...| The Cyclical Rise and Fall of GM | | | | | This paper will touch on the history of GM dating back to 1899 with a history of boom and bust all the way up to the collapse, the rebirth of GM in 2009 and subsequent successful years since. | Recently in the news there has been an alarming fact about General Motors automobile products that have caused a loss of property and more importantly loss of lives, while most admit a simple design flaw could’ve been repaired with a $0.57 switch (foxnews.com, 2014, 1 Apr). This paper will touch on the history of GM dating back to 1899 with a history of a boom and bust cycle all the way up to the collapse, the rebirth of GM in 2009 and subsequent successful years since. The History of General Motors Corporation, the one-time “largest automaker in the world” had its start in 1899. At that time over one thousand companies attempted to improve the “horse drawn carriage” to that of an automobile and failed. William Crapo Durant was in the horse carriage business in Flint Michigan since 1886, selling over 75,000 in 1895. In 1904 Durant bought into the Buick Motor company where many other auto makers had operations in Flint, MI; Chrysler, Buick, Nash to name a few. The economic downturn of 1907 bankrupted many of the smaller auto manufacturers and to protect the company, Durant sought out Henry Ford and Ransom Olds to discuss a possible merger. Both declined due to Durant’s lack of capital (Durant, 2004, p 71-73). Durant, instead...
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...Twelve reasons for Africa to reject GM crops Zachary Makanya | 25 July 2004 Zachary Makanya Africa is in danger of becoming the dumping ground for the struggling GM industry and the laboratory for frustrated scientists. The proponents of GM technology sell a sweet message of GM crops bringing the second green revolution and the answer to African hunger, but a closer look makes it clear that GM crops have no place in African agriculture. The push to bring genetically modified (GM) crops into African agriculture is not letting up, even as (and partly because) the GM industry is faltering in much of the world. A growing list of organizations, networks and lobby groups with close ties to the GM industry are working to promote GM agriculture on the continent. GM crops are so far only commercially available in South Africa, but there have been field trials in Kenya, Egypt and Burkina Faso, and also in Senegal and Zimbabwe where there was no public knowledge or regulatory oversight. At least12 African countries are carrying out research on GM crops, including Egypt, Uganda, Morocco, Nigeria, Tunisia and Cameroon, and a long list of GM crops are in the pipeline for introduction in various African countries (see map). There's also concern that GM crops are coming in by way of food imports and seed smuggling, even for countries that have taken measures to prevent imports of GM food, such as Zambia, Angola, Sudan, and Benin. In short, Africa is in danger of becoming the...
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...ASSESSMENT 3: Evaluation of business case The case study presents a successful vehicle manufacturing company, Toyota Australia (Toyota), as it evaluates radical strategic options in light of contracting sales and no sign of improvement in future. Established in 1958 in Port Melbourne, Australia (Toyota Australia n.d.), Toyota became very successful locally and started to look for opportunities overseas. It made its first shipment abroad in 1986. By 2011, Toyota became the largest exporter of manufactured automobiles in Australia, exporting 73% of vehicles overseas. However, in 2013, as GM-Holden, a competing Australian vehicle manufacturer, announced complete shutdown of its operations by 2017, Toyota was facing existential threats both at home and abroad. In 2013, there were only three vehicle manufacturers in Australia. However, Toyota’s main competitors were not the Australian, but overseas car producers. Starting in 2005, Australia embarked on signing the Free Trade Agreements (FTA) with Thailand, the ASEAN counties, and New Zealand (Australian Trade Commission n.d.), as a result exposing local manufacturers to significant competition. Increased competition from the overseas car manufacturers eroded the revenues of all local producers. Toyota also had to reduce its production volume and operate at an unprofitably low capacity utilisation rate. In an effort to improve its competitiveness in 2012, Toyota launched a Toyota Australia Future Business Transformation, a cost-cutting...
