Background
The first son of blacksmith Gihei Honda and his wife Mika, Soichiro Honda was born on November 17, 1906, in rural Iwata-gun, Japan.
(Soichiro Honda,founder of the Honda Group, is a managemen...)
Soichiro Honda,founder of the Honda Group, is a management expert in Japan. His personal experiences proved that ""you have power if you have dreams"". He cherished the dream of making a car by himself one day at the moment when he saw a real car for the first time at Grade 2 in primary school. He left home to work as a mechanic in Tokyo when he was 16. He found an automobile repair plant when he was 22. He closed his plant and initiated his plan of making a car when he was 28. From the first piston ring to the first motor-assisted bicycle, from the first motor bike to the first car then to the first FI racing car, all the vehicles that he once made are running on the roads of the world now.
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The first son of blacksmith Gihei Honda and his wife Mika, Soichiro Honda was born on November 17, 1906, in rural Iwata-gun, Japan.
In 1922 he graduated from the Futamata Senior Elementary School.
Soichiro Honda began his career as an apprentice auto repairman for Arto Shokai, after which he established a branch shop for the firm in Hamamatsu. Honda also participated in auto races and became interested in cars and motorcycles. Soon he was experimenting with engines, and in 1928 he organized the Tohai Seiki Company to manufacture piston rings, some of which were sold to Toyota. During the 19306 it seemed his would become one of the hundreds of small shops that supplied the major companies in what still was a small domestic market.
Honda's business thrived during World War II, and after the war he tried to enter the personal motor business, a difficult task since the industry was virtually nonexistent. Realizing this, he designed and manufactured a small engine that could be attached to a bicycle to create a motorbike. The venture proved a great success. Encouraged, in 1948 he organized the Honda Motor Company. In the following year Honda manufactured a small motorcycle called the "Dream D" and prepared to enter the highly competitive (more than 20 firms at the time) Japanese market. Once again Honda did well, also invading foreign markets effectively. This was made possible through his advertising campaign, in which he altered the image of motorcycling, then widely perceived as a rough way to travel for young males and identified with gangs. Hondas were advertised as a proper vehicle for middle-class individuals of both sexes and all ages. Because of this, within a decade Honda was the leading motorcycle manufacturer in the world and had a larger share of the American motorcycle market than Toyota and Nissan (with its Datsun cars) had in automobiles. Now Soichiro Honda attracted press attention, and, unlike most Japanese businessmen, he loved it.
In fact, there are few large Japanese companies more American in style than Honda. Honda branched out into other industries in the late 19506. In 1958 he brought out a successful electric generator, but, more important, considered entry into the automobile industry. This was a time when the powerful Ministry of Trade and Industry (MITI) was trying to unite several small companies into a third large one to compete with Toyota and Nissan. MITI and the Department of Transportation tried to dissuade Honda from adding to the number of companies, but he persisted. The government and he were at odds ever thereafter. "Probably I would have been even more successful had we not had MITI, " he said. "MITI was incapable of making automobiles, but I was. " He won MITI's grudging permission by coming out with a very low-priced small sports car, the S 500, which was different from anything produced by the other companies. He followed it up with other sports models. His company was still very small.
In 1966 Honda produced 3, 000 cars, half of what Toyota was turning out in a week. That year Honda tested the international market by sending its sport scar, the S 800, to Europe. It was not popular. This was followed by forays into the mini car market, which in Japan traditionally was for first car buyers, and experienced another relative failure. Meanwhile, research on new engines produced the compound vortex controlled combustion engine (CVCC), based on a dual combustion chamber, which produced significantly less pollution and greater fuel economy than any other than in production. Honda sent his cars to America in 1970. The N 600 was far too small to attract many buyers, and the same was true of its successor, the AN 600. But its CVCC engine met all of the Environmental Protection Agency's requirements at a time when other cars had to use expensive and initially inefficient pollution control devices. Honda introduced the Civic to the American market in 1972. It was smaller than all other Japanese models sold in the United States, but, at a time when gasoline prices were starting to rise, it got 39 miles per gallon (mpg) on the road and 27 mpg in city driving.
It did better than the earlier Hondas, but in that year only 20, 500 sedans were sold. However, the consistently improved model sold more units each year in the 19706. In 1980 Honda sold 375, 000 cars in the American market, almost three times as many as Subaru and twice as many as Mazda but behind Toyota and Nissan. The reasons for this success were obvious. Honda combined high quality with efficiency and economy. But his small cars still appealed to a limited market. Always a maverick in the Japanese industry, Honda was the first to accept the idea of manufacturing in the United States. Part of the reason was his perception of the coming market for automobiles. Honda felt that in time the Americans might clamp down on imports, so he wanted to make certain he had production facilities in the United States which would enable him to escape such restrictions. Then too, he knew there was no possibility of taking leadership of the Japanese auto industry from Toyota and Nissan, so the logical place to seek sales was in Europe and the Americas.
In the late 1970s and early 1980s Honda set out to transform his car into a major exporter and producer overseas. He planned to become a true multinational or transnational, highly unusual for a Japanese company at that time. Honda succeeded admirably. In 1979 it opened a plant near Columbus, Ohio, to produce motorcycles, and an auto plant followed soon after, prompting other Japanese companies to follow his lead. In the late 1970s Toyota and Nissan sold one-third of their cars to the United States, while Honda sold half of his in that market. Honda Motors also enlarged the Civic to the point where it was approximately the same as the Toyota and Datsun and introduced successfully the larger Accord and sporty Prelude. Soichiro Honda did not directly supervise these introductions or the development of overseas plants in the United States and Europe.
He resigned in 1973, but stayed at the company as "supreme adviser. " Honda died of liver failure August 5, 1991, in a Tokyo hospital.
(Soichiro Honda,founder of the Honda Group, is a managemen...)
Quotations:
"Instead of being afraid of the challenge and failure, be afraid of avoiding the challenge and doing nothing. "
"We only have one future, and it will be made of our dreams, if we have the courage to challenge convention. "
"Enjoying your work is essential. If your work becomes an expression of your own ideas, you will surely enjoy it. "
"If Honda does not race, there is no Honda. "
"If you hire only those people you understand, the company will never get people better than you are. Always remember that you often find outstanding people among those you don't particularly like. "
"The value of life can be measured by how many times your soul has been deeply stirred. "
"What we learn through failure becomes a precious part of us, strengthening us in everything we do. So let the tough things make you tougher. "
"Success represents the 1% of your work which results from the 99% that is called failure. "
"There is a Japanese proverb that literally goes 'Raise the sail with your stronger hand, ' meaning you must go after the opportunities that arise in life that you are best equipped to do. "
"The day I stop dreaming is the day I die. "
"Many people dream of success. To me, success can only be achieved through repeated failure and introspection. "
"Real happiness lies in the completion of work using your own brains and skills. "
"Each individual should work for himself. People will not sacrifice themselves for the company. They come to work at the company to enjoy themselves. "
"Man is not interesting without some imperfection. "
A small, individualistic, loquacious man, he was the antithesis of what westerners imagined Japanese tycoons to be. For example, he promoted executives on the basis of performance rather than age, an unusual practice at large Japanese firms. Honda continued racing autos and motorcycles, wore slacks and red shirts to work, and took pride in maintaining his independence from the Japanese business establishment. He was quite democratic in his approach. "I associate with anybody-rich, poor, it doesn't make a difference. I prefer to have the principle of egalitarianism rather than a class distinction of people, " he told a reporter, and this could be seen in his free and easy way of living. Honda openly voiced his admiration of American business practices and way of life.
Soichiro Honda was married Sachi Honda and had a son Hirotoshi Honda.