In the highly competitive corporate world, decorum often prevents business people from coming right out and letting others know how they feel. So when GM recently ended the fantasy GM-Renault-Nissan alliance talks abruptly; made a less than comfortable board seat for Kerkorian aide Jerry York, and amended its bylaws protecting itself from further shareholder action, it was about as clear an "Up Yours!" you are likely to find.
As it turns out, Jerry York's seat on the board may have looked a bit more like a very temporary pile of Yellow Pages stacked in the corner at the GM "Renaissance Center."
Apparently GM is both comfortable with Rick Wagoner at the helm and with the company's current restructing plan to brush off criticism andtell their single largest private shareholder to "talk to the hand." So Monsieur Ghosn is free to go back to his wining & dining (though with Nissan's product pipeline, he might want to skip dessert and go straight to the drawing board).
The question people are probably wondering is whether or not Renault-Nissan will try to spin off GM and further court Ford in the automotive equivalent of "sloppy seconds." Given Ford's history of copying GM and appointment of Alan Mullaly, I hope Mr. Ghosn isn't expecting the warmest of welcomes.
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