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I know one thing that went dreadfully wrong. In the 1950s a man named Edwards Demming presented a management concept to American industry (INCLUDING the auto industry in Detroit) called Organizational Behavior. The U.S. auto industry, and IBM (among others) turned their noses at him and sent him away.

So he went to Japan, which was RIPE for his concepts. They were willing to hear him and adopt his new concepts as they were in the midst of rebuilding and recovering from world war two. You probably remember when the "funny looking" little Japanese cars starting appearing on American roads in the early 1970s...and how the U.S. auto industry turned their noses at them and told us how they were a passing fad. But by the late 1980s the Japanese had become a serious threat to the U.S. auto industry.

Edwards Demming is probably the single most responsible person for the success of the Japanese automotive and technology industries.

In truth, organizational behavior has been adopted throughout a goodly portion of American business and industry today. But Demming was able to reach Japan after world war two with it first.

The photos are a direct reflection of the results of Japan adopting and applying innovation and change correctly (with help from Mr. Demming) and the U.S. staying with industry killers such as the UAW.