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... and now wants the Government to 'bail them out."

IF THIS WEREN'T SO TRUE, IT MIGHT BE FUNNY..




c/22

Like most things the piecture is not pure balck and white.

Toyota Profits Tumble as Yen Soars
The Japanese automaker's projected earnings are down drastically from last year. And the drop at Toyota is even sharper than at Honda or Nissan
By Ian Rowley


In the auto sector, the bad news just keeps coming. On Nov. 6 in Tokyo, Toyota Motor (TM) announced results that were grim even in comparison to rivals Honda Motor (HMC) and Nissan Motor (NSANY), which recently cut their full-year earnings forecasts and now expect operating profits to plunge 42% and 51%, respectively. Speaking to reporters, Toyota Executive Vice-President Mitsuo Kinoshita said Toyota would make operating profits of $6.1 billion in the fiscal year ending in March 2009, a decrease of 73.6% from a year ago.

Kinoshita, casting blame on the strength of the Japanese yen, slumping U.S. and European markets, and high raw materials costs, said the current plight of carmakers was unprecedented. "The auto market is in a very severe situation," he said. To boost earnings in 2009 and 2010, Toyota has formed an Emergency Profit Improvement Committee, led by CEO Katsuaki Watanabe, which will search for new ways to trim costs and reevaluate the size and timing of all new projects.

Other Japanese automakers are feeling the pain of the currency's rise, too. Addressing the growing concerns, Honda CEO Takeo Fukui on Nov. 6 said the Japanese government should intervene to weaken the yen. "Foreign exchange has to stabilize," Fukui told reporters at the launch of new a minicar for the Japanese market.

Yugo, Toyota, Ford etc...hard to make money when no one is buying your product. Cheers

My post was a quote from an e-mail I received, not my particular POV, but me thinks some truth in it.....


c/22

does toyota make a sweet van?

they did back in the '80s, and it was available with 4wd!

must be what c/22 drives then