Since I’ve been discussing Toyota vs GM, today’s news is appropriate. Toyota bought Daihatsu some time ago. Daihatsu is their low-end brand, mainly for domestic sales. Recently the Japanese government caught Daihatsu cheating on emission tests.
What would GM do? GM would lobby the government to change the standards, and would probably succeed.
What did Toyota do? It shut down Daihatsu entirely and permanently.
Japan has quality because Japan has shame.
Executives who get caught in bad acts take responsibility in the fullest sense. They don’t literally fall on their swords now, but their careers are done.
Ordinary Americans have shame. The 1973 Chevy film tried to evoke shame in the workers. “When you’ve done a good job you know it. When you’ve done a poor job you also know it.”
The difference is that GM’s execs were not subject to the same rules, and the workers also knew it.
Polistra's Mill 