General Motors in China

Naturally, when there are great gains to be had, there are great risks. A lack of understanding in cultural protocol is a commonly occurring pitfall for foreign, new to market business endeavors. Also, even positives such as China’s size, can commonly be a double edge sword. It is imperative for companies considering international expansion to create a solid entry to market strategy, which evaluates if the firm has any potential in achieve gains in a foreign marketplace.

General Motors, an American borne company established in 1908, designs, builds and distributes a wide range of cars, trucks, crossovers and automobile parts worldwide. The company’s automotive operations adhere to the demands of consumers stationed internationally through its four primary automotive regions: GM North America, GM Europe, GM International Operations and GM South America. GM North America targets and serves the demands of customers based in North America with vehicles manufactured and marketed under the Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet and GMC brands. The demands of consumers outside of North America are primarily met with vehicles manufactured under the brands Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, Holden,

Situational problems arise when doing business. This study is caused by cultural differences like relationship building and a contractual obligation. The Chinese focus on personal relationships that are face to face versus a factual relationship approach like the American’s use. Each party has to adjust to each other’s cultural style. There is a lack of communication is presented as a breach of faith between the parties’ business arrangement.

A. Cross-Cultural Differences Company X is considering expanding its business to China. However, prior to moving into a new and foreign market, Company X must understand the various cross cultural differences that are relevant to properly conducting business in China. By being more sensitive to and understanding the cross-cultural differences, Company X's transition into the new market should be less challenging and improve its chances of acceptance. Language, work ethic and material culture are three cultural differences that should, first, be understood prior to pursuing opportunities in China.

General Motors (GM) was one of the premier automakers of the world. Firmly planted as the leader of the big three automakers, GM, Ford, and Chrysler, years of success grounded GM as an economic and cultural icon of American business. As the Japanese auto market grew and became more efficient, turning out improved vehicles that the public wanted, GM was becoming a lumbering behemoth of inefficiency and corporate gluttony. Many circumstances contribute to GM’s road to bankruptcy including high legacy costs in union owned contracts, largely poor design, inferior quality, and low productivity.

General Motors (?GM? or ?the company?) has a rich history longer than a century starting with its corporate organization in 1908. Following its organization, GM acquired its first brand, Old Motor Works, which was followed in 1909 by the purchase of Cadillac for $5.5 million. Two years later, GM organized both General Motors Truck to handle sales of GM?s Rapid and Reliance products and General Motors Export Company to handle export sales out of the US. In 1918, GM purchased Chevrolet Motors. In 1926, GM entered Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Egypt, Uruguay and Argentina through the General Motors Export Company. General Motors Truck became the modern GMC in 1943 when GM acquired the assets of Yellow Truck & Coach. In 1945, GM finally established all of its historical core brands (Buick, Chevrolet, Cadillac, GMC, Oldsmobile, and Pontiac) when the Buick-Oldsmobile-Pontiac Assembly Division, which would be renamed the General Motors Assembly Division in 1965, was formed.

Even though GM has been given some advantages, it is experiencing problems in Europe and in South America (Kinicki & Williams, 2013). The home market is proving to be a challenge, also. Toyota and Honda are standing out as stiff competition. One plan to help achieve the profit goal for GM is to reduce auto platforms by

And return to China they did. In 1994 GM rented two rooms of a Shanghai Holiday Inn and began negotiations with the Chinese government to form SAIC (Shanghai Automotive Industry Group). By 1999, the Chinese were once again buying a modern Buick. That two room beginning eventually grew to encompass 40,000 employees across nine cities. In 2004, GM sold 253,000 cars, in 2008 that number almost doubled to 446,000, and by 2010, GM became the first automaker to sell 2 million vehicles, in China, in a single year. And that’s just the beginning.

Doing business in China may require more patience and understanding the culture before adventuring in taking a foreign assignment. There are several factors that need to be looked at before taking the assignment, knowledge, skills, and culture understanding, knowing how to negotiate and knowing when to except the idea. There are traditions and customs that China has that have to be known before anyone conducting business in China needs to know. China is based on an old system of proper manners and etiquette when doing business. Doing business in China you need to know their customs and know how to communicate effectively but there are more things that need to be looked at such as political differences, building trust and respecting Chinese culture. As part of this paper I will answer several questions about my assumptions about China, adjusting my behavior on a business trip to China, Chinese managers running a business in the United States and if I would be less interested in taking a foreign assignment.

Founded By William Durant in Flint, Michigan, GM began by acquiring the Buick Motor Company. In 1920, GM added Chevrolet, Vauxhall, and Opel to its lineup in order to provide its customers with, “a car for every purse and purpose” (GM.com). At one point, GM carried over twenty brands. During the Fordist period, GM expanded internationally by taking on projects including manufacturing, sales, and service in all parts of the world (Townsend, Cavusgil, and Baba, 2010). In the 1970s, during the emergence of Neoliberal Globalization, GM found competition from the global automotive market. In response, GM expanded its market to China, India, Brazil and Europe. Due to a variety of causes including bad financial policies, uncompetitive vehicles, ignoring competition, and failure to innovate, GM found itself in trouble during the 2008 financial crisis. Eventually GM filed for

In 2010, GM acquired Americredit and turned it into The GM Financial. GM Financial provides financing for vehicles as well as lending for other automotive dealers. This merger made for a seamless transition for the company and a smart one since the vehicles provided are often times financed by outside companies. General motors made headlines by selling the rights to finance company GMAC, which was an extremely profitable portion of the company.

GM is an part dealer and a car industry, which means they own other companies and different models. With the most popular GM car make is the Chevy. With the Silverado,cobalt, blazer, and many many many! More. And GM having the GMC which is very popular.The Cadillac the Pontiac. And the most

According to GM.com (2009) General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM), is one of the world's largest automakers which was founded in 1908, in Detroit USA. It manufactures cars and trucks in 34 countries. GM employs 252,000 people in every major region of the world, and sells and services vehicles in some 140 countries. It sells cars and trucks globally under the following brands: Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, GM Daewoo, Holden, Hummer, Opel, Pontiac, Saab, Saturn, Vauxhall and Wuling. Its largest national market is the United States, followed by China, Brazil, the United Kingdom, Canada, Russia and Germany. GM's OnStar subsidiary is the industry leader in vehicle safety, security and information services.

Over the years, the U. S. auto industry's market has been experiencing fluctuations due to many reasons including: price, quality and foreign competition. General Motors Corporation (GM) which had been the leading car and truck manufacturer had been experiencing declining market share and facing stiff competition from both U.S manufacturers and foreign imports such as the Asian auto producers that included Toyota, Honda and Nissan. The main reason for increased foreign competition was that foreign cars were more fuel efficient, smaller, less expensive, and often more reliable than their American counterparts.

General Motors (GM) is struggling with its Opel brand in Europe. While the company's North American and Asian businesses posted strong results, it lost $361 million in Europe compared to an operating profit of $102 million a year ago; the European business, which centers on the struggling Opel brand, has been hemorrhaging money for a decade (Vlasic & Ewing, 2012). The question has become whether or not the brand can survive at all. The company is considering many options. It can reduce its production and try to match the shrinking demand by cutting factories and employees. It could also shakeout the entire lineup and try to cut its losses in Europe.