| dc.description.abstract | The present situations and future prospects of the Japanese automobile industry are
discussed. Selected topics in this paper include the following: analyses of the basic
product-industry characteristics of the automobile (e.g., product architecture); the
mature of the dynamic competition in the world auto industry; competitive performance
(e.g., productivity) of the Japanese auto makers; organizational capabilities of better
Japanese firms in production, development and procurement; overall environments in
the 1990s; the concept of ?balanced lean? system and its adaptation to environmental
changes; new flexible production systems that cope with volume fluctuation;
architectural strategies of the auto firms; modularization of parts; M&A and alliance;
future of the automobile technologies and architectures; future of the capability-building
competition. | en |
