I would agree, except for a couple points. True, the factories were built from the ground up, in Japan, and here, BUT the workforce that was used in the US was not imported from Japan, with the exception of trainers and key personnel until a culture could be built here in the transplant factories. But the majority of the workforce and supervisors, even in the early days, were Americans, both Union and non-Union. Even when one of the Big 3 starts a new plant here in the US, the success rate is much lower, and I think this points back to a cultural issue in the hierarchy of the 3 companies. You alluded to political gamesmanship and the much-touted problems with unions, healthcare, etc..., but all of the Japanese companies have found a way to deal with such issues. These companies are famous for providing birth to grave benefits for employees, and while that system has struggled in recent decades with increased competition and financial instability, companies like Honda and Toyota seem to continue to thrive. I suspect that a LOT of the problem is in the management culture, which changes very little with the exception of shuffling of executives, and the penchant for focusing almost solely on short term goals instead of the long-term stability and welfare of the company. This, from what I have seen in the last 12 years, is a shortcoming of American management style. There is more of a focus on short-term profitability and keeping stockholders happy this quarter and the next, than there is in the true stability and solidity of the company (which provides more benefits in the long term).
Volkswagen ran into this kind of mindset a few years ago, when they were flush with profits because of the success of the new Passat and New Beetle, yet were paying minimal dividends on Wall St. This angered a lot of investors, but the VW philosophy was one of investing in a long-term upgrading and improvement of the company, and it's infrastructure, rather than kow-towing (sp?) to Wall Street.
As to the internal politics, this continues to be a problem, in which executives try to carve out their own little empires, at the expense of the company. I see a lot of this now that I'm working for an American company, although it was also present in the German company I was at. I suspect that such politics are much-less tolerated at companies like Toyota, where the expectation is that everyone works toward the long-term health of the company, and in return, the company looks out for the long-term welfare of its' employees (yep, break the sheet music for "Internationale"!)
Am I pro-Japanese, nope. Don't own any Japanese cars (I prefer the joy and pain of German cars), but I have to admire their business sense. Unfortunately, in our current mindset and culture of outsourcing our manufacturing base out to China and Mexico, I see a dim future for the Big 3, and many other major US manufacturers (this again points back to a focus on short-term gains over long-term health) And, since our Government is now 100% on board with bleeding our economy dry and sending our jobs to China (in return for what benefits I wonder!)...
