Japanese industry ethics slipping?

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with the nuclear power plant earthquake response handling, the air bag problems and issues and the recent Honda under reporting of fatalities, I wonder are some of the industries having ethics issues?
 
The pedestal that we put Japan Inc. on was shaky. For years Toyota Honda Nissan Mazda performed secret warranty coverage for their vehicles while the owners car was in for LOF work.

This partially created a perception that their cars were faultless vs Big 3 junk. I say partially, because to be fair these Japanese brands did pay attention to Mr. Demming and they produced a better product. Better, but not perfect vs Big 3.

Culturally, Japanese business works with group consensus, it is not possible to have singular people speaking out against group decisions. The result is that tried and true rules their approach and new innovations, new methods are carefully evaluated before implementation by THE GROUP.

If there exists a cover-up issue, you can be certain it was result of group action. What happened with the GM Engineer regarding the ignition switches would NEVER happen in a Japanese company - no way!

Is Japan Inc. getting more corrupt? not likely, just getting caught more often me thinks.
 
Originally Posted By: CT8
Japan has been going down hill for quite a while.


While certainly not the singular reason they have continually struggled with their economy; bailout type government cash infusions are a big part of their lackluster performance. They have exemplified the theory against artificially inflating an economy. There economy seems to be in a decades old quagmire and I don't see the innovations we use to often see from Japanese companies.

I'm no expert, this is merely my opinion, but the "what not to do to escape recession" comes to mind.
 
The only problem Japan has involves zombie companies. Same goes for China. Their culture doesn't handle failure well so some companies are needlessly kept afloat.
 
I started to say there was some issue with faulty fuel tanks in the past. However, it dawned on me that that was part of the plot in Debt of Honor by Tom Clancy.

I better be careful. Otherwise, folks will think I'm crazy for not being able to distinguish between fiction and real life
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Originally Posted By: BMWTurboDzl
The only problem Japan has involves zombie companies. Same goes for China. Their culture doesn't handle failure well so some companies are needlessly kept afloat.


Like...say...GM and Chrysler a few years back?
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Japanese ethics in a nutshell...
If an individual is at fault, blame the system.
If the system is at fault, blame the individual.

The purpose of Japanese ethics is survival, "saving face"...the modus operandi is deflection from vulnerability.
 
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Originally Posted By: edwardh1
with the nuclear power plant earthquake response handling, the air bag problems and issues and the recent Honda under reporting of fatalities, I wonder are some of the industries having ethics issues?


They are using China made parts in making their products. No purely Japan made items anymore, maybe some bamboo.
The Japanese are human too, they are not eqipped to deal with a 9-10 scale earthquake. I can not imagine that happening in the US or anywhere else and seeing better response. Remember Katrina?
 
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Yep.

Compare and contrast the Japanese people's response to the earthquake to the US response to Katrina or the Ferguson Grand Jury determination.

Originally Posted By: kozanoglu
Originally Posted By: edwardh1
with the nuclear power plant earthquake response handling, the air bag problems and issues and the recent Honda under reporting of fatalities, I wonder are some of the industries having ethics issues?


They are using China made parts in making their products. No purely Japan made items anymore, maybe some bamboo.
The Japanese are human too, they are not eqipped to deal with a 9-10 scale earthquake. I can not imagine that happening in the US or anywhere else and seeing better response. Remember Katrina?
 
Originally Posted By: L_Sludger
The Japanese are pure, pristine and spotless compared to American corporate ethics.


HAH! Maybe by the different definition of 'ethical'. "Business is war" and anything goes in Japanese business culture. Michael Crichton's novel 'Rising Sun' may have been fictional, but its his usual immaculately researched and 100% plausible treatment. Read it. And remember its 22 years old- they were practicing that 'ethic' at the height of their alleged quality advantage over US carmakers...
 
A few years back I remember Toyota being voted the most deceptive company by some watchdog company.

Why?
Toyota announces how earth friendly they are (the Prius is the 2nd coming of Jesus...yada yada yada).

Yet had more lobbyist fighting pollution control in Washington than any other car maker...

All companies are about the same. So buy from whoever you like because more or less they all have skeletons in the closet.
 
My favorite teacher in high school taught us that Japanese companies were the most cutthroat in the world. This was in the early 80's. They were accused of dumping cars on the U.S. market to gain market share. Some of you may recall this. I don't really find them to be any worse than our own corporations that put dollars first. That is the way most have interpreted capitalism. Since our own management gurus taught the Japanese it should be no wonder.
 
^
I think they might have been accused of this same practice in the early 2000s, when they dumped Yamaha Outboard motors on the North American market -- at least, that was Mercury's viewpoint.
 
Secret warranty coverage while the car was in for a LOF?
Huh, I guess the Japanese cars we've owned must not have needed any of this secret work, since we never took any of them anywhere near a dealer after buying them.
After eight Hondas, three Subarus and a lone Toyota none of which ever saw a dealer after purchase, we never had any problems of any note with these cars.
They really were and are well designed and well made vehicles, as are many models from America, Europe and Korea.
We've had a few American and European cars as well and we've also found them to be free of problems.
I know that this is way OT, but the average new car will run well beyond 150K with no serious problems of any kind, and this has been true for at least the last four decades.
It was not always the case in the 'seventies, although it was true of our '76 Civic. Great little go-kart!
 
2003 to 2009 Corollas and Matrix if I remember correctly have digital odometers that freeze at 299,999 km or mi. Toyota does not cover the pricy switch to replace the odometer.
Saw this at a Toyota site online.
 
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Originally Posted By: cjcride
2003 to 2009 Corollas and Matrix if I remember correctly have digital odometers that freeze at 299,999 km or mi. Toyota does not cover the pricy switch to replace the odometer.
Saw this at a Toyota site online.


Not reading the claim above, I would rather have a vehicle with broken odometer at 300,000 miles than a broken car with working odometer at 100,000 miles.
 
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