tarior
A Japanese auto company and GM decided to have a canoe race .
> Both teams practiced long and hard to reach their peak performance
> before the race.
>
> On the big day the Japanese won by a mile. Afterward, the American
> team became very discouraged and morally depressed. The American
> management decided the reason for the crushing defeat had to be found.
> 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 one person rowing.
> So American management hired a consulting company and paid them an
> incredible amount of money. They advised that too many people were
> steering the boat, while not enough people were rowing.
>
> To prevent losing to the Japanese again next year, the rowing team's
> management structure was totally organized 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 15 hour per day meetings,
> dinners and free pens with the company logo for the rower. Even new
> paddles
> and medical benefit incentives were promised for a winner. We must give
> the
> rower the empowerment and enrichments through this Quality Improvement
> Program.
>
> 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 management.
Henry Lavrenz
MAKES YOU WONDER HOW WE WON THE WAR!!! Hankrod
tarior
It's just amazing how the American big business attitude has changed in only 50 years.
Goose
Remember a post I made earlier about the two thngs wrong with this country today ?? Greed and Apathy.. Well this is further proof. it will take a huge flush to remove the pinheads in corporate America who sold our manufacturing capabilities overseas for a "personal profit". (And in this I include the "corporate " Union leaders.. they are all the same.
tarior
I'm afraid it will get much worse before it ever gets better. :smile: :(:
eight
It's not the corporate people's fault. The blame should go to the politicians and environmentalists that make producing things in our country so expensive, while making it easier and cheaper to import foreign goods. If our corporations didn't go oversees for production, they'd go under and we wouldn't even get the white collar jobs and money they still provide us.
Looking forward to the fuel shortages of next year when diesel sulfur content is regulated even more. One of the refineries decided to stop selling diesel here, and will be shipping it all to mexico.
John Martinez
Well it all the above. Collages put out MBA that can only look at balalnce sheets and could not build or develop a product if they wanted to. They are trying to be entrpanuers with Zero skills, no street shmart etc.
Secondly, Corporate American in only into one thing, increase in stock value for the short term. So, they do a lot of stupid thing to increase the value of the stock, of course which they have lots of. Even when the compeny looses money the ae giveing millions of dollars. Stupid.
Then you have the government the stick its nose in business instead of letting the maket kick these stupid people in the teeth. Then when someone is really good and scares hell out of the Japanes, Chnese, Eropean they sue them...like Microsoft and Oracle.
Finally the goody goody politicians hook up with enviornmentalists who have no sence for compative global business and put all kinds fo rules that China, South America, Far Eas, India and Africa dont care about . Thus throttleing our competativness.
So, we ahve all the above being correct. Excepting those stupid MBA's that went mentioned.
Phil
Kinda reminds me of the story how during the "space race" both the U.S. and Russian engineers realized that a standard ball point pen wouldn't work in space due to vacume, temp extreams, ect.
The Americans formed a commitee and spent alot of cash to come up with a pen that would work.
The Russians used a pencil.
Some times it seems that very bright people can be very dumb.
