Books Reviews: Crash Course and Once Upon A Car
I've read two books that, IMHO, are "must reads" for anyone interested
in the auto industry, strategy, general industry and manufacturing or
business in these United States. Once Upon a Car by Bill Vlasic covers
the buildup to the bankruptcies of Chrysler and GM. Crash Course covers
much of the same ground but starts way back in the early days of the
industry. It's clear both authors talked to a lot of the same people.
Both authors even have the same line about Mulally when he signed the
contract with Ford and it being the first time in four decades he didn't
add a cartoon plane next to his name.
Both books are balanced. Both are very readable. (I have recommended the Vlasic book to my wife.) Both books would serve as good reading for any MBA strategy class.
The authors don't go into the companies strategies as such but it's not hard to pull at the threads and tweak out the overall fabric of strategy for each of the companies...such as it was.
Auto companies present interesting cases in strategy, I've always thought. For one thing, auto companies are big...really, really big. For another, the difference between a good decision and a bad one can be lots of money.... as in billions and billions of dollars. Lastly, when you're at the top of a company that is so very large, it's probably impossible to have even, say, a quarter of the information you need to make good strategic decisions. I can imagine it gets very easy to maintain the status quo, certainly if most things are going well as they were for the auto industry during the nineties. Even when they aren't going so well, I can imagine it's easy to hang on and hope for better times to come around.
Well, in reading these books, it seems like that's about how strategy, or what passes for it, unfolds within the Big Three. (And, it's starting to appear, within Toyota as well.) Add to this a culture that seems as if were purposefully designed to hinder communications, innovation, team work, and high performance, and you've got about everything you need for a set of businesses that need to be bailed out of their own incompetence every twenty five years or so (in the case of one of them, at least.) So, strategy is difficult for auto companies...but all the players knew this going in. And still they make the same mistakes over and over.
Here are the lessons I learned or the truths that were verified for me via the books:
1.) As a quote that starts a chapter in one of the books says, "Culture eats strategy for breakfast."
2.) Most of the folks running these companies really are as dumb as it seems they are. They keep doing the same things over and over and expecting different results.
3.) Big is good until it's bad. Then it's very, very bad.
4.) If you don't love the product AND THEREFORE the folks who buy the product, you shouldn't be anywhere near the company much less running the damn thing. This is why CFO's and lawyers make bad strategists.
5.) The most important competency an organization can have is agility. The most important loss a company can suffer is it's agility.
Both books are balanced. Both are very readable. (I have recommended the Vlasic book to my wife.) Both books would serve as good reading for any MBA strategy class.
The authors don't go into the companies strategies as such but it's not hard to pull at the threads and tweak out the overall fabric of strategy for each of the companies...such as it was.
Auto companies present interesting cases in strategy, I've always thought. For one thing, auto companies are big...really, really big. For another, the difference between a good decision and a bad one can be lots of money.... as in billions and billions of dollars. Lastly, when you're at the top of a company that is so very large, it's probably impossible to have even, say, a quarter of the information you need to make good strategic decisions. I can imagine it gets very easy to maintain the status quo, certainly if most things are going well as they were for the auto industry during the nineties. Even when they aren't going so well, I can imagine it's easy to hang on and hope for better times to come around.
Well, in reading these books, it seems like that's about how strategy, or what passes for it, unfolds within the Big Three. (And, it's starting to appear, within Toyota as well.) Add to this a culture that seems as if were purposefully designed to hinder communications, innovation, team work, and high performance, and you've got about everything you need for a set of businesses that need to be bailed out of their own incompetence every twenty five years or so (in the case of one of them, at least.) So, strategy is difficult for auto companies...but all the players knew this going in. And still they make the same mistakes over and over.
Here are the lessons I learned or the truths that were verified for me via the books:
1.) As a quote that starts a chapter in one of the books says, "Culture eats strategy for breakfast."
2.) Most of the folks running these companies really are as dumb as it seems they are. They keep doing the same things over and over and expecting different results.
3.) Big is good until it's bad. Then it's very, very bad.
4.) If you don't love the product AND THEREFORE the folks who buy the product, you shouldn't be anywhere near the company much less running the damn thing. This is why CFO's and lawyers make bad strategists.
5.) The most important competency an organization can have is agility. The most important loss a company can suffer is it's agility.
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