[joke]GM vs Ford vs Toyota

[+Gary7 Subscriber²]

A Japanese company and an American company decided to have a canoe race on the Missouri River Both teams practised 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.

IF THIS WEREN'T SO TRUE IT MIGHT BE FUNNY

I wonder how GM stacks up? Anyone know?

Outsourcing is not the answer. Not in the auto industry or anywhere else.

[djDaemon]

How is this a joke (or, for that matter, true)? :huh:

[perochan]

yep, sadly it is true. japanese car companies are making money but americans are not.

[+Gary7 Subscriber²]

How is this a joke (or, for that matter, true)? :huh:

It says so in the OP. I also got it off of a joke type email. A joke does not have to be true. You don't have to think it is funny, I do.

Humour is a very...individual thing. What you may find hilarious may be deathly boring for others. Don't be offended, nor flame users should your particular brand of humour differ.

[Azusa]

tru dat.....

[qdave]

yep thats about right :p obviously americans wanting to get as much profit as possible dont get anything at all :p and whats worse-they dont learn.