Ford vs Toyota
            
            A Japanese company (Toyota) and an American  company (Ford
 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 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 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…besides a million dollar annual salary  !

                             Need a Bailout ??
          IF  THIS WEREN’T SO TRUE IT MIGHT BE FUNNY