History is subject to interpretation; so are business successes and failures. However ex-post justifications of the latter have proved more profitable. This essay explores the theoretical and methodological issues in drawing general lessons from case studies of success, with particular reference to Honda's successful penetration of the US market in the 1960s.

This essay offers a critical theory and post - modernist approach. Critical theory questions the central features of such recipes for success, the historical and social contexts from which they emerged and the purposes and functions that it may serve. Post - modernism can be seen as an extension of critical theory but has added the dimension of power to knowledge and argues that the two are no separable [Foucault].

In 1946, the Honda Technical Research Institute was established by Sochiro Honda and his partner, Takeo Fujisawa. Having succesfully established itself in the Japanese market, Honda entered the US market in 195

· The most prominent is the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) Report. The report states that Honda maximised experience curve economies - low costs at high production volumes. As a result, American and British motorcycle manufacturers withdrew from certain market segments.

· Prahalad and Hamel introduced the concepts of strategic 'intent', 'stretch' and 'core competence'. These they feel were the necessary factors for success.

Formulating recipes for success based on past success presumes that the future perfectly emulates the past. Common sense will tell us that this may not necessarily be true. Rhetoric will also infer the same. In a dynamic and competitive business environment, factors that affect an organisation will not be static. Consumers tastes change. In the Post-Industrial era, consumers were more affluent. Hence, they demanded more than a standardised product produced by mass-production. Firms had to change from a product oriented approach, of the 'mass production era' to one that is market oriented [Ansoff, 1988]. Thus as Ansoff says,

There are two competing views in strategy formulation: (1) the 'planning' school, and (2) the learning school. For the 'planners', strategy formulation is a deliberate, rational and linear process where ends are first specified. In this case, structure follows

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Approximate Word count = 894
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)