Table Of ContentHONDA'S GLOBAL LOCAL CORPORATION
Honda's Global
Local Corporation
Andrew Mair
M
St. Martin's Press
© Andrew Mair 1994
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of
this publication may be made without written permission.
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First published in Great Britain 1994 by
THE MACMILLAN PRESS LTD
Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG2I 2XS
and London
Companies and representatives
throughout the world
A catalogue record for this book is available
from the British Library.
ISBN 0-333-58683-2
Printed in Great Britain by
Antony Rowe Ltd
Chippenham, Wiltshire
First published in the United States of America 1994 by
Scholarly and Reference Division,
ST. MARTIN'S PRESS, INC.,
175 Fifth Avenue,
New York, N.Y. 10010
ISBN O-312-1O668-8
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Mair, Andrew.
Honda's global local corporation / Andrew Mair.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN O-312-10688-8
1. Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha. 2. Automobile industry and
trade—Japan. 3. Industrial management—Japan. I. Title.
HD9710.J34H65435 1994
338.81 87292' 0952—dc20 93-31246
CIP
To Sybil Hyacinth and Alexander Joseph
Contents
List of Tables viii
List of Figures x
List of Boxes xi
Part I The Japanese Firm Goes Global
Introduction: Underestimating the Japanese 3
1 Thinking about the Japanese Firm 13
2 Honda at Home Base 37
Part II A 'Self-Reliant Motor Vehicle Company' in North
America
Introduction 73
3 Honda's Big Push 77
4 Screwdriver Plant or Independent Automobile Producer? 87
5 Honda's Just-in-Time Region 112
6 Mobilizing Human Resources 147
7 People, Machines, and Making Automobiles 183
Part III Fortress Europe: Inside the Walls
Introduction 219
8 Working with a Western Partner 225
9 Honda Builds Its Own Base 244
10 Rover Learns How to Make Cars Again 273
Part IV Global Local Corporation
11 Global Local Corporation 301
Index 342
vn
List of Tables
2.1 Honda's Main Facilities in Japan
2.2 Relative Gross Hourly Productivity at the Big Five
Japanese Automobile Producers, 1990
II. 1 The Japanese Transplants in North America: Assembly
Factories
3.1 Honda's Big Push into North America
3.2 Imports to the United States from Japan Decline, and
Honda Switches Imports to its Upmarket Acura
Automobiles
3.3 Honda's American Automobiles Begin to Sell in Japan
4.1 Honda's Local Sourcing Accelerates after 1986
4.2 What Kinds of Parts Honda Buys from Domestic
Parts-Makers: First Tier
4.3 What Kinds of Parts Honda Buys from Parts-Maker
Transplants: First Tier
4.4 What Kinds of Parts Honda's Parts-Maker Transplants
Purchase from Different Sources
4.5 Parts-Maker Transplants Occupy Pivotal Second-tier
Places Too
5.1 Vertical Disintegration, Vertical Integration
5.2 Several Honda Parts-Maker Transplants Also Sell to
Other Transplants - Sample
5.3 Relationship between Location and Dependence on
Honda
6.1 Honda's Wage Shadow: Parts-Maker Transplant
Wages are Highest Close to Honda
6.2 Honda Employment in Ohio Grows Rapidly during the
1980s
6.3 Index of Basic Wages at Honda
6.4 Should a Japanese-style Long-term Employment and
Compensation System be Adopted in the United
States?
6.5 The Position of Women at Honda
6.6 Transplant Parts-Makers Adopt American Practices on
'Women's Work' and Pay
viii
List of Tables ix
6.7 Japanese and American Staff Play Different Roles in
Honda's Management 178
7.1 What Team Leaders Do (at Transplant Parts-Makers) 198
7.2 Management Hierarchy: Assembly Department at
Marysville (One Line, One Shift) 200
7.3 Factory Area and Output Capacity at Honda
Automobile Assembly Plants 202
7.4 At Transplant Parts-Makers, Manufacturing Processes
have been Transplanted without Substantial Change:
Some Western Features are Adopted 205
7.5 Flexi-factories: Switching Models Back and Forth
Adjusts Capacity Utilization to Match Demand 212
III. 1 Japanese Sales Vary Across Europe 220
III.2 Japanese Production Capacity in Europe: Plans for
Mid-1990s 222
8.1 Honda's European Sales are Minor Compared to
Japan and North America (1990) 227
8.2 Honda's Western European Sales Vary Widely (1988) 228
11.1 Rough Measures of Gross Productivity at Honda
Across the World 318
