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Japan's automakers face Endaka Essay

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Japan's Automakers Face Endaka Case Analysis Beatrice Galet 1) What happened to Japan's Big four automakers in 1985, and then again in 1993-1995? Since the end of World War II, Japan's economic strategy for growth was based on exports, that allowed the development of its powerful industrial sector. During the 1980s, Japanese automakers in particular were enjoying an unprecedented and largely unexpected period of prosperity. They managed to establish a successful domestic automobile industry and to gradually sell their products abroad. Thanks to their competitive advantage in producing cars with respect to foreign competitors, due to labor differences, technical efficiencies (lighter and fuel-efficient cars), better designs, and of …show more content…

They had to expand their market reach intelligently, and therefore moved from a low-end segment to higher-margin ones, while making the best use of marketing. As a result, by the early 1990s, most of the auto firms had offerings not only in the mid- range, but also at the very top of the luxury market. Finally, Japanese auto companies had to increase their prices by 40%. Indeed, even though the yen appreciation already led to a small price increase for Japanese cars sold in the US (10% in 1986), this was not enough to preserve decent margins, and led instead to income drops. All this preventive measures allowed the Japanese firms not only to survive to the sharp increase of the yen against the dollar, but also to boost their sales and increase their share in the highly competitive US market. 2b) What will they have to do differently in 1995? The onset of Super Endaka in 1995 summed up to an already existing situation of global recession (1991), with price pressures, posted production and sales declines. Moreover, trade barriers in Europe prevented Japan's firms to expand and compensate for the US losses, where the price effects of yen appreciation were most severe. This time, the challenge posed by the new exchange rate shift was even harder than the first one. It followed that the strategies employed so far and

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