The Reckoning (Hardcover)

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.

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.
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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)
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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')
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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)
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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
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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.