@Stupid 187996 wrote:
Just figured I throw this link out there:
Interesting article but excuse me for asking: They had this ground breaking insight that diesel hybrids are not cross market compatible after they produced the car? What does that say about management?
What I hate most about this crisis is that the people around the world have to bail out those who have been reckless and incompetent. It shouldn’t be like that but it almost looks like it cannot be completely avoided if the entire system is to be salvaged.
A few points regarding the labour cost argument. I don’t think this is the main problem. German or French labour costs are far higher. In Germany the biggest auto workers union has gotten a 4% wage increase across the board for all it’s workers only a week ago! A German or French auto worker earns €40-€80/hour depending on seniority. In France they have an economy wide 35 hour working week. In Germany it’s tied to the Unions and VW had 35 hour work weeks and a stop to lay offs as well. Plus they all get paid overtime and often receive 13 pay checks per year. One is a bonus at year end! The difference is that they have national health care and pensions.
I think the main two reasons that led to the failure of the big 3 are innovation (or lack thereof) and mismanagement.
here is some high end smarty pants advice on the bailout question http://faculty.chicagogsb.edu/luigi.zingales/research/
Since they are from the Uni Chicago one might think that they may have some good communication channel with Obama maybe? I hope so.