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Nissan's operations management viz-a-viz other two Japanese automobile giants

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Nissan's operations management viz-a-viz other two Japanese automobile giants
13-149
August 27, 2013

Nissan Motor
Resiliency

Company

Ltd.:

Building

Operational

William Schmidt, David Simchi-Levi

On March 11, 2011 a 9.0-magnitude earthquake, among the five most powerful on record, struck off the coast of Japan. Tsunami waves in excess of 40 meters high traveled up to 10 kilometers inland and three nuclear reactors at Fukushima Dai-ichi experienced Level 7 meltdowns. The impact of this combined disaster was devastating, with over 25,000 people dead, missing or injured.1 Governments, non-government agencies, corporations and individuals in Japan and around the world responded with relief teams, supplies and donations to help ease the suffering and support the recovery.2 In truth, the disaster was three calamities in one – an earthquake, a tsunami and a nuclear emergency. Recovering from such a catastrophe was unprecedented.
The event was not just a humanitarian crisis, but also a heavy blow to the Japanese economy: 125,000 buildings were damaged and economic costs were expected to be ¥16.9 trillion.3 In the weeks following the disaster, approximately 80% of Japanese automotive plants suspended production and
Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities estimated utilization at other plants were below 10%.4

1

Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Government of Japan, http://www.mofa.go.jp/j_info/visit/incidents/index2.html, accessed July 15, 2012.

2

Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Government of Japan, http://www.mofa.go.jp/j_info/visit/incidents/pdfs/r_goods.pdf, accessed July 15, 2012.

3

Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, Government of Japan,

http://www.kantei.go.jp/foreign/policy/documents/2012/__icsFiles/afieldfile/2012/03/07/road_to_recovery.pdf, accessed February 27, 2012.
4

Tsuyoshi Mochimaru, “Auto sector: Our Stance in Wake of Recent Earthquake,” Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities Co., Ltd., April 12, 2011.

This case was prepared by David Simchi-Levi, MIT Professor of Civil and
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