...General Motors was founded on Wednesday, September 16, 1908, in Flint, Michigan, as a holding company for Buick (then controlled by William C. Durant). Durant's company, the Durant-Dort Carriage Company, had been in business in Flint since 1886, and by 1900, was producing over 100,000 carriages a year in factories located in Michigan and Canada. Prior to his acquisition of Buick, Durant had several Ford dealerships. With springs, axles and other key components being provided to the early automotive industry by Durant-Dort, it can be reasoned that GM actually began with the founding of Durant-Dort.[3] Durant acquired Oldsmobile later in 1908. The next year, he brought in Cadillac, Cartercar, Elmore, Ewing, and Oakland (later known as Pontiac). In 1909, General Motors also acquired the Reliance Motor Truck Company of Owosso, Michigan, and the Rapid Motor Vehicle Company of Pontiac, Michigan, the predecessors of GMC Truck. A Rapid became the first truck to conquer Pikes Peak in 1909. In 1910, Welch and Rainier were added to the ever-growing list of companies controlled by GM. Durant lost control of GM in 1910 to a bankers trust, due to the large amount of debt (around $1 million) taken on in its acquisitions. Durant left the firm and co-founded the Chevrolet Motor Company in 1911 with Louis Chevrolet. After a brilliant stock buy back campaign, he returned to head GM in 1916, with the backing of Pierre S. du Pont. On October 13 of the same year, GM Company became incorporated as...
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...RESEARCH PAPER ON GM Introduction "General Motors has no bad years, only good years and better years" (Sloan, 1972). This mantra established in 1950 by former GM president Harlow H. Curtice may have been true at one point, but is called into question today by many, including Wall Street. General Motors Corporation, also known, as GM or GMC is the world’s 2nd largest auto company in sales revenue behind Toyota which took the lead in 2006. General Motors reigned as the global leader in the automobile industry for the last 76 years, which was longer than any other automaker. Today, Richard Wagoner, Jr., GM Chairman and CEO currently runs GM, which was founded in 1908. GM today employs approximately 324,000 people around the world, with their global headquarters in Detroit Michigan. Their European headquarters is based in Zurich, Switzerland. In 2006, 9.1 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. General Motors has a superb relationship with international connection. GM takes pride in fostering global partnerships and consumer relationships. GM is majority shareholder in GM Daewoo auto & Technology Co. of South Korea and has had collaborative ventures in technology and manufacturing with several other automakers. It also has ventures with Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation of China. GM’s largest national market is the United...
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...Part 1 The Theoretical assumptions of management Chapter 1 Management and scientific knowledge Douglas McGregor asks to tune ears while listening to managerial meeting to extract assumptions about human behavior. Response to managerial decisions is by blaming. McGregor states that there is no prediction without theory and all managerial decisions rest on assumptions about behavior. He also suggests that social sciences will develop a predictive capability comparable to that of physical sciences. Though the fields of management science, organizational science and decision science have progressed substantially since 1960, including important work about biases in human judgment, optimization of complex networks, the scientific advances about the fundamental nature of human beings at work remain indefinable. Chapter 2 Methods of influence and control McGregor, a seminal thinker, states that power to influence others is not a function of amount of authority one can exert. It is a function of the appropriate selection of the means of influence that the particular situation demands. He also points out that with a modern society of interdependence, influence, much more than authority, is central to success. Supporting examples: fields of communications and negotiations Generalizations:- Man is a wanting animal – as soon as one of his needs is satisfied, another appears in its place. This process is unending. It continues from birth to death. Man continuously puts forth effort/work...
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...http://www.easy-strategy.com/strategy-gurus.html Home Sitemap Contact Us Articles Speaker Seminars Consulting Negotiation War Room Osama El-Kadi Easy Strategy Videos Stories Gurus 36 Strategies Art of War News Build a Site My Books History Management & Strategy Gurus and Masters The complete A to Z Guide ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ A point of clarification before you start your journey with the gurus and masters: a Guru is a person who is very knowledgeable and teaches a particular strategy. A Master is a practitioner of the art of strategy in life and in business. Management & Strategy Gurus Main Guru's Index ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ 1 of 41 9/21/2014 3:38 PM http://www.easy-strategy.com/strategy-gurus.html Military Gurus Blog Ask me! Newsletter Clients Privacy Policy Motivational [?]Subscribe To This Site A Igor Ansoff Igor Ansoff The father of Strategic management Igor Ansoff (1918-July 14, 2002) was an applied mathematician and business manager. He is known as the father of Strategic management. He was a distinguished professor at United States International University (now Alliant International University) for 17 years, where several institutes continue his work in strategic management research. Igor was recognized worldwide as the Pioneer and Father of Strategic Management. He was the first management strategy guru to recognize the need for strategic planning for firms operating in the increasingly complex and turbulent environment. ...
