Last month U.S. prosecutors announced charges against three former executives of Japanese supplier Takata for allegedly falsifying data to cover up a deadly airbag defect. The company has admitted to a 15-year cover-up, agreed to plead guilty to wire fraud, and will pay a $1 billion fine. Meanwhile, the faulty airbags have been linked to at least 16 deaths worldwide, and tens of millions have been recalled.
Industry-watchers trying to understand how this happened have their work cut out for them. A 2016 review found problems with the company’s organizational culture, and there’s evidence managers pressured workers to manipulate data. Too-rapid production growth and executive overconfidence may have played a role; at the same time, American lawmakers have blasted U.S. regulators for missing the problem for years.
Clearly, there’s plenty of blame to go around. But one potential -- and potentially controversial -- factor shouldn’t be overlooked: Every member of Takata’s board is a Japanese man.
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