Strategic Report: Analyzing General Motors' UAE Market Strategies

This report provides a strategic analysis of General Motors (GM) within the United Arab Emirates (UAE) market. It begins with an executive summary and table of contents, followed by an introduction that highlights the challenges GM faces, including declining market share and financial losses. The report examines the relationship between strategy, stakeholder expectations, and organizational performance, emphasizing the importance of customer and employee engagement. It then analyzes the impact of external and internal factors on GM's strategic management, using PEST and Porter's Five Forces frameworks to assess the political, economic, socio-cultural, and technological environments, as well as competitive rivalry, buyer power, supplier power, threat of substitutes, and threat of new entrants. The report formulates and evaluates a new strategy using Porter's Generic model, assessing its potential to drive innovation and change. Finally, it outlines an implementation plan, considering stakeholder expectations, and offers recommendations and conclusions to improve GM's performance in the UAE market. The analysis covers various aspects, including market dynamics, competitive landscape, and strategic recommendations for GM's growth and sustainability.

Running head: STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT
STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author note
Executive Summary

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The report will focus on identifying the issues that are being faced by General Motors while
operating in the UAE markets and the strategy that might be implemented by the same with the
objective of gaining a competitive benefits over the existing or new players. In this relation, the
research analyzed the internal and external environments of the venture in the UAE markets and
formulated a strategy for growth through the utilization of generic model. The research also
visualized the applicability of the strategy in the organizational situation and the manner in
which the same might contribute to the competitive benefits of the venture. Lastly, the research
also enumerated an implementation plan for the concerned organization with the purpose of
implementing the strategy successfully in the UAE markets.

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Table of Contents
Assignment Task 1..........................................................................................................................3
1. Introduction..................................................................................................................................3
2. Relationships between strategy, stakeholder expectations, and organizational performance.....4
3. Impact of external and internal factors on strategic management in international context.........6
3.1 PEST Assessment of GM......................................................................................................6
3.2 Porter’s five force of GM....................................................................................................10
4. Formulation and evaluation of a new strategy through Porter’s Generic model.......................12
4.1 Formulation of the strategy..................................................................................................12
4.2 Evaluation of the strategy....................................................................................................14
5. Evaluation of the business strategy as it encourages innovation and change evaluation of the
chosen strategy against competing strategies for the success of the organization.........................15
6. Implementation plan for the strategy and the manner in which it might adhere to the
stakeholder expectations................................................................................................................17
7. Recommendations and Conclusion............................................................................................24
7.1 Recommendations................................................................................................................24
7.2 Conclusion...........................................................................................................................24
References......................................................................................................................................26

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Assignment Task 1
1. Introduction
The diverse modification in the organizational operations are reliant on the efficient
functioning of the diverse systems correlating to the changing requirements of the customers.
However, It has been observed from the stats provided by the analysts that around 67% of the
well planned strategies fail in the execution stage (Hbr.org 2017). However, the challenges that
are faced by the businesses while improvising on the innovative designs are specifically
grounded on their clashing interest with the stakeholders.
The research will study the case of General Motors, which have been facing significant
challenges in driving the attention of the prospective customers towards their propositions
leading to bankruptcy. It has been observed that the concerned venture de-prioritized the need of
empowering the R&D operations and focused more on selling sports utility vehicles (SUVs)
between the years 1990s to the mid 2000s (Gm.com 2019). However, It has been observed that
the concerned venture focused on improving their linage in the electronic vehicle markets for
adhering to the increasing competition in the markets. Again, the absence of effective marketing
campaigns affected the capability of the venture in holding effective communication with
customers. Lack of efficient communication with customers restricted the capability of the
venture in identifying the loopholes in their process for facilitation of improvements.
Therefore, the research would take the initiative of identifying the relationship between
strategy formulation, stakeholder expectations and organizational performance while evaluating
the internal and external environmental factors that are being encountered by the concerned
venture, GM. Moreover, the research would also take the initiative of developing a strategy for

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the organization and identify the factors that would be considered while implementing the same
on the business model.
2. Relationships between strategy, stakeholder expectations, and organizational
performance
Strategic management critically evaluates the diverse managerial processes for
empowering the diverse processes through continuous planning, monitoring and assessment
related activities while achieving the common goals and objectives of an organization (Hitt and
Duane Ireland 2017). The strategies that are framed by the organizations are grounded on the
assessment of the needs of the customers while operating in diverse markets. Meyer, Neck and
Meeks (2017) stated that the major modifications in the strategic discourses of the organizations
are mostly grounded on the changing preferences of the customers. Therefore, the preferences of
the customers, being one of the important stakeholder group, play an important role in
influencing the type of strategies that are planned by the ventures. On the other hand, the in-
house employees of an organization are also the top- prioritized stakeholders on which the
strategic discourse of an organization rests (El-Kassar and Singh 2019). Reverte, Gómez-Melero
and Cegarra-Navarro (2016) reflected that the uninterrupted functioning of the organizations and
the safe implementation of the strategies are reliant on the loyalty of the workforce towards the
businesses. In this connection, it might be observed that the leaders of the organizations take the
initiative of motivating the employees and engages the same actively in the new strategies with
the purpose of safe implementation of the new projects (Helmig, Spraul and Ingenhoff 2016).
However, Lin-Hi and Blumberg (2018) opined that the lack of collaboration among the
leaders and the employees might restrict the capabilities of an organization in empowering the
implementation process for the growth related strategies. On the other hand, the lack of customer

