General Motors: The Rise, Decline, & Future of an American Corporation

Abstract

My first experience working within a large corporation took place in the summer of 2001 at the General Motors World Headquarters in Detroit, MI. As I came to realize, General Motors once had commanding market share in a relatively new industry. In various quarters during the 1950s and 1960s, for example, General Motors market share was above 50 percent. I had to look at the overall business case of General Motors, not simply the cases of the Chevrolet Impala and Monte Carlo, the brand team to which I was assigned. As I have realized from my internship and research experiences, General Motors is attempting to reclaim much of their lost market share by means ofshakeups in management styles and product design. Among the American automakers that are still competitive today are the Big Three: General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler. The Japanese, however, began to pigeonhole many consumers and concurrently, they began to manufacture compact and luxury vehicles that the American automakers had yet to offer. Since then, European and Japanese automakers have continued to challenge the once invincible stronghold that American manufactures had on the automobile industry. Working within brand management was an intriguing experience for me. I was fortunate to work with employees with years of experience within the General Motors Corporation. Essentially, the brand team is an interactive unit and has great responsibility and liability to sell as many vehicles as possible. Throughout my research and work experience at General Motors, I garnered a wealth of information not only about the automobile industry but also about many potential career paths.