How must economics change if it is to become a force for leading us away from catastrophe rather than toward it?
from Katharine Farrell
Georgescu-Roegen’s call, echoed by many of his contemporaries, and today paid lip service to by most, if not all economist, was to give serious analytical attention to representing the role of biological dynamics in economic process. It was expressed in large part through his detailed and repeated reference to the second law of thermodynamics, which served as the basis for his proposal to radically reconfigure the mathematical foundations of economic analysis: because economic process is intended to bring about qualitative change, which is frequently irreversible and which “eludes arithmomorphic schematization” (Georgescu-Roegen, 1971, p. 63). This means that accurate representation of the dynamics of economic process must include theory that addresses the structure of the relationship between qualitative and quantitative elements. While there is not sufficient space to unpack the point here in detail, that position, which includes postulates regarding the relationship between time, space and human intentionality, is closely linked to a second position that underpins his elaboration of an alternative analytical economics methodology – the flow-fund theory.
Using flow-fund theory, which replaces the stock, flow, fund distinction used in conventional economic analysis, with a flow-fund distinction that depends on the spatial and temporal boundaries of the economic process in question (Farrell and Mayumi, 2009; Silva-Macher and Farrell, 2014; Farrell and Silva Macher, 2017), makes it possible to construct complex, functional analyses that continue to represent the basic features of economic process, while making explicit the role of intentionality in their delimitation and also providing a means to include ecological elements and dynamics, which cannot be accurately represented in monetary units. The two propositions at the heart of Georgescu-Roegen’s flow-fund theory, to make analytical space: 1) for the representation of biodynamics and 2) for the role of purpose in delimiting the boundaries of an economic process, rest at the core of what he referred to as “bioeconomics”, (Georgescu-Roegen, 1986; Mayumi and Gowdy, 1999). Mayumi (2009, p. 1237) describes this as “a new style of scientific thought… that combines elements of evolutionary biology, institutional economics and biophysical analysis associated with energy and mineral resources.” At a most basic level, I would say, the work of Georgescu-Roegen needs to be taken far more seriously by mainstream and conventional heterodox economists than it has been to date. Precisely because it implies the need for a radical break with convention, it has been left to the side or cherry picked. It is well past time for that to change.
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Real-World Economics Review Blog 
Hey, Steve Keen is working on placing thermodynamics into economics. Something around energy being in the production function. I hope Steve reports on his current work in RWER at some point in the future.
Keen, who I believe is the best economist on the planet, will undoubtedly advance our knowledge with his new line of research. He’s really good at discovering and defining problems. Discerning the resolution of them of course is another matter. He looked directly at the present monetary paradigm when he declared that DSGE ignored money, banks and debt, but still failed to perceive it or the new paradigm. It’s a classic example of the unconsciousness of present paradigms and the near clueless-ness that the present dominant paradigms for inquiry of reductionist objective science afflict us with. Blake’s “single vision” for all of its delightful knowledge and power is filthy rags set next to wisdom and its integrative capabilities and insights.
Very nice words & intentions, paving the way to where? How can a bio-economics use biodynamics for analyzing human cultural activity without including ethical factors and qualitative ecometrics?
I’m sure it would amuse the only winners of the financial Winners Take All social game AKA Plutonomy. They might even laugh so hard they stop playing musical deck chairs — as their Titanic ship of state tilts further toward its fate.
Just two concerns about your article. First, when a “a new style of scientific thought… that combines elements of evolutionary biology, institutional economics and biophysical analysis associated with energy and mineral resources” is proposed, we need to recognize this must involve the re-education of just about every economist in the world. No economics department in the world is likely to provide any such education. Second, considering no. 1 above, wouldn’t this offer a good opportunity to eliminate a generally useless and sometimes harmful academic field, economics and replace it with a field more useful. Such as applied biophysical analysis or ecological institutional economics? Just asking!
The humanities include ancient and modern languages, literature, philosophy, history, human geography, law, politics, religion, and art. Scholars in the humanities are “humanity scholars” or humanists.
Where do the arts and humanities fit into this brave new world of applied biophysical analysis or ecological institutional economics in the education..
Marianna Wertz uses the classical education of the Prussian educational reformer, Humboldt, to make a point that education of the leadership classes is not about knowledge, but their character.
She wrote “Wilhelm von Humboldt’s reforms of the Prussian school system were thorough-going and revolutionary. They produced the best-educated citizenry that any nation has ever known—a fact which is universally acknowledged.
