...Autumn ending later in north hemisphere, research shows Rebecca Tackett Union Institute and University March 30, 2014 Autumn ending later in north hemisphere, research shows Researchers from the University of Southampton are saying that study are showing that autumn is taking place later in the years and spring is starting earlier. Satellites were used over a 25 years period to identify changing patterns in vegetation. They were looking for changes in leaf cover, color and growth. The study was led by Professor of geography Peter Atkinson who says that there is much speculation about whether climate change is related to the seasonal changes. He believes this study is a significant piece of the puzzle. They believe that the climate change does have an effect of the change in vegetation growth cycles types of vegetation. The studies looked at several types of vegetation such as mosaic vegetation, broad-leaved deciduous forests, and mixed leaved forests. They analyzed groups of vegetation in which the size has not been affected by human intervention. The biggest change was shown in the broad-leaved deciduous forest and the needle-leaved deciduous forest. This showed that autumn is happening significantly later in the year. The evidence was more pronounced for a later autumn than the evidence for the earlier spring. Professor Atkinson also says that there have been similar studies done in the past but that have not been as rigorous or accurate as this one. The research...
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...seven people, either directly or indirectly. Hailed as the ‘industry of industries’ by the Management Specialist, Peter Drucker, the automobile industry (US) set standards in manufacturing activity by contributing mass production techniques during early 1910s. The Japanese soon followed by offering lean production techniques in the 1970s. Riding high on economical revival in many developing countries in Asia and Europe, the industry’s global output touched 79,9 million vehicles in 2011. But with a downward slide in market share, the Big Three, Ford Motor Company (Ford), General Motors Corporation (GM) and DaimlerChrysler (DC), was fast losing their dominant position to Toyota, Honda, and Nissan, thereby setting the ground for the emergence of New Six. The report on “Automotive Industry Analysis” consists on a comparison between the Big Three and New Six. Ford, General Motors and Toyota are taken as examples. I. Industry Overview Hailed as ‘the industry of industries’ by Peter Drucker, the founding father of the study of management, in 1946, the automobile industry had evolved continuously with changing times from craft production in 1890s to mass production in 1910s to lean production techniques in the 1970s. The prominent role played by the US till late 1990s had of late been cornered by the Japanese automakers. The global output from the automobile industry touched 79,9 million vehicles in 2011, thereby retaining its leadership in manufacturing activity, providing...
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...General Motors’ Strategic Analysis By Cyriac Thomas (cpg07bm025) [pic] Automotive Industry The automotive industry is the industry involved in the design, development, manufacture, marketing, and sale of motor vehicles. In 2007, more than million motor vehicles, including cars and commercial vehicles were produced worldwide. In 2007, a total of 71.9 million new automobiles were sold worldwide: 22.9 million in Europe, 21.4 million in Asia-Pacific, 19.4 million in USA and Canada, 4.4 million in Latin America, 2.4 million in the Middle East and 1.4 million in Africa. The markets in North America and Japan were stagnant, while those in South America and Asia grew strongly. Of the major markets, Russia, Brazil and China saw the most rapid growth. In 2008, with rapidly rising oil prices, industries such as the automotive industry, are experiencing a combination of pricing pressures from raw material costs and changes in consumer buying habits. The industry is also facing increasing external competition from the public transport sector, as consumers re-evaluate their private vehicle usage. The United States is the world’s largest consumer market for light vehicles, passenger cars and light trucks. The United States auto industry is dominated by the Big Three or General Motors, Ford Motors and Daimler/Chrysler. These three account for roughly a little over half of the production of cars and light trucks in the industry. What has currently...
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...The U.S. industry alone is highly concentrated with the top four companies account for about 75 percent of sales. General Motors Company is one of the world’s largest auto manufacturers which designs, manufactures, and markets cars, crossovers, trucks, and automobile parts worldwide. It operates in five segments: GMNA (GM North America), GME (GM Europe), GMIO (GM International Operations), GMSA (GM South America), and GM Financial. Financing activities are primarily conducted by General Motors Financial Company. The company markets its vehicles primarily under the Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, Opel, Holden, and Vauxhall brand names, as well as under the Alpheon, Jiefang, Baojun, and Wuling brand names. It also sells cars and trucks to dealers for consumer retail sales, as well as to fleet customers, including daily rental car companies, commercial fleet customers, leasing companies, and governments. In addition, the company offers connected safety, security and mobility solutions, and information technology services. The company, through its subsidiary, General Motors Financial Company, Inc., provides automotive financing services and lease products through GM dealerships in connection with the sale of used and new...
