Poll probes automaker-supplier relations

In what's unsurprising news for everybody in the supplied-component industry, a recent Planning Perspectives, Inc. poll ranks GM last in its relationship with suppliers, slipping significantly from last year's score. Toyota finished first in the group of six auto manufacturers, improving upon their previous score. 3% of the respondents ranked their relationship with GM as "good or very good", while 63% felt that way about their relationship with Toyota. GM's performance in the poll reflected the pricing pressure they place on suppliers, but even second-place Honda's overall score sagged a bit this year due to industry conditions. What remains to be seen is whether the adversarial approach of the domestic OEMs proves to be better in the long term than the more-cooperative approach of the Japanese manufacturers.