Answer to Question #283604 in Management for WJOHN

Question

Japan’s March 11, 2011 Great Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami was among the most damaging natural disasters on record. This case examines the organizational structure and operational decisions that allowed Nissan Motor Company to recover from the disaster more rapidly than its peers. In doing so, Nissan was able to increase production and capture market share from its slower-to-recover competitors.

Discuss

(i)             How the company was able to realize a faster time-to-recovery through superior supply chain visibility, rapid response efforts, and flexible supply allocation.                             (9 Marks)

(ii)           The decisions the company might have made to realize a faster time-to-recovery (9 Marks)

Answer 1

A focus on flexibility

In contrast to the close supply chain control that is a hallmark of TPS, Nissan leveraged a regional, decentralized supply chain structure, but imposed strong central control and coordination when crises affecting global operations occurred. Maintaining a flexible organization and integrating a variety of perspectives were important cultural attributes at the company. As an indication of the way the firm embraced diversity, Nissan’s corporate officers represented a range of nationalities and most of them had extensive experience in overseas operations – traits that were not shared by other Japanese OEM’s. Nissan considered this diversity to be a source of strength in managing a large global.

Decisions made by the company

·        Sharing of information

·        Allocating supply

·        Managing production

·        Empowering action