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Toyota rose from the ashes of World War II to become, just fifty years later, one of the dominant automakers in the world. How did Toyota do it? How did it go from making cars that Westerners pointed to and laughed at to making cars, like the Lexus, that people now lust after? That's what this book is all about. As veteran writer K. Dennis Chambers shows, Toyota, crazy like a fox, had a long-term plan to become a top-tier player in the auto industry. Through patience, persistence, and a willingness to dream of a different future as well as to look back to the past for ideas, Toyota has succeeded step by step. Yes, Toyota is unique. From peddling ugly 3-cylinder cars to working with quality guru W. Edwards Deming (when his U.S. countrymen thought him a crank) to totally revamping production processes, Toyota has never been afraid to chart its own path. Readers will learn what makes Toyota tick through Chambers's penetrating text, which: -Explains the importance of the company and the essential disruptions that changed business forever. (Think Prius.) -Details Toyota's origins and history. -Presents biographies of the founders and the historical context in which they launched the company. -Explains Toyota's strategies and innovations. -Assesses Toyota's impact on society, technology, processes, methods, etc. -Shows how Toyota beat the competition and wormed its way into the U.S. and European markets. -Details financial results. In addition, Chambers offers special features that include a look at the colorful people associated with Toyota, interesting trivia, a Toyota time line, a focus on products, a look at how the company treats and trains its workers, and where the company is headed. Toyota-a company that changed, and is changing, the world.

This guide is written for Jan-San (Sanitary Supply) manufacturers who are exploring the opportunity to go to market via wholesalers, as well as those who have a long history of working with wholesalers. It is also a resource for Jan-San distributors who are considering using wholesalers as a source for certain lines, particular product types, or at various times throughout the year. In all cases, our intent is to help Jan-San manufacturers, wholesalers, and distributors create programs which will foster long-term success for all parties. This manual pinpoints real economic and supply chain efficiencies. Understanding Jan-San Redistribution is a quantitative educational tool for Distributors and Manufacturers alike to make fair, balanced, and informed business decisions about buying/selling through wholesalers. Wholesaling is an efficiency option (with definable and measurable benefits) for distributors to procure, and manufacturers to make product available, and is truly a growing force in today's Jan-San environment which should be better understood by all. Key issues addressed in the manual are: Manufacturer revenues and costs compared for Direct vs. Wholesaler sales Distributor costs compared for Direct vs. Wholesaler purchases Structuring of Manufacturer/Wholesaler programs to reflect and maximize value of Re-D Appropriate growth expectations/trends for Manufacturers entering Re-D program Impact on Manufacturer/Distributor relationships Appropriate expectations outlined regarding lines within a Wholesaler "Dollars and cents" analysis from detailed case studies within and outside of SSWA Math Tools and Cost-to-Serve Comparisons provided for comprehensive evaluation Use this Guidebookas an essential component in your company's training program to understand the impact of Redistribution on Sales, Finance, Logistics, Marketing, Customer Service, and Supply Chain relationships.

Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company, lays out the secret of his success in My Life and Work. Born in 1863, Ford was a machinist and engineer by trade, but made his name as an extraordinarily successful businessman who, more than any other individual, was responsible for bringing the motor car into common use in America. Many of his pioneering manufacturing and labor practices are now commonplace - the assembly line, limited working hours, a minimum wage. He was a larger-than-life character who was rarely out of the headlines. My Life and Work is part memoir, part advice manual from the man who transformed the way America worked and lived.

