When you look at what’s happened to the American auto industry, it’s tempting to want to treat the Japanese unfairly—the way they treat us with their protectionist laws. Our auto industry doesn’t play on level ground. But I don’t think we should counter with protectionism because it doesn’t address the real problem: the quality of our product doesn’t compete with that of the Japanese, whether we want to admit it or not. The challenge is a great one for management. What they have to do is build a partnership with their people.
