[DeTomaso] allowing Detroit to fail

[Thomas Tornblom]

Working for a US company, but outside of the US, I must say that this 
story has a lot of merit.

I have been working for Swedish companies in the past, and the 
management philosophy of US and Swedish companies are like night and day.

Swedish companies tend to have a flat management structure, and all 
levels are more involved in the decision process. Employees are expected 
to take own initiatives.

I just checked and I have 8 levels of managers above me.

Need I say that the stock is at around 1/70 of what it was when it 
peaked in the summer of 2000?

Luckily I unloaded most stock and bought the 1984 GT5 in 2000. Had I 
kept the stock it would have been worth less than $800 today. :-|

Thomas


Rick Moseley skrev:
> A Modern Parable.
> 
> A Japanese company ( Toyota ) and an American company (Ford 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 7 people steering and 2 people 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, 2 area steering superintendents and 1
> assistant superintendent steering manager.
> 
> They also implemented a new performance system that would give the 2 people
> 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
> rowers. There was discussion of getting new paddles, canoes and other
> equipment, extra vacation days for practices and bonuses. The pension
> program was trimmed to 'equal the competition' and some of the resultant
> savings were channeled into morale boosting programs and teamwork posters.
> 
> The next year the Japanese won by two miles.
> 
> Humiliated, the American management laid-off one rower, halted development
> of a new canoe, sold all the paddles, and canceled all capital investments
> for new equipment. The money saved was distributed to the Senior Executives
> as bonuses. 
> 
> The next year, try as he might, the lone designated rower was unable to even
> finish the race (having no paddles,) so he was laid off for unacceptable
> performance, all canoe equipment was sold and the next year's racing team
> was out-sourced to India.
> 
> Sadly, the End.
> 
> Here's something else to think about: Ford has spent the last thirty years
> moving all its factories out of the US , claiming they can't make money
> paying American wages.
> 
> TOYOTA has spent the last thirty years building more than a dozen plants
> inside the US - The last quarter's results:
> 
> TOYOTA makes 4 billion in profits while Ford racked up 9 billion in losses.
> 
> Ford folks are still scratching their heads, and collecting bonuses... 
> 
> IF THIS WEREN'T SO TRUE IT MIGHT BE FUNNY
>  
>  
>  
> But don't worry we [the tax payer] we will bail them out so we can continue
> their mediocrity....
> 
> _______________________________________________
> 
> Detomaso Forum Managed by POCA
> 
> Archive Search Engine Now Available at http://www.realbig.com/detomaso/
> 
> DeTomaso mailing list
> DeTomaso at list.realbig.com
> http://list.realbig.com/mailman/listinfo/detomaso
> 
> !DSPAM:493ff5e76844021468!
> 


-- 
Real life:   Thomas Törnblom             Email:  Thomas.Tornblom at Hax.SE
Snail mail:  Banvallsvägen 14            Phone:    +46 18 444 33 21
              S - 754 40 Uppsala, Sweden  Cellular: +46 70 261 1372