A MODERN PARABLE

Tupelo, MS
A Japanese company ( Toyota ) and an American company (Ford) 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 outsourced 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.

IF THIS WASN’T TRUE, IT MIGHT BE FUNNY.