It can be argued that General Motors (GM) use of technology is what changed them from a reputation of polluting the environment with toxic waste into a new eco-friendly sustainable automobile company. Technology can come in many shapes and forms. “Technology is the combination of skills, knowledge, abilities, techniques, materials, machines, computers, tools, and other equipment that people use to convert or change raw materials, problems, and new ideas into valuable goods and services.” (Jones, 2013, p. 240) Less than a decade ago, General Motors had the reputation of producing gas guzzling vehicles, a management that cannot control its auto divisions and the whole company not caring about the world’s environment. GM used their four types of technology to change its structure, culture, and organizational effectiveness.
The 2008 American recession threatened the very existence of General Motors as a maker of automobiles. Their bad reputation of being male-dominated
…show more content…
They started from the top by selecting their first female CEO Mary Barra. “Mary Barra is going from a 33-year General Motors employee to the first female CEO in the history of big auto.” (Woodyard, 2013, p. 1) The hiring of Barra was not a publicity stunt, and it received praise for its aims at diversity. “The new strategy was meant more for shoring up cautious shareholders and potential investors. So, I think righting the ship is what they’re trying to do with this one. Acevedo said about announcements.” (Kennedy, 2014, p. 1) CEO Barra has worked for GM for over 33 years, and she knows the auto industry. She was an important part of the whole re-structuring of GM after the 2008 bankruptcy and bailout. CEO Barra understands the importance of technology use to become a leaner competitive company and to develop a corporate culture for greater organizational
GM should continue to use its technological advantages to create innovative automobiles, but do so cautiously. GM should follow the direction of today’s environmentally conscious consumers who want less expensive, economical automobiles. GM should primarily utilize a cooperative game-theory approach in its sales and marketing strategies in order to stay in sync with the current automotive industry needs.
Increasing environmental awareness, coupled with a responsible American government and improved technology, have all contributed to the comeback of low-and zero-emissions vehicles in the US. It remains to be seen whether the automakers and oil companies will once again work to halt this progress, or embrace it as the technology of a more responsible future.
In the latter part of 2008, the United States’ economy was rapidly plummeting - the stock market crashed, the housing bubble burst and gas prices skyrocketed. The majority of U.S. based firms faced the reality that they would not be able to survive during such desperate economic times. The U.S. automobile industry, in particular, began to buckle under the depressed economy. The government stepped in proposing a multi-billion dollar bailout to stimulate the economy and restore economic balance. The possibility of this unprecedented government intervention was condemned by many economists. If the government helped the ailing automotive industry, this industry would have to tighten their expenditures and plan for the future to prove to critics of the bailout that they would use the government funding to add value to the economy once again.
As the automobile industry made its first appearance in the early 1900s, General Motors had already slowly begun its formation. GM was founded in 1908 by William C. Durant, a carriage manufacturer of Flint, Michigan, and today operates manufacturing and assembly plants and distribution centers in many countries, including Canada . Its major products include automobiles and trucks, a wide range of automotive components, engines, and defense and aerospace materiel. General Motors has a long history of business and technological innovation designed to deliver ever-increasing value to their customers and society. GM today has manufacturing operations in more than 30 countries and its vehicles are sold in about 200 countries.
I think General Motors is responsible for the economic problems of Flint, Michigan. The Chairman and CEO of General Motors announced that ten plants would be closing, including one in Flint, Michigan. The reason behind this is to ship business and jobs to cheaper countries such as Mexico, where workers do not have to be paid much for the same amount of work. This saves the company millions of dollars. The General Motor plants closing was the catalyst that caused more problems for the working class economy of Flint. Plant workers did not have extra money to spend, causing local shops to close or move to different cities. People lost their main source of income, their house and their trust in General Motors. While this might have been a great
...th a growing proportion of elderly people. Global market dynamics and innovations in big data and social networking are transforming the business strategies of companies everywhere—and forcing them to rethink fundamental rules of engagement. For better or worse, the future entrepreneurs will have to surface as one the most disruptive forces. As big data pushes for alternative ways of working – proactive solutions that drive information must quickly figure out which new policies and tools can be utilized most effectively. This grants enormous opportunities for key technological breakthroughs that will be needed for the next generation of transport.
The 2006 documentary about Who Killed the Electric Car shows the determination of several California citizens whose willpower was to keep the electric car alive and running. The first existence of the electric car under General Motors (GM) dates back to 1996 when they launched the EV1 electric vehicle. And although several consumers took to this new form of transportation, a car that was powered by an electric motor in place of the basic gasoline engine, GM decided to take back its newest technology and removed all existing EV1’s from off of the streets. With several upset consumers who were concerned as to both what GM and the government were up to and how they could get their cars back. Overall, the fact behind why the electric car became such a superior commodity and then vanished was the question being asked. The electric vehicle was destroyed during 2004 and 2005 because a car of this statue was far ahead of its time and greater parts of consumers were not about “going green.” Today the electric car has begun to revive itself because of the existence of global warming, and the efficiency of the electric car is rising. In other words, the electric car has been brought back to life, and many automobile manufacturers are gaining interest.