What was the secret? His reforms were based on Humboldt’s understanding, as a student of philology, of the universal role of language in the development of the human mind. Philology, whose Greek root means “love of words,” pertains to the study of comparative language. In particular, Humboldt centered his reforms on mastering the language of the Golden Age of Greece, which Humboldt himself mastered by the age of eighteen.
In an age when not only are Greek and Latin no longer taught, but when a student is lucky to learn one foreign language, Humboldt’s proposals may sound utopian. But the study of classical languages goes to the heart of the problem we face today in answering the question: Why can’t Johnny read?
Humboldt wrote, in a letter to his wife Caroline, “It is only through the study of language that there comes into the soul, out of the source of all thoughts and feelings, the entire expanse of ideas, everything that concerns man, above all and beyond everything else, even beauty and art.”
He held that “Language is deeply entwined in the intellectual development of humanity itself, it accompanies the latter upon every step of its localized progression or regression; moreover, the pertinent cultural level in each case is recognizable in it. … Language is, as it were, the external manifestation of the minds of peoples. Their language is their soul, and their soul is their language. It is impossible to conceive them ever sufficiently identical… . The creation of language is an innate necessity of humanity. It is not a mere external vehicle, designed to sustain social intercourse, but an indispensable factor for the development of human intellectual powers, culminating in the formulation of philosophical doctrine.”
As to the study of classical Greek, Humboldt, in an autobiographical fragment written when he was nearly fifty, emphasized the role that the study of the classics had in his own development: “I have always had a revulsion against interfering in the world and an urge to stand free of it, observing and examining it. This led me naturally to feel that only the most unconditional self-control might give me the standpoint outside the world that I should need… . These notions were first awakened in me by antiquity, later they kept me in relation to the ancients for evermore.”
Robert, anthropologists study people in their everyday settings. At one time anthropologists’ studies showed a common set of customs and norms, along with a common language were the hallmarks of a culture. That is no longer the case. Following the end of WWII cultures emerged that were segmented and layered. With different arrangements of customs for different situations and variations of language depending on such things as occupation, wealth, church, ethnicity, etc.
The pattern for immigration to the US had been the same since the beginning of the 19th century. New immigrants were noticeable in their ignorance of American language and customs, their children were generally bi-lingual and bi-cultural, and their children seemed no different (in public) from other Americans. That pattern is now changing, with new immigrants retaining more pre-immigration culture and language and taking on less American language and culture. Anthropologists have noticed and looked at the changes. Some historians also. But few social scientists, and even fewer economists. But ordinary citizens noticed. As did the Republican party in deciding its campaign approaches.
When I listen to the Democratic candidates for the presidency, I hear people who speak normal U.S. English, who are assimilating into US culture. I see no difference about aspirations to succeed in America. I once had a football player at the univ. of nebraska, who spoke two languages, that of the guetto and that of the university. He got along fine.
Robert, not certain what point you want to make. Anthropologists, like all of us sometimes get stuck in ruts. Assuming we know what culture is and how it works is just one mistake anthropologists have made. As is assuming we know what language is and how it works in relation to culture. When we follow people they very often surprise us. That’s what makes anthropology so much fun. People should lead always. Not anthropologists or any other social scientist. They create what we only observe and report.
On events today, I’ll just note that at least three separate American cultures oppose one another. We can see the overlap clearly, but also the bright divisions. And each uses a language at least in part not comprehensible to the others. More interesting each is inventing new language and new ways to use old language.
We’re on the same page. I always start with the people involved, not with the social scientists. When I sought information about denys benoist’azy, 1797=1880, leading royalist, I wrote to the family and got myself invited to the family chateau where the family papers were stored. I found the papers of the forges and foundries of alais in the attic, was given permission to read them, edited the correspondence which revealed a lot about the industrialization of france; Madame Brot, in charge of business history at the archives nationales took an interest in my project, and we got permission of the family to place these papers in the french national archives, where they are available now. How is that not only for going to the sources, but creating them for use by historians. What I learned from reading this correspondence ran counter to the new economic history people were pushing in the 1960s and 1970s to reinterpret the industrial development of France and the U>K. Then I started reading engineering periodicals in Germany for the late 19th century, to discover that the engineers were quoting the works of business economists. Why, I thought, would they do that, and who were these business economists. I started reading their periodicals to discover that a new field of academic inquiry was being developed in Germany, Betriebswirtschaftslehre. If I had started reading the economists I would only have found the german historical school. by reading the engineers, I found an academic revolution going on..
