GM boss hits road to gain support

[tgagneguam]

GM boss hits road to gain support

Cowger will visit state leaders to show the automaker's economic relevance.

By Daniel Howes / The Detroit News

General Motors Corp.'s magical mystery tour begins today, and the first stop will be Gov. Jennifer Granholm's Detroit office.

GM-North America President Gary Cowger will tell her that GM employs 84,000 across Michigan; operates 30 plants in the state; has 460 dealers; does business, directly and indirectly, with 6,500 suppliers; and supports 165,000 GM retirees with health care and pension benefits, many of which are pumped into the state economy.

Then Thursday, Cowger will do it all again in Ohio. He'll tell Gov. Bob Taft that GM employs 20,000 across the state; operates 10 plants; has 400 dealers; does business with some 2,000 suppliers; and supports 65,000 retirees -- altogether, GM figures, a $40 billion annual infusion into Ohio's economy.

Then he'll move on to at least another 12 meetings with another dozen governors across America, the latest step in GM's bid to reassert -- publicly and clearly -- what the automaker means to states and to the national economy.

Why now? Because GM, faced with a particularly bleak financial year, feels the accumulating weight of its obligations.

The sharpest minds it can muster figure the trends won't reverse anytime soon. And archrival Toyota Motor Corp. is in the midst of its own corporate image campaign, one designed to underscore an "American-ness" that, at times, strains credulity to the point of absurdity.

Mostly it's because GM's eyes and ears in Washington and Lansing and Columbus and Atlanta and other capitals worry that the world's largest automaker is slipping, in the public mind, into irrelevance, even if GM's economic contributions are, in fact, still very relevant.

Cowger's tour is as much a warning as it is a call to action. He is, in effect, saying, "This is what you could lose if we falter."

He's saying manufacturing is a backbone of state economies and that high business costs, outdated regulations and foot-dragging on health care reform will hasten the shift of manufacturing investment to more hospitable locations.

Chairman Rick Wagoner said as much when he talked to Michigan's congressional delegation during a private meeting last month at the North American International Auto Show. Business isn't in business to pour scarce capital into the same ol' places just because that's what it's done for the better part of a century; business is in business to generate a respectable return, and GM still isn't.

Full article

[tgagneguam]

I have to say that I agree with much of what Dan is saying. I particularly think that this "tour" has real risks. I think GM's pleas could be perceived as whining about a situation that GM itself has played a role in creating. After all, it was only recently that GM appears to have made a significant effort to reverse its fortunes, and its attempt at a product renaissance - really, one thing is does bear 100% responsibility for - has been spotty at times. Time will tell, though I think GM's requests for national health care (really, that's what its health care stance comes across to me) will definitely fall on deaf ears.

[Globalist]

I don't see any risk in this "tour." GM has nothing to lose in keeping up the drumbeat. Doing nothing when you have a serious problem that can undermine your future health is the problem.

I see this tour as an "awarness/reminder/consequence" campaign, basically saying:
Awarness:
We do have problems. Some of them are in our control and we are doing our best to solve them. Some of them are out of our control, and this is where we need some help.

Reminder:
The manufacturing and automotive business contributions to the country--% of GDP, employees, suppliers, dealers, ..etc

Consequence:
This is a global economy, with many cheap places to do business, and consequently, we can't afford to play Santa anymore.

[ricers-shaft-big3]

This is precisely the reason why GM and the other big 1.5 are such miserable failures! instead of sitting in his office and utilising his time more constructively to try to try and manage GM properly, we have one of the seniormost GM executives (paid gawd knows hown many millions) wasting his time blundering across the US of A on a whistlestop tour telling the state governors and governesses what they already know!

do you think Governess Granholm does not already know how many plants GM has in Michigan? and how many people are employed? and in case she has forgotten and needs a reminder, would not an email be a more appropriate way of divulging such information! in fact an email sent to all th governors by one of the secretaries would be the most cost effective way of communicating such info.

this in my opinion is the one of the stupider way of wasting of resources; but quite consistent with GM's policy of waste mangement!

[Globalist]

emails are faster, no doubt. But there is nothing better than a face-to-face meeting to discuss serious issues at that level.

[tgagneguam]

It's funny, I have more sympathy for Globalist's opinion on this article than ricers-shaft-big3's opinion, even though I seem more skeptical than Globalist about the benefits and risks of this tour.

I may actually agree with part of what you say, ricers-shaft-big3, but it's hard to appreciate your acerbic opinions; they're laced with anger and a lack of appreciation for anything that GM does. And it's ironic that you speak about GM's quality issues and incompetence when you write so incredibly poorly. Perhaps you could focus your powerful acumen inward and fix that?! Otherwise, your arguments will continue to lose something.

[ricers-shaft-big3]

they're laced with anger

i would use the word "amusement" rather than anger

undoubtedly most of the blundering moves being made by GM reminds me of a bull fight that i saw in spain a few years ago.

and it appears that toyota is toying (pardon the pun) with GM in exactly the same way as the matadors played with the bull before finally putting it out of its misery.

a senior GM executive wasting his time and GM's already meagre resources to tell people what they already know does not seem to me as serving any useful purpose.

i can imagine the converastion

Cowger "we employ so many people, have so many plants, have invested o many billions ..yadda yadda yadda... in your state"

Governor: " i know that already; read it in Det news few days ago"

Cowger: "uh oh ok. see ya bye"

Governor; " ah Mr cowger but you have n't said how many plants you are going to close down and how many people you are going to sack in the next few years because you have given fiat 2 billion which you could well have invested over here."

