Still, the future stated goal of GM is to develop an electric or hybrid version in all of its existing brands lines -- Chevrolet, Cadillac, Buick and GMC.
Outcome of changes
GM's most notable success has been overseas, where it is currently ahead of all of its competitors in the rapidly expanding Chinese market. "While GM is outpacing Ford in overseas competition, GM cannot solely depend on China for growth. While the emerging market contributed to GM's global recovery last year with 2.3 million in sales, it may not experience the same momentum this year [2011] because the Chinese government has ended incentives on small cars and rural purchases" (Benedicto 2011). Still, evidence of GM's health is seen in the fact that it recently announced that it will issue profit-sharing checks this month for hourly workers, the largest in a decade (Vlasic & Bunkley 2011:1). Talks with the UAW will soon recommence, and GM wishes to institute new productivity measures to improve worker productivity, including performance-based bonuses and offering company stock to union members as part of a new bonus plan to encourage company loyalty. That way, by working hard and not 'hard-dealing' with the company as before, unionized workers will be able to profit. GM is seeking to link high-quality worker performance bonuses to overall company success.
However, Detroit's harshest critics who hoped that the shift in product styles would produce a greener American car industry in terms of the environment as well as dollars have been disappointed with the post-bailout changes in GM. Although GM's 'greening' may have rehabilitated its image, and its small car sales like the Cruze are selling impressively in Europe and China, the average American GM car consumer has been slowly falling back into bad, fuel-guzzling habits. GM has done little to change the bulk of its output. GM's car sales have fallen 6% which are low even when "compared with last year's anemic numbers, while light trucks (which include pickup trucks, SUV's, minivans and crossovers) are up by more than 16%" (Niedermeyer 2010:1). In other words, the current prosperity of GM is once again built upon the foundation of large vehicles "Despite rolling out the much-hyped Cruze compact and the Volt plug-in hybrid, G.M. still sells half again as many trucks and SUVs as it does cars" (Niedermeyer 2010:1). While GM's current SUVs are more fuel-efficient than earlier models, "the Detroit automakers have three of the four lowest average fleet fuel economy ratings among full-line manufacturers, and none achieves the industry average of 22.5 miles per gallon," including GM (Niedermeyer 2010:1). The showy 'boutique' model of the Volt cannot make up for these dismal statistics.
Perhaps even more worrying for the future health of the company is the fact that GM remains mired in old-style promotional tactics to get consumers to purchase its cars, such as cash rebates from manufacturers, and low-interest loans, "Incentives like rebates help push vehicles off lots but erode brand equity and resale values that help automakers compete over the long-term. GM and Chrysler still lead the industry with above-average amounts of cash on the hood of each car they sell" (Niedermeyer 2010:1). Allowing cars to pile up was another 'bad habit' of the new/old GM, and is especially concerning given recent developments in the Middle East. "The bailed-out automakers are building vehicles faster than they can be bought" (Niedermeyer 2010:2). A large percentage of GM's recent vehicle sales are 'fleet sales' from government and other large-scale dealers, which means that currently robust sales figures are not necessarily indicative of long-term consumer...
The main driver for this change was external, to enhance not only the competitive differentiation of the company, but also its image in the public eye. Whereas GM divided its sales and marketing divisions, Microsoft's change focused on combining separate divisions: Global Agencies and Global Accounts. The former focused on top ad agencies, while to latter focused on top clients. For this combination, a new vice president was also appointing
General Motors Company, commonly called as GM is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world. It is an American multinational corporation headquartered in Detroit, Michigan. It has business operations in more than 157 countries around the Globe. It was founded in 1908 as General Motors Corporation; and renamed as General Motors in 2009. The top brands of the company include Chevrolet, Isuzu, GMC, Jie Fang, Cadillac, Vauxhall, Baojun,
The second decision was implemented and the same treatment would be applied to both Opel and Vauxhall. The first alternative would not have been extremely viable for the simple reason that both German and British manufacturers are subjected to the same environmental features and this means that there is no logic reason as to why they should be treated separately; they both fall under regulations of the European Community,
The crisis affects all aspects of life, but among the most prominent victims of the difficulties was the automobile industry. Once the largest employer of the country, the automobile makers are now closing their plants and sending the workers into unemployment. The aim of this paper was to look at General Motors' microenvironment in light of the crisis and establish if the media coverage of the crisis within the
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Although some external players, such as potential new executives, may prefer this plan, there is little evidence that the major stakeholders have interest in major culture change. The third alternative is to place emphasis on operational issues first and foremost. Under terms of its new deal with the UAW, GM will be closing plants and shedding workers, and it is trying to sell off some of its underperforming units (Hummer,
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