This was sent to me this morning by my beloved sister-in-law… I plan on doing a bigger piece on this subject later/when I have time, so for now, here’s what was sent to me. You can see how it might give me ideas; as a brief preview: the entire point of Capitalism was that companies that saw successes or were useful to the American people (and thus saw successes) and could do either of these things WITHOUT the need for government intervention (aka Socialism) were able to survive and prosper in the general marketplace. Those that could NOT either changed the way they did business OR were doomed to failure and dissolution. Holding tens of thousands of American jobs hostage does not mean we should give the hostage taker what he wants; we should shoot his ass and free up his resources so that other, more honest businesses may flourish.
That’s right: I’m back, bitches.
A Modern Parable
A Japanese company (Toyota) and an American company (Ford Motors) decided to have a canoe race on the Mississippi 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 outsourced 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.
IF THIS WEREN’T SO TRUE IT MIGHT BE FUNNY.
also, there was an article stating that toyota also pays HALF the wage GM does. does it mean that GM’s union is too strong? possibly, but, sorry to say, many people prefer reliability of the asian cars…… I’ve had a toyota for years (even with its minor problems) I would still purchase another asian car….although, I kind of like the GM Acadia…;)