrial product could own one. This was "Fordism"--social engineering on a vast scale. But, as Curcio displays, Ford's anti-Semitism would forever stain his reputation. Hitler admired him greatly, both for his anti-Semitism and his autocratic leadership, displaying Ford's picture in his bedroom and keeping a copy of Ford's MyLife and Work by his bedside. Nevertheless, Ford's economic and social initiatives, as well as his deft handling of his public image, kept his popularity high among Americans. He offered good pay, good benefits, English language classes, and employment for those who struggled to find jobs--handicapped, African-American, and female workers. Such was his popularity that in 1923, the homespun, clean-living, xenophobic Henry Ford nearly won the Republican presidential nomination.
This new volume in the Lives and Legacies series explores the full impact of Ford's indisputable greatness, the deep flaws that complicate his legacy, and what he means for our own time.

Since the revolution of 1979, scholars have portrayed the Islamic State's industrial development capacity in a negative light. Global isolation, incoherent economic planning, and predatory Islamic institutions are often cited as the reasons for lackluster development. In Iran Auto: Building a Global Industry in an Islamic State, Darius Mehri shows how this characterization is misguided. Today, Iran has one of the world's largest automobile industries with national technical capacity. Previous studies ignore the consequences of three decades of Iran's capacity for successful industrialization and changes in global technology transfer that allow countries, even ones isolated from formal global institutions, to build an automobile industry. Mehri shows how industrial nationalists in Iran constructed a network of politically effective relationships to open up space for successful local industrial development, and then tapped into a set of important global linkages to create an industry with high local manufacturing content. This book will open up a new line of inquiry into how countries in the global south can develop a successful national automobile industry without the need to conform to global economic institutions.

Mary Barra's quest to move GM to a manufacturer of electric cars has captured the attention of automobile aficionados, green-business advocates, and leaders of all types who have to admire Mary's toughness in moving forward despite the overwhelming obstacles in her path. A decade ago, no one would have guessed that GM would be the company poised to lead America into the future. At a time when business book readers seem endlessly fascinated by soaring tech giants like Amazon and Netflix, and ill-fated startups like WeWork and Theranos, why is it important to put the spotlight back on 112-year-old GM? Because Charlie Wilson's quip from 1952 is still true: What's good for GM is still good for America, and vice versa. America needs to transition to a new era of clean energy and environmentally sustainable transportation. We also need to adapt to a world with far fewer assembly-line jobs, but far more skilled jobs for people who can design, build, and operate robots and other high-tech machines. GM's attempt to lead those transitions is as important as it is dramatic. Equally compelling is the story of GM's CEO, Mary Barra, who against all odds took the reins at GM in 2014. Since that time, she has attempted to reinvent a century-old company and equip it for the biggest change in transportation since the internal combustion engine replaced the horse. In the process, she has been ripping out GM traditions by the roots-and taking flak from all sides. Her plan is to make GM-the company famed for the gas-burning Corvette, hulking Cadillac Escalade, and carbon-spewing Silverado pickup-purely electric and clean by 2035. She may not be as wealthy as Jeff Bezos, as brash as Elon Musk, or as powerful as Mark Zuckerberg, but Mary Barra is just as important as any of them. And as one of the most powerful female executives in the world, she is overdue for an in-depth look at her forward-thinking vision, her approach to leadership, and her accomplishments against the odds.

This Guide is based on several decades of author's research and practical experience in the areas of process optimization, ventilation and energy conservation in welding shops of auto manufacturing and maintenance facilities. The Guide will describe principles of Weld Fume Control, advanced ventilation systems for facilities with welding and allied processes and with energy conservation opportunities that result from the process related measures to reduce emission of fumes and gases and the building envelope improvements. The objectives of the Guide are to improve the health and safety in the industrial environment and offer strategies for energy conservation. The Guide is designed for engineers, production operators and energy managers.

A bestseller for almost three decades, Toyota Production System: An Integrated Approach to Just-In-Time supplies in-depth coverage of Toyota's production practices, including theoretical underpinnings and methods for implementation. Exploring the latest developments in the Toyota Production System (TPS) framework at Toyota, this new edition updates the classic with new material on e-kanban, mini-profit centers, computer-based information systems, and innovative solutions to common obstacles in TPS implementation. Yasuhiro Monden, instrumental in introducing the JIT production system to the United States, explains the logic and methodologies of the TPS. Extending the humanized aspect of production introduced in the third edition, Toyota Production System: An Integrated Approach to Just-In-Time, Fourth Edition explains how to cultivate the culture and way of thinking needed to establish the TPS holistically across your organization. Exploring the link between kaizen methods and calculation methods in TPS, this edition includes new chapters on: The goal of TPS One-piece production in practice Kaizen costing Material handling in an assembly plant Smoothing kanban collection Determination of the number of kanban New developments in e-kanban Cultivating the spontaneous kaizen mind Following in the footsteps of its bestselling predecessors, the fourth edition provides easy-to-follow guidance for implementing the TPS in your organization. It explains how Toyota has adapted and reacted to recent fluctuations in demand, quality problems, and recalls. It also includes an appendix that considers the recent tsunami in Japan and investigates how to reinforce the JIT system to ensure supply chain flow during sudden stoppages at individual locations within the chain.

