Today I want to talk about food as I firmly believe that it should become one of the selection criteria for a potential new owner.
A few years ago Saab had an alliance with FIAT at a facility just outside Gothenburg.

A whole flock of Italians descended upon Sweden. Instead of the crap Sodhexo " cook and chill " food we had a local family owned kitchen preparing freshly cooked pastas alongside the traditional Swedish fare. It was always a pleasure to go there and meetings strangely enough were often just before or just after lunch.

Ultimately the Italians went home which we thought would be the end for quality cooking. Needless to say following mass protests the chef stayed on and " cook and chill" never came to be.

Now lets take the close interaction of future Saab ownership and food.
Today under GM we have the " cook and chill " solution.
Its cheap to produce , poor quality and tastes crap. Customers are dissatisfied and in many cases go and eat elsewhere. There could be a close analogy here with product satisfaction and customer retention !!!

If you read and listen to the press the two current suiters BAIC and Spyker are in town.

Think of the impact that the choice of owner could have on future sales and customer retention.

I think that we all appreciate the impact that Chinese ownership could have.
" cook and chill" would be exiled to the world of schools, hospitals and old peoples homes and instead we could call up 30 minutes before lunch, choose a meal with a number at the front and a little guy on a moped would deliver it direct to the desk.... Amazing. Incidentally I have never understood why in every Chinese restaurant in the western world there is a number before the name of the dish. Is it because the owners think we cannot read ???

Lets turn to Spyker and the impact they would have.

Dutch company - Russian investment. Now that IS a combination.
In focusing on the Dutch aspect and having lived and worked in Holland I cannot for the life of me remember the food !!
Only to say that there were chips ( Pommes Frittes ) and mayonnaise with everything.

If that be the case and if I were in the GM management team, I would definitely choose BAIC.

It just makes good business sense

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