On July 10 2009, the firm went through Chapter 11 reorganization after the firm had filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy on June 8th the same year. The government offered a loan to GM that would be converted into shareholding at the new firm which was formed General Motors Corporation. The sales of GM have been rising over the years for instance in 2009, the firm sold a total of 6.5 million trucks and cars in the globe. The profits of the GM stood at $ 4.7 billion which was from the 8.5 million units that were sold globally. The firm's sales are mostly recorded in North America and Asia. The sales in the United States reached 2,981,000 while those in Canada stood at 359,000 units. China on the other hand had a total of 1,095,000 units of cars and trucks sold in the period of 2008 (GMC, 2013).
The company was initially focused on the ways through which they could be able to produce small cars especially the production of supermini cars so that the firm can be able to achieve its environmental and energy efficiency initiatives. The supermini will be very fuel efficient. GM has focused on other environmental initiatives for instance the use of solar energy in their plants and also the production of vehicles that use alternative sources of energy apart from fossil fuels. The company has explored the use of ethanol, electric vehicles, flexi-fuel cars and the hydrogen initiative which is still at its infancy
[...] An interview between John Z. DeLorean and Fox news in 2000 saw DeLorean indicate the major issue that led to his departure from the firm. He stated that the lack of the embracing of new ideas and the gross inefficiency are the major frustrations that led him to start his own car company, DeLorean Motor Company. The other issue that has been noted to increase the levels of the inefficiency at GM is the organizational structure that was found at the firm. [...]
[...] The organizational culture has also been conceived as the set of meanings and understandings that are shared by a group of people. Such meanings are usually very tacit amongst the members of the organization and are distinctive and relevant to the particular group of people and they are passed from one member to another. At GM, there are a number of elements that have been noted to make part of the organizational culture of the organization. The dominant culture at the firm includes the respect for the authority which entails the respect for the rituals and the jargons that are to be found in the organization. [...]
[...] In 1910, Durant lost the control of GM due to the fact that a deal to but Ford for million fell through as a result of a debt amounting to million that was taken on the acquisitions that the firm was involved in. Durant left GM and partnered with Louis Chevrolet to co- found Chevrolet Motor Company in 1911. Durant returned to GM in 1916 and later that year the GM of Canada was incorporated. Later Chevrolet became part of GM in 1918. The first car produced by GM was the Chevrolet 490 that was manufactured in 1918. The same year, the stocks of Chevrolet were acquired by GM. [...]
[...] This too experienced a change during the period when there were gross inefficiencies in the operations of the firm. The employees of the firm were given more space to engage in the decision making Organizational structure The organizational structure of the GM before the restructuring was matrix and thus there were great levels of inhibitions in the decision making as well as the communications and the interactions between the different individuals that were found in the organization (Schermerhorn, 2011). The decision making was highly centralized and the different people who engaged in the decision making in the firm would be undertaken by the corporate management of the firm and then rolled to the other levels of the operations of the firm. [...]
[...] The leadership of GM works together with the employees of the firm to be able to develop the markets where the different truck products that are offered by the firm will have greater demands and markets Organizational strengths and weaknesses The firm has a number of strengths that have played an important role in the success that it has recorded in the last couple of years, since it emerged from the Chapter 11 reorganization. First, the leadership of the firm has played an important role in the development of the strategies and business ideas that have led to the success. The decision making and the ease of the communication brought about by the new leadership at the firm has ensured better decisions are made with regards to the areas of the operations that are needed in the firm (Ferrell and Hartline, 2011). [...]
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