Developing Insight

pages of wisdom On American roads, about thirty-five percent of all cars are made in Japan. Today, 80 percent of the electronic goods used worldwide come from Japan. When America’s Apollo 2 went to the moon, it needed a very small tape recorder (cassette recorder) to be placed inside. Only Japan could provide such a tiny and reliable recorder. And so, Apollo 2 carried a Japanese-made recorder to the moon. Before the Second World War, the label “Made in Japan” meant that the product was cheap and unreliable. Japanese goods had such a poor image that Western merchants considered it beneath their dignity to stock them. Yet within only 40 years, Japan achieved revolutionary progress. According to American scholar William Ouchi, the secret lies in motivating their employees. The Japanese set up an exceptionally high standard of primary education. They gave elementary teachers high salaries and the same respect as university professors, bringing the most capable people into the education and training of their young generation. They also instilled in their people a deep awareness that the essence of industry is quality. In modern Japan, quality control circles are found everywhere. By 1980, one hundred thousand registered circles were in operation. It is also said that about one million unregistered quality circles exist in Japan.