General Motors
The automotive manufacturing industry has thrived for many years, but a recent downturn in the economy has the Big Three automakers in the United States fighting to stay alive. General Motors has been the face of the auto industry with its innovative brands and forward thinking technology. What began as a concept for creating reliable transportation from one point to another has evolved into a multi-billion dollar industry with high stakes. This paper will provide a history of General Motors, discuss the market in which General Motors operates, and describe current market conditions and current market trends. Final recommendations will be made for the company’s price, production, and composition of inputs by determining how global competition impacts GM, finding a course of action for GM to maximize profits, and analyzing the effects of government policy, social diversity, and business ethics on the recommendations.
Organization History
General Motors (GM) began as the Buick Motor Car Company in Detroit (GM Media Online, GM History, 1902-1920, 2008). The company would later move to Flint, MI. “Early members of the infant GM family were Buick, Oldsmobile, Cadillac, Oakland (now Pontiac), Ewing, Marquette, Welch, Scripps-Booth, Sheridan, and Elmore, together with Rapid and Reliance trucks…Chevrolet became part of the corporation in 1918” (GM Media Online, GM History, 1902-1920, 2008). The company was incorporated in 1908 and controlled by William Durant. During the first year as a corporation, GM sold approximately 25,000 cars and trucks with most of the manufacturing in Michigan (GM Media Online, GM History '' A Brief History, 2008).
After the Japanese bombed the United States in 1941, GM began contributing manufacturing toward the war efforts. The efforts made during World War II were much bigger than those made during World War I. The GM Corporation demonstrated how important it was for a company to help during war. “From 1940...