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...STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT TEXAS EXECUTIVE MBA PROGRAM FALL 2011 Professor David B. Jemison CBA 3.232 Telephone 471-8757 David.Jemison@mccombs.utexas.edu Texts: Porter, Michael E. Competitive Strategy. (New York: Free Press, l998). Course Description Perspective and Themes This course is about the creation and maintenance of a long-term vision for the organization. This means that it is concerned with both the determination of strategic direction and the management of the strategic process. As such, it deals with the analytical, behavioral, and creative aspects of business simultaneously. The course is organized around six themes in strategic management: the role of the general manager, the components of business strategy, corporate strategy development, divisional-level strategy development, managing strategic change, and the development of general managers. Our perspective in this course is that of the leader whose responsibility is the long-term health of the entire firm or a major division. The key tasks involved in general management include the detection of and adaptation to environmental change; the procurement and allocation of resources; the integration of activities across subparts of the organizations; and, at the most senior levels, the determination of purpose and the setting of corporate direction. General managers, from our perspective, are managers who are in the position to make strategic decisions for the firm. Note that such...
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...average returns especially in a highly competitive business environment. This is achieved through business level strategies, which are strategies that outline the various actions to be taken in order to ensure that the company is able to provide value to its customers in addition to gaining the critical competitive advantage by utilizing its core competencies in specific, service markets or individual products. Business level strategy therefore pertains to the corporation’s firm position in its operating industry compared to its main competitors and the five forces of competition. One of the fundamental business level strategies that General Motors has employed is cost leadership. The company has been able to employ this strategy effectively in order to effectively compete with its main industry rivals. Cost leadership as a business level strategy that capitalizes on the fact that corporations mainly compete based on price. In this way, the ability to provide goods and services at minimal costs enables a given company to attract customers in a given market. Using this strategy, General...
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...Strategy Process 10 Organizational Structure and Control Prof. Dr. Bernd Venohr Berlin, June 2007 © 2007 Prof. Dr. Bernd Venohr Agenda Introduction to Strategy 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Course Overview and Strategy Concept Economics of Strategy Shareholder Value External Environment Internal Environment Competitive Positioning Diversification Mergers & Acquisitions Global Strategy Business Strategy Corporate Strategy Strategy Process 10 Organizational Structure and Control 11 Strategic Leadership © 2007 Prof. Dr. Bernd Venohr 2 Overview “Structure follows strategy“ Basics of structuring organizations Example: managing the multibusiness organization © 2007 Prof. Dr. Bernd Venohr 3 Alfred Chandler: Structure follows strategy Alfred Chandler (business history professor at Harvard Business School) examined in Strategy and Structure: Chapters in the History of the Industrial Enterprise (1962) the organizational changes of several large US companies: Organization developed in response to changes in the corporation's business strategy An organization begins with a single product or line of business. Over time the organization begins to grow in size and complexity (more products ). Ultimately the structure of the organization has to change from functional to divisional organization as a result of the strategy change: „unless structure follows strategy, inefficiency results“ This research has been a source of controversial discussion...
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... This article should help managers appreciate why no source of competitive advantage is likely to be sustainable over the longer-term. Introduction Susan Segal-Horn, Professor of International Strategy, Open University Business School This article is based on a revised version of the Introduction to S. Segal-Horn (ed.) The Strategy Reader (2004) 2nd edition, published by Blackwell Publishers, Oxford. Address for correspondence: Professor Susan Segal-Horn, Open University Business School, Walton Hall, Milton Keynes, MK7 6AA. Email: s.l.segal-horn@open.ac.uk The idea of strategy is very ancient indeed. It has been around for thousands of years as a way of thinking about survival and of achieving success through leadership in war or politics. In the time of the ancient Greek civilisation the term ‘strategy’...
