{"id":6064,"date":"2010-03-14T12:32:27","date_gmt":"2010-03-14T03:32:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=6064"},"modified":"2010-03-14T12:33:03","modified_gmt":"2010-03-14T03:33:03","slug":"asahi-prof-pundit-on-toyota-uses-culture-benkai-to-explain-recall-issues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=6064","title":{"rendered":"Asahi: Prof pundit on Toyota uses “culture” benkai to explain recall issues"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Hi Blog. \u00a0As a weekend tangent, here’s more on Toyota and how we try to steer attention away from matters of engineering — by blaming it once again on culture, and getting some university prof to mouth it for legitimacy’s sake. \u00a0Comments from submitter BT included. \u00a0Arudou Debito in Sapporo<\/p>\n

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On Feb 26, 2010, at 11:45 AM, BT wrote:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Greetings and salutations!\u00a0Just came across this little gem while reading the Asahi Shinbun earlier today. I thought you might be interested (if someone else hasn’t already sent this in):<\/em> http:\/\/www.asahi.com\/english\/TKY201002250455.html<\/a><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

It’s an interview about Toyota recalls in the US, with “Hideo Kobayashi, a visiting professor at Yokohama National University’s Center for Risk Management and Safety Sciences”. I’m talking specifically about these two quotes:<\/em><\/p>\n

“Q: Wasn’t Toyota’s confidence in product quality one of the factors that led to its sloppy handling of the situation?<\/em><\/p>\n

A: Can what people in Japan consider “good quality” be also considered good in the United States, which has a more diversified population?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Japanese people generally have high driving skills and similar physical features. But the United States, whose society was more or less built by immigrants, has people with various physical features and behavioral patterns. To get a driver’s license, you don’t need the sort of skills that are required in Japan..”<\/strong><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

(The “we’re superior” routine)<\/em><\/p>\n

And,<\/em><\/p>\n

“Q: Some say the reaction to Toyota’s problems has an aspect of “Japan bashing” about it. What is your view?<\/em><\/p>\n

A: With American companies such as General Motors Corp. going under and Toyota doing well in sales, there naturally is an aspect of Japan bashing. But this is something that has to be overcome.”<\/strong><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

(The “poor, poor Japan” routine)<\/em><\/p>\n

Cheers from Tokyo! \u00a0BT<\/em><\/p>\n

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\n ‘Toyota relied too much on Japanese way’
\nBY TETSUO KOGURE, THE ASAHI SHIMBUN<\/strong><\/p>\n

2010\/02\/26, Interview with Hideo Kobayashi (THE ASAHI SHIMBUN)<\/strong><\/p>\n

What can companies do to avoid the pitfalls that have plagued Toyota Motor Corp. over its vehicle recalls?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Hideo Kobayashi, a visiting professor at Yokohama National University’s Center for Risk Management and Safety Sciences, says Toyota failed to recognize differences in the way Japanese and Americans perceive recalls.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Kobayashi is an expert on crisis management concerning safety measures and is well-versed in recall matters. Because product problems are bound to crop up, he says companies should deal with them while paying attention to detail.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Following are excerpts of an Asahi Shimbun interview with Kobayashi:<\/strong><\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

Question: In the United States, Toyota has come under fire for being tardy in issuing recalls. What is your sense of the whole Toyota issue?<\/em><\/p>\n

Answer: Trouble always occurs when a carmaker develops, produces and introduces a new vehicle. When problems occur, modifying the vehicle is what every automaker (in the world) does as a matter of course. While the modification is usually carried out on cars to be produced in the future, the system of recalls specifically targets vehicles that have already been manufactured so that they are fixed, too.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

I think the biggest problem with Toyota was its failure to recognize the difference in thinking in Japan and the United States over the issues of recalls and safety. It apparently made a typically Japanese judgment.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Japanese companies have a strong tradition of being bound by legal regulations, with a deep-rooted perception that issuing a “recall is evil.”<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

In the United States and Europe, companies believe that from a crisis management viewpoint, “the sooner a recall is done, the easier it is to contain the damage.” As a result people think: “Because there is a recall (system), we can travel in a car without having any worries.”<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Overseas subsidiaries (of car manufacturers) that are aware of these things had better take the lead in coping with recalls. However, faced with rapid market expansion and increased sales, Toyota probably decided that it would be easier for the headquarters (in Japan) to make a judgment.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Q: Some say the reaction to Toyota’s problems has an aspect of “Japan bashing” about it. What is your view?<\/em><\/p>\n

A: With American companies such as General Motors Corp. going under and Toyota doing well in sales, there naturally is an aspect of Japan bashing. But this is something that has to be overcome.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

To survive, many Japanese companies need to go overseas for sales and manufacturing, but they won’t succeed if they force their Japanese style (of doing business). Overseas subsidiaries must hire locally and assimilate.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Q: Wasn’t Toyota’s confidence in product quality one of the factors that led to its sloppy handling of the situation?<\/em><\/p>\n

A: Can what people in Japan consider “good quality” be also considered good in the United States, which has a more diversified population?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Japanese people generally have high driving skills and similar physical features. But the United States, whose society was more or less built by immigrants, has people with various physical features and behavioral patterns. To get a driver’s license, you don’t need the sort of skills that are required in Japan.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Naturally, there can be various troubles even with cars developed in Japan that are regarded as good in the country. Problems need to be handled with attention to detail.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Q: Toyota has decided to introduce a brake override system that enables a driver to stop the car even if the gas pedal is depressed. Was it a problem that there was no such system previously?<\/em><\/p>\n

A: It was rather whether (Toyota) had explained to customers the lack of the system and what could happen as a consequence.<\/strong><\/em>
\nENDS<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Debito.org Reader BT commenting about culture once again being invoked as a defense: <\/p>\n

Here’s an interview about Toyota recalls in the US, with “Hideo Kobayashi, a visiting professor at Yokohama National University’s Center for Risk Management and Safety Sciences”. I’m talking specifically about these two quotes:<\/p>\n

“Q: Wasn’t Toyota’s confidence in product quality one of the factors that led to its sloppy handling of the situation?<\/p>\n

A: Can what people in Japan consider “good quality” be also considered good in the United States, which has a more diversified population?<\/p>\n

Japanese people generally have high driving skills and similar physical features. But the United States, whose society was more or less built by immigrants, has people with various physical features and behavioral patterns. To get a driver’s license, you don’t need the sort of skills that are required in Japan..”<\/p>\n

(The “we’re superior” routine)<\/p>\n

And,<\/p>\n

“Q: Some say the reaction to Toyota’s problems has an aspect of “Japan bashing” about it. What is your view?<\/p>\n

A: With American companies such as General Motors Corp. going under and Toyota doing well in sales, there naturally is an aspect of Japan bashing. But this is something that has to be overcome.”<\/p>\n

(The “poor, poor Japan” routine)…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43,36,22,50,26,13,31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6064","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bad-business-practices","category-bad-social-science","category-cultural-issue","category-gaiatsu","category-ironies-hypocrisies","category-media","category-tangents"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6064","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6064"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6064\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6064"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6064"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6064"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}