Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-g8jcs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-28T21:36:50.508Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Evolution of the Automobile Industry

A Capability-Architecture-Performance Approach

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 June 2023

Takahiro Fujimoto
Affiliation:
Waseda University, Japan

Summary

This Element applies capability-architecture-performance (CAP) approach of industrial analysis to the evolution of the automobile industry and the strategies of its leading manufacturing firms between the late 19th century and the early 21st century. It regards a manufacturing site ('genba,' such as factory, development facility, etc.) and a product (and other economic artifacts, such as processes) as the two basic units of analysis. Both an industry and a firm can be seen as a collection of sites, as well as a collection of products. The CAP framework predicts that dynamic fits between the sites' organizational capabilities and the product/process architectures lead to sustainable competitive performance. Such key concepts as flows of value-carrying design information, productive/market/profit performance, design-based comparative advantage, integral/modular architectures, multi-skilling, coordinative capability-building, evolutionary capabilities, industry lifecycle, and architectural evolution are discussed in a systematic and dynamic way.
Get access
Type
Element
Information
Online ISBN: 9781108658041
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication: 29 June 2023

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abernathy, W. J. (1978). The Productivity Dilemma, Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Abernathy, W. J. & Utterback, J. M. (1978). Patterns of Industrial Innovation. Technology Review, 80(7), 4047.Google Scholar
Abernathy, W. J., Clark, K. B. & Kantrow, A. M. (1983). Industrial Renaissance: Producing a Competitive Future for America, New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Asanuma, B. (1989). Manufacturer-Supplier Relationships in Japan and the Concept of Relation-Specific Skill. Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, 3, 130.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baldwin, C. Y. & Clark, K. B. (2000). Design Rules. Volume 1: The Power of Modularity, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chandler, A. D. Jr. (1962). Strategy and Structure, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Christensen, C. M. (1997). The Innovator’s Dilemma: When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail, Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.Google Scholar
Clark, K. B. (1985). The Interaction of Design Hierarchies and Market Concepts in Technological Evolution. Research Policy, 14, 235251.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clark, K. B. & Fujimoto, T. (1990). The Power of Product Integrity. Harvard Business Review, 68(6), 107118.Google Scholar
Clark, K. B. & Fujimoto, T. (1991). Product Development Performance, Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.Google Scholar
Cusumano, M. A. (1985). The Japanese Automobile Industry: Technology and Management at Nissan and Toyota, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Cusumano, M. A. & Nobeoka, K. (1998). Thinking Beyond Lean: How Multi-Project Management Is Transforming Product Development at Toyota and Other Companies, New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
Fine, C. H. (1998). Clockspeed: Winning Industry Control in the Age of Temporary Advantage, Reading: Perseus Books.Google Scholar
Ford-Werke, AG (1980). Mimeo, Herausforderung aus Osteuropa und Japan (in German).Google Scholar
Freeman, C. (1982). The Economics of Industrial Innovation, 2nd ed., Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Fujimoto, T. (1989). Organizations for Effective Product Development: The Case of the Global Automobile Industry, unpublished DBA. Dissertation, Harvard Business School.Google Scholar
Fujimoto, T. (1999). The Evolution of a Manufacturing System at Toyota, New York: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fujimoto, T. (2001). The Japanese Automobile Parts Supplier System: The Triplet of Effective Inter-Firm Routines. International Journal of Automotive Technology and Management, 1(1), 134.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fujimoto, T. (2007a). Architecture-Based Comparative Advantage: A Design Information View of Manufacturing. Evolutionary and Institutional Economics Review, 4(1), 55112.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fujimoto, T. (2007b). Competing to be Really, Really Good: The Behind-the-Scenes Drama of Capability-Building Competition in the Automobile Industry, LTCB International Library Trust, Tokyo: International House of Japan.Google Scholar
Fujimoto, T. (2012). An Economic Analysis of Architecture and Coordination: Applying Ricardian Comparative Advantage to Design Costs and Locations. Evolutionary and Institutional Economics Review, 9(1), 51124.Google Scholar
Fujimoto, T. (2014). The Long Tail of the Auto Industry Life Cycle. The Journal of Product Innovation Management, 31(1), 816.Google Scholar
Fujimoto, T. & Heller, D. A., eds. (2018). Industries and Disasters: Building Robust and Competitive Supply Chains, New York: Nova Science.Google Scholar
Fujimoto, T. & Ikuine, F., eds. (2018). Industrial Competitiveness and Design Evolution, Tokyo: Springer.Google Scholar
Fujimoto, T. & Raff, D. (1999). Conclusion. In Lung, Y., Chanaron, J., Fujimoto, T. & Raff, D., eds., Coping with Variety, Hampshire: Ashgate.Google Scholar