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...firm’s choice of capital structure in three Asian countries: Japan, Malaysia and Pakistan. The specific objective is to investigate if country’s economic factors play a significant role in determining capital structure between markets. These countries are chosen in order to represent three different stages of economic development. Literature review reveals that considerable research has been made in the industrialized countries on the similar topic. Capital structure is one of the most complex areas of strategic financial decision making due to its interrelationship with macroeconomic variables. This study reveals that per capita GNP growth for Japan and Malaysia is significantly related to capital structure of firm and higher economic growth tends to cause to use more long term debt. These results for Pakistan are different from those other two countries. This also shows that inefficiencies coupled with high leverage may entangle Pakistani firms in debt trap. The indicator of prime lending rate is the most decisive factor affecting demand for credit for Japan and...
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...Kellogg's Indian Experience: A Failed Launch |In April 1995, Kellogg India Ltd. (Kellogg) received unsettling reports of a gradual drop in sales from its distributors in Mumbai. There | |was a 25% decline in countrywide sales since March1995, the month Kellogg products had been made available nationally. | | | |Kellogg was the wholly-owned Indian subsidiary of the Kellogg Company based in Battle Creek, Michigan. Kellogg Company was the world's | |leading producer of cereals and convenience foods, including cookies, crackers, cereal bars, frozen waffles, meat alternatives, piecrusts, | |and ice cream cones. Founded in 1906, Kellogg Company had manufacturing facilities in 19 countries and marketed its products in more than | |160 countries. The company's turnover in 1999-00 was $ 7 billion. Kellogg Company had set up its 30th manufacturing facility in India, with | |a total investment of $ 30 million. The Indian market held great significance for the Kellogg Company because its US sales were stagnating | |and only regular price increases had helped boost the revenues in the 1990s. | Launched in September 1994, Kellogg's initial offerings in India included cornflakes, wheat flakes and Basmati rice flakes. Despite offering good quality products...
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...P&G had operations involved in 27 countries; however Walter Linge, the first Vice President of overseas operations had noticed problems with the company’s focus. Linge understood that the Company must change its products for consumer preferences. He also understood the limitations by P&G’s labs and increasing manufacturing costs. In 1986, P&G advanced to seven divisions in the United States which were further broken into 26 product categories. Each category had its own product development, product supply and sales and marketing capabilities. In 1984, P&G’s CEO Ed Artzt convinced the board that Japan was strategically important and that the organization had learned from its struggles. Artzt appointed Durk Jager as the new GM to run this initiative in Japan. By implementing a program called Ichidai Hiyaku, he was able to analyze the causes of P&G’s failures in Japan. He first observed that the company was not recognizing the distinctive culture of Japanese consumers specifically and were also not acknowledging the innovative capabilities of their competitors. Jager persuaded P&G to increase their research and development team from 60 people so they could be up to par with its competitors. Following these efforts, more changes were to come in P&G’s Japan market research, advertising and distribution, resulting in a 270% increases in sales and 62% reduction in unit production costs. In the early 1990s, however, P&G Japan’s strong performance began...
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...Kellogg's Indian Experience Details Source: http://www.icmrindia.org/free%20resources/casestudies/Marketing%20freecasestudyp1.htm Themes: MNCs in India Period : 1995-2001 Organization : Kellogg India Ltd Pub Date : 2001 Countries : India Industry : Cereals and Convenience foods Kellogg's Indian Experience: A Failed Launch In April 1995, Kellogg India Ltd. (Kellogg) received unsettling reports of a gradual drop in sales from its distributors in Mumbai. There was a 25% decline in countrywide sales since March1995, the month Kellogg products had been made available nationally. Kellogg was the wholly-owned Indian subsidiary of the Kellogg Company based in Battle Creek, Michigan. Kellogg Company was the world's leading producer of cereals and convenience foods, including cookies, crackers, cereal bars, frozen waffles, meat alternatives, piecrusts, and ice cream cones. Founded in 1906, Kellogg Company had manufacturing facilities in 19 countries and marketed its products in more than 160 countries. The company's turnover in 1999-00 was $ 7 billion. Kellogg Company had set up its 30th manufacturing facility in India, with a total investment of $ 30 million. The Indian market held great significance for the Kellogg Company because its US sales were stagnating and only regular price increases had helped boost the revenues in the 1990s. | Launched in September 1994, Kellogg's initial offerings in India included cornflakes, wheat flakes and Basmati rice flakes. Despite...