Cowger: "uh i dunno; i should n't be telling you this but its gonna be almost all of them. we are moving almos all our manufacturing to china and mexico; we can pay them slaves wages; har har har; but dont tell any one, i told ya"

Governor: " not to worry; I just saw toyohondassan before i saw you and they are gonna open new plants like crazy, invest billons, and provide employment to americans: we have already given them zillions of acres of free land and changed the law to allow it to happen. btw can you shut the door firmly after you go".

[Globalist]

ricers-shaft-big3: I like your humorist monologue, but that's not how effective communication works. And let me give you an example:

Serious studies showed that the majority of airline's passengers do not listen to flight attendant safety instructions (seat belt, emergency exit locations and other instructions). And the reasons are not because of flight attendant communication style or because passengers heard the same message so many times. It's an important safety and survival message but the only reason people do not pay attention to it is the lack of emergency.

Now imagine you are a passenger flying over the Atlantic, and in the middle of the ocean, the pilot says:
"Your attention please, we have a serious problem. And, we...."
In this situation, 100% of passengers will pay attention (even the ones deeply asleep :-)), and will follow carefully any new additional information provided by flight attendants, even the ones related to, for example, oxygen mask you already saw hundred times before.

A Human being will always listen when he has something to lose--emergency. And, that's how GM plan should be communicated.

[tgagneguam]

Originally Posted by Globalist

ricers-shaft-big3: I like your humorist monologue, but that's not how effective communication works. And let me give you an example:

Serious studies showed that the majority of airline's passengers do not listen to flight attendant safety instructions (seat belt, emergency exit locations and other instructions). And the reasons are not because of flight attendant communication style or because passengers heard the same message so many times. It's an important safety and survival message but the only reason people do not pay attention to it is the lack of emergency.

Now imagine you are a passenger flying over the Atlantic, and in the middle of the ocean, the pilot says:
"Your attention please, we have a serious problem. And, we...."
In this situation, 100% of passengers will pay attention (even the ones deeply asleep :-)), and will follow carefully any new additional information provided by flight attendants, even the ones related to, for example, oxygen mask you already saw hundred times before.

A Human being will always listen when he has something to lose--emergency. And, that's how GM plan should be communicated.

This is well thought out, globalist, and you provide a useful example. It's what I've come to expect from you.

But again, I see the scenario coming across as an oldtime manufacturer begging for some aid. I think that that's a real possibility. And I imagine if it's reported on the news that Cowger is out touring the nation attempting to drum up some support for its healthcare woes, there will be a significant number of Americans who view it similarly.

Of course, if the message is massaged appropriately, I could also see it coming across as a wakeup call for politicians to help industry work toward a viable solution.

We'll see.

[StevenJ]

You can't can't convince Ricerboy on anything. To him, the Japanese never invaded pearl harbor or slaughter millions in Mancheria. All Americans are evil! j/k

[Kar Krazie]

Sounds good to me.

[ld9chevmali]

To -> Ricers-shaft-big-three

If you spent a few days in any management or business class you would learn the role of upper level management. The CEO of a company is not suppose to sit in his office and give orders all day. Its his job to study the -enviornment- that GM operates in.
If that enviornment is not favorable, it is his job to try to lobby or persuade government and leaders to help make it more favorable for GM, or find alternatives. Remember it is upper managers jobs to study the enviornment and make long term plans 3-5years and beyond. Saying that Rick W. and Bob Cowgar should just be sitting in there offices trying to manage GM is absurd, they have to steer GM and look out for its future. I'm very happy to see they are doing this tour, its needed, and it is their obligation to the company to keep it financially sound in an enviornment that unfortunatly burdens them with these extra operating costs.

Support American business, and American jobs, its incredible the amount of money that goes right back into our society to support so many millions of jobs. I think I read somewhere that nearly 1 in 7 jobs are somehow related to the auto industry in the US.

[nickf1011]

Originally Posted by ld9chevmali

I think I read somewhere that nearly 1 in 7 jobs are somehow related to the auto industry in the US.

I've heard that 73% of all statistics are false. =)

[ricers-shaft-big3]

we live in a free enterprise society which out founding fathers deliberately created so that the best and the most creative enterprises succeed while the dullards and laggards die off.

i don't see the point in begging the govt for help; that flies in the face of capitalism; the big 2.5 (one of which is now arab owned) have never learnt to take it on the chin; bout time they did

[Globalist]

Originally Posted by ricers-shaft-big3

i don't see the point in begging the govt for help; that flies in the face of capitalism; the big 2.5 (one of which is now arab owned) have never learnt to take it on the chin; bout time they did

Is it forbidden for Arabs to own? That's discrimination. It reminds me some language about other races not too long ago.

You don't own when you inject $1Bil in a $50 B market cap company.