Driving into traffic

摘要

Rick wagoner, chairman and chief executive of General Motors, the world's largest car company, has arguably the worst job in the world. As GM staggers from one crisis to another, its Asian and European competitors continue to munch into its market share in the United States. Mr Wagoner has to slash capacity to meet his firm's falling sales, while simultaneously revitalising product development so that GM can make new cars that customers might buy. He needs to close about a dozen factories and shed 30,000 workers. But his hands are tied: every time GM shuts a plant, the workers go into a "jobs bank", where they earn nearly full pay for doing nothing.