Another of our very best business analysts, James B. Stewart, offered this “simple” commentary in the 3 June Wall Street Journal:
“It has been long in coming, this slow death of what was once the greatest and biggest corporation in the world. The myriad causes of its demise have been thoroughly chronicled, but to my mind one stands out: The custodians of GM simply gave up trying to build the best cars in the world. To accommodate a host of competing interests, from shareholders to bondholders to labor, they repeatedly compromised on excellence. [My italics.] Once sacrificed, that reputation has proved impossible to recapture. … Can anyone say GM builds the best cars in any category?”