Wednesday, August 26, 2009

The GM MBA course

Poor old General Motors—even the “new” GM can’t seem to manage its way out of a paper bag. And it can’t seem to sell off its own toxic assets, which is a key part of it rising from the dead.

The Associated Press reports that the company is squabbling with Germany over dumping its Opel/Vauxhall unit. GM’s scrapped the proposed sale to a group headed by Canadian auto parts manufacturer Magna, even though the deal was backed by €4.5B ($6 B) from the German government.

This despite the fact that Opel is a money pit for GM.

The company seems stuck in the same time warp as some Seattle home sellers—thinking they should be able to get 25% over what they paid for the property two years ago. Hello? That horse is long out of the barn.

Actually, what GM is after is to escape any liability for Opel defaulting on any of its debts in the future.

Well—this corporate weaseling out of responsibility has worked for GM so far. Witness my tax dollars supporting their special welfare system.

On a side “we’re-not-accountable” note, GM has also announced that it’s removing its “Mark of Excellence” logo from whatever it makes going forward. Not that it ever meant much anyhow.

And it’s probably a cost-cutting measure—save on materials and labor—rather than any admission that their products have earned them an ever-diminishing market share over the past few decades.

Really—these clowns would make any B-school proud.

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