Thank you, Robert. Wonderful story. I love the excitement of following and learning.
The Toyota Production System and ethics. Why the study of the humanities are important and ignored on the rwer blog.
TPS is not a complete set of ethics. It doesn’t need to be. If you look closely you will see that TPS evolved out of the religious and ethical traditions of Japan. There are elements of Zen, Shinto and Tao embedded in the mechanics of TPS and these traditions are broader than the business world. TPS enhances our moral and religious traditions with rules and philosophies for how we should treat our customers, suppliers, employees, and even the products and services we provide. In the West, we have lauded business – even elevated it to a pseudo-religious status. TPS puts business in its place as an integrated part of the human condition.
What are the basic tenets of this system of ethics?
Principle 1: Respect Value
Value is not price or cost but rather the worth that your customer places in the products and services you provide them. This worth is related to cost, but they are different. It is important to remember that value can only come from the customer. Creation of value is the sole aim of business and all things that interfere with the creation of value should be avoided.
Principle 2: Respect for People
Value can only be created through human action. Most organizations mistakenly believe that employees are interchangeable and replaceable. What companies fail to realize is that there is an enormous amount of undocumented know-how in their employees. The mechanics of how to produce products can be captured but unless the emotional qualities of the business relationship are addressed, the product your company produces is ultimately a commodity subject to the whim of the market. To truly excel, we need to make our customers feel good about the business they do with us, and this demands a pride in workmanship.
When we respect all of the people in our value stream (including customers, employees, suppliers and regulators), we engage their minds in the products and services we sell. By engaging their minds and not just their hands, we drive ownership and passion for doing the right things. That passion for what is right translates into win-win solutions for everyone in the supply chain – and, therefore, creates value.
Research: How Companies Innovate
Principle 3: Respect for Time
Everything other than time can be purchased. Capital can be raised or retired. Employees can be hired and furloughed. Materials and equipment can be purchased and sold. But time is finite and unrecoverable; no more can be acquired and once spent it is gone forever. Time is the limiting commodity. Everything else can be warehoused, flexed up and down to meet demand, or recovered. All activities must be designed to make the absolute best use of time. Being sensitive to the finite resource of time, for all parties in the supply chain, is fundamental to process excellence.
Principle 4: Respect for Gemba
The gemba or workplace (note, this is a crude translation of the term) is the place and the systems that people use to generate all value. Value does not come into being through random acts; it must be purposefully constructed by employees and suppliers for customers. It is a complex social process bringing about the interaction of time, value and people. Knowing the gemba and living in the gemba is also fundamental to process excellence. The better we understand this complex interaction, the better we are at delivering value.
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Principle 5: Respect for Problems
Most companies equate process excellence with the elimination of problems but this is not necessarily a healthy stance. All processes will eventually have problems, it is the second law of thermodynamics – entropy increases. What differentiates quality organizations is how they deal with problems.
In Western society we don’t focus on our problems – we shun them. Problems are seen as barriers and impediments to excellence. If we practice TPS, however, we know that problems give us insight into the gemba. The presence of problems reminds us that we have more to learn about how our business works and gives us opportunities to improve the value we deliver to our customers. By embracing issues and solving our problems we improve the people, we improve the use of our time, we improve our gemba and we improve the value we are able to create.
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This is perhaps the most difficult challenge any organization faces when embracing Lean. Problems are not something to eliminate. We need to find all our problems. We need to study every problem and learn their lessons. Finally, we need to understand that we can never eliminate all the problems but we can manage them and use them to make us stronger.
Conclusion
Taiichi Ohno expanded these five tenets into TPS as did W. Edwards Deming with total quality management. They all deal, however, with the same key foundations. More importantly, it’s not the work we do, the products we make, or even how we do the job that’s important – what matters most is how we think about the job we do and for whom we do it.
Beginning in 2009 and continuing still today Toyota has gone through a series of recalls and investigations. Despite Toyota’s long record of building reliable, low-defect vehicles, public perceptions about quality are often greatly influenced by reports in the media and their overall timing. The public view can be at odds with the practical investigations. In the case of Toyota, there were clear indications that the quality level of its products had fallen off in recent years. What’s more, the changes had occurred during a period when many of Toyota’s competitors, including Ford, Chevrolet and Hyundai, were producing better and better cars. The key question was the source of Toyota’s problems: To what extent did they originate with the product designs and assembly, and to what extent could they be pegged to the company’s manufacturing systems? Multiple investigations by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Japanese Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, and the US Congress have thus far been unable to answer these questions. My own view is after we rule out driver error, the three most likely answers as follows. One, purchasers of Toyotas are driving them differently today than in the past. Two, that the many retirements of seasoned workers at Toyota has somehow modified production designs and assembly and or manufacturing protocols. Three, Toyota is not technically improving its hardware as quickly as necessary.