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needs based knowledge might restrict the continuous innovation based capabilities of an
organization. In this relation, Zhao et al. (2017) stated that most of the strategies that are planned
and executed by the organizations are focused on increasing the sales volume. However, the lack
of knowledge on the concerns that are being faced by the customers through the propositions
might restrict an organization in improving their performance (Agudo‐Valiente, Garcés‐Ayerbe
and Salvador‐Figueras 2015).
The organizational performance is specifically measured in terms of sales volume, brand
value and market share. In this relation, the employees and the customers play an important role
in contributing to the organizational performance. Bourne (2016) stated that an organization
creates strategies both for the retention of the customers and the employees, both being the
stakeholders that contributes to the long term sustenance of a business. The governance and
policies of an organization enables the same in retaining the confidence and loyalty of the
employees. Loosemore and Lim (2017) stated that the imposition of LMX model (Leader-
member exchange) permits an organization in improving the inter- confidence factors between
the workforce and the management while encouraging active engagement of the staff members
in the diverse organizational processes. On the other hand, the continuous innovation related
strategies of an organization permits the same in empowering the loyalty of the customers
(Taghian, D’Souza and Polonsky 2015).
The strategic discourses on innovation that are adopted by the organizations are critically
focused on increasing the value of propositions that are made to the customers. Continuous
innovations made by the organizations in their propositions allow a venture in gaining a
competitive vantage over the existing players in the market. Shaukat, Qiu and Trojanowski
( 2016) stated that the strategic developments that are made by the organizations are reliant on

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the efficient functioning of the diverse systems correlating to the requirements of the customers.
Therefore, the strategies forms a vital tool for any organization that is planning to improve their
performance. Organizational performance is grounded on the maximized engagement of the
workforce to achieve the collective objectives of the venture (Herremans, Nazari and
Mahmoudian 2016). On the other hand, the improved propositions of an organization contributes
to the sales volume, the market share and the brand identity which again increases the
organizational performance (Xia, Chen and Zheng 2015). Therefore, the strategies that are
implemented by the organizations are grounded on the interests of the stakeholders while
increasing their performance correlating to the requirements in the markets.
3. Impact of external and internal factors on strategic management in international context
3.1 PEST Assessment of GM
Political
 The political stability in UAE plays an
important role in empowering the
performance of the concerned
organization. The minimal
interference of the government in the
organizational operations further
empowered the developments in the
business organization while operating
in its major markets (Wang and
Sengupta 2016).
 The ever- changing legislation and
regulatory impositions on the

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organizational operations might create
a restrictive force for the business
growth (Suarez, Calvo-Mora and
Roldán 2016). The changes in the
political scenario of the UAE markets
would affect the capabilities of the
concerned venture in increasing the
viability of profit- making through
increased taxation.
Economic
 The fluctuations in the economic state
of the major markets, including UAE,
might affect the capabilities of the
concerned organization in improving
the rate of operations correlating to the
requirements of the customers.
However, the GDP of UAE by the end
of the final quarter of 2019 is expected
to be US$ 425 billion which would
empower the rate of operations of the
venture (Sbia, Shahbaz and Ozturk
2017).
 The diminishing rate of disposable
income among the customers might

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affect the capabilities of the venture in
retaining the confidence and loyalty of
the customers. In this relation, the
declining rate of disposable income
among the potential customers might
affect the capability of the
organization in empowering their sales
volume. It would also affect the
margins for the venture for improving
their rate of sustenance.
Socio- cultural
 The changing preferences of the
customers, in UAE markets of the
concerned venture, might affect the
potency of the venture in retaining the
confidence and loyalty of the
customers. It has been observed that
around 37% of the prospective
customers of the concerned venture
are millennial (Huang et al. 2016).
The millennial population prioritize
the experience based propositions.
However, the organizational
incapability of backing the R&D

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affected the restricted the capability of
the same in adhering to the changing
preferences of the customers.
 On the other hand, the rising
environmental concern and fuel prices
restricted the organization in
empowering their sales volume. It has
been observed that the inclination of
the customers towards the fuel
efficient vehicles contributed to the
challenges for General Motors.
Therefore, the venture is planning to
develop an all- electric vehicle in the
coming years.
Technological
 The technological innovations that are
made by the competitors like Toyota
and Tesla might restrict the capability
of the organization in retaining the
loyalty of their potential customers
(Yu Ramanathan and Nath 2017).
The development of wider range of
electronic vehicles by Tesla imposes
an increasing threat to the concerned

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venture.
3.2 Porter’s five force of GM
Competitive rivalry
(High)
The concerned venture encounters fierce
competition in the markets due to the
presence of huge number of competitors. It
has been observed that Toyota and Tesla has
been the largest competitor of the concerned
venture grounded on market share and
innovation based practices (Pokharel and Ok
Choi 2015). On the other hand, the wide
range of proposition that are made by the
competitors might affect the competitive
vantage point of the concerned venture while
operating in the diverse markets.

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Bargaining power of the buyers
(Moderate)
The bargaining power of the buyers are due to
the presence of wider range of competitors in
the markets. The price and innovation based
wars among the competitors deeply
influenced the buying power of the customers.
It has been observed that the individual
buyers are considered to be weaker force in
the automobile industry. However, the high
switching costs might moderate the effect of
the customer’s buying power while making a
purchase of the propositions (Rahimi and
Fallah 2015).
Bargaining power of the suppliers
(Low)
The bargaining power of the suppliers are low
due to the presence of huge number of OEM
suppliers in the market. The presence of huge
number of suppliers in the markets restricted
the same in empowering their voice while
making deals with the organization.
Threat of substitutes
(Low)
The lower variety of substitutes present in the
automobile markets of UAE have minimized
the amount of threats from the same.
The increased threat of the new entrants in the
UAE markets are grounded on the increased