General Motors Case

GENERAL MOTORS

Contents:

Introduction........................................................... 2

Background of the Company............................... 2

Present Age GM.................................................... 5

Micro Environmental Factors.............................. 6

Macro Environmental Factors............................ 10

Marketing Strategy.............................................. 13

SWOT Analysis..................................................... 15

Introduction:

General Motors Company commonly known as General Motors or GM is an American company and is the world's second largest automaker company.

General Motors produces cars and trucks in nearly 31 countries and sells them through these brands, they are: Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, Opel, Vauxhall, Daewoo, Isuzu, Wuling and Holden. The worldwide ranking of automobiles is done per year by International Organization of Motor Vehicle Manufacturers, GM ranked second on the list with 8.5 million units sold in 2010 ( 50 Companies that changed the whole World, Pg. 14).

Background of the Company:

General Motors was founded in the year 1908 and became a leading manufacturer by 20th century. Its Headquarters is situated at Detroit, Michigan. General Motors was founded by William Billy Durant on September 16 1908. When he started the company he started with Buick brand but slowly and gradually acquired other brands which are presented I the first paragraph. At present there are about more than thousand automobiles in America which runs on electricity and gasoline. If we re-consider the background of General Motors then this company has many significant stages that lead success of GM. They are as follows:

* Creation ( 1909)

* Acceleration

* Emotions

* Revolution

* Globalization

* Innovation and Challenges

1. Creation:

As far as creationi is concerned we already know that it was founded by Mr. Billy in 1909. There is nothing much to describe about the creation but its worthwhile to know how this company sustained.

2. Acceleration:

In earlier years Radio, telephone was the era and cars was mere a dream unless and until GM launched its first Cadillac Lasalle, it became a reality. Due to good production , marketing and research they also opened new concept cars and started collaborating with other automobile companies.

3. Emotions :

There were hard times which GM suffered a lot especially in 1930s political change in Europe and World War Two. This was the time when GM showed its optimism to grow even in adverse and bad situations. GM introduced trucks and tanks in this particular period for its sustainability and also to take advantage of situations, which might be create a feeling of pessimism of liquidation for other organisations in the similar situations.

4. Globalization :

After this backdrop of 1930's still GM sustained to grow and after many years GM not only sold their cars in their mother country ( America ) but also to other countries. First of its expansion was opening a branch in Zaragoza ( Spain ). The company also successfully ventured with other companies to sell their vehicles like India and China and started showing their imagination and variety of products to world. In The company mainly gained profit from trucks and SUV's which became centre fo attraction for customers in USA as well as other countries. In short we can say that GM was globalizing its products to the whole world.

5. Innovation and Challenges :

By the start of Millennium GM already had flourished in the whole world and continuosly trying to improve themselves by imagining new concepts and ideas, technology and fuel efficiency concepts. GM also became leader in innovating Hybrid cars and SUV's and developed sophisticated two mode hybrid systems. But however in 2008 as global credit crises were affected ( Recession ) GM also suffered a huge loss of liquidity and many others and took a decision to restructure their entire operations which may take several years ( GM History, March 26 2011).

Present Age GM : After all these decades GM still is leader in technology, marketing, engineering and other areas of business and automation. GM's maximum sales takes place in US but they also grabbed their sales in many countries like China, India, Brazil, UK and Germany ( Bloolberg, 2011).

To sustain such a huge company there are many factors which had an affect which may be adverse or good , which GM dealt with. There are ennumber of factors that let GM to show their capabilities and face adverse situations. For convenience these factors are divided into two main divisions they are :

* Macroenvironmental Factors

* Microenvironmental Factors

Macroenvironmental Factors : These factors are uncontrollable factors which influence the organisation decision making and also affects the performance and strategies used by the organisation. There are many macroenvironmental factors which affected GM, they are as follows:

* Economic Factors:

As we know GM is an automobile industry and is flourished all over the world, so it has a huge impact from all countries. Even though GM is a strong brand in North America and all over the world, not all the brands are sold in the market. The fact that when a consumer spends his or her a part of savings on purchasing a car, he or she may may give high considerations to utilities like fuel economy, quality, safety, price and value. GM brands differ from this kind of utlities. Also discount price, warranty etc affect their minds on buying motive. Though GM suffered heavy losses in the year 2008 due to global recession and bankruptcy, still today company gets surplus profits as majority 73% consumers still respond to GM cars, who they might buy in future. This particular type of market is called as Patriotic Shopping ( Company Profile, GM, 2011).

* Political