It's 1901 and a guy named Harley has an idea. Put an engine on a bicycle. What? Outside his door, carts are still pulled by horses and autos are a rare sight, for goodness' sake. It's 1908 and a Harley-Davidson motorcycle sets a record by getting 188 miles to a gallon of gas. It's 1909 and the company introduces something new to its line: a V-Twin cylinder engine. Fast forward to the twenty-first century, and the technical innovation hasn't stopped. But there's a lot more than just choppers in the mix. Examples: The Harley-Davidson racing team adds a seventeen-year-old girl to the roster. 250,000 people help celebrate Harley's 100th anniversary in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. And a museum devoted to the company's products opens up. Clearly, this is a company unlike any other. How did Harley do it? How did it go from making motorcycles to creating a Harley experience that puts hundreds of thousands of people aged sixteen to one hundred on the road traveling to events each year where they can meet company officials and other Harley riders? That's what this book is all about. Honda may match Harley-Davidson for quality and perhaps innovation, but no one has matched the company for its ability to create 'buzz marketing' and turn casual riders into unofficial sales people. Harley-Davidson, it turns out, isn't just in the motorcycle business. As its mission statement points out, it's in the business of fulfilling dreams. As author Missy Scott shows, Harley-Davidson is a rare company in other ways: Its loyal workforce, for one thing, is guided by principles like trust and respect for the individual. For another, the company has made a superb effort to keep jobs in the U.S., when it would be far cheaper and easier to use offshore labor. Teetering on the brink of bankruptcy in the early 1980s, Harley has roared back to capture the hearts of riders the world over, including the million-plus members of the Harley Owners Group (members are known, naturally, as HOGs). This book: -Explains the importance of the company and the essential disruptions that changed business forever. -Details Harley's origins and history. -Presents biographies of the founders and the historical context in which they launched the company. -Explains Harley's strategies and innovations. -Assesses Harley's impact on society, technology, processes, and work methods. -Details financial results over the years. -Predicts Harley's future prospects and successes. In addition, Scott offers special features that include a look at the colorful people associated with Harley, interesting trivia, a Harley-Davidson time line, a focus on products, a look at how the company treats its workers, what its detractors have to say, and where the company is headed. Harley-Davidson-a company that changed, and is changing, the world.

Prior literature has conjectured that auditor industry specialization is an important dimension of audit quality. This book addresses the economic benefits that companies may achieve by employing auditors with industry expertise. It examines the link between the employment of industry specialist auditors, and the degree of information asymmetry and the cost of debt of a client company. More specifically, the analysis should answer the following questions: Is there a relation between the employment of an industry specialist auditor and the level of information asymmetry of client companies? Is there a relation between the employment of an industry specialist auditor and the cost of debt of client companies? Is the economic impact of the employment of an industry specialist auditor on the cost of debt larger for financially troubled client companies? The book is directed towards researchers in business, regulators, auditors, credit agencies, and investors.

The auto industry is a prime example of globalisation in which multinational enterprises have developed networks, alliances, and cross-shareholdings across regions and nations. This important study, based on a three-year empirical research project in seven countries, focuses on employment relations in the auto assembly industry and shows that the influence of globalisation is tempered to varying degrees by institutional employment patterns at the local level. Twenty-one scholars and researchers representing all seven countries analyse the data, clearly describe the differences across both countries and firms, and offer conclusions and recommendations that greatly facilitate our understanding of the globalisation process at the level of human resources in industrial production.For each of the seven countries - two liberal market economies (the United States and Australia), two coordinated market economies (Germany and Sweden), and three Asian market economies (Japan, South Korea, and China), the book describes five key issues in detail: work organisation; skill formation; remuneration systems; staffing arrangements and employment security; and enterprise governance and employee management relations. The authors offer in-depth comparative analysis of these central issues in the context of such overriding factors as corporate strategy, local institutional constraints and advantages, competitive pressures among automakers to capture emerging markets, power relations within firms, and the role that agency and interests play in shaping social action.Whether this book is used for its vast bank of information, or for its deeply-informed analysis, or for its far-reaching relevance to employment relations policy, it more than fulfills the urgent need to come to grips with the runaway impact of globalisation on employment relations. Anyone involved with labour and employment issues in any business, legal, or governmental setting will rely on its findings and insights for years to come.

Achieving Public-Private Partnership in the Transport Sector reviews current trends in transport partnerships and provides detailed case studies of three recent partnership projects: facility; Lisbon, Portugal; and rail mass transit system in the Thai capital. financial advisers, bankers, construction companies, government officials, development bank staff, academicians, and journalists, together with the review of primary project documentation and other written materials. yet been determined, the case study projects offer rich comparisons. They have been shaped by differing cultural expectations and economic conditions. They have also benefited from the commitment of creative supporters and been subjected to changing political winds. potential and the pitfalls of the partnership approach and details the criteria for success.

This is Henry Ford's most revealing insights into his philosophy of both business and life. Discover how Henry Ford believed in, used and commanded spiritual and philosophical principles to build his financial empire.

