Different Paths for Automakers at the Turn of the Century

Are lean production and globalization the necessary conditions for future success of car industry firms, as affirm numerous commentators and experts, or is it possible to discern several paths possible? To answer this question, it would be fitting to look back upon the history of automobile firms since the beginning of the 1970s. Lean production was not the only successful production system. Actually, it corresponded to no existing model, since it has resulted in an amalgamation of two industrial models, which, even though they can be seen in Japan, are completely different both conceptually and practically (Shimizu, 1998, Mair, 1998, Boyer, Freyssenet, forthcoming). Not any more than there was a single model in the past (handicrafts production at the beginning of the century followed by mass production), neither has there been one best way in the recent period.