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The Critical Path: Inventing an Automobile and Reinventing a Corporation | 
 enlarge | Author: Brock W. Yates
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Category: Book
List Price: $37.00
Buy Used: $0.01
You Save: $36.99 (100%)
New (21) Collectible (4) from $3.95
Avg. Customer Rating:  8 reviews
Sales Rank: 483840
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1st
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 320
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.5
Dimensions (in): 9.5 x 6.2 x 1.1
ISBN: 0316967084
Dewey Decimal Number: 338.76292220973
EAN: 9780316967082
ASIN: 0316967084
Publication Date: August 12, 1996
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Good condition, wear from reading and use. All pages are intact, and the cover is intact and has some creases. The spine has signs of wear and creases. This copy may include "From the library of" labels, stickers or stamps and be an ex-library copy.
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com Review
After a series of unsatisfactory models that pushed the company to the brink of extinction, the Chrysler Corporation did a revolutionary thing: It listened to its customers. What they told the company was that they wanted a family vehicle that didn't drive like an 18-wheeler. Chrysler responded with its minivans, introducing a new category of vehicles to the American public and resuscitating its floundering finances. Brock Yates, a columnist for Car & Driver magazine, reconstructs this tale with a mix of knowledge about vehicle engineering, the automobile industry, and the American public. A must-read for those in the industry and others interested in corporate survival.
Product Description
The story of how Chrysler's minivan team created an automobile that captured the 1995 Motor Trend Car of the Year and other major awards - and reinvented a perilously entrenched corporation in the process - is as dramatic and inspiring a story as any in business today. Brock Yates, one of the most respected writers in the auto world, was given unprecedented access to Chrysler - every planning session, presentation, budget review, test drive, assembly line start-up, and marketing launch. The result is a book that unveils the mysteries of modern car-making, revealing how cars are shaped through countless interlinked decisions ranging from size and power to door configurations, color selections, and innumerable other interconnected details. It also captures the complex process by which the thousands of separate pieces that make up a car are designed, tested, manufactured, and marshaled into place at the exact moment they are needed. For any reader who cares about cars, this is the most intriguing look inside the mysteries of their creation ever written. At the same time, The Critical Path recounts an extraordinary drama of all-too-human managers attempting to make something new, in a new way, inside a corporate culture that resists them at every turn. The story of how Chrysler's minivan platform team kept their commitment to quality, schedule, and budget - with a $3 billion investment and the company's fate palpably in the balance - is as encouraging a tale as has emerged from American business in years. The unprecedented triumph and Chrysler's resultant comeback is a lesson in successful management that will be savored by any reader interested in how great companies make breakthroughproducts.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 3 more reviews...
 Reading this was a chore April 27, 2006
Poorly written and edited, lacking factually, and aggravatingly repetitive. Very disappointing, given Mr. Yates' considerable writing skill evidenced in his Car & Driver editorials.
 A Interesting view of the Auto Industry July 2, 2003
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
We've owned four Caravan / Voyagers, so I had a distinct curiosity about the book's subject. The book was interesting when describing the design issues involved with "the vehicle that saved Chrysler/Plymouth/Dodge". The book gives a good feel for the business end of the big bucks car industry, trying to guess what world economy and whim of the American buyer will sell cars five years down the road.
Brock Yates' writing style lends itself better to one page editorial writing or brief commentary within specifications laden car articles. He KNOWS the subject but has a boring style. Overall, though the subject to me was worth finishing the book.
John Row
 Fascinating, Well written, Informed March 22, 2001
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
As the owner of a 2000 Dodge Caravan I feel it is a special treat to learn the story of my car's design and creation, from conception to labor and delivery. The book is well written, and the story is told in such a way that it riveted my attention from beginning to end. Mr. Yates is highly qualified having spent an entire career as an automotive journalist, and in my opinion it shows. In cases where I was familiar with the facts being discussed, his story agrees with the facts I was familiar with. This book is top notch in my opinion - 5 stars.
 An excellent counterpoint to the Iacocca books.... May 6, 2000
As you will find out if you read this book, Iacocca was not a car guy - he was a businessman, a "mogul" in the business of cars.This book provides a counterpoint to the Iacocca books, from a different viewpoint: from within the engineering and production "trenches". No only does Yates chronicle the development of the third generation minivan; he chronicles with it the transformation of the Chrysler Corporation. Adequately written, very insightful. Incredible access to what transpired at Chrysler during this time. Recommended. Especially for minivan owners or prospective buyers.
 A frustrating, poor quality read. September 22, 1998
5 out of 7 found this review helpful
Judging by Brock Yates' work as an "Editor at large" for Car and Driver magazine, one would expect witty, to-the-point writing in this book-- especially when one considers that discussing automobiles (more specifically, the gestation and development of a particularly important one) is what he excells at.However, after trudging through the seemingly endless reworded repetitions of previously mentioned facts, poorly formed sentences, and numerous instances of completely unfactual statements, I was left with a lessened view of the man's talents. There is a smattering of interesting information here, though, so those with an interest in the automobile industry would do themselves a favor to pick this up and slog through the poor stuff to get to the nuggets. Yates has spent a lot of his outstanding career bemoaning, justifiably, the lack of quality in various automobiles. His effort in the book, however, makes him seem as a bit of a hypocrite, unfortunately, and my previously high opinion of the man's work has lessened. I felt used after reading this. Shame on you, Yates.
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