A new theory about Toyota troubles [Our American Cousin]
Hi Shoji,
.
I know that in Japan the news media tend to blame Toyota's troubles on "Japan-bashing" in the US. As I have said previously, I really don't accept this theory. Americans associate Japanese products, including cars, with the highest quality. And they have no political motives to "bash Japan." There are no US politicians who speak badly of Japan. In fact, Japan is almost never a topic of news..
I recently encountered a new theory, one that I had not heard before. It proposes that Toyota became the target of American liability lawyers because they lost a major source of their revenue when Chrysler and General Motors went bankrupt. Here is the story, told by someone named Mike Smitka, on NBR's Japan-US online Discussion Forum:
In the NBR's Japan-U.S. Discussion Forum Mike Smitka says:
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“I heard an anecdote from someone who was in Washington around the time that Chrysler and GM were in bankruptcy, and who encountered lawyers strategizing as to what to do next.
Now, in bankruptcy, the "old" Chrysler inherited all existing legal actions for products for which the “old” Chrysler can be blamed, that is, virtually all existing Chrysler vehicles. The bottom line: all those liability lawsuits are now worthless, since there's no money to be paid out.
GM's bankruptcy terms were a bit less strict. Existing lawsuits went to the "old GM" and so are now worthless but, unlike Chrysler, new lawsuits will go to the new GM..
This is not a small industry. Legal costs at those two car companies were roughly $1 billion, and with 40% going as fees to the attorneys, the bankruptcy removed $400 million from the revenue stream of the liability lawyer industry. The answer … remember that the alternative for the lawyers is mass unemployment … start poring through NHTSA files to see if there was a target they had missed. There was: Toyota! Welcome to being global #1 (and boasting about it); you are a great big bulls-eye!.
Toyota didn't have to fumble the ball as badly as they did. They will face many billions of dollars in legal costs before all this is done, by playing hardball with regulators and by ignoring their people in the US on safety issues while leaving a paper trail that they had done so. GM and Ford in their heydays had similar communication issues--too many people to rely upon informal channels. Even handled better, or even without the claims of sudden acceleration, Toyota will face a continuing stream of lawsuits. That's the cost of being #1 in a consumer product industry in the US.”.
Michael 2010-04-17
The theory by Mr. Smitka is convincing.
I looked into the story described here on the web and found below message by David Ruggles.
This observation is somewhat found in big cooporations world wide, not to say all big cooporations and not to say all the time.
Quote:
Toyota is Japan's flagship corporation, and a symbol of national pride. I wonder if this might be causing some Japanese to be blind to the company's deficiencies and missteps in the current crisis?
> David Ruggles
by i watanabe (2010-04-17 16:10)
今回のＴｏｙｏｔａの問題の原因ですが、１）トヨタが世界に手を広げる速さに名古屋中心の経営システムがついていけなかった、２）弱った大きな餌に群がる米国の弁護士の群れ、３）初期対応のまずさでしょうか。 後付けの理由探しは実に簡単です。 成功や成長している時に既に次の失敗の種が静かに育成されている。 勝って兜の緒を締めよ、を実行するすることは人間の歴史の中で良く知られる格言ですが、人間は性懲りもなく同じ間違いを繰り返します。 村尾兄中国２５００年の警句から感じるのは、人間はエゴの前には無力で学習できない動物であることです。 やはり、同じような人間の集まりのなかでは成功の惰性を引きずります。 大統領、議員の任期制度などもこの人間の弱さを考えた民主主義の知恵です。
Ｔｏｙｏｔａの今回の問題には、世界で日本がどう生きるかへのレッスンも提供したと思います。
どう日本人のＩｄｅｎｔｉｔｙを堅持しながら、ガラパゴス化せず世界と共存して行くのか。
by 大嶋邦夫 (2010-04-18 00:08)
昔、仕事でスイスを訪れたとき、スイス航空の技術者に、「タイヤを交換するのだが、ブリジストンとヨコハマとどちらの方がよいか」と問われて返事に窮したことがありました。彼は「日本はいつも拮抗する二社が来て熾烈な競争をして、地元や他国の製品を駆逐してしまう」と笑って言い、「でも、二社で競い合うと、自分の姿が相手の鏡に写り、大きな失敗がなく、優れた商法だ」とも付け加えました。
トヨタは今やアメリカで独りぽっちです。自分の姿を何に写すのか。三河の鏡だけでは姿が歪むでしょう。これからが正念場です。GMと言う良き伴侶は、向うから去ったのか、トヨタが追い出したのか、本当のところが判らないのですが、惜しいことをしました。人間の社会、特に三河商法は損得勘定が勝ち過ぎて、ときに大利を失います。
by 村尾鐵男 (2010-04-18 10:46)
Dear Mike
I am always impressed with your fair comment.
My confidence and respect for Toyota will not wane despite recent happenings.
My assessment with them have been strengthen rather in view of recent developments which are the agreement
With NHTSA for paying penalty for the delay in reporting defects and postponement of selling new SUV in view of bad rating by consumer report.
These incidents show that Akio has learned the lesson from past debacles. It seems like he has reborn now.
I knew how hard they worked to build up their production process and quality control system. They became a little complacent and spread too thin and too fast recently.
I am sure that Akio has tighten up his control. I expect that they will regain their trust from US consumers earlier than many people expected.
I don’t think that US government will use Toyota as a scapegoat of bashing Japan.
Mass media might do so. However, I think that image of Japan or Japanese auto makers are not as bad as it had been 20 years ago when Japan was regarded as an monster eating up the US.
It is terrible that some lawyers are trying to organize an class action against Toyota for its alleged false reports to raise stock price. I believe that American justice is not so biased as to approve it.
Am I too optimistic to state above.
Sincerely yours,
T. Takayama
高山 武久
by Takehisa Takayama (2010-04-24 11:35)
高山さん Mike の記事へのCommen、多謝。 彼の最新投稿記事、Marine base in OKinawa も是非お読み下さい。
by ぼくあずさ (2010-04-24 14:16)