Getting Stuck - Examples

It is of little use to supply advanced machinery to unskilled workers

The various problems at General Motors from 1980 to 2008 had strong chain-link features.  Increasing the quality of an automobile transmission does little good if the knobs fall off the dashboard and door panels continue to rattle.  Improving fit and finish, along with the drive train, may offer little overall improvement as long as the designers continue to produce pedestrian designs.

Improving the look of the automobiles may only increase costs unless the complex technology of design for manufacturability is masters and so on.

As another example, many of the thorny problems of economic development arise from chain linked issues:

• It is of little use to supply advanced machinery to unskilled workers, but it is also useless to educate people for jobs that do not exist. 
• Government bureaucracy can be a terrible burden, but improvement in its effectiveness can be won only if there is an efficient private sector.
• Without corruption, it would be impossible to get around the stifling bureaucracy, but bureaucracy is a necessary counter  to nepotism and a culture of corruption.
• Improving the roads puts a strain on poor port facilities, and better ports without good roads are of little value.  Improve both the roads and ports, and corrupt officials and unions will demand payments for letting shipments through.

ACTION POINT: Fixing two out of three links will not be good enough, real improvement require addressing all areas.