Ford vs Toyota

[warmncool]

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.
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.

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 WEREN'T SO TRUE IT MIGHT BE FUNNY!!!

[Dreamcast18]

Larry: Sadly, it still bears true today...look at Circuit City..fired their best sales guys (cuz they make too much based on commission...WTF?)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/01/AR2007050101623.html

Circuit City's Job Cuts Backfiring, Analysts Say


Circuit City fired 3,400 of its highest-paid store employees in March, saying it needed to hire cheaper workers to shore up its bottom line. Now, the Richmond (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/related-topics.html?tid=informline&subject=Richmond) electronics retailer says it expects to post a first-quarter loss next month, and analysts are blaming the job cuts.

The company, which on Monday also revised its outlook for the first half of its fiscal year ending Feb. 29, 2008, cited poor sales of large flat-panel and projection televisions. Analysts said Circuit City had cast off some of its most experienced and successful people and was losing business to competitors who have better-trained employees.

"I think even though sales were soft in March, this is clearly why April sales were worse. They were replaced with less knowledgeable associates," said Tim Allen (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/related-topics.html?tid=informline&subject=Tim+Allen), an analyst with Jefferies (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/related-topics.html?tid=informline&subject=Jefferies+Group+Inc.) & Co.

In particular, the televisions showing disappointing results are "intensive sales" requiring more informed employees, Allen said. "It's a big-ticket purchase for somebody. And if they feel like they're not getting the right advice or are being misled by someone who doesn't know, it would be definitely frustrating. They will take their business elsewhere."

Circuit City said in March that sales would be volatile for the next several months as the company adjusts to the changes. But yesterday the company said it was too early to tell whether the dismissals had caused any of the falloff in April sales.
"We will continue to monitor that," said Bill Cimino, a company spokesman. "Only two or three salespersons per store were impacted on average. Others were customer service representatives or warehouse employees," which would point to other factors for the drop in sales, he said.

About 60 percent of the people let go held in-store sales positions. Each of the company's almost 650 U.S. (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/related-topics.html?tid=informline&subject=United+States) stores has about 50 salespeople per store, he said.
Cimino said Circuit City attributes the sales picture to a combination of economics and the company's poor forecasting and planning. "That's what we're working on right now," he said.

At the same time, however, the company has initiatives underway to keep employees on the sales floor, Cimino said. For one, employees who are often torn between helping customers and other store duties such as stocking shelves will be directed to confine their attention to customers when stores are open. The other duties are to be performed after or before store hours, he said. The practice is being piloted in several stores and will be expanded during the next few months.
Although the impact on Circuit City was "sudden and severe," there could be other reasons for slower television sales, including a "softening of consumer spending," Mike Baker, a research analyst with Deutsche Bank (http://financial.washingtonpost.com/custom/wpost/html-qcn.asp?dispnav=business&mwpage=qcn&symb=DB&nav=el) wrote in a report released yesterday. Best Buy (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/related-topics.html?tid=informline&subject=Best+Buy+Co.+Inc.) is also "likely not immune," he wrote.

However, Baker also said Circuit City's situation is mostly a result of its loss of informed workers. Best Buy "will fare better because of market share gains driven by weakening customer service at Circuit City," he wrote. "We believe that Circuit City's store labor change . . . likely has had a worse than expected impact on Circuit City's service levels and has enabled [Best Buy] to take share."

Circuit City's prices and return policies are comparable to those of its competition, so what's left is the sales experience, said Samuel Culbert, professor of human resources and organization at the University of California at Los Angeles (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/related-topics.html?tid=informline&subject=University+of+California-Los+Angeles). "There is nothing more important than relationships in commerce."

The company said Monday that it expects a loss from continuing operations of $80 million to $90 million for the first quarter of its 2008 fiscal year because of "substantially below-plan sales," especially of televisions.

The firings, along with several other moves, were expected to reduce expenses for the electronics retailer by $110 million in fiscal 2008 and $140 million a year starting in fiscal 2009.

Circuit City shares fell 5.3 percent, or 93 cents, to $16.52 yesterday.

[MM84]

Larry: Sadly, it still bears true today...look at Circuit City..fired their best sales guys (cuz they make too much based on commission...WTF?)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/01/AR2007050101623.html

Circuit City's Job Cuts Backfiring, Analysts Say


Circuit City fired 3,400 of its highest-paid store employees in March, saying it needed to hire cheaper workers to shore up its bottom line.


LOL...are you kidding me???? Ok... it's official Monkeys have taken over the US economy and businesses....:-?

[ME & MY KITTY]

I Heard A Rumor That Circuit City Will Be Next To File Bk.