General Motors is DONE!!!!

[oddballer]

that was a good article. 20 years later and its still very applicable. it reminds me of the famous canoe race. this is brilliant. sad but true...



A Japanese company (Toyota?) and an American company (General Motors?) decided to have a canoe race on the Missouri River. Both teams practiced long and hard to reach their peak performance before the race.

On the big day, the Japanese won by a mile.

The Americans, very discouraged and depressed, decided to investigate the reason for the crushing defeat. A management team made up of senior management was formed to investigate and recommend appropriate action.

Their conclusion was the Japanese had 8 people rowing and 1 person steering, while the American team had 8 people steering and 1 person rowing.

Feeling a deeper study was in order, American management hired a consulting company and paid them a large amount of money for a second opinion. They advised, of course, that too many people were steering the boat, while not enough people were rowing.

Not sure of how to utilize that information, but wanting to prevent another loss to the Japanese, the rowing team's management structure was totally reorganized to 4 steering supervisors, 3 area steering superintendents and1 assistant superintendent steering manager.

They also implemented a new performance system that would give the person rowing the boat greater incentive to work harder. It was called the "Rowing Team Quality First Program", with meetings, dinners and free pens for the rower. There was discussion of getting new paddles, canoes and other equipment, and extra vacation days for practices and bonuses.

The next year the Japanese won by two miles.

Humiliated, the American management laid off the rower for poor performance, halted development of a new canoe, sold the paddles, and canceled all capital investments for new equipment. The money saved was distributed to the Senior Executives as bonuses and the next year's racing team was out-sourced to India.

The End

 

[Marius]

that was a good article. 20 years later and its still very applicable. it reminds me of the famous canoe race. this is brilliant. sad but true...



A Japanese company (Toyota?) and an American company (General Motors?) decided to have a canoe race on the Missouri River. Both teams practiced long and hard to reach their peak performance before the race.
....

Humiliated, the American management laid off the rower for poor performance, halted development of a new canoe, sold the paddles, and canceled all capital investments for new equipment. The money saved was distributed to the Senior Executives as bonuses and the next year's racing team was out-sourced to India.

The End

Oh man, so true

 

[jcardona1]

yeah its true perhaps, but i dont think you can sit back and allow these big companies to fail. there are too many jobs on the line. can you imagine what would happen if all these jobs were lost given the present state of our economy?

it could be the final, crushing blow

 

[lucy42083]

Very true, but at the same time, can the country afford another multi billion dollar bailout? And then how many more will there be? But especially of a company like GM, which has been doing so poorly for so long. The writing was on the wall for GM before our current economic crisis took hold. I agree that the loss of jobs would be absolutely devastating...but sometimes things have to get a little worse before they get better. I would not be happy if the gov't bailed out GM and let them continue with their current leadership and business model that has been failing for a long time. The only alternative would be for the government to completely takeover and restructure the company, - and especially with the current shift in power, I think the American people will cry socialism if the government starts taking over more private companies. I think in the long-term, multiple billion dollar bailouts of private companies that failed will not work.

 

[jcardona1]

yeah i dont know. i really dont know what can be done. i dont like bailouts either. i believe in free markets, but these are special circumstances.

ive gotten kind of numb to all of this lately. i dont even know how to react anymore! like with gas prices...gas right now is $2.20ish around me. i cannot remember how many years its been since gas was so low. and you know what, its scary. i dont know what to think. i dont know why its so low and i dont think it will last. i guess i felt better paying $4+ per gallon

 

[jcardona1]

yeah i dont even know how a president can sleep at night during these times. whats unsettling is that people are expecting the president to push a button and fix everything. and thats not how it works and how it will happen. it will be years before we're back on our feet. it could be in the next presidency, or even the one after that.

its not gonna be soon i can tell you that

 

[Nic]

yeah i dont know. i really dont know what can be done. i dont like bailouts either. i believe in free markets, but these are special circumstances.

ive gotten kind of numb to all of this lately. i dont even know how to react anymore! like with gas prices...gas right now is $2.20ish around me. i cannot remember how many years its been since gas was so low. and you know what, its scary. i dont know what to think. i dont know why its so low and i dont think it will last. i guess i felt better paying $4+ per gallon

gas got real cheap by me as well.... my friend just filled several very large containers cause he is expecting its to atleast double as the holidays come...

 

[Nic]

the economy bothers me with ford and chevy going down... stock market isnt that great... are we really set up for a 2nd great depression.. i think there are alot of mistakes that were made this year. and unfortunatly we are about to pay very dearly for them....

 

[Mattyou]

Ford and GM can't compete with the import manufacturers because they are saddled with the auto workers union that makes an average of $30 an hour more than laborers at the japanese companies American factories. This disparity causes them to either be overpriced or put out a low quality product. I will not buy another American made vehicle until the union is dead.

Unions are outdated and have forced the prices up. Why not move your plant to Canada or Mexico to get out from under the Unions??

 

[JD7.62]

Speaking of gas, i filled up at $1.97 last night!! It was the first time since highschool I can remember filled up my car from near empty for less then $20!!