Never burn your bridges

Sometimes that drive to be the rooster on top of the hay stack is just too compelling. It can wipe out all reason. This malaise can attack anybody. So no sniggering is aloud.

The drama playing out between Porsche and Volkswagen is one such fight for the top of the hay stack. It has been quite something to watch this play out over the last year or so. Pity a few other folk got their fingers burnt at the same time.

The story goes like this. Just broad strokes to see an example of the games CEO’s and shareholders play.

March 2007 Porsche obtains 31% of Volkswagen. I’m not sure why. They are not exactly playing in the same market. But there you go.

October 2008 Porsche announces that it will take over Volkswagen. 50% by end of 2008 and in 2009 by 75%. This little announcement drives the share price of Volkswagen into the stratosphere causing many an investor to lose his marbles and jump on the bandwagon. A few senior investment managers commit suicide once the market corrects itself and sanity returns.

Porsche starts wielding the arrogant management stick with some quite strange proposals. For instance the 12 000 employees of the sports car manufacturers are supposed to hold the same voting clout as the approximately 360 000 Volkswagen employees.

Bring on 2009 and the recession hits the car manufacturers with a vengeance. First to suffer are the manufacturers serving the popular market, but eventually even the luxury car builders start to feel the pinch. In fact at this moment in time both Porsche and BMW are ready to feed at the German government bail-out trough.

How the mighty have fallen. Now the big deal bully conquerer is getting some of its own medicine back from the Volkswagen management whose senior folk have been insulted and humiliated for a fair number of months.

Latest news is that Volkswagen have refused to continue with any merger talks stating they have no common grounds anymore. Well they haven’t had those for a while, I should think. Oh and they are considering buying Porsche.

It’s such a bad business move to lord it over people, to belittle and to run them down. This includes your opposition as well as a company you may want to take over. At the end of the day you never know when the tables may be turned and you end up at the mercy of their scorn.

The power can change hands overnight. Be careful of what you say and what you do. You could need the help of the opposition you have been bad-mouthing. You might get trampled by a competitor because he just doesn’t like your bad manners anymore. I’m sure you got the point with the Porsche and Volkswagen example.

Don’t think it couldn’t happen to you. Even if you are a small business, be nice to everybody. You never know when it could be pay-back time. You want nice to be paid back to you.