Ethics and Social Responsibility General Motors

General Motors (commonly known as GM) is an American multinational automobile manufacturer. It is the world's largest corporation in the automotive industry with respect to unit sales. GM is headquartered in Michigan, United States and operates with fully-owned subsidiaries as well as joint ventures in 157 countries of the world. The manufacturing units are being operated in 31 countries. It employs more than 202,000 people who work in its 158 different operational areas in all six operating regions of the world. General Motors was established in 1908 by William C. Durant. It has a very well-established brand image across the Globe with a high level of brand acceptability and loyalty by its customers and stakeholders (General Motors, 2012).

Having business operations at the Global scale, General Motors operates in a highly complex and uncertain business environment. There are a number of environmental factors that affect its business operations in one way or another. Social, ethical, and environmental issues are among those factors that not only affect its operational performance, but also have a direct impact on its sustainability and public image in the Global market (Hill, 2010). The purpose of this paper is to analyze and discuss the most critical environmental, cultural, and ethical issues which this automotive giant may face outside its home country.

General Motors Ethics and Social Responsibility: Cross-Cultural Perspectives

For an automobile manufacturer, the biggest ethical and cultural issue is the protection of the environment and the welfare of the plants in 31 countries (General Motors, 2012). This huge scale of operations enables it to experience diverse types of laws, regulations, cultures, societal patterns, and consumer responses. Generally, the automobile companies are criticized for their manufacturing operations which affect the environment through air and noise pollution (Banerjee, 2007).
General Motors is the leading manufacturer of cars and buses in the world. Therefore, it has a large customer base and strong brand image. In order to strengthen this customer base and image, General Motors has to move in its strategic direction in a very careful and effective way. The biggest expectation of the community from this automotive giant is the most fuel-efficient and safest cars along with its deep concern for the environmental protection. General Motors has taken various environmental protection initiatives in order to meet these expectations of the community and other key stakeholders. The following section presents some most important cultural, ethical, and social responsibility issues which General Motors may have to face in the Global Context, the necessary steps which it has taken to encounter these issues, and further actions which it should take to prove itself as a socially and environmentally responsible multinational corporation (Hill, 2010).

Environmental Protection Measures and Initiatives:

One of the biggest issues for manufacturing organizations is to protect the environment in which they set up their production units. These organizations are legally enforced to keep their business operations in the most efficient forms so that the harmful chemicals, wastages, smokes, and other extracts from their production processes do not affect the atmosphere. General Motors has taken various initiatives to encounter the environmental issues. It has based its environmental protection initiatives on six major principles. These principles are concerned with the environmental safety and society welfare in one way or another (General Motors, 2012).

Harmful Wastage and Chemicals:

The most important environmental protection principle at General Motors is to preserve the environment from harmful wastage and chemical by-products. Therefore, it has laid down this principle at the top of its environmental protection policy. It is also committed to…