By Leftlane Staff
Wednesday, Mar 22nd, 2006 @ 4:50 pm

Automotive columnist Jerry Flint has an interesting look at some of the problems that could hurt Hyundai and Kia in the coming years. “The Koreans are terribly ambitious and terribly aggressive, and in the past, they have been hurt by such tactics,” writes Flint. “A few years ago, the industry in Korea expanded too rapidly; Daewoo went bankrupt and was taken over by GM. Renault grabbed Samsung’s failed effort at expanding into car manufacturing. And Hyundai rescued Kia by taking a big stake in that company at a time when Hyundai itself was in serious trouble.” Flint also points to how Hyundai tossed U.S. boss Robert Cosmai and Kia bounced its U.S. president Peter Butterfield despite both companies having good years. “My guess is that the home office sets impossible goals, and no matter how good the results, if people don’t reach these goals, they are punished. Setting high goals is great, but this kind of instability eventually causes an organization to become dysfunctional.”

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