Jackson -
Taking Ford private is probably the thing to do. Having the whole company
operate on maximizing quarterly results is killing (has killed?) American
industry. As a result American manufacturers invest almost nothing in the
long term. Anything that doesn't give results within two to three years is
completely passed over. That's why Toyota hybrid technology is (right now)
cutting edge... they have been working on the technology (unprofitably) for
almost 10 years... the Japanese stock market places much less emphasis on
quarterly earnings and much more emphasis on long term planning.
The other thing they need to be doing is making their operations much more
global. This is what the Japanese and Koreans have done with great
success... by establishing major production facilities in the markets in
which they sell cars, they become much less susceptable to fluctuating
currencies and costly transportation costs. I think few Americans realize
that almost all of the Hondas and Toyotas they buy in the US are actually
made in the US (including body panel fabrication). Even the people running
the American operations of the Japanese companies are all American
executives (except for the CEOs).
Alan
'52 A90
'53 BN1
'64 BJ8
On 8/31/06, Jackson Krall <jackson_krall@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> According to recent news accounts, Ford will likely
> sell off Aston Martin, might sell off Jaguar, and
> wants to buy up shares to go private in order to fix
> the company.
> Best
> JK
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