Customer Reviews

The Reckoning

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I read a borrowed copy of this book over a decade ago and it has proven memorable and useful.

Memorable because 12 years after reading it, I still vividly recall many episodes: for example, we read of the American engineer and his wife who took Japanese citizenship during WWII because all their friends were Japanese, but still sent their sons back to the US; Halberstam writes of the president of Nissan's US branch (Datsun) who incredibly had enough strength of character to rename Datsun's new sportscar the Z80 (in North America) from the FairLady (in Japan) against the CEO's wishes; Ford's dismal accounting practices of the early 20th century when all invoices were put in a pile and weighed (!) to estimate how much cash was required in the checking account; and most rewarding of all, the story of Professor Deming, the American inventor of modern quality control, arrogantly overlooked in his homeland and treated as an oracle of wisdom in industrial Japan.

I also found the Reckoning useful, because for the fifteen years I've lived in Japan I've relied and built upon the insights it gave me. David Halberstam presents an accurate evaluation of how Japanese business often works, especially manufacturing businesses. Halberstam doesn't advocate following Japanese practices, he merely presents them and evaluates their success. Sometimes these practices can be applied, and sometimes they can't.

Japanese office practices work well in Japan because they rely on local customs. For example, the reason Deming found a voice in Japan is that a Tokyo University professor took notice of his work and called several old students who were now executives in Japan's car industry. They invited Deming and listened to his lectures. It's a characteristic of Japanese society that teachers retain some authority over their students for their entire lives, not only for the year they spend teaching them. This would not have worked in the West. However, once the value of Deming's work was obvious American car companies studied and implemented them, even if late.

The lesson is that while Deming's methods can work as well for U.S. car makers as for Japanese, the politics of getting them accepted depend entirely on local conditions. Japanese car men were open, and sincerely enthusiastic, of listening to their old professor's ideas, while American car men needed failure to humble them enough to change their ways.

I work in the automotive industry and I find Halberstam's work to be absolute required reading. The book chronicles the history of the Ford Motor Company and the Nissan Motor Company, comparing and contrasting their vastly different methods for reaching the same goals. In his typical style, Halberstam writes this history like a novel, spinning fascinating stories about Ford Motor Company's infamous union-busting "Service Department" and the effects of American occupation in Japan follwing World War II. Some reviewers have negatively commented on Halberstam's implication that Ford was near death in 1986, but he was right on the money. We have the benefit of 20/20 hindsight and know that Ford is once again successful and Nissan was very near complete failure. But, if Ford had not succeeded with the Taurus (which at the time of publication was an unnamed concept) there is a good possiblity the lights in Dearborn may have been turned out forever. An outstanding chronicle of American and Japanese business in the dark days.

I'll start off with the caveat that I believe David Halberstam is America's finest living writer. "The Reckoning" ranks in the middle-tier of Halberstam's body of work, only because it hasn't aged as well as a classic like "The Best and the Brightest."

Halberstam's 'big concept' here is as follows:

Beginning of car industry:

Ford (and U.S.) - Good!

Nissan (and Japan) - Flat on their backs or making scooters, lawnmowers, surviving WWII, etc.
-----

In the 50s and 60s:

Ford / US - Good! (but overconfident, cocky, arrogant)

Nissan (then Datsun) / Japan - Bad (making cars on equivalence with cheap transitor radios)
-----

By mid-80s (the book was published in 86):

Ford (as proxy for US economic model) - Bad! (Hubris brings great fall, etc.)

Nissan (as proxy for Japanese economic model) - Good! (Height of Japanese bubble economy and 'The Japan that Can Say No')
-----

By mid-90s (Book starts to look very dated):

Ford - Ascendant! (tenures of Red Poling, Alex Trotman put Ford back on top)

Nissan - Collapsed! (popping of Japanese bubble economy; Nissan loses touch with consumers, bleeds red ink)
-----

2002 (Book regains its relevancy):

Ford (as proxy for US) - Punch-drunk fighter stumbling around taking an eight-count after brain-dead Jacque Nasser era

Nissan (as proxy for Japan) - Firing on all cylinders worldwide thanks to amazing leadership of Carlos Ghosn
-----

It is worth noting that contrary to Halberstam's premise, Nissan is succeeding *despite* the Japanese model, not because of it. [Ghosn's real success has been his attack against long-held Japanese core principles such as guaranteed lifetime employment.]

