GM Regrets Employee Discount for all

[MikeMike]

http://money.cnn.com/2006/01/05/Autos/gm_discounts/index.htm

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

Well of course, you don't want to compete on price, offer a better service/product and in the long run it will be clear who came out on top.

 

[Ronstang]

The minute I heard of the program I knew it was going to bite them in the ass. GM has gotten themselves into a desparate situation and thinking crap like this is going to help just shows how far up the problems at GM go. They hurt the entire US auto industry with this stunt. Ford and Chrysler had no real choice but to follow suit. GM needs to be bled at the throat and start over.

 

[ElFenix]

GM: A Case Study of How Twenty Harvard MBAs Can Run a Company Into the Ground

 

[Leper Messiah]

well, at least the solstice/sky is sexy. Hopefully that car can turn around GM like the 300C helped out Chrystler.

 

[shilala]

Originally posted by: ElFenix
GM: A Case Study of How Twenty Harvard MBAs Can Run a Company Into the Ground

QFT.

 

[JLGatsby]

Originally posted by: ElFenix
GM: A Case Study of How Twenty Harvard MBAs Can Run a Company Into the Ground

Anyone who thinks the people running GM today are the reason it's struggling needs to open a history book.

Unions of the 1960s and 70s destroyed GM.

 

[Queasy]

GM Regrets Employee Discount for all

That's like Red Lobster saying they regret all you can eat Crab. Sure, it sounds like a good idea until you realize that consumers will really take advantage of your generosity.

 

[rh71]

Underprice the Japanese... that seems like a good thought... seems like the only thing that will work.

 

[MercenaryForHire]

Originally posted by: JLGatsby
Crappy vehicles destroyed GM.

Fixed.

- M4H

 

[UglyCasanova]

Originally posted by: Queasy

GM Regrets Employee Discount for all

That's like Red Lobster saying they regret all you can eat Crab. Sure, it sounds like a good idea until you realize that consumers will really take advantage of your generosity.

Yep, they lost a lot of money on that.

 

[JLGatsby]

Originally posted by: MercenaryForHire

Originally posted by: JLGatsby
Overpriced labor which forced GM to use crappy parts to compete price wise destroyed GM.

Fixed.

- M4H

Fixed.

 

[Queasy]

Originally posted by: UglyCasanova

Originally posted by: Queasy

GM Regrets Employee Discount for all

That's like Red Lobster saying they regret all you can eat Crab. Sure, it sounds like a good idea until you realize that consumers will really take advantage of your generosity.

Yep, they lost a lot of money on that.

Generated some of the funniest quotes ever though:

"It wasn't the second helping, it was the third one that hurt," company chairman Joe R. Lee said in a conference call with analysts.

"Yeah, and maybe the fourth," added Dick Rivera, Darden's chief operating officer. Rivera has taken over as president of Red Lobster.

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

Originally posted by: JLGatsby

Originally posted by: ElFenix
GM: A Case Study of How Twenty Harvard MBAs Can Run a Company Into the Ground

Anyone who thinks the people running GM today are the reason it's struggling needs to open a history book.

Unions of the 1960s and 70s destroyed GM.

I don't know much about this topic to be honest, but those twenty harvard guys could have found a way to avoid it in the first place I imagine. Someone along the lines made a mistake and the guys running it had many choices/options they could have used.

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

Originally posted by: Queasy

GM Regrets Employee Discount for all

That's like Red Lobster saying they regret all you can eat Crab. Sure, it sounds like a good idea until you realize that consumers will really take advantage of your generosity.

Just being technical, but I wouldn't call it taking advantage of "generosity". Who's being generous? GM? They're a business out to make money and if they indirectly come off as generous then that's great, but all they're trying to directly change is sales.

Also, in this report, sales were bound to drop right after a huge discount flooding the market with even more cars, did they really expect sales to keep on coming in even after prices went back up?

 

[JLGatsby]

Originally posted by: AgaBoogaBoo
I don't know much about this topic to be honest, but those twenty harvard guys could have found a way to avoid it in the first place I imagine. Someone along the lines made a mistake and the guys running it had many choices/options they could have used.

When you're paying people $30/hour to screw on mudflaps and you owe $60 billion (and you only have $20 billion saved) to retired pension holders, you're going to need a lot more than a few Harvard MBAs.

I have read a lot about the issue and it was nearly impossible to avoid.

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

Originally posted by: JLGatsby

Originally posted by: AgaBoogaBoo
I don't know much about this topic to be honest, but those twenty harvard guys could have found a way to avoid it in the first place I imagine. Someone along the lines made a mistake and the guys running it had many choices/options they could have used.

When you're paying people $30/hour to screw on mudflaps and you owe $60 billion (and you only have $20 billion saved) to retired pension holders, you're going to need a lot more than a few Harvard MBAs.

I have read a lot about the issue and it was nearly impossible to avoid.

Not arguing here, but did they have the option of taking things overseas?

 

[BDawg]

Ah, the unions. Even when it was the bears, I knew it was the unions.

 

[Looney]

Originally posted by: JLGatsby

Originally posted by: ElFenix
GM: A Case Study of How Twenty Harvard MBAs Can Run a Company Into the Ground

Anyone who thinks the people running GM today are the reason it's struggling needs to open a history book.

