What happens when a series of scandals so engulfs a country that its entire national brand is put in jeopardy? At one time that appeared to be close to what might happen to the German auto manufacturing industry around the deisel car engine scandal. But that fear appears appears to have lessened. The same cannot be said of Japan Inc., however, where a series of what are basically fraud scandals, around product testing and certification have through the entire country into turmoil. Some of the country’s most memorable companies, including Nissan Motor, Subaru, Toray Industries, Kobe Steel and Mitsubishi Materials have all be accused or admitted they cheated on quality tests or falsified documents to sell their products.
Leaving aside the legal liability, both corporate and individual, for such actions; what does such actions mean for a country which assumed to be dedicated to quality in manufacturing. This is what allegedly separated Japanese goods in the global marketplace from its rival China. Yet, there seem to be two very large questions looming (1) How did the scandals occur in such a wide range of companies? and (2) Why they are all being made public at relatively the same time?