What would be great would be a re-release of 'The Reckoning' with about a 75- to 100-page update by Halberstam bringing the events of the last 16 years into focus vis-a-vis the original premise of his 1986 publication.

This book is a masterpiece of narrative journalism. Based on five years of research and interviews, it tells the story of how the Japanese came to dominate the American car industry by telling the stories of key individuals, in the U.S. and Japan, who played important roles in that story. Halberstam is such a skilled writer that every one of these people comes alive on the page; you will meet the Fords and their Japanese counterparts at Nissan, and executives, car designers, union leaders, and workers in both countries. Along the way, as you get to know these people, you will learn the story not only of the automobile industry but also of American business in general, the story of how American companies abandonned the making of quality products under pressure from finance people (trained at the nation's leading business schools) who care only about stock position and short-term profits. There can be no better primer for anyone who wants to understand the economic history of America in the second-half of the twentieth century. Read it and weep--and then take a look at Eamon Fingleton's "In Praise of Hard Industry" (also published under the title "Unsustainable").

The Reckoning is not just a book about the car buisiness, or even just business as a whole. Halberstam has written a sprawling book about the human narratives that underpin every business decision, every intercorporate political machination, every glitch in the economic movement of the world.

The book is as close to a novel as non-fiction can get. The characters are sharply drawn and grandly realized. Business decisions, board meetings, and car manufacturing descriptions are imbued with the crackling writing of good fiction. The style will make you want to read on.

As for the subject matter, it isn't just about Ford vs. Nissan, or Japan vs. the US; this book is about people, their failings, prejudices, arrogance, stupidity, short-sightedness, intellect, brilliance, drive, ethics, love, culture, and power.

It offers powerful insight into the world of multi-national corporations. If you want to know who's running the world right now and how, this book is a must read.

If "The Reckoning" is not a classic then certainly it is an authoritative account of Nissan's assault on the U.S. market (and Ford's subsequent demise). The account of the Big Three's arrogance has been told many times since Halberstam published this book, but Halberstam deserves a lot of credit for so much of his book being so relevant to what American automakers are facing today. Insert big SUVs and big trucks any time Halberstam talks about Big Cars = Big Profits and you've got a pretty good idea of what's going on today with Ford and GM and their reluctance to come out with small, fuel-efficient vehicles in favor of high-margin SUVs. It is necessary to point out, though, that even though American auto executives were truly arrogant and complacent with their market share, Japanese manufacturing (lean production) was a paradigm shift. In order to compete on quality with the Japanese American auto would have had to spend billions of dollars on new plants and capital equipment (in essence, almost "betting the farm" that Demings' TQM was the wave of the future). The Japanese had the distinct advantage of having to start from scratch.

More than just a look at Ford v. Nissan, "The Reckoning" gives some perspective on the fundamental differences between how the US and Japan approached industries vital to the economic health of their respective nations. A solid lesson in how arrogance and complacency can lead to mediocrity, opening the door for new industry champions.

The Reckoning is a wonderful book that shows how the United States lost its dominance in the automobile industry. In true Halberstam fashion MacNamara is one of the main villains but through stunning research Halberstam paints a very clear picture of what happened. Japans attention to detail and innovation overshadow America's downfall. The big three are unable to respond and those who are running the Japanese business in the United States who were far more inventive. This book is still relevant even in today's world.

This book is in three parts - firstly a history of Ford as number 2 in American automotive manufacturing, secondly a history of Nissan as number 2 in Japan and thirdly the clash between American and Japan after 1975. The author does an excellent job using anecdotes and world events to describe what happened and why. This book explains why I bought a japanese car and over seven years later I am extremely happy with it. It also explains why I am a keen supporter of TQM! Perhaps someone could write a similar book on the colour television industry. Highly recommended for anybody with an interest in cars, modern history, economics and/or TQM.

I confess that I am bias to everything written by the author. He is a wonderful writer. This book gives excellent insights into the Japanese entering the automobile business. I highly recommend this book.