Robert,
That is an excellent spot on attempt to bring graceful and efficient mindfulness to production. Now if we’d simply bring that same concept to the monetary system…we’d have an integration that would usher in the new paradigm.
Just want to point out that mindfulness, like every other notion humans create is double edged. Clinical psychologists define mindfulness this way,
“For clinical purposes, mindfulness can be considered a distinct state of consciousness distinguished from the ordinary consciousness of everyday living. In general, a mindful state of consciousness is characterized by awareness turned inward toward present felt experience. It is passive, though alert, open, curious, and exploratory. It seeks to simply be aware of what is, as opposed to attempting to do or confirm anything.
Thus, it is an expression of non-doing, or non-efforting where one self-consciously suspends agendas, judgments, and normal-common understandings. In so doing, one can easily lose track of space and time, like a child at play who becomes totally engaged in the activity before her. In addition to the passive capacity to simply witness experience as it unfolds, a mindful state of consciousness may also manifest essential qualities such as compassion and acceptance, highlighted by Almaas, R. Schwartz and others; qualities that can be positively brought to bear on what comes into awareness.”
As far as it goes that’s okay. Certainly remaining calm and not going off the deep end in the face of adversity is a very useful skill. Some people prefer learning coping skills to accomplish this over medication, although there is nothing wrong with temporarily taking medications to decrease your reactivity either.
But mindfulness is useful for only some aspects of many problem situations — accepting things that one cannot change. What about changing the things that need changing? Where does the wisdom to know which things can be changed and which ones cannot come from, and how does one go about changing them?
People feel emotional pain for the same reason they feel physical pain: It is a signal to the person that something in the environment is wrong and needs attention. Take this simple story, for example. What if another person is walking next to you constantly stabbing you in the shoulder with a pen knife? If I am a doctor, I can give you an opiate so you don’t feel the pain, and you can go on with your life. But would it not be much better to get the guy with the knife to stop stabbing you? Mindfulness can’t accomplish this task.
Of course it can. Satori, samadhi, atonement is only the awakening to the wisdom of now-love, but grace is love IN ACTION, moment to moment, no matter the circumstance. Wisdom-grace is the best integration of the practical and the ideal. It is not simply inwardness it is increased outward awareness as well. A shao-lin monk might initially run away from some fool who was trying to stab him, but if he could not avoid the stabber you can bet he’d get a face full of foot eventually.
Craig, can it stop the guy with the knife?
If you’re not a shao-lin monk wisdom/dealing effectively with the present would be to run away and call 911 to report the idiot with the knife. Mindfulness/wisdom has many applications, no?
Don’t need mindfulness for that.
Of course you don’t, but if you don’t cultivate mindfulness you’re an idiot who will never know anything other than the unfocused and distracted state of “normal” consciousness even if you’re so erudite about intellectual matters you know every little jot and tittle….of data.
First, mindfulness is not mysterious. It’s one kind of meditation. There are others just as effective. Plus, medications can often provide the same insights as meditation. Second, there are many paths to improving focus. Some rather simple. Like a walk in the park. Finally, like most so called transcendentalism mindfulness has been oversold. It guarantees no new peace or insights. About the best it can assure is some peace of mind. Which still doesn’t help deal a lot with simple everyday problems.
Being in present time and looking at the entire economic process enabled me to see the potential power of a 50% discount/rebate monetary policy at the point of retail sale which has been there for literally centuries for economists to perceive. Unfortunately they’ve been off in delusional DSGE abstract theoretics and near mathematical fugue and so missed it. Put that together with my deciphering of the imminent and accomplished historical signatures of paradigm changes and my studies of the world’s wisdom traditions and you’ve got the heterodox aligned theory of the new monetary paradigm. Intellect informed with wisdom is the superior human mental discipline.
Craig, there’s nothing wrong with “being in present time.” But there also is nothing particularly good about it either. As an historian I can tell you that not being in present time is often just as insight producing. As to the particular insights you mention, they might be useful, or not. We won’t know that until they’re put into practice. That’s a big step. Practice changes everything. In practice what you want will be changed. What others want will be changed. Practice is a process of interactions and changes. Difficult to predict or control. No matter how mindful you may be.
