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A nice change of pace given patio11's comments from earlier today: "I work in the Nagoya, the Town Toyota Built, though not for Toyota. (Well, to the extent th

A nice change of pace given patio11's comments from earlier today: "I work in the Nagoya, the Town Toyota Built, though not for Toyota. (Well, to the extent that anyone in Nagoya can be said not to work for Toyota.) The great thing about Japanese corporate discipline: when GM has a tough year, GM blames the year. No way we could have predicted spiraling gas prices, a down economy, and increased foreign competition. When Toyota has a tough year, Toyota blames Toyota. You can bet that somewhere in the bowels of that megacorp is a team of economists reevaluating their currency hedging strategy, while another team is working 16 hour days coming up with a car that captures the imagination of the American consumer but is priced to move as compared to the Prius. Keep doing this whole "Learn from failure and overcome it" thing for a few decades and you end up the biggest car company in the world and make the competition look like sniveling amateurs." http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=406545 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=406545

patio11 18y ago
Funny -- my intuition of Japanese business etiquette, which is not always correct, suggests that the Chryster CEO if anything under-groveled with the $100,000 ad in the New York Times. It is a large expenditure to show feelings. Japan is really big on that (as are most cultures, truth be known, but the forms are different). If it were a Japanese CEO, I predict they would have taken a page out of the politicians' book: go to a busy train station, during the morning rush hour. Stand on a footstool. And shout the following for an hour: "I am the president of Toyota! I promise you we will not waste your money! Thank you for giving us the chance to keep these jobs in Japan! With your help we will proceed together to a beautiful future! I am the president of Toyota!..." There is a Japanese politician from the ruling party who is detailed to go to a large train or subway station, typically in Tokyo, and shout something like this. Every. Single. Workday. More than one when the government is hurting, for whatever reason. The point is not to draw a crowd -- most people are busy on their way to work and pass straight by. The point is not to draw a camera -- they could have thrown a press conference in a nice heated room with 15 handpicked reporters and been far less embarrassed about things. The point is to demonstrate that nothing I could possibly be doing this morning is more important than demonstrating my commitment to you. Even the Prime Minister is occasionally expected to put in an appearance. Of course, the Toyota CEO won't have to do that groveling because he runs a business which makes money. But if he didn't, oh boy, there would be an appropriate level of bowing and scraping.
- tommusic 18y ago
  Wow. This would feel so out-of-place in the US that people would wonder about the mental health of the shouter. I like the assertion of importance implied by the shouting; it seems that the US car corps have enough separation between the performance of a company and the impact on the exec that it doesn't carry the same weight. The "down economy" or "lower consumer spending" are too well-established as escape-goats.

patio11 18y ago

Funny -- my intuition of Japanese business etiquette, which is not always correct, suggests that the Chryster CEO if anything under-groveled with the $100,000 ad in the New York Times. It is a large expenditure to show feelings. Japan is really big on that (as are most cultures, truth be known, but the forms are different). If it were a Japanese CEO, I predict they would have taken a page out of the politicians' book: go to a busy train station, during the morning rush hour. Stand on a footstool. And shout the following for an hour: "I am the president of Toyota! I promise you we will not waste your money! Thank you for giving us the chance to keep these jobs in Japan! With your help we will proceed together to a beautiful future! I am the president of Toyota!..." There is a Japanese politician from the ruling party who is detailed to go to a large train or subway station, typically in Tokyo, and shout something like this. Every. Single. Workday. More than one when the government is hurting, for whatever reason. The point is not to draw a crowd -- most people are busy on their way to work and pass straight by. The point is not to draw a camera -- they could have thrown a press conference in a nice heated room with 15 handpicked reporters and been far less embarrassed about things. The point is to demonstrate that nothing I could possibly be doing this morning is more important than demonstrating my commitment to you. Even the Prime Minister is occasionally expected to put in an appearance. Of course, the Toyota CEO won't have to do that groveling because he runs a business which makes money. But if he didn't, oh boy, there would be an appropriate level of bowing and scraping.

tommusic 18y ago
Wow. This would feel so out-of-place in the US that people would wonder about the mental health of the shouter. I like the assertion of importance implied by the shouting; it seems that the US car corps have enough separation between the performance of a company and the impact on the exec that it doesn't carry the same weight. The "down economy" or "lower consumer spending" are too well-established as escape-goats.