Yes, Delphi CEO Steve "Take the money and then take some more" Miller is declaring mission accomplished. Automotive News [sub] reports the generous self-assessment– considering the recent collapse of the bankrupt parts maker's bailout plan. Not-so-coincidentally, Miller indulged in the entirely unjustifiable double-jointed back patting at the Automotive Press Association launch of his [twice delayed] autobiographical biz book: The Turnaround Kid. (Kid? Who's kidding whom?) Just in case you thought Miller was the unassailable captain of the ship that his book paints him to be, Miller revealed "he's not a big fan of his book's title — chosen by the publisher — because it suggests a 'tinge of arrogance.' The first title suggested for the book was Not Worth a Buck, a reference to UAW criticism and his $1-a-year salary during the first phase of the bankruptcy" [emphasis added]. Anyway, after declaring Delphi's exit from C11 a done deal, Miller takes a deep breath and promises that, well, it will be. "We will get it done. It won't get done in weeks. It'll be months, but we will get it done."
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Has anyone noticed that companies who are (or have been) in deep trouble or who have entered bankruptcy are normally headed by arrogant, spearated from reality management?
Case 1: When Nissan was in deep trouble, Carlos Ghosn found out that one of the main reasons Nissan was in trouble was that the current management had their heads buried in the ground, failing to acknowledge there was a problem at Nissan FOR 10 YEARS!
Case 2: GM are haemorraging market share, losing money and have a lack of profitability because GM won’t accept that their turnaround plan isn’t working and maybe they need to emulate some of the transplants’ best practices?
Case 3: Ford is a similar story but now they’re starting to gain traction after acknowledging the problems and brought a fresh perspective (i.e Alan Mulally) to fix it. But they still have the core management, who brought the problems on Ford, still in employment (I’m looking at you, Mr Fields)….
Conversely, Toyota, Honda, Hyundai and (new) Nissan are slowly working to a gameplan and making sure that EVERYONE is working together, from the factory line worker to top management, to create and maintain a sustainably growing company.
A natural conclusion could be that maybe working to a vision and having EVERYONE working together could breed a healthy company, an equally healthy product and (subsequently) healthy profits. As opposed to arrogant management who are just interested in themselves, their careers and their benefits (notice how their pensions and benefits are ALWAYS well protected? We wouldn’t want anything happening to those things, would we…?)
Of course, it could all be a coincidence…..
I worked for Delphi for 3 years in the late 90s while they were still partof GM. I spent the whole time scratching my head trying to figure out how they made any noney.
Sure enough, as soon as GM cut them loose, it turned out that they weren’t making money. And haven’t since. But then, neither has GM.
Just before I left, the anniuncement came that GM was cutting them loose. Because I had had a lot of experience working at suppliers, managmeent types began dropping by my office all day long. Their biggest question ? “Do suppiers give people company cars?”
No wonder Delphi is a mess, and will probably be a mess until they go belly up in the US.
Bob
My brother-in-law works as an engineer for Delphi. When he was last here, he asked me about job opportunities. I don’t think he’s too convinced that Delphi has righted their ship.
With their stock hovering around $0.13/share it is mighty tempting to believe Delphi has a shot. However, with a CEO that out of touch with reality I can’t sink my money into it.
Steve Miller fixed Delphi like the mob fixed Jimmy Hoffa.
Delphi’s fixed? Yeah, like a dog that went to the vet and got fixed.
Surgeon to Miller: You have been fixed as well.