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...Raju Sharma COMPARING AND ANALYZING FINANCIAL STATEMENTS TO MAKE AN INVESTMENT DECISION Case Study of Automotive Industry Business Economics and Tourism 2012 1 VAASAN AMMATTIKORKEAKOULU UNIVERSITY OF APPLIED SCIENCES Bachelor of Business Administration ABSTRACT Author Title Raju Sharma Comparing and Analyzing Financial Statements to Make an Investment Decision: Case Study of Automotive Industry. Year 2012 Language English Pages 72 + 5 Appendices Name of Supervisor Jukka Paldanius The purpose of the thesis was to evaluate and compare the financial statements of different companies to rate their performances. The emphasis was to be able to choose among several companies the best one to invest in. The aim of the study was met by comparing the risk of different companies, their rate of return, future trends and their strengths and weaknesses. In the theoretical section of the thesis different factors affecting the capital market were discussed, with the focus being on the risks of an investment. Basic financial statements and ratios were discussed briefly. Next cross sectional and time series techniques to compare the financial statements and ratios were revealed. Most of the information from the theories was later on used in the empirical part of the thesis. In the empirical study, initially the financial statements of different companies were taken to compute the ratios, risk, average return, to make trends and common size statements. Then a quantitative interpretation...
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...also decided to implement a widespread corporate restructuring initiative to help alleviate company debt as a result of rising costs of employee healthcare, benefits, and pensions. Such a plan includes the closure of over a dozen North American plants and manufacturing lines, as well as making substantial job cuts. This three-year endeavor is necessary in keeping General Motors in line with competitors. General Motors is struggling to keep up with its competition in hybrid technology. In order to become a major competitor in the automotive market GM needs to penetrate the hybrid market. In the past few years this market has more than doubled and GM has done nothing to obtain market share. The suggestion is that General Motors needs to implement a strategy to produce hybrid automobiles and take market share away from its Asian competitors. Table of Contents Introduction 4 Company Background 4 Situational Analysis 5 Industry Analysis 5 Competitive...
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...Contents Introduction 2 Definition 2 Method 2 Theory and Analysis 2 Conclusion 8 Introduction To establish strategy is an indispensible part of any organisation. It plays an important role in directing and helping organisation to achieve the objectives. In this context, the strategy is considered as the way which organisations communicate with the competitive landscape to obtain the above average return. Therefore, to build an effective strategy, there is a need for profoundly understanding the competitive environment and estimating correctly the resource of organisation. This essay will examine the role of strategy as a “bridge” in order to assist firms to reach their targets in the competitive landscape. Definition There are many ways to definite strategy, however, it can be found that almost of them accept that ‘Strategy is an integrated and coordinated set of commitments and actions designed to exploit core competencies and gain a competitive advantage’. (Hitt, Ireland and Hoskinsson 2009). Organisational resources include skills of employees, finances, capital equipments, patents and talented managers (Hit, Ireland and Hoskinsson 2009). Organisation resource is defined as ‘an asset, competency, process, skill, or knowledge controlled by the corporation’ (Wheelen and Hunger 2002). Competitive landscape is more complex in the context of globalisation; however, the fundamental constituents of landscape are customers, suppliers and competitors. Method To prove...
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...Table of Contents Introduction ............................................................................................................................... ................... 1 Overview of the Financial Crisis and the Automotive Industry in 2008 ....................................................... 2 Impact of the Financial Crisis on GM ............................................................................................................ 3 North American Demand .......................................................................................................................... 3 Crude Oil ...............................................................................................................................................3 Product Segment................................................................................................................................... 3 Internal/External Competition .............................................................................................................. 3 North American Supply ............................................................................................................................. 3 Labor Costs............................................................................................................................................ 3 Raw Material (Steel) Costs .......................................................................................................................
