Toyota VS GM in the Great Canoe Race.

[iaowings]

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.

Here's something else to think about: Ford has spent the last 30 years
moving its factories out of the US, claiming they can't make money
paying American wages. TOYOTA has spent the last 30 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.

TOYOTA makes most of their parts in the US. General Motors makes most
of their parts in Mexico. American made?
:P

[Prius 07]

Question:
How long were the race courses? - Let me guess race 1 was 1 mile and race 2 was 2 miles. All that leads to the conclusion that it's hard to move the boat when it's fully anchored.

BTW cute story

[qbee42]

We had a version of that same story 25 years ago. Unfortunately, it's just as true today as it was then.

As a life long boater, let me point out a small detail that will improve the story. Change it from a canoe race to a rowing race, racing shells, or crew. You have the whole rowing and paddling thing mixed together. You paddle a canoe using paddles. You row a shell or rowboat using oars. On a canoe, you don't have a dedicated coxswain doing the steering; everyone paddles. With a shell you have oarsmen and one coxswain. The joke only makes sense when you are supposed to have multiple oarsmen and one coxswain.

Tom

[JimN]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(IAO @ Aug 24 2007, 02:23 PM) [snapback]501636[/snapback]</div>

TOYOTA makes most of their parts in the US. General Motors makes most
of their parts in Mexico. American made?
:P
[/b]

Perhaps, but I don't think so. I am very happy that the content of my Prius is 100% Japanese (as per the sticker).