Counting the Cost

Kobe Steel: A scandal made in Japan

Japan’s third-largest steelmaker has admitted it faked data on parts used in cars, planes and trains.

Kobe Steel, Japan’s third-largest steelmaker, has admitted it faked data about the strength of products delivered to more than 200 companies in the past decade.

Kobe supplies components to industries where safety is vital – including car, train and aircraft producers. So this is an unsettling scandal for the transportation industry worldwide.

General Motors, Boeing, Toyota and Honda are among the firms checking their products and supply chains.

The manufacturer of the Japanese Shinkansen bullet trains says it’s already found parts supplied by Kobe that failed to meet industry standards. The 112-year-old metals manufacturer said further cases could come to light.

Florence Looi reports from Tokyo on the issues behind the scandal and the effect on Japan’s reputation.

Marcel Thieliant, an economist at Capital Economics, joins Counting the Cost to discuss the Kobe scandal and Japan‘s corporate culture.

“It’s definitely a grave threat to the company’s future … but there is a chance that they will recover from this,” Thieliant says.

“These companies have been around for a very long time and they are facing heavy competition from China and other countries. It’s also the corporate culture. Employees work there for a very long time … they don’t want to lose their jobs … They often work very long hours, so sometimes they might just do things to please their managers that isn’t in the best interest of the company in the long run … It’s been addressed … But changing the corporate culture takes longer than just imposing some rules and fulfilling them on paper.”

Also on this episode of Counting the Cost:

Bubble trouble: Why the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Richard Thaler, the “father of behavioural economics’ and winner of the Nobel Prize in economics, are signalling danger ahead for the global economy.

The IMF has spent the last decade trying to pick up the pieces after failing to predict the last financial crisis. This week, the IMF said nearly 75 percent of the world is now experiencing an upswing.

It’s predicting that the world’s economy will expand by 3.6 percent in 2017 and by 3.7 percent in 2018. That’s slightly higher than the 3.5 percent and the 3.6 percent growth that it was predicting back in July.

But the IMF also issued a warning: It said record-low borrowing costs designed to help the economic recovery are pushing up debt levels in the world’s largest economies. It singled out China as one of the worst offenders.

Shihab Rattansi reports from the annual World Bank, IMF meetings; and David Coker, a lecturer at the Westminster Business School, discusses the cracks in the global economy

Siemens vs Russia: German company Siemens is set to start legal proceedings against Russia about four power-generating turbines which Siemens sold to the Kremlin, and which have allegedly ended up in Crimea.

Crimea is subject to European Union sanctions on technology supplies, after Russia annexed the region three years ago. Al Jazeera’s Rory Challands reports from Crimea.

Trevi Fountain sponsored by Fendi: Why, without private investment, many of Italy’s most important monuments risk decay. Neave Barker reports from Rome.