A good read. See how much sounds familiar. Very informative for salaried, union, or contracted people. The way things are going it is not that the top of the house is totally "don't get it" type of stupid, this is all by design. Their design. A design of failure, but by design.
Same circus, different clowns.
https://urbanmilwaukee.com/2020/09/28/why-briggs-stratton-went-bankrupt/
If Briggs and Stratton has implemented the oil bath air cleaner they could have stayed afloat. Who want to wash out, and add oil onto a foam element?
Seems like the key point to the case study is that B & S failed to innovate new products. Their business model was years outdated and clearly not working. Although not mentioned, I'm sure NAFTA also had a part to play in that disaster.
Ford continues to innovate new offerings which is not comparable to B &S. They do the same sort of thing with labor. By hiring a significate amount of contract and PS people they artificially keep their labor costs lower.
I was contract in 1992. The PS people doing a job similar to mine back then are making about $5 less an hour. Just an example of how they have kept labor cost lower.
Good point OP, death by Economic Value Added (EVA) philosophy that Ford leadership espouses. Simply greed and hubris by the C-suite.