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...External Analysis PESTEL Analysis In order to distinguish and break down the fundamental elements of the company’s external environment it is suggested to use PESTEL analysis (Academy, 2015). Figure below illustrates all crucial external factors, which need to be considered while doing external analysis. PESTEL stands for: Taken from: http://www.professionalacademy.com/blogs-and-advice/marketing-theories---pestel-analysis In the following paragraphs, each factor is going to be analyzed separately. Political By selling autos in many countries of North America, Asia andWestern Europe (Tesla, 2014), the companyneeds to manage any political issues affecting its business operations. For example,one of the main political aspects influencing on the industry is ecological assurance lawsto stimulate the production of more environmentally friendly vehicles to meet the emanation levels(Environmental-protection.org.uk, 2014). The next essential aspect is US government vitality advance projects for innovative work of new vehicle advances (Department of Energy, 2014). For this situation, numerous automobile producerswill be occupied with entering the new business sector in automobile industry. Economical Nowadays, US market is most attractive for Tesla Motors, because of the economic growth and level of GDP (Tradingeconomics.com, 2015). Figure 1 below illustrates the growth rate of US GDP from 2013 to 2015. Figure 1. US GDP growth rate (%). (Trading Economics, 2015) In addition,...
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...General Motors: General Motors Corporation (GM) is a multinational automobile manufacturer created in 1908.its headquarter is in the United States. GM is the world's largest automaker as measured according to the global industry sales. GM is the proud sales leader in the automotive industry for the for the last 77 years. As of 2008, General Motors employs about 266,000 people around the world. It manufactures its cars and trucks in 35 different countries. The famous brands under the umbrella of GM are Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GM Daewoo, GMC, Holden, Hummer, Opel, Pontiac, Saab, Saturn, Vauxhall, and Wuling. In 2008, General Motors was the ninth largest publicly traded company in the world. In recent years the company has faced significant financial turmoils, including a 38 billion dollar loss in 2007. General Motors Today: From 1908 to 1976, it had grown expansively. But today its market share has gone down and together, with challenges posed by economic conditions, in the form of increasing healthcare costs and fuel costs and cut throat competition GM is facing a tough time in maintaining its profits. GM is deriving its 100% profits from financing cars and not from the sales of vehicles. Internal factors that account for this decline are the failure of the company to adapt to the changes in the environment such as the consumer preferences and technology, lack of differentiation applied to products and lack of effective cost leadership strategies to efficiently manage...
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...……….…p 4 Extenal Factors……….…..…………………………..……….………………….p 5 III - Discuss the latest stage of the new (smaller) GM……………….………...p 6 What are the characterisics of the new GM?..………………………………...…p 6 Some encouraging signs of recovery………………………………………....….p 9 Threats regarding GM’s trials to regain its golden past………………………….p 11 Summary and Observations……………………………………………………...p 13 IV - With a majority government ownership, what operational and management challenges might GM’s management confront when trying to regain its golden past?…….………………………………….………..p 14 Operational Challenges..………………………………………………………….p 14 Management Challenges………………………………………………………….p 15 Summary and Observations………………………………………………………p 16 V - Critically Analyse Whether it was GM’s Failure or its Competitors’ enormous success in cost savings and innovation that brought about GM’s demise…………………………..…...….……………………..…….….….p 17 Cost Savings - a poorly designed cost structure……...………………………….p 17 Innovation Processes…………….…………..…………………………………..p 18 Summary and observations……………………………………………………...p 21 VI - Conclusion……………….……………………………………………….….p 22 VII - References……………………………………………………….……….....p 23 2 I - Introduction General Motors (GM) is an American multinational which was founded by William Durant in 1908. It is known as one of the world’s largest auto manufacturers. GM employs 209,000 people around the world and produces...
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...GENERAL MOTORS COMPANY (GM) History of the Company In 1900 New York held an Auto Show where there was a surprise turnout and it showed just how much interest the United States citizens had with automobiles. This enticed many different companies into entering the automobile history to try and meet the growing demand. On September 16, 1908, William “Billy” Durant founded General Motors Company (GM) who at one time was a leading manufacturer of horse-drawn vehicles in Flint, Michigan. Initially, GM consisted of only the Buick Motor Company but took only a number of years to acquire more than twenty different companies. Some of these companies include Oldsmobile, Cadillac, and Pontiac. Opel, a brand that was recognized worldwide, became General Motor’s first international acquisition (http://www.gm.com). The major recession that came about in 2008 dried up private sources of capital and had the United Sates Treasury give GM a bridge loan to aide in the restructuring of its operations. Furthermore, it is evident that sales of motor vehicles have increased since the rescue of the auto industry each year since 2009 (http://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/). The economy is finally recovering and we will soon see if GM is in a place to again thrive. In the 80’s and 90’s GM encountered its largest single production expansion outside of North America in Spain. Furthermore, since GM had joint ventures in both China and India, they were able to provide a variety of automobiles...
