ese automobiles in the American market is not fully explained by cost differentials. Many American buyers think, justifiably or not, that the Japanese product is similar to the American product. Again, such perceptions are largely the result of the ways in which the Japanese automobile manufacturers incorporate marketing into their overall programs, as opposed to the ways in which this process is handled in the American automobile manufacturing industry.
To a great extent, the superior production management and the superior marketing management practiced by Japanese automobile manufacturers have their roots in the United States. Edwards Deming developed an approach to production management in the United States in the 1940s that was shunned by American automobile manufacturers until it was almost too late. The Japanese automobile manufacturers, however, sought Deming's advice, and put his principles into practice.
Similarly, American marketing theorists long ago defined several concepts of marketing, and identified their
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