In this book, the future of one of the world's most important industries is examined from the perspective of work structures and labour relations policies. The authors examine the restructuring of the world automobile industry in the 1980s, and draw data from an in-depth empirical study of three leading car companies in three different countries: the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany. They demonstrate that the different strategies employed by firms and trades unions in industrial relations, and different national characteristics, have had a major impact on the dismantling of Taylorism and Fordism and the introduction of new structures of work. This book is an important contribution to the study of change in mass production industries throughout the world. It will be of interest to students of industrial relations and industrial sociology, as well as specialists in government and business.

The orthodox view of Mexican history asserts that the political stability and rapid economic growth of the post-war period were due inter alia to state control over the labour movement. On the evidence of his extensive research in Mexico between 1977 and 1982, Ian Roxborough challenges this conventional wisdom, arguing that control over Mexican unions has been more fragile and problematic than appears at first sight. Taking the car industry as a case study, he discusses the upsurge of industrial militancy in the 1970s and explores its possible implications for continued political stability. Focusing on variations in the factory-level organisations of the working class, the account in this book de-emphasises theories which stress class consciousness or which focus on the aristocracy of labour, in favour of a theory that places political and organisational power at the centre of analysis. This study of the grass roots of industrial militancy will have relevance not only for the study of contemporary Mexico but also for general explanations of the politics of labour in the Third World.

In an era when automotive companies are being propped up instead of profiting, many firms are revisiting this award winning book and the wise approach it takes to improvement. The second edition of this bestselling text, one of the most popular ever written on Lean, facilitates the Lean implementation process by emphasizing practicality and a can do attitude in the face of all challenges, big and small. Winner of a 2006 Shingo Prize for Excellence in Manufacturing Research Based on the author's personal experience with Toyota's master teachers, Andy & Me is a business novel set in a failing New Jersey auto plant focusing on the tribulations of Tom Pappas, the plant manager. The situations, characters and plant politics will ring true with many readers. The book follows Tom's relationship with Andy Saito, a reclusive retired Toyota guru whom Tom persuades to help save his plant through the teaching of the legendary Toyota Production System (TPS). On this journey, the reader learns that TPS is more than just a collection of tools; it entails a new way of thinking and behaving. Though Tom finds success -- both in his plant and in his personal life -- he learns from Andy that successful improvement is endless and eternal. This edition adds end-of-chapter study questions that highlight critical Lean and leadership lessons. It also includes corresponding notes that provide up-front guidance. The author is a Toyota veteran with more than two decades of professional experience as a consultant in Lean management and manufacturing.

Trust and Power argues that corporations have faced conflicts with the very consumers whose loyalty they sought. The book provides novel insights into the dialogue between corporations and consumers by examining the car industry during the twentieth century. In the new market at the turn of the century, car manufacturers produced defective cars, and consumers faced risks of physical injuries as well as financial losses. By the 1920s, cars were sold in a mass market where state agencies intervened to monitor, however imperfectly, product quality and fair pricing mechanisms. After 1945, the market matured as most US families came to rely on car transport. Again, the state intervened to regulate relations between buyers and sellers in terms of who had access to credit, and thus the ability to purchase expensive durables like cars.

Motor vehicles are prominent among the flows of exports and imports for Canada, Germany, Japan and the United States, and these trade flows are heavily influenced by the basic relative competitiveness of the production processes for automotive manufacturing. In this book the authors analyse in depth the factors that contributed to the comparative cost competitiveness of the four countries' auto industries over the period 1961-84, and disentangle the factors contributing to the Japanese cost and efficiency advantages. Their main contribution is to provide estimates of comparative costs of automobile production (both short-run and long-run) and the sources of these cost differences, based on the econometric cost-function methodology. An innovation is the careful treatment of capacity utilization, one of the most important sources of short-run cost and efficiency differences. This methodology is also used effectively in an analysis of the Canada-US Auto Pact, a unique experiment in trade liberalization.

In the 1950s, Brazil prohibited car imports and forced transnational auto companies either to abandon the market or manufacture vehicles within Brazil. Although current approaches to economic development would suggest that this type of industrialization policy would fail in the political-economic context of post-war Brazil, the plan was very successful. This book explains the economic and political motivations behind the plan and why Brazil relied on foreign firms to do the job. It documents the bargaining process between the Brazilian government and transnational firms, estimates the cost incurred by the government as a result of the plan, and provides new archival evidence that shows that firms would not have invested without government pressure. It argues that the current, polarized debate on the role of the state in economic development must become more nuanced, as the Brazilian auto case suggests that the effectiveness of state policy can vary greatly across sectors and over time.

