Uncover the secrets behind Honda's meteoric rise to become a global automotive powerhouse! This captivating exploration delves into the strategic decisions and innovative manufacturing processes that propelled Honda from a fledgling Japanese company to an international icon. Journey back to 1959, witnessing Honda's initial foray into the US market and its early export strategies. Discover how import restrictions forced Honda to adapt, leading to crucial foreign direct investment and the establishment of "Honda of America Manufacturing." Explore the pivotal shift from a global strategy of standardized products to a "Glocalization" approach, tailoring vehicles to meet the diverse needs of customers across five strategic regions: North America, Europe/Middle East/Africa, South America, Asia/Oceania, and Japan. Learn how Honda restructured its production and R&D, empowering regional subsidiaries and fostering innovation. Witness the ingenious development of a platform-based strategy, balancing economies of scale with localized customization, exemplified by variations in the Honda Civic across different continents. Delve into the transformative adoption of the "Lean Manufacturing System," inspired by Toyota, revolutionizing production processes with flexible manufacturing units, shared machinery, and a demand-driven "pull system" that minimized inventory and maximized efficiency. See how Honda's commitment to adaptability, from its early internationalization efforts to its embrace of lean manufacturing, solidified its competitive edge. This is a story of strategic brilliance, operational excellence, and an unwavering dedication to meeting the evolving needs of a global market, revealing the key ingredients to Honda's enduring success in the cutthroat automotive industry. It is essential reading for students and scholars interested in international business, global strategy, and manufacturing innovation. Learn how Honda overcame the challenges of international competition, import restrictions, and changing customer preferences to achieve its dominant position in the car business. The book highlights Honda's brilliant marketing strategy, its highly efficient production methods, and, perhaps most importantly, its remarkable ability to adapt to ever-changing market conditions.
Table of contents
1. Introduction
2. Honda’s internationalization process
2.1 First steps of internationalization
2.2 Change of strategic approach
2.3 Change in manufacturing
3. Conclusion
References
1. Introduction
Honda Motor Co., including its subsidiaries, is a large, multi-national company that manufactures a range of products including automobiles, motorcycles and lawn mowers. The company was established in 1948 and has become one of the leading manufacturers in the world. There are 119 production facilities in 33 countries that supply Honda products to nearly every country in the world. The question arises how Honda was able to become one of the most successful car-manufacturers on a global scale.
An answer to this question will be given by showing Honda’s first steps and the change of its strategies in the process of internationalization on the example USA. Furthermore, Honda’s change in manufacturing will be discussed and afterwards, a conclusion will be given.
2. Honda’s internationalization process
2.1 First steps of internationalization
Honda’s internationalization began in 1959, when it founded the subsidiary “Honda Motor Co. Inc.” in the United States. Cars were built in Japan and then exported into the United States. Therefore, Honda Motor Co. Inc. was acting as an intermediary for Honda of Japan. In the beginning of its international operations, Honda had low commitment, because it wanted to avoid risk. Due to the fact that Honda was a late entrant in the automobile industry and therefore had difficulties in competing in Japan, Honda had to diversify its sources of sales (Daniels & Radebaugh, 2001). So, Honda pressed with its internationalization ahead and therefore it had to see the world as its market. In the late 1970s, Honda had to face new problems: The American government restricted imports of Japanese cars. Honda reacted on this situation by diversification of its production (Daniels & Radebaugh, 2001) and undertook an FDI and founded “Honda of America Manufacturing”, which started car production in 1981 with assembling of the Honda Accord. However, the parts for the cars were still manufactured in Japan, only the assembling took place in the United States. In this time, Honda pursued a global strategy: The same cars were sold around the world, so Honda was able to sell cars very cheaply due to economies of scale.
2.2 Change of strategic approach
However, in the mid 1980s, Honda realized that it had to adapt to local markets and started to change its marketing- and internationalization- strategy from a global approach to a multi- national approach. Honda named this “Glocalization” (http://world.honda.co m). In order to increase market share, Honda wanted to be able to serve its different customers with their different needs around the world with adjusted products. So, the management decided to divide the world into five different strategic regions: North America, Europe / Middle East / Africa, South America, Asia / Oceania and Japan. Furthermore, the subsidiaries in all strategic regions became more independent from the parent- company: They were responsible for their R&D, production, profits etc. Honda now had to restructure its production and R&D. During the mid 1980s, R&D subsidiaries were founded in all strategic regions, for example “Honda Research of America” in 1984. The problem was that developing and producing different cars for each strategic region was too expensive to sell the cars cheaply, because economies of scale were not achievable. With the purpose to achieve economies of scale and adapting to local markets at the same time, Honda developed a suitable strategy: The platform (the chassis, motor, basic car body, etc.) for the cars was developed in a common development-centre. Afterwards, these platforms were brought to the subsidiaries in all strategic regions and were modified for the different customers. For example, the Honda Civic was in the United States a little bit longer, had a different engine, was air- conditioned etc. in contrast to Europe or Japan. Development costs for the platforms were shared by all subsidiaries. So, Honda put itself into a position in which it had diversified products which were still similar, so it could serve different markets with adjusted products and could achieve economies of scale at the same time. The con- tinuous shifting from production in Japan to production overseas can be seen in Figure 1.
Figure 1: Development of the Japanese car production From: Business Week - Japan is back
Abbildung in dieser Leseprobe nicht enthalten
2.3 Change in manufacturing
This development of changed strategic approach goes hand-in-hand with Honda’s change in manufacturing. Honda started to change its way of manufacturing in the mid 1990s. The idea was to make the manufacturing process more flexible and to be able to react on different demands without having many cars in stock. This idea was put into action by adapting the “Lean Manufacturing System”, which was invented by Toyota.
