Quotes from the Wall Street Journal…
Ford will announce a plan tomorrow called “The Way Forward” that will involve 30,000 layoffs and target “the root of the auto maker’s recent woes: a stifling corporate culture.”
[In the war room,] high on the wall, hangs a big, white sheet of paper on which is written: “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.”
Among other maxims on the wall: “Culture is unspoken, but powerful. It develops over time — difficult to change.”
…implores employees to remember “conflict is healthy.“
Response
It is unfortunate that these workers had to lose their jobs, but thankfully they get excellent severance benefits.
This “Way Forward” program seems very much like a program that exCEO Nasser had announced as part of his plan to save $1 Billion per year. His plan got gutted by his management according to press reports in major magazines.
This program should have the same fate. Bill Ford has got to realize that most of his management does nothing bur spin wheels and attend meetings.
Management has been sitting on a simple proposal to save $800,000,000 per year (guaranteed and insured) through use of a simple change in accounting for certain large items, from early 2002.
While they sit and twiddle, the ship is sinking.
George D. Burns
Burns and Associates, Inc
gburns@alloymail.com