Toyota/GM Race - A Lesson

The 2010 Chevy Revolt

Inspired by Barack Obama

Toyota, the Japanese company and American General Motors decided to have a canoe race on the Missouri River as a gesture of their friendly competition. Both teams practiced long and hard to reach peak performance before the race

On race day, the Japanese won by a mile!

The American General Motors team, discouraged and depressed, investigated the reason for the crushing defeat. A management team including senior management people was formed to investigate and recommend appropriate action. 

Their conclusion was the Japanese had eight people paddling and 1 person steering, while the American team had seven people steering and two people paddling.  Too many chiefs and not enough indians!

Feeling a deeper study was in order, American management hired a 20 Ph.D. consulting company and paid them a one million Dollars for a second opinion.

In three months they submitted a 38 page study that revealed too many people were steering the boat, while not enough people were paddling.

Not sure of how to utilize that information, but wanting to prevent another loss to the Japanese, the paddling department's management group was totally reorganized to four steering supervisors, two area Steering Superintendents and one Assistant Superintendent Steering Manager.

They also implemented a new Performance System that would give the two people paddling the boat greater incentive to work harder. It was called the Rowing Team Quality First Program, with meetings, dinners and free pens for the paddlers. 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 Japan won by two miles.

Humiliated, General Management laid off one paddler, halted development of a new canoe, sold all the paddles on Ebay, and cancelled all capital investments for new equipment. The money saved was then distributed to the Senior Executives for "well deserved" bonuses.

The next year, try as he might, the lone designated paddler was unable to even finish the race, "...up the creek with no paddles," so he was laid off for unacceptable performance, all canoe equipment was sold and the racing team was out-sourced to India.

Sadly, The End.

Here's something else to think about:  GM spent the last 30 years moving many factories out of the US noting they cannot make money paying American wages, but the record shows GM never opposed any raise the union wanted.  They just raised the price and put more chrome on the new models.

TOYOTA spent the last 30 years building more than a dozen plants in the US in states that do not require they must have unions on deals that are permanent!

The last quarter's results:

TOYOTA makes $4 billion in profits in US operations while GM racked up $9 billion in losses and now their new lady CEO is closing 11 plants to stop making losing models instead of designing more desired and profitable cars.

GM management folks are still scratching their heads while collecting six and seven figure bonuses!

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This is not a unique or exceptional story of what is happening in America today.  We are harvesting the fruits of liberal socialism and they are bitter indeed, but are taught in colleges that graduate with $100,000, or more, indebtedness such that they cannot buy homes, have children as America spirals down to become another Venezuela.

Adrian Vance 

Thanks to Mike Favetti for the original contribution.