The Transformation and Evolution of Japan’s Manufacturing Industries: A Case Study about Toyota and Toshiba after the Global Financial Crisis

This paper has analyzed the transformation and evolution of Japan’s manufacturing industries after the global financial crisis in 2008. In this due course, we conducted case studies on Toyota (automobile) and Toshiba (semiconductor) as the two major industries in Japan. Specifically, against the huge impacts caused from the capitalist world economy at the macro-level beyond the control of a single sovereign state, Toyota and Toshiba have chosen fundamentally-different strategies at the micro-level resulting in opposite outcomes: success and failure. After the global financial crisis, from 2009 to 2010, Toyota had to face massive recalls of Lexus vehicles in the U.S. market, which brought out unmeasurable economic losses. On the other hand, Toshiba had to conceal its rapidly-deteriorating performances of internal management, which resulted in unprecedented accounting frauds in a structural manner. However, once its secret was publicly revealed in 2015, Toshiba ended up suffering from irreversible fatal damages. While experiencing these challenges and crises, as a result, Toyota was able to understand the true nature of its failure, and ultimately achieved the success of its core business. On the contrary, Toshiba failed to apprehend the true nature of its success and could not avoid the failure of its core business.