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Strategic Analysis: Situational Analysis Of General Motors

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General Motors (GM) founded on September 16, 1908, as a holding company for Buick by William C. Durant. In 1909, GM attained the Reliance Motor Truck Company and the Rapid Motor Vehicle Company, the precursors of GMC Truck (Ukessays.com). GM’s had a market share of 48.3% of the overall US market share in the 1960’s. This began to decline in the 1970s and continued to present day, due to greater international competition, mainly coming from the Japanese companies of Toyota and Honda. They strayed from the traditional American muscle cars, which were bulky and had poor gas mileage, to sleeker designs with better quality and efficiency (“General Motors Corporation” NYT). The United States is GM's largest national market, followed by China, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Germany. Today, the company employs about 200,000 people worldwide. With its headquarters located in …show more content…

GM has a highly diversified product mix. This strategy proved to be successful for most of the 20th century, as it was the largest car maker in the world from 1931 up until 2008 and with 13 brands, countless car models, plants in 34 countries and sales to 140 countries (“About GM”)(Bensinger). However this strategy is no longer working. With increased foreign competition, changing consumer trends, and a portfolio spread too thinly, GM’s vision to be the world’s largest car producer is no longer a viable goal. The main problem in GM’s decisions over the years was its overly extensive lineup. With such a large and diverse portfolio, GM couldn’t give each brand the attention it needed. (Maynard). The company’s strategy to juggle its brands clearly proved to be an unsuccessful means of portfolio

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