Word: chryslers
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...change. Some were further irritated by his blustery anti-Japanese performance as a member of President Bush's trade mission to Tokyo in January. Yet the task of facing down Iacocca remained daunting to the board. "Lee could see the end, but he couldn't believe it," said a Chrysler insider. "This was not just his career and his company. It was his life and his creation. It was like trying to bring down a lion...
...experts view Iacocca's failure to groom a successor from within as perhaps his greatest managerial shortcoming. "Chrysler should never have gone outside the company," observes Eugene Jennings, a management professor at Michigan State University. Even after Iacocca nominally retires, predicts Jennings, he will try to cling to power through his chairmanship of the executive committee...
Other students of Chrysler contend that Iacocca will inevitably find fault with Eaton's management before next December and will raise the succession issue again by relaying his doubts to the board. Iacocca could then suggest delaying his own departure until the problems are solved. "Lee hasn't changed," says a longtime associate. "He's as predictable as the sun that follows the night. His game plan is to be the folk hero by turning Chrysler around for the second time. The first mistake Eaton makes, Lee will be right back in there." Advises another insider: "The first time...
With that kind of talk still in the air, it's little wonder that many have not ruled out Lutz as the eventual winner. While the Chrysler president graciously pledged allegiance to the new order last week, friends say he has not given up. "Lutz has an interesting problem," says a confidant. "He has to figure out whether his real enemy is Eaton or Iacocca. Lutz is just saying he lost the first round and is still going to get it by default. Meanwhile, he is going to stand aside and let Eaton take the heat and get chewed...
Executive turbulence could be a dangerous distraction from Chrysler's real task of completing the comeback that Iacocca began more than a decade ago. On the positive side of the ledger, years of employee teamwork have created a new generation of promising Chrysler cars, Jeeps and minivans. "You couldn't want better vehicles to market, heading into an upturn in the economy," says Joseph Phillippi, who watches the industry for Shearson Lehman Hutton. At the same time, Chrysler's chronic cash crunch (it lost $795 million last year) makes it crucial for the vehicles...