Comments

I am two thirds done with Tom’s book; I purchased it from an audio store where I can listen in the car and at my desk. Assuming you can get beyond the Bush bashing that seems to come up every 15-30 minutes, the book is an eye opener on the state of America’s education, our value in the global economy and a prediction of the future which can only be described as a horror novel. I can only hope he is wrong, but his logic and support are rock solid and as the saying goes if he is only half right...

Many blogs ago, I provided my top ten web sites from a design and usability perspective I have added Tom Friedman’s site to the list (which means one of the current ten has been removed). His site is a wonderful mix of simplicity and an effective use images.

Posted by RTodd at June 20, 2005 10:48 AM

Tom Friedman's op-ed pieces are rarely insightful. For my money, Mark Steyn of the Chicago Sun Times is the best op-ed columnist in print today. The link to his latest column is here:

http://www.suntimes.com/output/steyn/cst-edt-steyn19.html

Read this and compare it to Friedman's piece.

Posted by Bill Peper at June 20, 2005 11:02 AM

Is it any surprise that the company with the best operating system in the world and the strongest culture of customer focus is put forward as a "white knight" for GM? No matter how deeply the tounge is planted in the cheek, Mr. Friedman's suggestions gives a strong tip of the hat to Toyota.

Toyota's legendary production system is just the visible part of the iceberg on their success. More important is the underlying, bone-deep dissatisfaction with the status quo. This is then coupled with a methodology of improvement AND a strong confidence in that system.

We ignore this expertise to our own peril.
.

Posted by Joe Ely at June 20, 2005 12:00 PM

A few quick comments. I am sure Toyota could bring tons of all the right things necessary to bring GM out of its ever growing malaise, however, give me one good business reason why they would want to have anything to do with the morass that is GM. The contracts with the UAW alone are enough of a drag to bring almost any company down, again, why would a company like Toyota conciously make a decision to buy into all of GM's negativity. Why would Toyota want to go from being "Cream of the Crop" to "Cream of the Crap"? Maybe Toyota should talk to Daimler Benz if they even think of getting any crazy ideas like this one. It has been proven time and time again for those who pay attention, that most large acquisitions/mergers historically have not worked. Why is Viacom unwinding its CBS deal? Pay attention people, the truth is out there.
Steve

Posted by Steve at June 20, 2005 12:15 PM

Are mergers and acquisitions the way to go? Would this be the cure for GM or a win for Toyota? I doubt it.

Posted by Michael at June 20, 2005 12:31 PM

We all have our favorite NYT op ed contributors. Mine is Bob Herbert. In todays edition he has some comments on those who are gong-ho about sending other people's children to fight their wars. He may have been thinking of his colleague - Tom Friedman. Friedman was out front in supporting a war that many of believe was based on a pack of lies.

Posted by Edward Deevy at June 20, 2005 12:42 PM

I suspect even Mr. Friedman doesn't really believe Toyota buying GM makes an ounce of commerical sense. He's just meeting a deadline with a neat idea.

Bill, I haven't read Mark Steyn before, but what he says in that article makes sense to me.

Edward, re the pack of lies, that may very well be true. It may also be true that Saddam Hussein had plenty of forewarning and like a drug dealer with plenty of contraband, shifted his stock out of reach of the authorities before he was raided, e.g. over the border into Syria, confident that if they found nothing, he could do another deal with them that would leave him and his family in power.

However, I agree that Saddam and his weapons were not the main reason for invading Iraq. In my opinion, it was a geo-political move to give America a much stronger position in the Middle East. With or without the weapons, Saddam Hussein ran a brutal regime which made it possible for America to demonize him. A majority of Iraqis are glad he is gone, despite the troubles they are going through now with outside insurgents infiltrating their country and blowing themselves up.

Posted by Noel Guinane at June 20, 2005 4:38 PM

Looks good as a headline, but I'd bet a drink that ten years from now Toyota will be buying GM's brands. Not factories, not a single tangible asset. Just the names to put on Toyota's cars.

GS

Posted by Gabriel Salcido at June 20, 2005 10:58 PM

Toyota buy GM = no compeition = no inovation = no re-imagination = the same thing all the time = Toyota broken = GM live again = Bad news for the japaneses, radical? I dont think so...

Posted by Matheus at June 21, 2005 6:45 AM

Can't wait for Michael Moore to make a documentary about this if it does happen...

Cheers

Keith

Posted by Keith Rickaby at June 21, 2005 7:18 AM

NEW YORK TIMES = ZERO CREDIBILITY.
GM totally burdened by Democratic Party's stranglehold on Big Unions.

Posted by Sean at June 21, 2005 7:55 AM

To "save America?" I don't think so. To save GM, maybe, but we all know from Dr. Tom that that doesn't work. GM may be ignoring the way Toyota does business, but not everyone is. I teach the Toyota system (and homegrown variants)for a company that is very strong and healthy. However, companies like GM are too large, too arogant, and too inlexible to become "lean" producers in Toyota's model. Toyota developed their methods due to necessity--no space, no capital, high variety, and so on. Maybe GM will develop their own successful methodology due to necessity, but probably not. But please, don't link GM's success to that of America. The two are not dramatically intertwined any longer.

Posted by Mike at June 21, 2005 10:40 AM

I agree with Tom F. that Toyota should acquire GM, but I would recommend that they do it using the "Michael Dell strategy", i.e. Toyota should acquire GM "one customer at a time".

Posted by Paul McManus at June 21, 2005 5:15 PM

Yes you are very provocative with this daredevil idea, Tom.
I like that!

