ABSTRACT
Frank Stronach was a machine worker who arrived in Canada in 1954 with only a few dollars in his pocket. Canadians have still not developed the knowhow to add value to primary resources in order to manufacture and market successful products competitively. Stronach immediately saw that the few manufacturers trying to make a go of it were stalled for reliable supplies of components. His Magna International is now one of the biggest auto parts makers, employing 115,000 in 6 countries. Stronach exemplifies the old-fashioned virtues of hard work, common sense, fairness, clear-mindedness, attention to quality, and helpfulness. Japan was plagued by devastation from earthquakes and a tsunami in 2011, on one hand, and a nuclear plant meltdown on the other. Machikoba are small business enterprises that developed from artisan forebears to which bigger companies outsource the manufacturing of components in which they specialize and have made themselves dependable, if not indispensable. Machikoba are described as the underpinnings of Japan's economy.
