Background

• 1948 – Soichiro Honda & Mr. Takeo Fujisana started piston ring factory
• 1949 – Built the first motorcycle
• 1959– American Honda Motor Co., Inc., was established with a small motorcycle store in Los Angeles.
• 1970– Honda introduced its first car, the N600 Sedan, to the United States.
• 1976– First Gold Wing motorcycle created whole new category of touring motorcycles
• 1979– production began at the Honda Motorcycle Plant in Marysville, Ohio.
• 1982– a new auto plant in Marysville, Ohio, began producing the Accord, making Honda the first Japanese automobile company to manufacture in the U.S.
• 1985– Honda began production at an engine plant in Anna, Ohio, to manufacture both motorcycle and automobile engines.
• 1988– the first American-made Accord was exported to Japan.
• 1989– Honda began production at its new automobile plant in East Liberty, Ohio, where the Civic Sedan and Coupe would be manufactured.
• 1991– Honda began exporting the Accord Wagon to Europe and Japan. It was designed, engineered and produced exclusively in the U.S.
• 1994– Honda exported over 100,000 vehicles from the U.S. to 36 countries.
• 1995– Honda celebrated its 25th anniversary of selling cars in America, as well as the sale of its 10-millionth car in America.

Leadership

• HIGH LEVELS OF PERSISTENCE
• OVERCAME SIGNIFICANT OBSTACLES
• ATTRACTED DEDICATED PEOPLE
• INFLUENCED PEOPLE TO ACHIEVE GOALS

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• 1948 – 1978: Mr. Honda
• 1978 – present: Internal Promotions
• Current CEO: Nobuhiko Kawamoto

 

Core Ideology

• STATEMENTS OF IDEOLOGY
• HISTORICAL CONTINUITY OF IDEOLOGY
• IDEOLOGY BEYOND PROFITS
• CONSISTENCY BETWEEN IDEOLOGY AND ACTIONS

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• Philosophy based
• Mission: Behind our name lies a philosophy of maintaining an international viewpoint, and remaining dedicated to supplying products of the highest efficiency yet at a reasonable price for worldwide customer satisfaction.
• Safety
• Quality
• Productivity
• Respect for the individual – our customers are our business associates and members of society
• United Way
• No nepotism – desire is to not play favorites – to spread out the benefits of “good” job
• 3 joys: Buying, selling, and producing
• Racing Spirit: simplicity, concentration, and speed
• You build quality and people will buy it.

BHAGS

• USE OF BHAGS
• AUDACITY OF BHAGS
• HISTORICAL PATTERN OF BHAGS

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• Isle of Man
• 1^st US production(1979)
• Racing

Cultism

• INDOCTRINATION
• TIGHTNESS OF FIT
• ELITISM

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• Racing Spirit: cleanliness, Orderly, On Time, 1^st to finish line
• White Uniforms
• Promote from within
• In house training
• New ideas come from associates and supervisors

 

Purposeful Evolution

• CONSCIOUS USE OF EVOLUTIONARY PROGRESS
• OPERATIONAL AUTONOMY TO STIMULATE AND ENABLE VARIATION
• OTHER MECHANISMS TO STIMULATE AND ENABLE VARIATION AND SELECTION

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• Piston Manufacturer
• Attaching engines to bikes
• Motorcycles and power products
• Cars
• Always concentrating on improving engines and other ways to use engines
• Innovator in engine technology
• Exceeding emission standards; no other manufacturer has followed Honda here.

 

Management Continuity

• INTERNAL VERSUS EXTERNAL CHIEF EXECUTIVES
• NO POST-HEROIC-LEADER VACUUM OR SAVIOR SYNDROME
• FORMAL MANAGEMENT DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS AND MECHANISMS
• CAREFUL SUCCESSION PLANNING AND CEO SELECTION MECHANISMS

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• Continuous
• Internal Promotions
• No external
• Honda died; philosophy continued
• Mgmt. Training: OJT and AIP
• Succession Planning

 

Self-Improvement

• LONG-TERM INVESTMENTS(PP&E, R&D, EARNINGS, REINVESTMENTS)
• INVESTMENT IN HUMAN CAPABILITIES: RECRUITING, TRAINING, & DEVELOPMENT
• EARLY ADOPTION OF NEW TECHNOLOGIES, METHODS, PROCESSES
• MECHANISMS TO STIMULATE IMPROVEMENT

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• Long term investments; PP&E
• RI earnings: Div., PO rate
• Mfg expansion into South Carolina
• R & D – automatic transmission and ABS (change before change is demanded)
• Innovator of new management processes