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Hon& of America has developed a comprehensive approach to teaching the principles of lean
production to its suppliers. The centerpiece of these efforts is a program called BP (for ?Best process?,
?Best Performance ?, ?Bs Practice?), in which a crossfunctional team of persomel born Honda and the
supplier work intensively for week or even months on narrowly-targeted improvement projects in the
supplier?s plant. BP has been quite successfid in enhancing supplier performance; suppliers participating
in the program in 1994 avmge~ productiviw gains of 50?/0 on lines reengineered by BP. However,
Honda found there was high variation in the extent to which suppliers were able to transfer the lessons
taught beyond the line or plant where the BP intervention occurred. We explore the reasons for this
variatio~ touching on how the BP process interacts with the broader relationship between customer and
supplier, organizational learning, technology transfer, and the transplantation of Japanese management
practices to the U.S. The case studies we present of three of Honda?s U.S. suppliers illustrate the
dynamics of the learning process and the complex relationship that emerged between ?teacher? and
?student?. We found that achieving self sufficiency with the lean production techniques taught by BP is
more likely when the supplier has a moderate degree of identification with and dependency on the
customer. If these are too hi~ the supplier will be tempted to continue to rely on the customer for
assistance; if they are too low, the learning relationship may break down. It appears that Honda has
achieved the most supplier self reliance with larger U.S.-owned companies, who have an identity as
strong, competent actors, and thus try to reduce dependence on Honda by mastering the new knowledge
quickly. Yet these larger suppliers may be less responsive to Honda?s needs that small-to-medium
suppliers whose capabilities can be boosted through Honda?s supplier development activities. |
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