In "Shift, Carlos Ghosn, the brilliant, audacious, and widely admired CEO of Nissan, recounts how he took the reins of the nearly bankrupt Japanese automotive company and achieved one of the most remarkable turnarounds in automotive--and corporate--history.
When Carlos Ghosn (pronounced like "phone") was named COO of Nissan in 1999, the company was running out of gas and careening toward bankruptcy. Eighteen short months later, Nissan was back in the black, and within several more years it had become the most profitable large automobile company in the world. In "Shift, Ghosn describes how he went about accomplishing the seemingly impossible, transforming Nissan once again into a powerful global automotive manufacturer.
The Brazilian-born, French-educated son of Lebanese parents, Ghosn first learned the management principles and practices that would shape his decisions at Nissan while rising through the ranks at Michelin and Renault. Upon his arrival at Nissan, Ghosn began his new position by embarking on a three-month intensive examination of every aspect of the business. By October 1999 he was ready to announce his strategy to turn the company around with the Nissan Revival Plan. In the plan, he consistently challenged the tradition-bound thinking and practices of Japanese business when they inhibited Nissan's effectiveness. Ghosn closed plants, laid off workers, broke up long-standing supply networks, and sold off marginal assets to focus on the company's core business. But slashing costs was just the first step in Nissan's recovery. In fact, Ghosn introduced changes in every corner of the company, from manufacturing and engineering to marketing and sales. He updated Nissan'scar and truck lineup, took risks on dynamic new designs, and demanded improvements in quality--strategies that quickly burnished Nissan's image in the marketplace, and re-established the company in the minds of consumers as a leader in innovation and engineering.
Like the best-selling memoirs of Jack Welch, Lou Gerstner, and Larry Bossidy, "Shift is a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to transform and re-create a world-class company. Written by one of the world's most successful and acclaimed CEOs, "Shift is an invaluable guide for business readers everywhere.

In AcAAMy Forty Years with FordAcAA, Charles Sorensen, sometimes known as AcAAHenry Ford's manAcAA, sometimes as AcAACast-iron CharlieAcAA, tells his own story, and it is as challenging as it is historic. He emerges as a man who was not only one of the great production geniuses of the world but also a man who called the plays as he saw them. He was the only man who was able to stay with Ford for almost the full history of his empire, yet he never hesitated to go against Ford when he felt the interests of the company demanded it. When labor difficulties mounted and Edsel's fatal illness was upon him. Sorensen sided with Edsel against Henry Ford and Harry Bennett, and he insisted that Henry Ford II be brought in to direct the company despite the aging founder's determination that no one but he hold the presidential reins. First published in 1956, AcAAMy Forty Years with FordAcAA, has now been reissued in paperback for the first time. The Ford story has often been discussed in print but has rarely been articulated by someone who was there. Here Sorensen provides an eyewitness account of the birth of the Model T, the early conflicts with the Dodge brothers, the revolutionary announcement of the five-dollar day, and Sorensen's development of the moving assembly line, a concept that changed our world. Although Sorensen conceived, designed, and built the giant Willow Run plant in nineteen months and then proceeded to turn out eight thousand giant bombers, his life's major work was to make possible the vision of Henry Ford and to postpone the personal misfortune with which it ended. AcAAMy Forty Years with FordAcAA is both a personal history of a business empire and a revelation that moves with excitement and the power of tragedy.

This is Henry Ford's most revealing insights into his philosophy of both business and life. Discover how Henry Ford believed in, used and commanded spiritual and philosophical principles to build his financial empire.

"Pick a good model and stay with it," Henry Ford once said. No, he was not talking about cars; he was talking about marriage. Was Clara Bryant Ford a "good model"? Her husband of fifty-nine years seems to have thought so. He called her "The Believer," and indeed Clara's unwavering support of Henry's pursuits and her patient tolerance of the quirks and obsessions that accompanied her husband's genius made it possible for him to change the world. In telling the story of "Clara Ford", author Ford Bryan also charts the course of the growing automobile industry and the life of the enigmatic man at its helm. But the book's heart is Clara herself-daughter, sister, wife, mother, and grandmother; cook, gardener, and dancer; modest philanthropist and quiet role model. Clara is newly revealed in accounts and documents gleaned from personal papers, oral histories, and archival material never made public until now.

Sketches of the men who are making our motor industry. Curiously, although our automobile industry was young at the time of this work, its leaders were not young men. The average age of the twenty foremost was a shade under fifty-five. Only three of them were in their forties. Every one of the following twenty men was self-made, most only had moderate schooling and nine had some college training: Harry H. Bassett; Roy D. Chapin; Walter P. Chrysler; William C. Durant; Albert R. Erskine; Harvey S. Firestone; Henry Ford; Charles D. Hastings; Frederick J. Haynes; John Hertz; Edward S. Jordan; Charles F. Ketterling; Alvan Macauley; Charles S. Mott; Charles W. Nash; R.E. Olds; Alfred P. Sloan; H.H. Timken; Walter C. White; John N. Willys.

