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cw · Banned

A Modern Parable

A Japanese company ( TOYOTA ) and an American company (FORD Motor)
decided to have a canoe race on the Red 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 eight people rowing and 1 person
steering, while the American team had eight people steering and one
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 four steering supervisors, three area
steering superintendents and one assistant superintendent steering
manager.

They also implemented a new performance system that would give the one
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 .

Sadly, The End.

Here's something else to think about: FORD has spent the last 30 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 four billion in profits while Ford racked up nine
billion in losses.

FORD folks are still scratching their heads.