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...analyse the returns, setting sales and commission targets, developing target ‘take’ and return figures Step 1 - Read websites and blogs about the market Before doing business in any new market, read websites and blogs about that particular market. Fortunately, there are websites and blogs written about almost every market in the world, describing its history, culture, business customs, key players and local business politics. Step 2 - Talk to people who already know the market and its culture Don't reinvent the wheel. Talk to people who already know the market and its culture before you try to enter it. Find people who have done business in-market, or who otherwise know the market. Have them tell you how business is done in-market, what traps to avoid, and how to be successful. Ask them to share with you the essential, but to them quite obvious, information that you need to know about doing...
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...Proceedings of the 2012 International Conference on Industrial Engineering and Operations Management Istanbul, Turkey, July 3 – 6, 2012 Car Recalls: A Problem Unique to Toyota or For All Car Makers? Kamrul Ahsan School of Management and Information Systems, Faculty of Business and Law Victoria University Australia Abstract Often automobile recalls are drawing media and public attention. Influenced by Toyota’s recent automobile recalls 2009-2010 this research conducts an empirical study on historical car recalls. The research uses secondary data from recall websites maintained by public and private organizations. For different car model year and manufacturer the study looks at frequency of recalls, recorded customer complaints, and yearly sales data. Analysis shows recalls are a common event with the majority of recalls initiated by only a few car makers. Though car makers use many eye catching and popular quality and customer care slogans and programs, many popular car makers still face valid customer complaints and consequently face many unwanted recalls. This study identifies that most recalls occur during the first five years of the car model year. This preliminary study of automobile recalls can be further extended at a later stage to identify key causes of recall. Keywords Product recalls, Reverse logistics, car recalls, product returns, closed loop supply chain 1. Introduction Though manufacturers use state-of-the-art operations philosophies, tools and techniques...
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...system, not the workers. If you want to improve performance, you must work on the system. Red beads were the result of a bad system; the Willing Workers were not the problem. The system is the problem. Dr. Deming stated 94 percent of the problems come from the system rather than the worker. Yet most efforts at improvement are aimed at the worker. 2) Quality is made at the top. Quality is an outcome of the system. Top management owns the system. The systems developed by top mangers of an organization have far greater impact on the success of the organization than the best efforts exerted by Willing Workers. The decision to produce white beads in the first place; the decision to purchase beads from a particular supplier; the decision to use rigid procedures; and the decision to rely on mass inspection - all these decisions made by top management resulted in a system that contributed more than the Willing Workers to the waste, the lack of quality, and to going out of business. 3) Numerical goals and production standards can be meaningless. The number of red beads produced is determined by the process, not by the standard. The production standard of three red beads per day was impossible to achieve. The Willing Workers could not affect the number of beads produced; meeting the standard was beyond their control. The "Voice of the Customer", translated by management into a goal of 3 red beads or less, had no effect on the number of red or...
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...………………………............ 31 Academic Word List (AWL) 6 ……………. 31 Word Formation 4 ................................ 32 PRESENTATIONS ……………………...… 33 Argument ……………………………………. 33 READING The article on the following pages is taken from the Science & Technology page of the BBC website. Dated 19 July 2010, the article expresses one point of view in the continuing debate about GM food, which is a significant part of the biotechnology industry. “GM” stands for “genetically modified.” Exercise 1 Overview Answer the questions below to obtain an overview of the article. Many questions can be answered by reference to the topic sentences. 1. 2. 3. 4. What kind of science does Jonathan Jones specialize in? He is writing in the BBC’s “Green Room.” What is that? Read the article synopsis. What does Professor Jones think about GM food crops? Read the whole of the introductory paragraph. What does the scientist do in the first half of this paragraph? What does he do in the second half? 5. Read the first sentence of paragraph 2. What two conflicting goals does the scientist want to achieve? 6. What connection with GM, if any, do the three photos have? 7. According to paragraph 4, how long has Jones been involved in genetic modification? 8. What is paragraph 5...
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...then Intel it would supply those people with a new chip. This attitude of 'father knows best' fostered by Intel created an uproar among users and owners of the defective chips. Six weeks after Mr. Nicely went public, IBM, a major purchaser of Pentium chips, stopped all shipments of computers containing the defective Pentium chips. Intel's stock dropped 5% following this bold move by IBM. IBM's main contention was that it puts its customers first, and Intel was failing to do this. Intel's handling of this defective chip situation gives rise to many questions. During the course of this paper I will address several of them. The first of which is how did a company with such a stellar reputation for consumer satisfaction fall into the trap that the customer does not know best? Secondly, what made this chip defect more of a public issue than other defective products manufactured and sold to the public in the past? Finally, how did Intel recover from such a mistake? How much did it cost them and what lessons can other companies learn from Intel's marketing blunder...
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...Do Customer Loyalty Programs Really Work? Grahame R. Dowling Australian Graduate School of Management University of New South Wales Sydney 2052 Australia Phone: +612–9931–9200 Fax: +612–9662–1695 and Mark Uncles School of Marketing University of New South Wales Sydney 2052 Australia Phone: +612–9385–3510 Fax: +612–9663–1985 E-Mail: M.UNCLES@unsw.edu.au Research Brief RB 002 This research is funded by the Centre for Corporate Change at The Australian Graduate School of Management Centre for Corporate Change Do Customer Loyalty Programs Really Work? Grahame R. Dowling and Mark Uncles Research Brief RB 002 1997 This paper was subsequently published in the Sloan Management Review 38 (4), (1997), pp 71-82 Centre for Corporate Change Australian Graduate School of Management The University of New South Wales Australia Phone: (61 2) 9931 9500 Fax: (61 2) 9663 4672 The AGSM is a School of both The University of New South Wales and The University of Sydney Established and supported under the Australian Research Council’s Research Centres Program © Centre for Corporate Change The material contained herein is subject to copyright. No part of this document may be Reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without the express written permission of the Centre for Corporate Change. The work of the Centre for Corporate Change is generously supported by Andersen Consulting, Coca-Cola Amatil, Esso, Amcor, Russell Reynolds Associates, BT Asia Pacific...
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...unless such copying is expressly permitted by federal copyright law. Address inquiries to College Permissions, Houghton Mifflin Company, 222 Berkeley Street, Boston, MA 02116-3764. Printed in the U.S.A. Library of Congress Control Number: 2007924351 Instructor’s exam copy : ISBN-13: 978-0-618-83347-4 ISBN-10: 0-618-83347-1 For orders, use student text ISBNs: ISBN-13: 978-0-618-74163-2 ISBN-10: 0-618-74163-1 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9—CRK—11 10 09 08 07 BRIEF CONTENTS PREFACE xi PART ONE THE ENVIRONMENT OF MANAGING NOW 1 2 3 4 MANAGING AND THE EVOLUTION OF MANAGEMENT ETHICAL AND SOCIAL ISSUES 29 MANAGING IN A GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT 59 MANAGING ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND INNOVATION 1 1 89 PART TWO INFORMATION AND DECISION MAKING NOW 5 INFORMATION AND KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT 6 DECISION MAKING NOW 144 116 116...
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...themes: 1. We are in substantial trouble: the collapse of the housing bubble triggered a mortgagefinance crisis that snowballed into a general financial crisis and a flight to safety that would, if unchecked, produce the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression itself. 2. Normal stabilizing monetary policy tools cannot help us any more. The standard policy moves we use to stabilize demand and production 2 J. Bradford DeLong and prevent or cushion downturns have already been used to the full and cannot help us any more. 3. Nevertheless, we are going to get out of this with only minor damage to the economy, for we do have (a) the technocratic knowledge, (b) the policy tools, and (c) the political will to escape from the trap. And I was very...
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