Assignment: ”The Honda Effect”

Background:

The Honda Effect” is a story about the tremendous success of the Honda Motor Company on the
US market. Until the 1960’s, mainly Harley-Davidson (USA), BSA, Triumph and Norton (UK) and
Moto-Guzzi (Italy) served the market. The market was limited to police and army personnel who
used the motorcycle on the job and furthermore to a limited group of civil people. The stereotype of
the motorcyclist was a leather-jacketed teenage troublemaker, which seemed to be an obstacle for
expanding the US market for motorcycles. In 1959, however, the Honda Motor Company launched
their motorcycle at the US market and already in 1966, they had gained 63 % of the market and
became the market leader. Motorcycle registrations increased from 575,000 in 1960 to 1,382,000
five years later.

The Japanese success at the U.S. market was phenomenal and became the object of many
discussions in the business world as well as among leading academics. How and why did the
Japanese succeed so well at the US market compared to their competitors (e.g. the British
experienced a decline from 49% to 9% in the US Motorcycle Industry during the period 1959 to
1973)?

Literature:

“The Honda Effect” by Mintzberg, Pascale, Goold and Rumelt, California Management Review
1996, vol. 38, no. 4, p. 78-117

The case: ”The Honda Effect” is a famous symposium in the management literature, written by
Mintzberg, Pascale, Goold and Rumelt. It offers different and even contradictory explanations on
the same phenomenon: “the Honda effect”.
Assignment on the Honda Case

Read the case and discuss in study groups:

Session 3, Exercise, Tuesday 23 Sep.:

Answer the following questions with a point of departure in the analytical approach:

1) How will you describe the methodological approach /

arguments underlying the BCG and Goold’s explanation of Honda’s performance
in the U.S. market?
- That is, what are the ontological, epistemological and
methodological bases of the explanation provided?

2) What are your assessments of the explanations

provided by BCG and Goold?

Session 5, Exercise, Friday 3 Oct.:

Answer the following questions with a point of departure in the systems approach:

1) How will you describe the methodological approach /

arguments underlying Mintzberg’s and Pascale’s explanation of Honda’s
performance in the U.S. market?
- That is, what are the ontological, epistemological and
methodological bases of the explanation provided?

2) What are your assessments of the explanations

provided by Mintzberg and Pascale?

Session 7, Exercise, Friday 10 Oct:

Answer the following questions with a point of departure in the actors approach:

1) How will you describe the methodological approach / arguments underlying the
Japanese leaders’ explanation of Honda’s performance in the U.S. market?
- That is, what are the ontological, epistemological and
methodological bases of the explanation provided?
2) What are your assessments of the explanations provided by the Japanese leaders?