General Motors is one of the world's most dominant automakers from 1931. After 1980s economic recession the main goal for automobile companies was cost reduction. Customers became more price-sensitive. Also Japanese competitors came into market with the new effective system of production. So market was highly competitive and directed toward price reduction. The case states that in 1991 GM suffered $ 4.5 billion losses and most part of the costs of manufacturing was due to purchased components. GM NA hired Lopez in order to find the way from "extraordinary" situation and reduce costs.
This case focuses on corporate obstacles to pollution prevention. Pollution prevention can complex especially for large corporations. There are many different forms of pollution prevention including emissions control devices and incremental changes in existing technology. The author reviews the impact of emissions controlled devices, however the focus of the case study is on incremental changes in existing technology. Incremental changes include substituting one or two steps in a production process or relationship changes between production steps. One example of incremental changes that was provided by the author was eliminating chlorofluorocarbons and saving energy by replacing a refrigeration process with a heath exchanger that can exploit waste cooling from another part of the process. There are three critical decision-making stages for incremental changes; identifying a pollution prevention opportunity, finding a solution appropriate to that opportunity, and implementing that solution. The author discusses the three aspects of an organization (culture, ability to process information, and its politics) and how they impact the decision-making stages.
Ford Motor Company (FMC) is an American automobile manufacturer with over 100 years industrial experience. Major competitors in the United States (US) include General Motors (GM) and Chrysler Corporation (CC). At the peak of the 2008 global financial crisis, these three automakers faced possible bankruptcy. The Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) was created in 2008 by the US government to provide funding for private sector corporations facing bankruptcy. The stated objective of this social intervention was to protect the US economy from devastation.
Roger & Me shows that GM's board of directors used company profits not to create new jobs, but to buy already existing assets, such as data processing companies (EDS) and weapons manufacturers (Hughes Aircraft) at inflated prices, and to automate their current assembly lines, and build new plants in Mexico and in Asia -- destroying jobs in the United States in the process. In Mexico, GM pays the worker...
Although Maniates labels the “A” in IWAC as “meaningful consumption Alternatives,” his thoughts on the matter refer more to the institutional influences on product development. In Woodhouse’s words, “The public’s failure to embrace sustainable technologies has more to do with institutional structures that restrict the aggressive development and wide dissemination of sustainable technologies than with errant consumer choice” (48). Instead of attributing the lack of environmentally friendly products to happenstance, Maniates claims that there are production-side structural aspects which hinder the development of green products. Woodhouse mirrors Maniates in this aspect by recognizing the influences on engineers to overlook environmental concerns. “Neither law nor professional norms make [sustainable] design tasks a required aspect of most engineers’ responsibilities, and most employers place substantial obstacles in the way of engineers taking those design elements farther than law and market competition require” (27). By and large, companies are driven by the desire to maximize profit above all else, and from the perspective of employers, adding in environmental concerns is merely an additional constraint on potential profit margins. If engineering ethics and government regulations are sufficiently detailed on sustainability, then employers
Portfolio Project: Tesla Motors Case Study Tesla Motors (Tesla), founded in 2003 by Elon Musk, is an automotive company focused on enhancing Electric Vehicle market by creating optimum performance, all electric, vehicles for every class of consumer (Tesla Motors, 2015). In order to achieve such ambitious goals, Tesla Motors not only designs, but also manufactures, and personally sells the company’s electric vehicles (Hirsch, 2015). As additional quality assurance, Tesla Motors also designs, manufactures, and sells, electric vehicle power-train components, and battery products (Hirsch, 2015). Yet, despite the pivotal role Tesla’s self curated products play in the success of Tesla’s vehicles, the socially responsible company does not privatize Apart from Musk’s concise vision statement Tesla has a truly inspiring mission statement, “At the core, Tesla Motors believes that electric cars should not be perceived as a sacrificial mode of transportation. Tesla Motors has brought the best of both the automotive and technological worlds together by permanently etching the image of electric cars being a step backwards in performance, efficiency, and design” (Tesla Motors, Chiefly, and most apparently, it is the goal of Tesla Motor to generate demand for Tesla vehicles (Andrade, Holloway, Payne, Roy & Sheffield, 2015).
The majority of people, especially in America, cannot go about their daily lives without a car. Automobiles have instilled themselves in peoples’ lives and shown their usefulness since their debut in 1769. Since then, humans have redesigned and refined the automobile thousands of times, each time making the vehicle more efficient and economical than before. Now as the world approaches an ethical decision to dwarf all others, many people look toward automotives for yet another change. The emergence of the hypercar due to ecological turmoil exemplifies the change the world has demanded. Hypercars alter everything people know about automotives, modern ecology, and fuel efficiency. Not only do hypercars offer a solution to many ecological problems humans are faced with now, they also represent the only logical area for the automotive industry, and by some stretch American society, to expand.
Another strategy used by BMW to differentiate itself from other automakers in the market is the proactive usage of technology and innovativeness in the development of products. From the early 1990’s, BMW has been on the forefront of incorporating technology in its designs in line with the technological advances of the modern world. This has led to the creation of inventive products. The uniqueness of these auto products put BMW in a position of advantage. The development of the hydrogen car as early as 2000 was an indicator of the company’s innovative strategy. In addition, the company also presents itself as environment friendly creating a whole range of vehicles in this category. This is a differentiation strategy meant to boost the company’s image and reputation amongst customers. In addition, this gives the environment conscious customers a variety of products to choose from giving BMW an upper hand in the industry.