Supply Chain Resilience Management: Is the Japanese Automotive Supply Chain resilient enough?

Analysis of Resilience Capabilities of Readiness, Response and Recovery - A Case Study of Riken Corp.

Seminar Paper , 2010 , 39 Pages , Grade: Distinction

Business economics - Supply, Production, Logistics

Since 1980’s the Japanese car manufacturing industry has been celebrated as the most efficient car industry in the world regarding production systems and processes. However, on 16 July 2007 this efficiency of the entire Japanese automotive industry was challenged when an earthquake hit the Chuetsu region in Japan and decimated a small but critical portion of its supply chain. Riken Corp., a supplier of automobile engine components such as piston rings, was this critical sup-ply chain bit. Its failure to operate after the event caused a chain reaction of plant closures of the main eight Japanese car manufacturers and parallelised nearly 70 per cent of the world biggest auto production industry. The underlying qualitative study adopts some conceptual supply chain resilience management models available in the academic literature as theoretical lenses to analyze the Riken Corp. case. The main argument of this research paper is that while the Japanese automotive supply chain is capable of delivering an efficient and effective response to and recovery from an interruption, it, however, lacks the capability of event readiness, which is the active resilience preparation for a supply chain disruption.

I TABLE OF CONTENTS

II LIST OF FIGURES

III LIST OF TABLES

IV LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

V ABSTRACT

VI COPYRIGHT AND INTELLECTUAL RIGHT STATEMENT

1. Introduction

2. Overview of the Japanese Auto Manufacturing Industry

3. Japanese Automotive Supply Chain and Theoretical Resilience Framework
3.1 Generic Japanese Car Manufacturing Supply Chain
3.2 The Impact of Supply Chain Disruptions on Japanese Automotive Industry
3.3 Theoretical resilience model
I. Event readiness
II. Efficient Response
III. Recovery
IV. Competitive Advantage

4. Testing the Resilience Model and Identifying Potential Competitive Advantage
I.Was the Japanese automotive industry ready enough for the earthquake event?
II. How does the Japanese automotive supply chain response to disruption events?
III. Is the Japanese automotive supply chain capable of recovering from its losses?
IV. What competitive advantage can the Japanese automotive industry gain from a more resilient supply chain?

5. Conclusion

VII REFERENCES

VIII APPENDIXES

• College: University of Manchester (Manchester Business School)
• Grade: Distinction
• Author: Wladimir Wiegel (Author)
• Publication Year: 2010
• Pages: 39
• Catalog Number: V167383
• ISBN (eBook): 9783640846023
• ISBN (Book): 9783640849055
• Language: English
• Tags: Resilience, Readiness, Response, Recovery, Automobile Industry, Japan, Supply Risk Management, Disaster Recovery Planning, Keiretsu, Japan Automobile Manufacturers, Supply Chain Breakdown, Supply Chain Management, Supplier, Competitive Advantage