With the impending recession and all the media articles about pending layoffs at Yahoo!, I can’t help but think the culture of corporations as they grow has some terrible trends. That aside, I also think in the case of Y! the media is going too far and screaming for blood from their chosen poster child. Nonetheless, the trend is disturbing.

This article on News.com outlines the identity crisis at Y! and why it led to managers focusing on building empires and protecting their turf, rather than on creating the best product and experience for their customers. This is eerily similar to the big American automotive companies and their decline in the face of global competition. GM, Ford & Chrysler assumed that people would buy their cars just because they offered them. This led to cars that didn’t meet the market’s demands and a huge opening for the Asian and European automakers to step into.

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