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...GM History - A Brief History The founding of General Motors on September 16, 1908, drew little attention. Motorcar firms were appearing virtually everywhere. Success for the young automotive concern was not predestined. There was no guarantee of a place in the market or assurance of any profit. Of the nearly 1,000 companies that tried to build and sell motor vehicles prior to 1927, less than 200 continued in business long enough to even offer a commercially suitable vehicle. Most of the companies that comprised the young General Motors Company were weak, and their operations were uncoordinated. Many were in debt. It was not until the 1920s, when a new concept of management was forged and a new concept of product emerged, that GM really began to prosper. General Motors sales for its first full fiscal year ending September 31, 1909, totaled 25,000 cars and trucks, 19 percent of total U.S. sales. Net sales totaled $29,030,000 and its payroll at the peak of the manufacturing season numbered more than 14,000 mostly in Michigan. In 1995, GM sold 8.3 million cars and trucks worldwide with net income of $6.9 billion and worldwide employment averaging 714,000 workers. General Motors has 284 operations in 35 states and 158 cities in the United States. In addition GM of Canada operates 21 locations, GM de Mexico operates 5 locations, and GM has assembly, manufacturing, distribution or warehousing operations in 49 other countries, including...
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...largest and most profitable industrial company in the world, is now identified as the giant automobile company that suffered bankruptcy in 2009. Taking a look at the company’s history is key to identifying how GM went from birth to bankruptcy. The company was founded in 1908, by William C. Durant, who brought 25 independent car companies together, under GM, which simply operated as a holding company. GM focused on producing hundreds of models of cars that targeted wealthy customers. That same year, GM’s major competitor Ford came out with the Model T car, which introduced the idea of producing cars through mass production. As a result, car manufacturing costs dropped, Ford got rich, and GM suffered major losses. Ten years later, Alfred P. Sloan became GM’s CEO, and changed the structure of the company, by grouping their 25 companies into five major self-contained operating divisions, which all imitated Ford car mass production idea. He also reorganized GM into five different car divisions. By the mid 1920’s, GM was at the top, and taking away Ford’s market share through Sloan’s new business model. In the years leading up to the mid 1970’s, GM continued to grow and became highly vertically integrated, while also controlling on average 65% of domestic sales in the U.S. car market. Unfortunately in 1973, the oil embargo damaged GM and...
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...Proceedings - LEAD 2009 Conference CULTURAL BOUNDARY SPANNING IN GLOBAL PROJECT NETWORKS Melissa Di Marco, 1 John E. Taylor 2 and Pauli Alin 3 ABSTRACT Projects are increasingly global in scope and outsourcing on projects increasingly common. Along with globalizing trends in projects, the workforce is also globalizing. It is common for engineers to move to other countries as expatriate workers or as emigrants to pursue job opportunities in other firms. Where much is known about global networks of engineers collaborating on projects, little is known about the mediating role played by individuals that share the same nationality as an international partner on a project. In this paper, we examine two project teams executing complex, reciprocally interdependent design projects in India. One team was comprised of Indians and Americans. The other team was identical, but also contained an Indian national who had studied and worked in the U.S.A. Both teams worked on similar design schedule optimization problems. Over the duration of three days we examined the interactions of the teams assembled to finalize their designs. Through quantitative network analyses and qualitative observations of the cross-cultural interactions, we found the Indian expatriate to play a cultural boundary spanning role resolving cross-cultural knowledge system conflicts and increasing collaboration effectiveness. We induce a propositional theoretical model of cultural boundary spanning in global...
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...Successful leadership – how would you know? Boardrooms and business school classrooms are equally preoccupied with leadership, and success is often assumed to be about profit or Total Shareholder Return. It’s neither. For leaders wanting to measure their own success, for those who appoint leaders to know what they are aiming at and for outsiders assessing the quality of leadership, Andrew Likierman shows how to do it. Thinking W as Julius Caesar a successful leader? What about Ghenghis Khan? Simon Bolivar? Or Napoleon? Because we tend to think of these as military leaders, the answers look pretty straightforward. Each achieved major military successes. But then Napoleon was ultimately defeated – does that make him a failure? After all, he won a lot of battles before Waterloo, and his sweeping political and legal reforms have been the basis of French administrative life for nearly 200 years. Now let’s move to the politicians. How do you feel about describing Bill Clinton as a successful leader? George W. Bush? Tony Blair? Vladimir Putin? This is altogether more difficult ground. Some of you will have already decided; those of you who have not made up your minds could argue that it is too early to say. The historic verdict on Bush and Blair will probably depend on what happens to Iraq over the next 20 years. Those better informed about Russia than I am can make up their own minds about Putin. Moving next to business territory, with a few exceptions – say Bill Gates, Herb...