Fujimoto, T. & Shiozawa, Y. (2011–2012). Inter and Intra Company Competition in the Age of Global Competition: A Micro and Macro Interpretation of Ricardian Trade Theory. Evolutionary and Institutional Economics Review, 8(2), 193231.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gawer, A. & Cusumano, M. A. (2002). Platform Leadership: How Intel, Microsoft, and Cisco Drive Industry Innovation, Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.Google Scholar
Grant, R. M. (1991). The Resource-Based Theory of Competitive Advantage: Implications for Strategy Formulation. California Management Review, 33(3), 114135.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grant, R. M. (2016). Contemporary Strategy Analysis, 9th ed., Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.Google Scholar
Heller, D. A., Mercer, G. & Fujimoto, T. (2006). The Long-Term Value of M&A Activity That Enhances Learning Organizations. International Journal of Automotive Technology and Management, 6(2), 157176.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Helper, S. & Sako, M. (1995). Supplier Relations in Japan and the United States: Are They Converging? Sloan Management Review, 36(3), 7784.Google Scholar
Holweg, M. & Pil, F. K. (2004). The Second Century: Reconnecting Customer and Value Chain through Build-to-Order: Moving beyond Mass and Lean Production in the Auto Industry, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Hounshell, D. A. (1984). From the American System to Mass Production, 1800–1932: The Development of Manufacturing Technology in the United States, Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Iansiti, M. & Levien, R. (2004). The Keystone Advantage: What the New Dynamics of Business Ecosystems Mean for Strategy, Innovation, and Sustainability, Boston: Harvard Business School Press.Google Scholar
Imai, M. (1986). Kaizen (Ky’zen): The Key to Japan’s Competitive Success, 1st ed., New York: Random House Business Division.Google Scholar
Lancaster, K. J. (1966). A New Approach to Consumer Theory. Journal of Political Economy, 74(2), 132157.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Liker, J. K. (2004). The Toyota Way: 14 Management Principles from the World’s Greatest Manufacturer, New York: McGraw Hill.Google Scholar
Liker, J. K. & Ross, K. (2017). The Toyota Way to Service Excellence, New York: McGraw Hill.Google Scholar
Lim, C. & Fujimoto, T. (2019). Frugal Innovation and Design Changes Expanding the Cost-Performance Frontier: A Schumpeterian Approach. Research Policy, 48(4), 10161029.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MacDuffie, J. P. & Fujimoto, T. (2010). Why Dinosaurs Will Keep Ruling the Auto Industry. Harvard Business Review, 88(6), 2325.Google Scholar
Maxcy, G. & Silberston, A. (1959). The Motor Industry, London: Allen & Unwin.Google Scholar
Mintzberg, H. & Waters, J. A. (1985). Of Strategies, Deliberate and Emergent. Strategic Management Journal, 6(3), 257272.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Monden, Y. (1983). Toyota Production System: Practical Approach to Production Management, Norcross, GA: Industrial Engineering and Management Press.Google Scholar
Nelson, R. R. & Winter, S. G. (1982). An Evolutionary Theory of Economic Change, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Nishiguchi, T. (1994). Strategic Industrial Sourcing, Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Ohno, T. (1978). Toyota Seisan Hoshiki (Toyota Production System), (in Japanese), Tokyo: Daiyamondo-sha.Google Scholar
Penrose, E. T. (1959). The Theory of the Growth of the Firm, Oxford: Basil Blackwell.Google Scholar
Schonberger, R. (1982). Japanese Manufacturing Techniques: Nine Hidden Lessons in Simplicity, New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
Shimokawa, K., Jurgens, U. & Fujimoto, T., eds. (1997). Transforming Automobile Assembly: Experience in Automation and Work Organization, Berlin: Springer.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shingo, S. (1981). A Study of the Toyota Production System from an Industrial Engineering Viewpoint, Tokyo: Japan Management Association.Google Scholar
Simon, H. A. (1969). The Science of the Artificial, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Spender, J.-C. (2014). Business Strategy: Managing Uncertainty, Opportunity, & Enterprise, Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Suh, N. P. (1990). The Principles of Design, New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Teece, D. J. (2007). Explicating Dynamic Capabilities: The Nature and Microfoundations of (Sustainable) Enterprise Performance. Strategic Management Journal, 28, 13191350.Google Scholar
Teece, D. J. & Pisano, G. (1994). The Dynamic Capabilities of Firms: An Introduction. Industrial and Corporate Change, 3(3), 537556.Google Scholar
Thomke, S. & Fujimoto, T. (2000). The Effect of “Front-Loading” Problem-Solving on Product Development Performance. Journal of Product Innovation Management, 17(2), 128142.Google Scholar
Uchida, T. (2017). Virtual Engineering. Nikkan Kogyo Shinbunsha (in Japanese).Google Scholar
Ulrich, K. T. (1995). The Role of Product Architecture in the Manufacturing Firm. Research Policy, 24(3), 419440.Google Scholar
Womack, J. P. & Jones, D. T. (1996). Lean Thinking: Banish Waste and Create Wealth in Your Corporation, New York: Simon & Schuster.Google Scholar
Womack, J. P., Jones, D. T. & Roos, D. (1990). The Machine That Changed the World, New York: Rawson Associates.Google Scholar

Save element to Kindle

To save this element to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Evolution of the Automobile Industry
Available formats
×

Save element to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Evolution of the Automobile Industry
Available formats
×

Save element to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Evolution of the Automobile Industry
Available formats
×