GENERAL MOTORS

General Motors

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General Motors



Introduction

General Motors was founded on September 16, 1908, in Flint, Michigan, as a holding company for Buick, then controlled by William C. Durant. It acquired Oldsmobile later that year. In 1909, Durant brought in Cadillac, Elmore, Oakland and several others. Also in 1909, General Motors acquired the Reliance Motor Truck Company of Owosso, Michigan, and the Rapid Motor Vehicle Company of Pontiac, Michigan, the predecessors of GMC Truck. Durant lost control of GM in 1910 to a bankers' trust, because of the large amount of debt taken on in its acquisitions coupled with a collapse in new vehicle sales. A few years later, Durant started the Chevrolet Motor car company and through this he secretly purchased a controlling interest in GM. Durant took back control of the company after one of the most dramatic proxy wars in American business history. Durant then reorganized General Motors Company into General Motors Corporation.[21] Shortly after, he again lost control, this time for good, after the new vehicle market collapsed (Kuhnhenn, 2009). Alfred P. Sloan was picked to take charge of the corporation and led it to its post war global dominance. This unprecedented growth of GM would last into the early 1980s when it employed 349,000 workers and operated 150 assembly plants. GM previously led in global sales for 77 consecutive years (1931 to 2007), longer than any other automaker (Kuhnhenn, 2009)

Company Overview

General Motors Company, often known as simply GM, is a United States based automaker with headquarters in Detroit, Michigan. GM is the world's 18th largest corporate entity and third largest automaker as ranked by 2008 revenues on the Fortune Global 500. Ranked by global unit sales for 2008, it is the world's second largest automaker. GM manufactures cars and trucks in 34 countries, employs 244,500 people around the world, and sells and services vehicles in some 140 countries.In 2009, GM emerged from a Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization and is now majority owned by the United States Treasury and Canadian governments.While no GM shares are currently available to the public, the company plans an initial public stock offering (IPO) in 2010. GM plans to focus its business on its four core US brands — Chevrolet, Cadillac, Buick, and GMC, although in Europe Opel/Vauxhall vehicles will remain in development and continue to be 35 percent owned by GM (Ikenson ,2009).

Strategy and Plans of 21st century

GM launched as a luxury vehicle made affordable in which the consumer will reward .The sporty 4 door model will be targeted at young and upcoming executives whereas the 5 door model is targeted towards families makers. It will also be seen as a product that's going to last them for at least 8 years thus making it a good long term investment. ii. Pricing Strategy. The law of demand stated that as the price of products increases, the quantity demanded of the products falls. Demand Elasticity, which measure the responsiveness or sensitivity of consumers to changes in the price of a good ...