The Restructuring Business

David Brooks writes in his oped piece in the NYT this week:

For 30 years, G.M. has been restructuring itself toward long-term viability.
...

There are many experts who think that the whole restructuring strategy is misbegotten. These experts think that costs are not the real problem. The real problem is the product. The cars are not good enough. The management is insular. The reputation is fatally damaged.

But if you are in the restructuring business, you can’t let these stray thoughts get in the way of your restructuring. After all, restructuring is your life. Restructuring is forever. Restructuring is like what dieting is for many of us: You think about it every day. You believe it’s about to work. Nothing really changes.

But this time Mr. Change (Obama) wants change. And he wants it NOW, not later.

Read the Brooks article if you want to read his quibbles about how Obama's "March’s menacing threat will lead to June’s wobbly wiggle-out"... but I think it is up to the Big 3 in Detroit to decide what change they want to bring about in their business. Whether they survive for decades depends on their outlook about the type of product they want to deliver to the market. Otherwise, this ends up with yet another trip up to DC asking for tax-payers $s in another few years or even months!

In the end, what Brooks writes is true -- it is not about restructuring, not about global warming, not about Japanse and Korean car manufacturer's hourly wages & pension load versus Detroit's....  but the real problem is the product they sell. So, stop whining and get your act together, Detroit....or like all other badly run companies that do not have products that sell well (compared to your competition), roll over and perish and die.