General Motors Case Study: Strategic Analysis and Recommendations

This case study delves into General Motors, examining its business strategies, competitive environment, and financial aspects. The analysis covers GM's diverse car models, including Cadillac, Buick, GMC, and Chevrolet, and their respective market positioning. The study explores GM's overarching business strategy, emphasizing sustainable practices, cost leadership, market penetration, and product diversification. It also highlights the importance of competitor analysis and external factors like PESTLE and Porter's Five Forces. Furthermore, the case study provides insights into GM's financial performance, including shareholder information and effective marketing strategies. The document offers a comprehensive overview of GM's operations, strategic decisions, and market dynamics within the automotive industry.

Running Head: GENERAL MOTORS CASE STUDY ANSWERS 1
General Motors Case Study Answers
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GENERAL MOTORS CASE STUDY ANSWERS 2
Part One- Qualitative Question’s Answers
Answer 1
General Motors are among the most popular and well-known vehicle brands in the United
States. There are various model of cars which are manufactured by GM that include Buick,
Cadillac, GMC, Chevy and many more cars.
Cadillac: It is the luxury car brand and of the most popular car model which is offered by
General Motors. Cadillac Automobile Company became the part of GM’s portfolio in 1909
(Feng & Bin, 2020). The most famous models of this luxury brand are Cadillac Escalade,
Cadillac ATS-V Coupe and Cadillac CT6 Sedan.
Buick: David Dunbar Buick laid the foundation of Buick Auto-Vim and Power Company
in 1899. In 1908, Buick became the part of GM’s portfolio. Among the model Buick are offering
some of them are Buick Enclave, Buick Regal and Buick Cascade (Feng & Bin, 2020).
Beside these car brands operated under GM’s portfolio, Hummer H2 is the truck category
product offered by GM. The Chevrolet Volt is also offered by GM and till date GM has
successfully sold more than 70,000 units of Chevrolet Volt since its introduction (Scott, 2020).
Chevrolet Chevette is also another Chevy car model which is offered by GM.
Answer 2
The business strategy of General Motors is to deliver sustainable, simpler and safer
transportation solution to their customers. The business strategy of General Motors reflect the
revolution which is introduced in transportation that become the source of transforming how
people travel. GM focused on different initiatives that capitalize on these new business models
and install new technologies to cater better products in the market (Scott, 2020).

GENERAL MOTORS CASE STUDY ANSWERS 3
The sustainable business strategy is the main reason of their competitive advantage in the
marketplace. They have a vision to reduce carbon emissions by 2030 and install hybrid
technologies in their products. The cost leadership is the General’s Motor generic competitive
business strategy (Song & Peiling, 2020). This business strategy provides competitive advantage
to General Motors which is based on the attractiveness of low cost and offering low prices of
products. The basic purpose of the implementation of this strategy is to improve the efficiencies
of manufacturing process with the help of continuous improvement and automation to support
competitive advantage of General Motors.
Moreover, General Motor uses market penetration as their primary strategy for intensive
growth. This strategy contributes in the rapid development of the organization by increasing
sales in the market place. By implementing this business strategy, GM motor has increased the
distribution network of their automobiles and improving customer access to their latest products.
The diversification of the product is another business strategy which is executed by General
Motors which supports growth of the organization (Feng & Bin, 2020). Diversification supports
the business growth of the organization by acquiring new businesses.
Answer 3
To understand the competitive environment in the automobile industry, GM motors
conducts competitor analysis before launching new product. Competitor analysis enables the
organization to understand the need of customers in the marketplace (Black, 2020). Moreover, it
is recommended to General Motors to conduct external analysis as well i.e. PESTLE and Porter’s
5 forces analysis. This analysis will help the organization to get better insight of the competitive
environment in which they are operating. Internal analysis of the organization can also help the
management of General Motors to realize the loophole in the manufacturing process. In these

GENERAL MOTORS CASE STUDY ANSWERS 4
ways, the organization can deliver the quality products to the customer and retain their customer
base.
Answer 4
GMC and Chevrolet are owned by General Motors and it means that both organizations
are working together to develop new designs and features for different targeted markets. GMC
models are more expensive as compared to Chevy because GMC brand targets the luxury market
only. Chevy and GMC both are truck brands but GMC is more inclined towards the luxury
buyers and Chevy is aimed at the mass customers of the truck markets. GMC models are
equipped with the latest technologies as compared to Chevys (Song & Peiling, 2020). It is the
reason that GMC models are expensive than Chevys.
Part Two-Quantitative Question’s Answers
Answer 1
The General Motors story for making money gives me the insight regarding the effective
marketing strategies to increase the profit margin of the organization by reducing the cost of the
product. Moreover, the sustainable marketing strategy of General Motors is the vital source of
making money for the organization (Scott, 2020). I have learned that being sustainable and
diversified in the marketplace is important for any organization to increase their market share
and enhance their revenues. The customer satisfaction is also achieved by the organization by
implementing these effective marketing strategies. All in all, overall lesson of their story for
making money is to remain competitive by introducing latest sustainable products in the
marketplace.
Answer 2

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There are top three individual shareholders of the General Motors. Mary Barra is the
largest shareholder of the organization while holding 520,608 shares of GM. Mark L. Reuss who
is the Executive Vice President of Global Product Development, Supply Chain and Purchasing at
GM who holds 203,934 shares of the organization. Dan Ammann is the current president of the
General Motors and he is the third largest shareholder of the organization holding 195,228 shares
(Black, 2020).

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References
Feng, J., & Bin, L. (2020). Manufacturer’s Business Strategy: Interaction of Sharing Economy
and Product Rollover. Complexity.
Scott, P. (2020). General Motors’ other franchise system: Creating an effective distribution
model for Frigidaire. Business History, 1-18.
Song, E., & Peiling, W.-S. (2020). Uncertainty quantification in vehicle content optimization for
general motors. INFORMS Journal on Applied Analytics, (225-238).
Black, C. (2020). Who owns general motors? Retrieved from
https://www.carlblackoforlando.com/blog/who-owns-general-motors/