The following parable is probably not that far from the truth about the state of American car companies strategies...
A Modern Parable (sound familiar)
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 and 1 assistant superintendent steering manager.
They also implemented a new performance system that would give the 1
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, 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.
AI
