[lbo-talk] Junkyard dog hits Motown

[Russell Grinker]

Could it be because they failed to invest sufficiently to redesign and
retool and stay abreast of the hungrier foreign competition, producing only
what someone once called "40 foot behemoths with kiddie-car breaks and
rubber- band suspension"? Isn't this sort of thing your area Doug? Why did
they fail to innovate?

-----Original Message-----
From: lbo-talk-bounces at lbo-talk.org [mailto:lbo-talk-bounces at lbo-talk.org]
On Behalf Of Doug Henwood
Sent: 16 May 2007 01:43 PM
To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org
Subject: Re: [lbo-talk] Junkyard dog hits Motown

On May 16, 2007, at 6:56 AM, Michael Smith wrote:


> My point was, it isn't an isolated or exceptional case. I'm not  
> sure what the
> reasons for it are. I suspect early domination of the field, more  
> even than
> monopoly.

The US auto industry has been subject to strong competition from  
abroad for more than 30 years, yet still they just kept falling  
behind. They got a break during the era of low gas prices, when  
people bought high-profit SUVs, but now that gas is $3, they're  
losing again. We have lots of skilled workers at every level - and  
Toyota and Honda have no prob making money in the US. What's wrong?  
Why have they been so unable to get their shit together?

Doug
___________________________________
http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk