c) General Motors is one of the most successful U.S. companies. But GM was forced to modify its strategy because the global competition conditions. This is mostly the case of Toyota, which developed into an important competitor of GM on the European, U.S., and Asian market. The numerous advantages of Toyota and its products and services include: lower prices, better supply chain management that is based on Japanese methods, and higher quality management (Klum, 2011).
These advantages helped Toyota become the leader of the Asian market. This helped the company also improve its international position. In addition to this, General Motors' sales and profits significantly reduced. Therefore, the company had to modify its strategy in order to reduce its costs. The company's managers considered that this situation was attributed to the high production costs of GM that did not allow the company to reduce the prices of its products and services, in comparison with Toyota. The company developed a strategy based on automation. This process was intended to help develop a production process that required lower levels of resources and that allowed the company to reduce its production costs and prices.
d) The strategy developed by General Motors in its attempt of becoming the leaders in the international vehicles market is analyzed by specialists in the field. This is because the company had to modify its strategy in order to address the actions of Toyota. The Japanese car maker had conquered the Asian market and threatened...
And European markets. The company's success relied on lower prices that were attributed to the reduced investments required by the efficient supply chain management and higher quality management.
General Motors also had to do something in order to reduce its production costs. The company's managers considered that the best strategy in this situation relied on automated processes. In their opinion, the automation process was intended to improve the efficiency of production, which determined lower costs. Based on these issues, the company was able to reduce its prices. However, the managers of General Motors were unable to estimate the indirect costs associated with the automation strategy. These costs were higher than the costs reduction the company made, leading to expensive processes. The company did not correctly evaluate the issues that determined its strategy and its objectives.
Reference list:
1. The GM's Consolidated Strategy and Enhanced Approach (2011). The Global Mechanism. Retrieved September 24, 2011 from http://global-mechanism.org/about-us/strategyand-approach.
2. Muller, J. (2009). GM's Global Strategy in Doubt. Forbes Magazine. Retrieved September 24, 2011 from http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2009/0622/autos-foreign-aide-gm-global-strategy-in-doubt.html.
3. Klum, E. (2011). General Motors Growth Strategy. Retrieved September 24, 2011 from http://www.streetdirectory.com/travel_guide/51055/cars/general_motors_growth_strategy.html.
