Would be funny if it wasn't so true

Once upon a time, a Japanese company (Toyota) and an American company
(Ford) decided to have a canoe race on the Missouri River. Both teams
practiced long and hard to reach their peak performance before the race.

On the big day, the Japanese won by a mile. The Americans, very
discouraged and depressed, decided to investigate the reason for the
crushing defeat. A management team made up of senior management was
formed to investigate and recommend appropriate action. Their
conclusion was the Japanese had eight people rowing and one person
steering, while the American team had eight people steering and one
person rowing.

Feeling a deeper study was in order, American management hired a
consulting company and paid them a large amount of money for a second
opinion. They advised, of course, that too many people were steering
the boat, while not enough people were rowing.

Not sure of how to utilize that information, but wanting to prevent
another loss to the Japanese, the rowing team's management structure
was totally reorganized to four steering supervisors, three area
steering superintendents and one assistant superintendent steering
manager.

They also implemented a new performance system that would give the one
person rowing the boat greater incentive to work harder. It was called
the 'Rowing Team Quality First Program,' with meetings, dinners and free
pens for the rower. There was discussion of getting new paddles, canoes
and other equipment, extra vacation days for practices and bonuses.

The next year the Japanese won by two miles. Humiliated, the American
management laid off the rower for poor performance, halted development
of a new canoe, sold the paddles, and canceled all capital investments
for new equipment. The money saved was distributed to the senior
executives as bonuses and the next year's racing team was outsourced to
India.

What a story! Now let's look at reality:

Ford has spent the last 30 years moving all its factories out of the US,
claiming they can't make money paying American wages. Toyota has spent
the last 30 years building more than a dozen plants inside the US. The
last quarter's result: Toyota makes four billion in profits while Ford
racked up nine billion in losses. Ford folks are still scratching their
heads.

What a story!

This resembles a company that I used to work for.