Customer comments on this selection.
 If you knew the culture
While others may have somewhat panned this as being 'journal' and too 'individual focused', were they to understand Asian culture the book would have been an excellent read. I thoroughly enjoyed the book.
Asians by culture view things differently. To Asians it is 'the leader(s)' who is credited with successes of anything in the enterprise and this book does a fine job of interweaving how the various 'leaders' of Honda made things happen and what was their map to getting there.
In the west we like to think a leader had but vision for an idea, the technical staff made it successful due to their diligence and creativity, the factory workers and their ethic were creative and diligent, the marketing gang a 'gee whiz' operation, etc...where each level can then claim the 'honor' of making what became successful a success due to their individual efforts...and 'the whole' was just collateral. Not so in Asian culture!
In Asian culture, all levels subordinate believe that 'it is their job' to make the ideas of a leader into reality, that the leader simply understands that they will be doing their best in return for employment. Leader vision>>Goal Seeking>>Goal.
Written by an Asian, this book is a near case study in how the Asians would perceive the success of the 'Honda Story'. For readers who like to read the 'story behind the success' and who will be seeking stories of that other Asian country, China, learning to read to the structure of this book will make the stories of emerging Chinese global enterprises more understandable.
 Avoid
I am a Honda fan, and I bought this book to gain insight into the history of the company through its products. Unfortunately the book failed to deliver what I'd hoped for. It vaguely describes management decisions made through the years, and some of the top management personalities, and their roles in the company's fortunes. However, it is very repetitive and ungainly. In fact I can't believe that it has so many pages, and such small text, yet says so little.
Honda is a company which specialises in engineering, and the author of such a book should ideally have a good engineering background. Mr Sato obviously couldn't tell a piston from a conrod. Further to this, the translation into American English doesn't seem to be done by somebody who understands many of the concepts in the book either. Over and above this, it has way more than its fair share of spelling mistakes and grammatical errors. Avoid.
 Mythplaced
I agree with both the positive & negative. It is a long, repetitive and boring book with many technical & date errors; far too much unnecessary detail such as the names of hotels where meetings occurred. And yes, NO pictures or graphics of any kind! Having said that, I did learn a lot more about the Honda company, it's people & products, that I had not found elsewhere. As a Hondaphile, I will swallow anything Honda related. You have to remember that it was written by a Japanese journalist for Japanese consumption; detail is in their DNA. If you're in business, like me, there are some good philosophical lessons too. You've been warned.
 Journal with Strategic Insights
It reads like a diary or journal kept by some traveller moving through Honda...but through careful and diligent reading you can catch many of the formative insights that guided Honda through the constant changes.
This book is not a regular business management book, with issues presented in a structured manner. It's a reflection of the work ethic where hard work and long hours will pay off with brief but influential flashes of creativity.
 Honda Myth: Too Tedious and Repetitive
I was hoping this book would give a thorough background of Honda as a manufacturing entity. What it did was go into exhaustive, boring, tedious and repetitive detail on seemingly every executive that ever worked at Honda in a senior management level. There was precious little information on how Honda changed the face of motorcycling in the world during the 70s, hardly any useful information on the Acura brand and barely any mention of Honda's other product lines, such as ATVs, portable generators and power equipment.
I was also disappointed that a 475 page book with a small typeface and narrow borders did not have a single illustration, photograph, chart or the like. There is nothing but text in this book. It would have been nice to see a picture of a Honda Cub motorcycle, the H1300 car, the N360 'k' car, a diagram showing how the CVCC engine worked, etc. These topics were discussed over and over in the book, but there is nothing to illustrate them.
This book could have been half the length and covered the same material, because it repeats itself over and over, and sometimes contradicts the repeated material.
Overall, I was disappointed. It is a tedious read lacking in what I consider interesting information on Honda's products, while dwelling endlessly on certain executives and why they became president, vice president, etc.
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