Posted by Bob Julius Onggo at June 22, 2005 4:45 AM

Please take a look at my Simplicity Blog today if you want to read about how to do simple stuff effectively.

This is not a sales pitch!! - it is just a wonderful story about an Australian Dentist Paddi Lund who I would just love to work with or for;
http://simplicityitk.blogspot.com/

Happy reading

Posted by Trevor GayTrevor Gay at June 22, 2005 5:02 AM

Toyota better buy GM because if they don't they better worry about GM being forced to innovate and actually start building something consumers want.

Posted by Stacy Gentile at June 22, 2005 7:38 AM

Well, Do u think Mr.Richard Wagoner Jr. is gonna like the idea????........Well, is he gonna consider this by any chance????? This guy is been with GM for 28 yrs (incl 5 yrs as CEO)and i believe he definitely doesnt want to be camouflaged by a Japanese Car Giant.......well, despite the fact that they (Toyota) wuld like to run the business 'The Toyota way' whist Rick Wagoner wuld like to run the business the non-UAW way.....

Keep ur thoughts pouring......mmmmmm....very interesting topic indeed...:)

Posted by K.Sriram at June 22, 2005 11:59 PM

Buy the fabulous $24k Cadillac CTS now - support the fab Cadillac and GM brand!

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Posted by Sean at June 23, 2005 8:49 AM

I envision Noel in midnight black Cadillac CTS, Trevor in a pearlescent white one, Dr. T in a platinum supersport model [DeLoreanesque]; Steve would be analyzing the action and blogging something insightfully radically outrageous. I'll take the heat in the Escalade [SUV!] :>)

Posted by Sean at June 23, 2005 4:55 PM

Yes, but when in my convertible caddy what you do not envision is the glamor of my very large nose (aka the Sun Dial) dramatically displayed under my tiny tweed-peaked cap successfully hiding my copper-colored toupe except when I put the top down and then my foot down which, as I accelerate madly, sends it and my cap flying in the face of the motorcycle cop(s) chasing me.

Posted by Noel Guinane at June 23, 2005 5:37 PM

Must have been some kind of Freudian hallucination there, I read Noel's post as "the Microsoft cop(s) chasing me" the first time through. ;-)

Love the new Caddies with the slab sided body and over-sized rims. Just don't ask me to drive a "Snoop DeVille."

Posted by Mike at June 23, 2005 7:04 PM

You've probably seen this, it was going around the web a few years ago, but it's funny so I thought it might be worth posting here.

Microsoft vs. GM

At a recent computer expo (COMDEX), Bill Gates reportedly compared the computer industry with the auto industry and stated that "if GM had kept up with technology like the computer industry has, we would all be driving $25 cars that got 1,000 miles to the gallon."

In response to Bill's comments, General Motors issued a press release stating that if GM had developed technology like Microsoft, we would all be driving cars with the following characteristics:

1. For no reason whatsoever, your car would crash twice a day.

2. Every time they repainted the lines in the road you would have to buy a new car.

3. Occasionally your car would die on the freeway for no reason. You would have to pull over to the side of the road, close all of the windows, shut off the car, restart it, and reopen the windows before you could continue. For some reason you would simply accept this.

4. Occasionally, executing a maneuver such as a left turn would cause your car to shut down and refuse to restart, in which case you would have to reinstall the engine.

5. Only one person at a time could use the car unless you bought "Car NT," but then you would have to buy more seats.

6. Macintosh would make a car that was powered by the sun, was reliable, five times as fast and twice as easy to drive, but would only drive only 5% of the roads.

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7. The oil, water temperature, and alternator warning lights would all be replaced by a single "General Protection Fault" warning light.

female viagra canadian 8. New seats would force everyone to have the same sized butt.

9. The air bag system would ask "Are you sure?" before deploying.

10. Occasionally, for no reason whatsoever, your car would lock you out and refuse to let you in until you simultaneously lifted the door handle, turned the key and grabbed hold of the radio antenna.

11. GM would require all car buyers to also purchase a deluxe set of Rand McNally road maps (now a GM subsidiary), even though they neither need nor want them. Attempting to delete this option would immediately cause the car's performance to diminish by 50% or more. Moreover, GM would become a target for investigation by the Justice Dept.

12. Every time GM introduced a new car, car buyers would have to learn to drive all over again because none of the controls would operate in the same manner as the old car.

13. You'd have to press the "Start" button to turn the engine off.

Posted by Noel Guinane at June 24, 2005 2:53 AM

14. The CD system and satellite radio and GPS would radically, constantly be bombarded with SPAM [especially porn/gambling] ... making their functions virtually useless.

15. Due to spyware to the max the GPS system constantly betrays you and tells the world your car is at your girlfriends' place, when the voicemail to the wife has you ..."working a bit late..."

16. Road side assistance calls have you negotiating endlessly with a heavily accented Indian who tries to convince you he's looking ..."online..." and the vehicle looks 100% ..."good to go..."

Posted by Sean at June 24, 2005 4:05 AM

RTodd wrote: "...the book is an eye opener on the state of America’s education, our value in the global economy and a prediction of the future which can only be described as a horror novel. I can only hope he is wrong, but his logic and support are rock solid and as the saying goes if he is only half right..."

Tom Friedman's writings on this topic have been spot on. Come over to East Asia and you'll see for yourself why this is so. I came to Tom's conclusions almost four years ago, when I moved to South Korea. My only surprise is that Friedman didn't stress these points more strongly earlier (when "The Olive Tree and the Lexus" was published).

Posted by JD at June 24, 2005 5:33 AM

17. As of 2007, there would be a mandatory shift from horsepower to bullpower.

Posted by Noel Guinane at June 24, 2005 4:00 PM