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...Ford Motor Company Analysis Introduction Ford Motor Company was originally founded by Henry Ford in Dearborn, Michigan on June 16, 1903. Ford Motor Company has a very glamorous history. Since it was found in the early 1900’s, Ford positioned them as the reformer of the car manufacturing industry. Their mission was clearly stated in words, “began a manufacturing revolution with its mass production assembly lines”. And they rendered the corporate strategies matching with their goal in later years. “They introduced methods for large-scale manufacturing of cars and large-scale management of an industrial workforce using elaborately engineered manufacturing sequences typified by moving assembly lines. Henry Ford's methods came to be known around the world as Fordism by 1914”. (“The Ford Story”) http://www.thefordstory.com/ the combination of attractive product design with the efficiency in manufacturing brought them not just profits, but popularity and reputation. Some of their famous classic designs like Model T, 500hp GT, Mustangs, Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV), Taurus and the best-selling F-series truck are still sold well. But Ford has been on the downhill since the beginning of the 21st century. Because of the crush of the bad economy and flawed management strategies, Ford suffered a lot and the previous ranking is now after Toyota and General Motor. It’s quite a burden to the CEO, Alan Mulally, who was elected as the new CEO in 2006 after Bill Ford stepped down...
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...Transcript * 1. TOYOTA MOTOR MANUFACTURING INC. U.S.A Prepared By – Ashwin Mehta – 313 Pratik Mehta – 314 Ishaan Parekh – 315 Ankit shah – 317 Dishank Shah – 318 Fenil Shah - 319 * 2. Agenda Current Scenario Problems Faced Analysis Suggestions and recommendations Risks and contingencies * 3. Current Scenario • Toyota Motors Manufacturing (TMM) faces increasing problems with its seat supply. • Kentucky Framed Seat (KFS), is a single seat supplier for TMM. • KFS is responsible for the material flaws and missing parts as the major encountered defects. • These problems are increasingly occurring with an increase in varieties and demand for the seats. * 4. Problems Faced • Product proliferation problems with defective seats. • Company’s deviation from its normal production plan and lack of a recovery system. • Run ratio dropped from 95% to 85%. • This means 45 less cars were being produced per shift. • This translated in overtime of workers. • Too many cars needed off-line operations of one type or the another before they could go on shipping. * 5. Questions Raised • Will the sales company get cars on time as promised? • What does it mean to implement JIT and Jidoka principles to this situation? • Is TMM handling seat defects correctly on the line? • Is the current routine for handling seat-defect cars really a legitimate exception to TPS, or could it be a dangerous deviation from TPS? • Is there a way to kaizen TMM’s off-line routine? * 6. Analysis * 7...
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...3.4 Survival of GM 1 Study of Case 3.4 Financial Survival of General Motors Student Name Wilmington University Case 3.4 Survival of GM Study of Case 3.4 Financial Survival of General Motors General Motors (GM) is struggling strategically with its meager financial position in the automobile industry. Alternatives solutions to address the financial trepidation include restructuring, reducing debt, and the most favorable alternative, focusing on products to satisfy customers. By using strategic management to implement better products at GM, the company can rein, once again, as a top competitor in the highly competitive automobile industry. Primary Issue 2 The primary issue is whether GM is capability of increasing its value to be financially solvent in the automobile industry. Langlois and Goldstein (2012) reflect on an announcement by auditors from Deloitte & Touche, “that GM's recurring losses from operations, stockholders' deficit and inability to generate sufficient cash flow to meet its obligations and sustain its operations raise substantial doubt about its ability to continue” (para. 7). If GM does not address its financial position it may cease to exist in the automobile industry. Analysis of GM Including Financials Despite changing times, for more than 70 years, GM was the leader of the automobile industry. Columnist Costantini (2012) depicts GM as follows. The world’s largest car maker from 1931 to 2008, when it was surpassed by Toyota. By the time it...
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