Unions of the 1960s and 70s destroyed GM.

Oh yeah, the fact that they made inferior cars had nothing to do with it:

# Of the 31 cars that earned top rating, 29 were Japanese. Of these, 15 were from Toyota and its Lexus division and eight were from Honda. Some redesigned or new Japanese models from Toyota and Honda, however suffered "first-year blues." The new Scion tC and the redesigned 2005 Acura RL, Toyota Avalon, and Honda Odyssey earned only average reliability scores, for example.

# Of the 48 cars that earned the lowest rating, 22 carry American nameplates, 20 are European, 4 are from Japan (all from Nissan and its Infiniti division), and 2 are from South Korea.
http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/cars...t-in-car-reliability-1005/overview.htm


http://money.cnn.com/2004/11/08/pf/autos/cr_auto_reliability/

 

[ElFenix]

Originally posted by: JLGatsby

Originally posted by: ElFenix
GM: A Case Study of How Twenty Harvard MBAs Can Run a Company Into the Ground

Anyone who thinks the people running GM today are the reason it's struggling needs to open a history book.

Unions of the 1960s and 70s destroyed GM.

you ASSume too much.
are you denying that harvard mbas were running GM back then?

 

[JLGatsby]

Originally posted by: AgaBoogaBoo
Not arguing here, but did they have the option of taking things overseas?

Back when this was all negotiated, life was not like that. The country was so embedded with liberalism in the 1960s and 70s Americans felt like GM owed them a job and the management too was overtaken by economic illiterates.

I also think the executives of GM's past (the ones responsible for all this) did not even see the rise of Asian made cars. They thought American cars were King they decided to pay dividends to the American people in the form of high paying jobs. Their days were numbered though.

Think of it like having a great job and deciding to spurge on something you've always wanted, like a giant house, but then a few years later, being laid off and forced to work for less, not being able to pay for giant house you bought.

The American liberals in the 1960s and 70s were just too in love with themselves. They thought they had it made. They weren't paranoid enough.

You've got to always be paranoid, otherwise you'll go under.

 

[JLGatsby]

Originally posted by: Looney
Oh yeah, the fact that they made inferior cars had nothing to do with it:

# Of the 31 cars that earned top rating, 29 were Japanese. Of these, 15 were from Toyota and its Lexus division and eight were from Honda. Some redesigned or new Japanese models from Toyota and Honda, however suffered "first-year blues." The new Scion tC and the redesigned 2005 Acura RL, Toyota Avalon, and Honda Odyssey earned only average reliability scores, for example.

# Of the 48 cars that earned the lowest rating, 22 carry American nameplates, 20 are European, 4 are from Japan (all from Nissan and its Infiniti division), and 2 are from South Korea.
http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/cars...t-in-car-reliability-1005/overview.htm


http://money.cnn.com/2004/11/08/pf/autos/cr_auto_reliability/

Ready for an economic lesson? Here comes.

When you pay your labor above average, in order to compete price wise (price of the cars compared to foreign cars), you have spend less on parts.

American cars fall apart because they use inferior parts because they spend too much on labor.

Make sense? Class dismissed.

 

[iamwiz82]

Originally posted by: JLGatsby

Originally posted by: Looney
Oh yeah, the fact that they made inferior cars had nothing to do with it:

# Of the 31 cars that earned top rating, 29 were Japanese. Of these, 15 were from Toyota and its Lexus division and eight were from Honda. Some redesigned or new Japanese models from Toyota and Honda, however suffered "first-year blues." The new Scion tC and the redesigned 2005 Acura RL, Toyota Avalon, and Honda Odyssey earned only average reliability scores, for example.

# Of the 48 cars that earned the lowest rating, 22 carry American nameplates, 20 are European, 4 are from Japan (all from Nissan and its Infiniti division), and 2 are from South Korea.
http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/cars...t-in-car-reliability-1005/overview.htm


http://money.cnn.com/2004/11/08/pf/autos/cr_auto_reliability/

Ready for an economic lesson? Here comes.

When you pay your labor more average, in order to compete price wise (price of the cars compared to foreign cars), you have spend less on parts.

American cars fall apart because they use inferior parts because they spend too much on labor.

Make sense? Class dismissed.

Actually, US and Foreign owned US plants have similar wages, and foreign automakers spend more on health care.

 

[JLGatsby]

Originally posted by: ElFenix
you ASSume too much.
are you denying that harvard mbas were running GM back then?

In all honesty, does it matter? I really don't know what college the people running GM attended.

The college you went to means nothing.

Just because someone went to Harvard that doesn't make them intelligent or competent.

Thousands of people graduate from Ivy League schools every year, most of them don't amount to nothing but cubicle drones.

 

[JLGatsby]

Originally posted by: iamwiz82
Actually, US and Foreign owned US plants have similar wages, and foreign automakers spend more on health care.

Incorrect on both accounts.

American health costs are the highest in the world, so there is no way they can spend more.

They may have more comprehensive coverage because overall coverage is cheaper.

The American healthcare system is the most wasteful in the world.

As for wages, I know that is not true. If it is, please provide a link.