International associates:

Tavana & Co.
Chartered Accountants
Toronto, Canada
Tel.416-229-2221

• Toyota vs. Ford
The Japanese auto maker, Toyota, and
the U.S. one, Ford, decided to have a
canoe race on the Missouri River. Both
teams practiced long and hard to reach
their peak performance before the race.
On the big day, Toyota won by more than
a mile. The Ford team was very
discouraged and decided to investigate
the reason for the crushing defeat. A
team made up of senior management
was formed to investigate and
recommend appropriate action. Their
conclusion was that Toyota had eight
people rowing and one person steering,
while the Ford team had eight people
steering and one person rowing.
Feeling a deeper study was in order,
Ford management hired a consulting
firm with a huge fee for a second
opinion. They advised, of course, that
too many people were steering the boat,
while not enough people were rowing.
Not sure of how to utilize the information,
but wanting to prevent another loss to
Toyota, the rowing team's management
structure was totally reorganized to four
steering supervisors, three area steering
superintendents and one assistant
superintendent steering manager. They
also implemented a new performance
system that would give the one person
rowing the boat greater incentive to work
harder. It was called the "Rowing Team
Quality First Program," with meetings,
dinners, and free pens for the rower.
There was discussions of getting new
paddles, canoes and other equipment,
and extra vacation days for practices and
bonuses. The next year Toyota won by
two miles. Humiliated, the Ford
management laid off the rower for poor
performance, halted development of a
new canoe, sold the paddles and
cancelled investments for new
equipment. The money saved was
distributed to senior executives as
bonuses and the next year's racing team
was out-sourced to India. And that's
sadly the end. This is a fictitious story
but it reflects so much of the realities.

• Britain has begun its
identity-card program for foreign
nationals after six years of debate.

• For more of the Generalist,
please visit ARKCPA•COM.

• theGeneralist, a one-page monthly
publication of the accounting firm of
A.R. Kakhsaz Company, is in its 15th
year of providing information, presented
fairly and accurately, from sources we
can depend upon and trust.

• Native Americans: it was as
late (or as recent) as in 1924 that
they were granted U.S. citizenship!

• Bernard L. Madoff was charged
with fraud after he told his sons
that the investment management
business was a "gigantic Ponzi
scheme" and that he had
potentially lost at least $50 billion.
In December, he and his wife
sent watches, and jewelry to his
brother and his sons which the
government says were worth
more than $1 million.

• When he told his doctor that
he couldn't afford an operation,
the doctor offered to touch up his
X-rays.

• Ford has spent the last thirty
years moving its factories out of
the U.S., claiming it cannot make
money paying American wages.
While Toyota has spent the last
thirty years building more than a
dozen plants within the U.S. Ford
has lost billions of dollars but
Toyota has made billions of
dollars.

• Would it be very hard to give up
the following devices? Percentage
of people who said yes in 2002
versus 2007:

	2002	2007
Cell phone	29%	51%
Internet	38%	45%
Television	47%	43%
Landline tel	63%	40%
E-mail	35%	37%
Blackberry or
Wireless E-mail
Device	6%	36%

• We see more in numbers
than just numbers...

Ali R. Kakhsaz, CPA, MAcc
www.arkcpa.com