This book explores the generation of technological knowledge and the introduction of technological change. Antonelli makes his mark in this new area of debate by arguing that increasing returns in the production of knowledge apply. By putting forward a general, interpretative framework, Antonelli enables understanding of the economic and institutional determinants of technological innovation.

Many argue that the sole viable future for the automobile industry - indeed for all industry - is the adoption of `lean production' as an organizational model. One Best Way? brings together the research of academic specialists in the automobile industry who have analysed the evolution of 15 major Asian, North American, and European companies in terms of their technological, organizational, commercial and social `trajectories'. They look closely at the evidence for `one best way' and argue that it is more useful to assess the distinctive challenges and `trajectories' that companies have pursued as they try to optimize their profit-making capacities. The book present detailed descriptions of the major producers around the world in three sections: Asia: Toyota, Nissan, Honda, Mitsubishi, Hyundai North America: General Motors, Ford, Chrysler Europe: Peugeot, Renault, Rover, Mercedes, Volvo, Lada The book will be essential reading and reference for academics, researchers, and analysts worldwide wanting to track the course of the automobile industry and assess the merits of `lean production'.

The automotive sector represents more than a simple industry. It embodies the economic and technological power of nations, the lifestyle and consumption patterns of societies, the dynamics of urban and territorial development, and acts as a national barometer of economic success and failure. This book explains how the car industry works and analyses the challenges both for the sector and for the economies that rely on the industry for jobs, growth and innovation. It explores an industry that has been under severe pressure in industrialized countries for many years - factories have closed, jobs have gone and brands and manufacturers have disappeared - yet world production has never been higher, reaching new peaks annually. The authors investigate how western and Japanese manufacturers still dominate the market, despite the challenge posed by Korean, Chinese and Indian competitors. They examine how changing environmental policies and consumer preferences are moving the industry towards electric vehicles; how usage patterns are evolving, favouring car-sharing; and how advances in electronics and digitalization are set to further reshape the sector with autonomous and self-driving vehicles. The book offers readers a short, non-technical guide to the workings of a fast-moving industry that remains of huge importance to both national and global economies.

The decline of the British motor industry is one of the most spectacular developments in Britain's economic history. Conflicting explanations have been offered by scholars from different disciplines to produce a complex debate, which this 1995 study attempts to unravel. Placing the industry firmly in a European context, Roy Church re-examines the critical assessment of the achievements of the industry both before and after the onset of its decline in the 1960s, and goes on to test the various explanations which have been offered to account for this decline. He examines the role of government, of the trade unions, of management and of the multinationals, each of which has been seen as a major player in the demise of the British-owned industry. This concise and lucid review of the debate will be invaluable to students of modern British and European economic history.

The decline of the British motor industry is one of the most spectacular developments in Britain's economic history. Conflicting explanations have been offered by scholars from different disciplines to produce a complex debate, which this 1995 study attempts to unravel. Placing the industry firmly in a European context, Roy Church re-examines the critical assessment of the achievements of the industry both before and after the onset of its decline in the 1960s, and goes on to test the various explanations which have been offered to account for this decline. He examines the role of government, of the trade unions, of management and of the multinationals, each of which has been seen as a major player in the demise of the British-owned industry. This concise and lucid review of the debate will be invaluable to students of modern British and European economic history.

Tesla is the most exciting car company in a generation . . . but can it live up to the hype? Tesla Motors and CEO Elon Musk have become household names, shaking up the staid auto industry by creating a set of innovative electric vehicles that have wowed the marketplace and defied conventional wisdom. The company's market valuation now rivals that of long-established automakers, and, to many industry observers, Tesla is defining the future of the industry. But behind the hype, Tesla has some serious deficiencies that raise questions about its sky-high valuation, and even its ultimate survival. Tesla's commitment to innovation has led it to reject the careful, zero-defects approach of other car manufacturers, even as it struggles to mass-produce cars reliably, and with minimal defects. While most car manufacturers struggle with the razor-thin margins of mid-priced sedans, Tesla's strategy requires that the Model 3 finally bring it to profitability, even as the high-priced Roadster and Model S both lost money. And Tesla's approach of continually focusing on the future, even as commitments and deadlines are repeatedly missed, may ultimately test the patience of all but its most devoted fans. In Ludicrous, journalist and auto industry analyst Edward Niedermeyer lays bare the disconnect between the popular perception of Tesla and the day-to-day realities of the company-and the cars it produces. Blending original reporting and never-before-published insider accounts with savvy industry analysis, Niedermeyer tells the story of Tesla as it's never been told before-with clear eyes, objectivity and insight.