[reeftool]

It didn't help Saab and Volvo much. They got bought by GM and Ford and dragged both companies down. Saab is done and Volvo is now Chinese.

[Nesster]

As to giving up when business complains, we are fear based life forms. We fear that we will lose more if we assert ourselves.

Precisely the difference between an organization and an individual. This is taken advantage of by organizations all the time.

[shooz]

It didn't help Saab and Volvo much. They got bought by GM and Ford and dragged both companies down. Saab is done and Volvo is now Chinese.

Interesting that GM drove Fiat into the ground and sold them.
They bounced back and bought Chrysler.

Ford actually did help Volvo, but had to sell them to secure it's loan.

[Parallax]

Interesting that GM drove Fiat into the ground and sold them.
.....

Well, at least they learned from their mistake. They made sure they drove Saturn and Hummer so far into the ground that nobody wanted to buy them.

[Nesster]

....none of which addresses the original observation re. Volvo and Saab: if Sweden's so great, how come their cars took down our car makers?

reeftool - at least there's hope relative to China, if Volvo is theirs now

[Parallax]

....none of which addresses the original observation re. Volvo and Saab: if Sweden's so great, how come their cars took down our car

UAW?

[shooz]

UAW?

How so Jim?

[Parallax]

Was a question, shooz, not a declaration. Honest!

[shooz]

Was a question, shooz, not a declaration. Honest!

.........

When Ford bought Volvo, it was in trouble.
When they sold it, it was in much better shape, along with many years of new models in the pipeline.

The Same could be said for Jaguar and Aston Martin.

The year before they sold it Aston made the first profit in it's history.
Not much, but it was a profit.

[redrockcoulee]

It didn't help Saab and Volvo much. They got bought by GM and Ford and dragged both companies down. Saab is done and Volvo is now Chinese.

This is shocking news to Spiker and its owner as well as to all the new Saab dealerships. Saab is now Dutch owned. Both Saab and Volvo are examples of how small companies cannot survive economic changes as easily in a segment of business that requires large capital outlays on a constant basis. Cannot bring out a new model without a huge capital investment and the auto industry is getting more and more expensive to produce a new product. GM never knew what to do with Saab and the results showed. They would have done better with Volvo though as Saabs are quirky and GM was straight laced.

[reeftool]

Actually, my point in this is that the grass isn't any greener in Sweden. Their auto industry is struggling just as much as ours. Once the darling car of the upper middle class in the USA, the Volvo wagon was the soccer moms taxi. Volvo lost their customers to Honda and Suburu. What remained of the original Volvo in Sweden is a heavy truck company. They sold the car division to Ford to finance their purchase of GMC and White. Volvo Trucks haven't gained much more market share than they had before. Ford has been the smartest of all of them by being able to sell of their unprofitable divisions. Their best one was to sell their heavy truck division to Daimler which became Sterling. It went bankrupt.

[GeneV]

Actually, my point in this is that the grass isn't any greener in Sweden. Their auto industry is struggling just as much as ours. Once the darling car of the upper middle class in the USA, the Volvo wagon was the soccer moms taxi. Volvo lost their customers to Honda and Suburu. What remained of the original Volvo in Sweden is a heavy truck company. They sold the car division to Ford to finance their purchase of GMC and White. Volvo Trucks haven't gained much more market share than they had before. Ford has been the smartest of all of them by being able to sell of their unprofitable divisions. Their best one was to sell their heavy truck division to Daimler which became Sterling. It went bankrupt.

I don't think the report has their grass much greener. The difference between the top 10 contenders is measured in a few tenths or hundredths of a point. What is interesting is that China is number 27. They rank much lower in institutions and infrastructure.

There appears to be no correlation between meager social programs and competitiveness. If anything, countries with fewer social programs rank a bit lower. Of course, health and education of the workforce is a factor.

[Nesster]

There appears to be no correlation between meager social programs and competitiveness. If anything, countries with fewer social programs rank a bit lower. Of course, health and education of the workforce is a factor.

...and could it be that a secure society, that is, where the individual need not fear becoming homeless and broke, makes for people whose productivity in aggregate is higher? That this is one of those cases where the spreadsheet of any one company drives people into sweatshops, but this doesn't carry over to the nation as a whole? In other words, the free market won't produce the optimal overall productivity?

[jeffkrol]

...and could it be that a secure society, that is, where the individual need not fear becoming homeless and broke, makes for people whose productivity in aggregate is higher? That this is one of those cases where the spreadsheet of any one company drives people into sweatshops, but this doesn't carry over to the nation as a whole? In other words, the free market won't produce the optimal overall productivity?

Nooo....... say it ain't so......

[Parallax]

...and could it be that a secure society, that is, where the individual need not fear becoming homeless and broke, makes for people whose productivity in aggregate is higher? ............

Oh yeah, knowing that you'll be fed, housed, and clothed whether you do a good job or not is great motivator.