A General Motors Case Study

Which of the four basic strategy types were used by GM? Explain your rationale. It seems in the beginning it was the Analyzers, GM has been following the trend of most other car companies, making more and more cars and offering such a large selection but with sales not following that trend it hurt them financially to the point that had it not been for a bailout that they would of had to of filed for bankruptcy. It wasn’t until the bailout that they realized they need to try to do better and took on a more Prospector outlook, with setting numbers and sales goals. Getting rid of so many manufacturing sites, getting rid of the most luxurious and high cost products and names they had been selling such as Land Rover and trying to focus more on a slightly less number of vehicle makes and more on the quality of the vehicle they make.

Based on the case, what is GM’s vision? Do you think it is realistic? Explain. To make more than $10 billion a year, currently they are close but they have also had less competition with Toyota and other car companies being damaged by the Tsunami, if they want to keep up that level of profit and exceed past it they’ll have to make more and better changes. Focusing on where they are losing money can help cut costs as well as maybe following other car companies lead by focusing more on a few vehicle makes and offering better product and service all the way around.

State two SMART goals for GM based on the case. Are these goals attainable? Discuss. Based on the study I’d be looking for a way to cut costs in engineering and manufacturing in Europe as their currently losing money in that market with high labor costs and such. Another goal would be to cut even more types of vehicles made, with having reclaimed the title from toyota and while they’ve lowered their numbers and certain brands it still semms that GM might be producing to many cars and car types vs making fewer and better cars.

Using Figure 5.5, describe the extent to which GM is using the planning/control cycle. GM is keeping a close eye on its numbers, and trying to stay within their projected goals and do better so it appears they are using the planning/control cycle often to try to do better with their production and sales.

What did you learn about planning based on this case? Explain. That even when one has hit an extreme low if you make a plan and stay within the concepts of the plan that you can slowly start to pull yourself out of the scenario and do better business wise. It may have taken GM awhile and a little help but if they keep their eyes on their numbers and continue making cuts that will help productivity and profit they could meet their $10 billion a year goal.They seen a problem and thankfully were given the means to help fix it and after that they started making changes to help them achieve their goals, while not there yet if they follow through on there plans then they could reach their goal.