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...Licensed to: iChapters User Licensed to: iChapters User Organizational Behavior: Managing People and Organizations, Tenth Edition Ricky W. Griffin and Gregory Moorhead Vice President of Editorial, Business: Jack W. Calhoun Executive Editor: Scott Person Senior Developmental Editor: Julia Chase Editorial Assistant: Ruth Belanger Marketing Manager: Jonathan Monahan Senior Content Project Manager: Holly Henjum Media Editor: Rob Ellington Buyer: Arethea L. Thomas Marketing Communications Manager: Jim Overly Production Service: S4Carlisle Publishing Services Sr. Art Director: Tippy McIntosh Cover and Internal Design: Joe Devine, Red Hanger Design LLC Cover Image: © Eric Isselée, Shutterstock Rights Acquisitions Specialist/Images: John Hill © 2012, 2010 South-Western, Cengage Learning ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this work covered by the copyright herein may be reproduced, transmitted, stored, or used in any form or by any means graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including but not limited to photocopying, recording, scanning, digitizing, taping, web distribution, information networks, or information storage and retrieval systems, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without the prior written permission of the publisher. For product information and technology assistance, contact us at Cengage Learning Customer & Sales Support, 1-800-354-9706 For permission to use material from this text or product, submit all requests online...
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...A CRITIQUE OF PORTER’S COST LEADERSHIP AND DIFFERENTIATION STRATEGIES Y. Datta Ph.D., State University of New York at Buffalo Professor Emeritus College of Business Northern Kentucky University Highland Heights, KY 41099 (USA) 7539, Tiki Av. Cincinnati, OH 45243 USA Tel: (513) 984-1032 [Home] Fax: (513) 984-1032 E-Mail: datta@nku.edu A paper accepted for presentation at the 9th Oxford Business & Economics Conference to be held in Oxford, England, June 22-24. Table of Contents A Critique of Porter’s Cost Leadership and Differentiation Strategies 4 ABSTRACT 4 Key Words 4 INTRODUCTION 5 COST LEADERSHIP STRATEGY 5 Major Reliance on Modern Capital Equipment 7 Relying on the Experience Curve to Underprice Competition Risky 7 A Cost Leader Cannot Ignore Differentiation 8 No Such Thing as a "Commodity": Everything Can Be Differentiated 9 High Market Share a Prior Condition for Cost Leadership? 10 Porter Identifies High Market Share with Cost Leadership Strategy 10 Differentiation--Not Cost Leadership Alone--Behind GM’s and Whirlpool’s Success 11 “Low-Cost” or “Low-Price” Strategy? 12 Thompson and Strickland’s Low-cost Provider Strategy 14 Internal Orientation of Cost Leadership Strategy 14 DIFFERENTIATION STRATEGY 15 Superiority of Differentiation over Cost Leadership Strategy 16 Porter: Differentiation and High Market Share Incompatible 17 Differentiation Compatible with High Market Share--and Low Cost...
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...Vol 453|1 May 2008 COMMENTARY Making the grade t’s a familiar story. Children around the world have been tested, and the United States is in trouble. A US Department of Education report1 from March concludes that “without substantial and sustained changes to the educational system, the United States will relinquish its leadership in the twentyfirst century”. The panic plays out in countless newspaper articles and policy reports, recently leading to legislative responses such as the America COMPETES Act, which contains a list of measures to boost average mathematics and science test scores. A country’s place in the new global economy is, according to these reports, determined by its rank in the maths- and science-score hierarchy. Following this reasoning, one would conclude that the US economy is threatened not only by Japan and South Korea, but also by Finland, Singapore, New Zealand and the Czech Republic. The rankings that engender these fears are primarily based on two tests administered to middle- and high-school students since 1995: the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) and the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS). Improving education should be a priority for the nation, but erroneous interpretations of international test scores may drive economic and competitiveness policy in the wrong direction. When we consider that education testing shows formidable US strength as the largest producer of top-scoring...
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