“The basic idea is to make the manufacturing process as flexible as possible and run with synchronized processes and maximum value added1 with minimum inventory” (Blakemore, 2001, From: J. S. Blakemore - Maximising Profit with Short Production Runs … Lean Systems Thinking p.2). There are several points that differ in the classical Ford Manufacturing System and in the Lean Manufacturing System (LMS). In the LMS, people do not work on manufacturing belts; they are working in units of people (manufacturing units). Furthermore, machines are shared by the manufacturing units. This makes the system very flexible, different car types can be produced with high efficiency at the same time and fewer machines are needed, because machines are shared by the manufacturing units (see figure 2). This high flexibility puts Honda into a position in which it can work in a pull system: Cars are not produced on forecast (which are not very reliable) and put in stock anymore. The cars are now produced on the basis how high the actual incoming orders from the retailers are (Blakemore, 2001).
Figure 2: The change from the Ford Manufacturing System to the Lean Manufacturing System
Abbildung in dieser Leseprobe nicht enthalten
3. Conclusion
Honda started its internationalization very early and achieved through steady adoption to international competition and changed operational environments, e.g. import restrictions in the USA, one of the most competitive positions in the car business.
Furthermore, Honda’s marketing strategy - building different, cheap cars for different markets - has contributed to the high demand for Honda’s cars. Even today, Honda shows through the adoption of the Lean Manufacturing System its adaptability. Moreover, Honda was able to achieve economies of scale and had diversified products at the same time. Thus, Honda will remain one of the greatest competitors in the car-in- dustry as a consequence of its brilliant marketing-strategy, its high efficient production and not least its adaptability.
References
[1]having the machines working with full capacity
Bélis-Bergouignan, M.-C., Bordenave, G., Lung, Y. (n.d). Global strategies in the automobile industry. France: Université d’Évry. Retrieved, November 19th, 2001, from the World Wide Web: www.univ-evry.fr/labos/gerpisa/actes/18/article3.html
Blakemore, J. (2001). Maximising Profit with Short Production Runs … Lean Systems Thinking. Sydney, Australia: Blakemore Consulting. Retrieved November 16, 2001, from the World Wide Web: http://www.blakemore.com.au/papers/R571-AGSEI- LM.pdf
Daniels, J. D., Radebaugh, L. H. (2001). International Business - Environments and Operations (9th ed.). Upper Saddle River, United States: Prentice-Hall.
Honda Motor Co., Ltd (2001). Honda worldwide site. Japan: Honda Motor. Retrieved, November 19th, 2001, from the World Wide Web: http://world.honda.com
Naughton, K., Borrus, A. (1997). Japanese cars spin their wheels on the continent. Business Week, October 13, 1997. United States: McGraw-Hill.
Frequently asked questions
What is the main topic of the text?
The text analyzes Honda's internationalization process, particularly focusing on its strategies and manufacturing changes that led to its global success.
How did Honda initially approach internationalization?
Honda started its internationalization in 1959 by establishing a subsidiary in the United States ("Honda Motor Co. Inc."). Initially, they exported cars built in Japan to the US, indicating a low commitment approach to minimize risk.
What prompted Honda to change its strategic approach to internationalization?
Import restrictions on Japanese cars by the American government in the late 1970s forced Honda to diversify its production. This led to foreign direct investment (FDI) and the establishment of "Honda of America Manufacturing" in 1981.
What is "Glocalization" and how does it relate to Honda?
"Glocalization" is Honda's term for adapting to local markets while maintaining a global perspective. In the mid-1980s, Honda shifted from a global strategy to a multi-national approach, dividing the world into five strategic regions and granting subsidiaries more independence in R&D, production, and profits.
How did Honda balance adapting to local markets with achieving economies of scale?
Honda developed a strategy where car platforms (chassis, motor, basic body) were developed in a common development center and then modified by subsidiaries in different strategic regions to suit local customer needs. This allowed for diversified products while still achieving economies of scale through shared development costs.
What is the "Lean Manufacturing System" and how did Honda adopt it?
The "Lean Manufacturing System" is a manufacturing approach focused on flexibility, synchronized processes, maximum value-added, and minimum inventory. Honda adopted this system in the mid-1990s to make its manufacturing process more flexible and responsive to varying demands, moving away from the Ford Manufacturing System.
How does the Lean Manufacturing System differ from the classical Ford Manufacturing System?
In the Lean Manufacturing System, people work in manufacturing units instead of on manufacturing belts, and machines are shared by these units. This creates a more flexible system where different car types can be produced simultaneously with higher efficiency and fewer machines. It enables Honda to work in a "pull system" where production is based on actual incoming orders rather than forecasts.
What are some of the key factors contributing to Honda's success according to the text?
Honda's early internationalization, continuous adaptation to international competition, effective marketing strategies, adoption of the Lean Manufacturing System, its ability to balance economies of scale with diversified products, and overall adaptability are highlighted as key factors in its success.
What are some of the references used in the text?
Some of the references used in the text include publications by Bélis-Bergouignan, Bordenave, Lung; Blakemore, Daniels, Radebaugh, Honda Motor Co., Naughton, Borrus; and Updike, Armstrong, Kerwin, Naughton.
- Quote paper
- Sebastian Schmidt (Author), 2001, The process of Honda`s internationalisation, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/105988
