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A Modern Parable

 (source unknown)

A Japanese company ( Toyota ) and an American company (General 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 8 people steering and 1 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 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 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.

Sad, but oh so true! 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.

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