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U.S. CEO to France: ‘How Stupid Do You Think We Are?’

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Re: U.S. CEO to France: ‘How Stupid Do You Think We Are?’

#71

Post by zellyn »

jacquesm wrote: post #40

Wow, what a total jerk. Regardless of the differences between US, Chinese, Indian and French work ethics the least you could do as a CEO is to learn how to write a polite refusal. When you don't have to insult someone it is probably better not to. Because those pesky French just might publish your less than elegant letters, your stockholders might read those letters and could very well think: "This guy runs the compa…

I assume he thinks putting the situation in stark terms is more likely to provoke a response from France that will have a chance of saving their jobs in the future.

Re: U.S. CEO to France: ‘How Stupid Do You Think We Are?’

#72

Post by jacquesm »

fnordfnordfnord wrote: post #64
jacquesm wrote: post #40

Wow, what a total jerk. Regardless of the differences between US, Chinese, Indian and French work ethics the least you could do as a CEO is to learn how to write a polite refusal. When you don't have to insult someone it is probably better not to. Because those pesky French just might publish your less than elegant letters, your stockholders might read those letters and could very well think: "This guy runs the compa…

Would you prefer that the guy puts on a fake smile and pretends to not be an ass? I wouldn't.

False Dichotomy.

Hello dear French Person,

We have taken your offer under consideration and have decided we are not interested.

Experience has taught us that we can produce cheaper in Asia which is why we are not going to set up a manufacturing base in Europe.

best regards,

   x
No fake smile, not an ass.

Re: U.S. CEO to France: ‘How Stupid Do You Think We Are?’

#73

Post by Retric »

VeejayRampay wrote: post #66
rayiner wrote: post #46

What's amusing about the letter is that it shows how even executives buy into cultural stereotypes to justify their activities. The substance of the letter is this: we'd rather buy an Indian or Chinese tire company to get the government subsidies and take advantage of the low cost of labor. The stuff about French workers only working three hours a day is fluff, and on top of that almost certainly exaggerated out of c…

French workers also have an old tradition for manufacturing, produce quality products and have one of the best productivity per hour of all the developed countries (mostly due to the fact that they work slightly LESS than other workers in developed economies). But what are you gonna do, it's become trendy to take swings at the French for being cowardly, lazy, corrupted union-loving socialist epicurian bastards with n…

Your assuming things that are not necessarily the case. GM had some terrible factory's in the 80's where you could buy alcohol, hard drugs, and visit a prostitute all inside the factory. That has little to due with the US work force and a lot to due with the history of Union activity at GM.

Re: U.S. CEO to France: ‘How Stupid Do You Think We Are?’

#74

Post by OGinparadise »

nostromo wrote: post #11

> Titan had to pay millions to Washington lawyers to sue the Chinese tire companies because of their subsidizing. Titan won. The government collects the duties. We don't get the duties, the government does. This is how tariffs work. You don't tax imports to fork over free money to domestic companies. The point is to increase the cost of the imported good to compensate for illegal (from the WTO's point of view) Chines…

Maybe he meant to say: we were harmed financially, paid lawyers, sued, won and got jack in return.

Re: U.S. CEO to France: ‘How Stupid Do You Think We Are?’

#75

Post by gojomo »

rayiner wrote: post #46

What's amusing about the letter is that it shows how even executives buy into cultural stereotypes to justify their activities. The substance of the letter is this: we'd rather buy an Indian or Chinese tire company to get the government subsidies and take advantage of the low cost of labor. The stuff about French workers only working three hours a day is fluff, and on top of that almost certainly exaggerated out of c…

The "three hours a day" is obviously an impressionistic account, but he reports having visited that factory more than once and spoken with its workers. And, as someone who's managed similar factories in other jurisdictions, he'd have some insight about what 'tempo' of production is necessary for profitable operation.

So it's not fair to accuse him of imagining this based solely on cultural stereotypes. He has expertise beyond that, both in the industry and the specific factory; that's why the French government approached him.

Also, your OECD averages for France don't tell us anything about how a single troubled factory works. Many French businesses are doing fine, but they aren't looking for a foreign-buyer rescue. The Titan CEO is speaking of one, specific troubled factory, with a specific (likely unfireable) workforce. Its work environment might be among the worst France's traditions, unions, and political influences has to offer. As thin as the anecdote in the CEO's letter is, it's still stronger than an argument based on national averages that include healthy businesses.

Re: U.S. CEO to France: ‘How Stupid Do You Think We Are?’

#76

Post by CamperBob2 »

guizzy wrote: post #68
stfu wrote: post #38

Is there somewhere already a translation of the French response? http://www.lesechos.fr/economie-politique/france/actu/020257...

Here's my amateur translation... Sir, Your words, as extreme as they are insulting, pay witness to your complete ignorance of our country, France, and its solid assets, such as its world renowned power of attraction and its ties with the United States of America. France is proud to host more than 20 000 foreign businesses, representing nearly 2 million jobs, a third of it's industrial exports, 20% of its private R&D…

Would have been a much more powerful response if he'd left out that last paragraph. In two sentences he reinforced every incorrect stereotype of France as a third-world chickenshit bureaucracy that any Americans might have held.

Re: U.S. CEO to France: ‘How Stupid Do You Think We Are?’

#77

Post by btilly »

rayiner wrote: post #46

What's amusing about the letter is that it shows how even executives buy into cultural stereotypes to justify their activities. The substance of the letter is this: we'd rather buy an Indian or Chinese tire company to get the government subsidies and take advantage of the low cost of labor. The stuff about French workers only working three hours a day is fluff, and on top of that almost certainly exaggerated out of c…

The French show up to work for that long, but what do they accomplish?

As http://www.ibtimes.com/us-labor-department-statistics-vindic... points out, the per hour productivity of French workers in manufacturing is only 78% of the per hour productivity of US workers. And going to the statistics linked in that chart, I note that French workers receive 144% of what US workers do per hour. (I looked for both India and China in the stats, but failed to find them.)

So yes, he's exaggerating. But he has a point. French workers do less and receive more than US workers. If I were a manufacturer, I wouldn't want to run a French factory either.

Re: U.S. CEO to France: ‘How Stupid Do You Think We Are?’

#78

Post by rayiner »

gojomo wrote: post #75
rayiner wrote: post #46

What's amusing about the letter is that it shows how even executives buy into cultural stereotypes to justify their activities. The substance of the letter is this: we'd rather buy an Indian or Chinese tire company to get the government subsidies and take advantage of the low cost of labor. The stuff about French workers only working three hours a day is fluff, and on top of that almost certainly exaggerated out of c…

The "three hours a day" is obviously an impressionistic account, but he reports having visited that factory more than once and spoken with its workers. And, as someone who's managed similar factories in other jurisdictions, he'd have some insight about what 'tempo' of production is necessary for profitable operation. So it's not fair to accuse him of imagining this based solely on cultural stereotypes. He has experti…

The third paragraph is talking about that factory, but he's clearly generalizing to French workers. He uses the word "French" three times in four short sentences.

Re: U.S. CEO to France: ‘How Stupid Do You Think We Are?’

#79

Post by [deleted] »

nostromo wrote: post #11

> Titan had to pay millions to Washington lawyers to sue the Chinese tire companies because of their subsidizing. Titan won. The government collects the duties. We don't get the duties, the government does. This is how tariffs work. You don't tax imports to fork over free money to domestic companies. The point is to increase the cost of the imported good to compensate for illegal (from the WTO's point of view) Chines…

[deleted]
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