John Cuthbert Long's Roy D. Chapin is a thorough and detailed biography of a remarkable, but little-known Detroit automobile industry pioneer. Historians should include Roy Dikeman Chapin (February 23, 1880-February 16, 1936) in any listing of significant American auto industry pioneers, along with the Duryea brothers, Ransom E. Olds, Henry Leland, Henry Ford, William C. Durant, and the Dodge brothers. Outside the cloister of automotive historians, Roy Chapin is an unknown. This is in part because no company or car bore his name. Unlike many contemporary auto pioneers, Roy Chapin was a modest man who did not promote himself. Even Long's superb biography of Chapin is not well-known because it was privately printed in 1945 with a small press run. In reprinting this volume, Wayne State University Press is making an important contribution to automotive history.

A Detroit Free Press reporter demythologizes Lee Iacocca's leadership of Chrysler, demonstrating how salesmanship and self-promotion invariably trumped innovation and investment. "Everyone who cares about american industry should read [this book]" (New York Times Book Review). Index.

The struggles and victories of the UAW form an important episode in the story of American democracy and economics. ""American Vanguard"" is the first and only history of the union available for both general and academic audiences. In this thorough and engaging narrative, John Barnard not only records the controversial issues tackled by the UAW, but also lends them immediacy through details about the workers and their environments, the leaders and the challenges that they faced outside and inside the organization, and the vision that guided many of these activists. Throughout, Barnard traces the UAW's two-fold goal: to create an industrial democracy in the workplace and to pursue a social-democratic agenda in the interest of the public at large. Barnard presents balanced interpretations grounded in evidence, while setting the UAW within the context of the history of the U.S. auto industry and national politics.

THE INSIDE STORY OF THE EPIC TURNAROUND OF FORD MOTOR COMPANY UNDER THE LEADERSHIP OF CEO ALAN MULALLY. At the end of 2008, Ford Motor Company was just months away from running out of cash. With the auto industry careening toward ruin, Congress offered all three Detroit automakers a bailout. General Motors and Chrysler grabbed the taxpayer lifeline, but Ford decided to save itself. Under the leadership of charismatic CEO Alan Mulally, Ford had already put together a bold plan to unify its divided global operations, transform its lackluster product lineup, and overcome a dys-functional culture of infighting, backstabbing, and excuses. It was an extraordinary risk, but it was the only way the Ford family--America's last great industrial dynasty--could hold on to their company. Mulally and his team pulled off one of the great-est comebacks in business history. As the rest of Detroit collapsed, Ford went from the brink of bankruptcy to being the most profitable automaker in the world. "American Icon" is the compelling, behind-the-scenes account of that epic turnaround. On the verge of collapse, Ford went outside the auto industry and recruited Mulally--the man who had already saved Boeing from the deathblow of 9/11--to lead a sweeping restructuring of a company that had been unable to overcome decades of mismanage-ment and denial. Mulally applied the principles he developed at Boeing to streamline Ford's inefficient operations, force its fractious executives to work together as a team, and spark a product renaissance in Dearborn. He also convinced the United Auto Workers to join his fight for the soul of American manufacturing. Bryce Hoffman reveals the untold story of the covert meetings with UAW leaders that led to a game-changing contract, Bill Ford's battle to hold the Ford family together when many were ready to cash in their stock and write off the company, and the secret alliance with Toyota and Honda that helped prop up the Amer-ican automotive supply base. In one of the great management narratives of our time, Hoffman puts the reader inside the boardroom as Mulally uses his celebrated Business Plan Review meet-ings to drive change and force Ford to deal with the painful realities of the American auto industry. Hoffman was granted unprecedented access to Ford's top executives and top-secret company documents. He spent countless hours with Alan Mulally, Bill Ford, the Ford family, former executives, labor leaders, and company directors. In the bestselling tradition of Too Big to Fail and The Big Short, American Icon is narrative nonfiction at its vivid and colorful best.

A Drama of the American Workplace
With a New Afterword

An enlightening peek at the inner workings of a large corporation trying to reinvent itself. . . . It's rare to find an auto book that explains the process of creating a car with so much color and detail."—Business Week (a Best Business Book of 1997)

Faced with the task of redesigning the Taurus, America's best-selling car and the flagship of its fleet, Ford Motor Company assembled 700 designers, engineers, planners, and bean-counters under a tough manager who set out to retake engineering and manufacturing ground lost to the Japanese. On their shoulders rested the reputation and the profits of Ford, not to mention an investment of close to 3 billion dollars.

