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General Motors External

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Executive Summary The United States has been experiencing a weak economy, which has dramatically affected sales within the automotive industry. The industry as a whole has been struggling, but the U.S. companies have had the worst results. Also, the desired product mix has recently changed to more fuel efficient vehicles instead of large SUV’s and trucks (S&P, 2008, p.1). The following analysis will discuss in detail the external environment of the auto industry and then transition to examining the internal environment of the U.S. firm, General Motors. GM is a large and well known domestic auto manufacturer that was the leader in U.S. auto sales for many years and at one time possessed a 47.4% market share. However, GM is now more …show more content…

Until now, it was hoped that the fallout from the declines in home prices would be contained, first to the sub-prime market, then to broader real estate-backed assets, and finally the hope was that the damage could be restricted to just the financial sector. Unfortunately, each of these barriers have been breached and combined with a broader unraveling of credit markets and a credit crunch. So, we have seen continued spillovers into other areas of the economy, including the automobile industry (New York Times). Not too long ago, the auto industry had room for small, independent manufacturers such as Saab, Jaguar and Volvo. But since the mid to late 1980’s the industry’s big players have been buying up their smaller rivals (Forbes.com). The economic downturn, rising oil prices, and the cost of developing new technologies have made it much harder for new entrants to come into the industry. Therefore, new entrants do not pose a threat to the existing competitors of the automotive industry due to the economy and the large capital requirements needed in order to be successful. For example, at General Motors alone the company must raise an estimated minimum of $15 billion in new capital to stay competitive within the industry (New York Times). The new capital requirements will mostly be used to perform research and development. This

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