Halberstam's 'big concept' here is as follows:
Beginning of car industry:
Ford (and U.S.) - Good!
Nissan (and Japan) - Flat on their backs or making scooters, lawnmowers, surviving WWII, etc.
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In the 50s and 60s:
Ford / US - Good! (but overconfident, cocky, arrogant)
Nissan (then Datsun) / Japan - Bad (making cars on equivalence with cheap transitor radios)
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By mid-80s (the book was published in 86):
Ford (as proxy for US economic model) - Bad! (Hubris brings great fall, etc.)
Nissan (as proxy for Japanese economic model) - Good! (Height of Japanese bubble economy and 'The Japan that Can Say No')
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By mid-90s (Book starts to look very dated):
Ford - Ascendant! (tenures of Red Poling, Alex Trotman put Ford back on top)
Nissan - Collapsed! (popping of Japanese bubble economy; Nissan loses touch with consumers, bleeds red ink)
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2002 (Book regains its relevancy):
Ford (as proxy for US) - Punch-drunk fighter stumbling around taking an eight-count after brain-dead Jacque Nasser era
Nissan (as proxy for Japan) - Firing on all cylinders worldwide thanks to amazing leadership of Carlos Ghosn
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It is worth noting that contrary to Halberstam's premise, Nissan is succeeding *despite* the Japanese model, not because of it. [Ghosn's real success has been his attack against long-held Japanese core principles such as guaranteed lifetime employment.]
What would be great would be a re-release of 'The Reckoning' with about a 75- to 100-page update by Halberstam bringing the events of the last 16 years into focus vis-a-vis the original premise of his 1986 publication.
It's true, however, that since this book was written, the Japanese have made many of the same mistakes they once criticized U.S. business for: buying trophy properties, overspending, not facing economic reality. However, through all this, the amazing thing--often overlooked--is their quality has not slipped. They still make excellent cars (and cameras and TVs and stereos and...). Their school kids still do math that fatigue our graduate students. Their factories are still models of efficiency.
What's fascinating about this book, though is how it shows the ways culture dictates success and failure. We were not willing to change our ways, even when it was obvious that, by not doing so, we were sacraficing our future. But the same was true of the Japanese for much of Nissan's history. Many of their best ideas--cars with stronger engines, cars with better styling, the Z--were almost accidents rather than planned. Just as with Henry Ford a generation earlier, they thought they could dictate the market. It wasn't true then and it's not true now.
Halberstam is a gifted writer, and although he may have been a little snowed at times, seeing the Japanese, as so many did then, as invincible supermen, he still penetrates the mysteries of both U.S. and Japanese big business in ways few other writers ever have. This is a fascinating look behind corporate closed doors--both Asian and American. For that reason alone it is required reading for anyone interested in the business world. And the way Halberstam writes, it is never dull reading, either, even though the book is close to 800 pages.