Did we ever go back to nomadic hunting and gathering after the paradigm change of Agriculture/Homesteading? Back to handwritten information from machine mass production? Back to terra-centrism from helio-centrism?
I’m not talking about garden variety change, but rather paradigm change. Historically EVERYTHING adapts to a paradigm change NOT the other way around. And there are very good reasons for that like a new insight and/or a new tool has been discovered and tremendous survival potential is the result.
And when you study every historical paradigm change eventually one discovers that their effects are always aspects of the natural philosophical concept of grace.
Craig, you’re describing cultural change. And yes, cultural change can reverse. Much of the enlightenment ways of life are being reversed at this moment. Most of the changes would I think please you, based on your comments. None of these changes have anything to do with grace. But they do reflect Russian imperialism, the dissolution of the EU, and the rise once again of autocratic strongman governments and economies.
Of course its cultural change, or rather cultural disintegration. But why? Because the monetary paradigm hasn’t changed for the entire course of human civilization. You have to take the long historical perspective on money and debt. Consult Michael Hudson’s research.
Again, there is reformist, palliative cultural change and paradigmatic change which are two entirely different qualitative phenomena.
And an aspect or aspects of THE NATURAL PHILOSOPHICAL concept of grace characterizes the effects of every paradigm change in whatever area of human endeavor. Do the exegesis of the concept of grace and the effects of paradigm changes and discover that truth yourself.
Ken, do you known anything about the lean production Toyota Kata movement, which is a world-wide phenomenon. Can’t believe you do, if you write this stuff. The thing about continuous improvement is that Toyota is always engaged in it. The evidence is overwhelming.
Toyota has a museum section devoted to the recalls and customer deaths caused by defective design and/or manufacturing which serves to remind its employees of about the necessity of continues quality improvement; customers lives depend upon it.
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Toyota indeed is engaged in continuous quality improvement, both on the shop floor and from the top down in terms of corporate vision and intention to adopt leading edge technologies to become the number one mobility company on all levels globally.
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I have no doubt the entire data driven story is right there in Toyota’s museum for all to learn from, no real need for massive speculation, which always falsifies the object of its affections ;-)
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Toyota is serious about continuous quality improvement. They even now are bringing it to the organizational management level from the top down and transforming Japanese business culture in rather radical ways for Japanese companies.
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New laws requiring companies stop forcing their employees to do massive free overtime, let alone paid overtime, are recent.
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Many Japanese companies have not changed culturally, which is where the change is required, to truly meet the spirit of these new laws. For example, if the boss doesn’t leave early and go home to wife and kids (especially if they sit in their office or worse, require a close group of subordinates to go out drinking regularly) they are setting a poor example and subordinates will fear going home early themselves even when they are perfectly right to do so.
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Toyota is promoting women into its highest roles on the executive level and listening to them. When the boss is a female who leads by example sudden changes can happen and are happening as we speak. When a women executive from the highest level sets the example from the top people start working differently.
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In Microsoft open door policies are everywhere. Skip manager meetings are regularly requested, and one-on-ones are used extensively, and useful depending on maturity and skills of those using them. One-on-ones can be about anything in the universe; not just about work.
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These kinds of social habits and policy are utterly foreign in Japanese culture.
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By putting a bowl of chocolates on a desk on a floor of other desks (i.e., group) and inviting anyone to come have a one-on-one and chocolate anytime, for any reason, or to just have a chocolate, a flood of new information was forthcoming on numerous levels to many to narrate here, except to note one story led to making flextime universal for everyone and not just managers of a certain level. That was a major change for single mothers working for the organization and a real-time economic improvement in quality improvement in both performance and human wellbeing.
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Toyota did eventually get it right and face up to its failures and build lessons into its process of continuous quality improvement. New forms of transportation are inevitable. From autonomous vehicles to fleets or swarms of autonomous vehicles new modes of transportation are coming. It is no secret that many younger people would sooner get ride of their car than an mobile phone. Many choose to live in areas where vehicle ownership and parking are expensive, and would just as soon use a mobility service than own their own vehicle. From mass transit to group transit, new methods of travel are coming.
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An interesting side, Uber did terribly in Japan and will not be much of a player there. One might ask why? Yet, Japan, I bet, will be the first to have fleets of autonomous vehicles visiting remote villages with groceries and such integrated with a mobile payment system.
