With its strong network of dealers, Caterpillar designs better products and provides superior customer service. Make Your Dealers Your Partners by Donald V. Fites A decade ago, many observers predicted that Caterpillar would join the long list of U.S. corporations that had fallen to the Japanese. Doomsayers on Wall Street, at business schools, and in the press focused particularly on the rivalry between Caterpillar and Komatsu. With Komatsu boasting tremendous eost advantages (as much as 40% in some product lines) and excellent produets, they accepted as a foregone conclusion that Komatsu would fulfill its vow to "encircle Cat" and become the dominant producer in our industry. Uke many predictions, this one fell short. …show more content…
DRAWINGS BY MICHAEL WIHE But the biggest reason for Caterpillar's success has been our system of distribution and product support and the close customer relationships it fosters. Don't get me wrong: We think we are hetter engineers and manufacturers than our eompetitors. But we are convinced that our single greatest advantage over our competition was and still is our system of distrihution and product support. The backbone of that system is our 186 independent dealers around the world who sell and service our machines and diesel engines. They have played a pivotal role in helping us build and maintain close relationships with customers and gain insights into how we ean improve our products and services to better fill customers' needs. Many features of Caterpillar's distribution system are tailored to meet the unique characteristics of our industry. Eor instance, our industry's sales volume is relatively low: Global sales of earthmoving equipment average 200,000 to 300,000 units per HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW March April 1996 year. A relatively small number of dealers sell those machines. Even though we might customize some features, sueh as the operator's cab or the paint job, the same standard product can be sold throughout the world. The machines are expensive, but they stay in service for 10 to 12 years on average; many operate for 20 to 30 years. And finally, because these products operate in extremely tough environments, even the
Much will depend on the quality of the products or services. How we deal with customer enquiries or complaints can be just as important.
These customers value both low cost and excellent customer service. Providing both generates both branch loyalty and advertisement through word of mouth.
with their return on investment, employees are paid and treated fairly, and customers are satisfied with the
Although the USA was well into its industrialisation programme and its economy was growing steadfast, the impact of the war effectively ground Europe’s economy to a halt, thus allowing the US to catch up. In the period that followed it is estimated that the US economy grew by triple that of Europe’s in relative terms[2]. As a result investment in Europe fell, enhancing the problems already facing the economies of the continent. Newly established Japanese firms decided to relocate to the US, and many European firms decided to cross the Atlantic to save their businesses.
The international frustration combined with the Great Depression, radically changed Japanese political life (Slackman 4). Moreover, Japanese officers grew increasingly skeptical of the government’s ability to deal with the crisis (Slackman 4). Between fear and doubt
Support services are the services a company gives the customer after they have purchased a product. These services are based off of the wants and needs of the customer and must evolve in order to be a part of the competition (Kotler & Keller, 2016). It is important for a company to pay attention to the wants and needs of the customers as those are the criteria they use to make purchasing decisions. Customers usually have three criteria they worry about when considering product support; reliability or failure frequency, downtime, and extra costs (Kotler & Keller, 2016).
The Great Depression, which occurred in 1929, devastated the economy of many counties worldwide, including Japan. Thus, many sought for imperialism as the answer, such as the Western power and Japan. Japan targeted China, planning on taking advantage of the turmoil that was taking place inside the country, greatly devastating the country by military power. Watching closely over the feud between the Chinese Nationalists and Communists, Japan waited for the perfect opportunity. (Beck et. alt. 481)
Suicides were abundant as fortunes were lost overnight, companies’ stocks were deemed worthless, and grand companies of manufacture, were split over the course of the day, a stock that was a great investment was now for all its merits worthless. Thousands, millions were lost, not only affecting the rich of the Americas, but the workers, and employees of the then near-default and defunct companies of this
Did the 1920s Wall Street crash effect Japan’s decision to attack pearl harbour? Well the following Literature Review with the help four secondary sources, a primary source (a letter), a cartoon and a photograph will help in the very least give us an understanding as to what happened between the major events and hopefully whether they are in anyway linked. Using sources that look at Japan’s economic state, its transition to fascism, and information about what happened before, during and after the pearl harbour attacks and the impact of the Great Depression worldwide we will hopefully be able to discover whether or not the provided research question has any hint of truth.
It was 1929, and in the United States things could not be better for those smart enough, or for that matter, brave enough, to gamble on the Stock Market. All of the big stocks were paying off handsomely, the little ones too. However, as much as analysis tried to tell the people that this period of great wealth would last, no one could imagine what would come of the United States economy in the next decade. The reasons for this catastrophic event in American 20th century history are numerous, and in his book, The Great Crash, John Kenneth Galbraith covers the period and events which lead up to the downward spiral in the fall of 1929 and the people behind the scenes on Wall Street who helped this fire spread.
Globalisation has had a profound impact on the Japanese economy influencing levels of international trade, business operations, financial flows, government policy, labour markets and even environment. This movement has been driven primarily by numerous TNCs, trade liberalization, and the deregulation of the financial system, and numerous strategies adopted by the Government and Economy, resulting in the creation of a 'new' Japan.
1) What happened to Japan's Big four automakers in 1985, and then again in 1993-1995?
This paper describes the case of Olympus, a Japanese manufacturer of optic equipment, at which in early 2012 a scandal was uncovered which was soon dubbed to be one of the largest loss-concealment schemes of Japan. In the 1990’s, Olympus incurred significant losses on financial investments made. These were subsequently hidden with the aid of investment companies by shifting the investments around. In the 2000’s, these losses were to be repaid by paying exorbitant merger and acquisition fees to these investment companies. After newly-appointed CEO Michael Woodford blew the whistle on these frauds, the company got into trouble. Our research into the events leading to this
Leading the industry by providing personal, honest and effective service that results in an advantageous business relationship with our customers, partners and suppliers;
In addition to the causes above, the following events have further deepened Japan’s economic situation during the Lost Decades: