The Big Three died because they were arrogant, poorly managed, and gave their customers the kind of cars they thought their customers should drive
That and their problems with the unions (but that's partially the management's fault as well since they did agree to the contracts that gave the unions power, OTOH they feared strikes and labor unrest more than they did foreign competition, which made sense a half century ago)
Their cars were ugly, not innovative, poorly built with built in obsolescence and never met the needs of the marketplace. Seems to me its all mgmt's fault.
But when business decline and shrink, or fail, because of poor management and other factors, it frees up resources that other businesses can use. The extent this has happened has been decreased by government bailouts, but its still occurred to an extent. The labor, and other resources freed up, could have been used for different companies, but that hasn't happened to a very great extent, and a large part of the reason is the tax, regulatory, and union, climate in MI.
In their heyday, when the Big Three controlled the American market, they created a livelihood that paid very well. An auto company is where unskilled or semi skilled workers could make a good living. It set the labor standards very high in Detroit and Michigan. It was hard to attract industry that would pay as well and compete for workers......so new industry did not move to MI. The Big Three can't be blamed entirely.....the unions played their role......but the buck stops at the top and it was lousy mgmt from the get go that set up Detroit and MI for the big fall. Why you insist on blaming the unions when ultimate control was with mgmt is beyond me. I assume because it fits your playbook. |