This biting, insightful account by a seasoned journalist follows the 1996 Taurus from its conception as a clay model in Detroit to its birth in an Atlanta assembly plant to its public debut in a New Jersey dealership. Mary Walton, who was given unprecedented access to the Taurus team, chronicles brilliantly the clashes between designers and engineers, marketers and accountants, product guys and manufacturing guys to create a revealing portrait of the tension, the passions, and the pride that fuel the race to #1.

"An engrossing drama . . . with fascinating insights into every aspect of the car's creation. . . . Walton does an admirable job of making the redesign of a car into a compelling human-interest story."—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"An engrossing, satisfying read."—Doron Levin, Philadelphia Inquirer (a Best Book of 1997)

"Vivid and informative. . . . Consistently entertaining because it is engagingly written, this is the rare business book that is a page turner."—Keith Bradsher, New York Times Book Review

Nearly every country that produces cars views the automobile industry as strategically important because of its direct economic significance and because it serves as a bell-weather for innovation in employment conditions. In this book, industrial relations experts from eleven countries consider the state of the industry worldwide. They are particularly interested in assessing whether the loudly heralded model of lean production initiated by Toyota has become pervasive.

The contributors focus on employment practices: the way work is organized, how workers and managers interact, the way worker representatives respond to lean production strategies, and the nature of the adaptation and innovation process itself. Global competition and changing technological possibilities are pressuring other industries to transform their employment practices and the auto industry may be an important harbinger of what is to come.

This study of CAMI Automotive, a unionized joint venture between General Motors and Suzuki, is the most comprehensive ever undertaken of a lean production plant. James Rinehart, Christopher Huxley, and David Robertson address a topic that has inspired fierce debate in industrial relations, sociology, labor studies, and human resource management. Heralded as a model of lean production when it opened in 1989, CAMI promised workers something different from traditional plants a humane environment, empowerment, and cooperative labor-management relations. However, the enthusiasm workers felt during the orientation and early phases of production steadily declined, as did their involvement in participatory activities. Workers came to describe CAMI as "just another car factory." Union challenges and shopfloor resistance to key elements of the lean system grew, capped by a five-week strike in 1992. The authors attribute workers' disillusionment to lean production itself rather than to North American managers' inadequate implementation."

"This book has two main strengths. First, its approach gives a sense of the texture and variety of the implementation of lean production, the forces that shape it in practice, and the alternatives that may be available. Second, the book's international focus provides a wealth of fascinating material concerning the influence of national conditions on the shaping of production practices." Harley Shaiken, author of Work Transformed: Automation and Labor in the Computer AgeNearly every country that produces cars views the automobile industry as strategically important because of its direct economic significance and because it serves as a bellwether for innovation in employment conditions. In this book, industrial relations experts from eleven countries consider the state of the industry worldwide. They are particularly interested in assessing whether the loudly heralded model of lean production initiated by Toyota has become pervasive.The contributors focus on employment practices: the way work is organized, how workers and managers interact, the way worker representatives respond to lean production strategies, and the nature of the adaptation and innovation process itself."

Henry Martyn Leland (1843-1932) is one of the most outstanding figures in automotive history. Best known for developing the Cadillac and the Lincoln, Leland was among the pioneers who set Detroit on its course as the automobile capital of the world. Master of Precision is the fascinating first hand account of Leland's life and work during the early days of the automobile industry. Trained in New England factories known for their precision manufacturing, Henry Leland was an expert machinist before he began to reshape automobile production. Affectionately called "Uncle Henry" and the "Grand Old Man of Detroit," he was a demanding but highly-respected employer who set new standards of precision, quality, and performance. First published in 1966 by Wayne State University Press, Master of Precision was re-released in 1996 in celebration of the centennial of automobile manufacturing in North America.

In Comeback, Pulitzer Prize-winners Paul Ingrassia and Joseph B. White take us to the boardrooms, the executive offices, and the shop floors of the auto business to reconstruct, in riveting detail, how America's premier industry stumbled, fell, and picked itself up again. The story begins in 1982, when Honda started building cars in Marysville, Ohio, and the entire U.S. car industry seemed to be on the brink of extinction. It ends just over a decade later, with a remarkable turn of the tables, as Japan's car industry falters and America's Big Three emerge as formidable global competitors.

Comeback is a story propelled by larger-than-life characters -- Lee Iacocca, Henry Ford II, Don Petersen, Roger Smith, among many others -- and their greed, pride, and sheer refusal to face facts. But it is also a story full of dedicated, unlikely heroes who struggled to make the Big Three change before it was too late.