Abraham Katz, who owned a restaurant equipment manufacturing business, had operations in New York, in Japan, and in Manchester, when I interviewed him at the Dorchester in London. He had a habit of showing up unannounced in his firm outlets, to see what was really going on. In Japan, his employees were having a pep rally in a semicircle before his portrait; to look up and see the great man standing there before them His Japanese manager told Katz to present a single stem flower to each of his employees, which he did. Is that the chocolate bowl effect?
Ya, kind of like that …
Rob, it isn’t correct to say Toyota “face[d] up to its failures and buil[t] lessons into its process of continuous quality improvement” because thus far the sources of the problems that led to the recalls have not been identified. After they are identified then Toyota can work on efforts to remedy them or not, as it chooses.
Toyota does far more than just build cars. Many in the West don’t have much sense of the breadth and depth of Toyota’s investments in new technologies.
Robert, I’m surprised you would write this. Of course I’m familiar with Toyota’s reputation. But I want to present the entire story, as would any historian. I also know that historically most cultures fail. Including company cultures. What I write here is just reporting from the media (newspapers, etc.) and from the files of the NHTSA, MLI, and US Congress. If I’ve misrepresented any of this please let me know.
Don’t be upset Ken. It’s just that the study of continuous improvement is a long, never ending process, in which people have been involved beginning in the early 1980s worldwide, right up to today; where get-togethers in meetings about the Toyota Kata are commonplace. I hoped you would be more familiar with these events. I have been following them for forty years.
Robert, I’ve followed Japanese companies and management since the 1990s, but at a high level. Until about 2010 I had clients who asked questions about Japanese business practices and manufacturing/technology priorities. Then they began to ask about China instead. Most of my clients today are focused almost exclusively on China. Sorry, I assume there is more money to be made in China than Japan.
H. Thomas Johnson (2010) ‘Toyota’s Current Crisis: Focusing on Growth not Quality,” Systems Thinker, vol. 21, 1. 2-6.
According to Johnson, who knows a lot about the Toyota Kata, Toyota forgot its own rules.
Robert, forgot its own rules. Accidentally (don’t know how that happens) or on purpose (an even more disturbing possibility, particularly why?)
One more thing; I never believed that the attack on Toyota was anything more than US bull, to bring down a competitor; where does Toyota rank in the quality parade today. Is it surpassed by gm and ford?, both faltering producers, with real survival problems.
Robert, just about every car maker in the world today is under pressure. Lots changing all at the same time. From fuel mileage requirements to EVs to maintaining quality to the entrance of China into the sales of autos. Each year the cost of manufacturing increases and the margins for car makers declines. More R&D is needed each year and now we have a crazy US president. Toyota is doing better than most, but it’s plate is just as full as the others.
J D Power rankings 2018
Toyota Motor Corp.’s Yoshiwara plant (Japan), which produces the Lexus LX and Toyota Land Cruiser, receives the Platinum Plant Quality Award for producing models with the fewest defects or malfunctions. Plant quality awards are based solely on defects and malfunctions and exclude design-related problems.
Toyota Motor Corp.’s Cambridge North (Canada) plant, which produces the Toyota Corolla, and Georgetown 3 (Ky.) plant, (that Johnson studied for years), which produces the Lexus ES, each receive the Gold Plant Quality Award in a tie for the Americas region. BMW Group’s Dingolfing 02 (Germany) plant, which produces the BMW 6 Series and BMW 7 Series, receives the Gold Plant Quality Award for the Europe/Africa region.
Robert, sounds great. Now, what about the ordinary cars that most ordinary people purchase and drive? The Camry, Corolla, and Yaris. Did the plants that produce them win J.D. Powers awards?
The Canada plant, which produces the Corolla, did. In 2018 the top vehicle producer was the Volkswagen group, over 12% of world production. The Toyota Group, 2nd, just behind Volkswagen, then Renault-Nissan, GM no. 4. 8% of world production, and Ford, about 6%. It’s a far different ranking that it would have have been in 1980. I drive a Ford 150 pickup, the pickups are mainstays of us manufacturing, and a new Hyundai Kona, nice little car with 5 year warranties. Before that I had a Volkswagen product, a Skoda Superbe, which I bought in 2004 and drove for 11 years with minimum complaints.
Thanks, Robert. Too many cars being made for the top 10% that are high quality and defect free. Too many for ordinary citizens that are lower or very low quality with many defects and safety problems. Just another sign of a world filled to the brim with economic inequality and oppression.