General Motors corporation

Résumé du document

General Motors Corp. was founded in 1908 in Flint, Michigan. Today it's the world's largest automaker. The company has also been regarded as the sales leader at the global industrial level for 76 years. Due to GM's embarkment into continuous acquisitions and the firm concentrating on enlarging itself for several years, GM has surpassed Ford in the 1920s. In the subsequent years, General Motors tried to diversify its investments, especially by investing in the bus and the railway market. During the Second World War, General Motors contributed immensely by producing vast quantities of armaments, vehicles and aircrafts. After the war, GM was regarded as the largest corporation that was registered in the United States. Its rank as the largest corporation was attained due to its revenues as a percentage of the Gross Domestic Production (GDP). Finally, on the 31st of December 1955, GM emerged as the first American corporation to deliver a turnover of over one million dollars in a year.

Extraits

[...] Bibliography http://www.gm.com, last consultation, March General Motors CEO sees more jobs cuts, battle with Toyota, FinancialWire, January The tragedy that is General Motors, Morici P., The Providence Journal (Rhode Island), July Is the worst over for General Motors?, Isidore C., CNNmoney.com, April And now for the other collar; General Motors lays-off salaried workers as it tries to reverse recent losses, Freeman S., Russakoff D., The Washington Post, March Thailand General Motors and Chevrolet sales set Human Resources development budget, Thai Press Report, March General Motors announces changes to company pensoin plans to cut costs, Durbin D. A., Associated Press Woldstream, March Shareholders bear brunt of General Motors cuts, McDonough T., Daily Post (Liverpool) February GM plans to slash 30.000 jobs, White B., Hawkins L. [...]

[...] It's also a product of globalization. Conclusions In a global environment, where you have to face competitors coming from all over the world, it is very difficult to maintain efficiency in comparison to emerging companies. The only way GM has to defend its leading position is to expand globally and therefore to cut costs, in particular labor costs. With most of the production localized in North America, GM needs to save money everywhere, trying to find the necessary bankrolls for investments to innovate itself. [...]

[...] With global headquarters in Detroit (Michigan), GM manufactures its cars and trucks in 33 countries. In million GM cars and trucks were sold globally under the following brands: Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, GM Daewoo, Holden, HUMMER, Opel, Pontiac, Saab, Saturn and Vauxhall. GM's OnStar subsidiary is the industry leader in vehicle safety, security and information services. GM is the majority shareholder in GM Daewoo Auto & Technology Co. of South Korea, and has product, powertrain and purchasing collaborations with Suzuki Motor Corp. and Isuzu Motors Ltd. [...]

[...] Today GM can't compete with Asian companies because Japanese cars are cheaper, better equipped and have higher quality, so that GM cars are much less attractive than Toyota or Honda. Nobody would pay as much for a GM product as for one from Toyota or Honda. Therefore the only way for GM to be successful is to sell with incentives. On the other hand, customers perceive GM's cash discounts and incentives as a sign of sinking quality, so that market shares continue their process of shrinkage and returns persist in declining. [...]

[...] As mentioned before, one of the biggest problems is the legendary load of bureaucracy which dissipates money and time. GM is trying to resolve this problem offering buyout and resignation incentives to its office staff. Analysts estimate that the cumulative cut in white collar staff since 2000 has been about 40%. delocalisation of the North American production in Asia, closer to Indian and Chinese markets Even if GM's main competitors are based in Japan and Korea, the company expects to be more successful on the Asian market. [...]