MARKETING STRATEGY
Grader Notes
MBAK 603
Assignment
GENERAL MOTORS
1) Update GM
2) What strategy should GM use – why?
Grade Sheet
60’s
 Provided little information on car industry and GM’s market size or growth
 Made recommendations with no specific factual support
 Paper did not flow well or had poor grammar
 Paper had some structural or organizational weaknesses
 Used little or no visuals
 Missed a number of the issues listed further below
70’s
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80’s
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90’s
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Had some information on the car industry and GM’s market size or growth
Elaborated and developed arguments thoroughly
Used a readable format with bullets, headings, etc
Used a logical format with introduction, analysis and a recommendation
Used frameworks or visuals effectively
The above plus:
Visually presented:
o The auto industry and GM’s role in it
o GM’s market size, market share and market growth
o Broke down GM’s brands and did a brand summary or SWOT
o GM changes (growth, losses..) over time to give perspective
Identified and rated GM’s strengths and weaknesses
Identified Price, Product, Place or Promotion issues
Differentiated the importance of SWOT findings
Paper was creative or engaging in some way
Recommendations directly addressed the problems
The recommendations were specific and actionable
Addressed some risks of your recommendations
A superior all-around execution of the above
Did something unique or original that stood out
Threw in your own thoughts on the recommendations
Mentioned what areas you did not deal with
Addressed the key case areas (see below)
Key case Points
GENERAL MOTORS
 GM is the largest car manufacturer. It has been steadily losing market
share over the last 40 years. It now has 26% of the U.S. market, and the
U.S. accounts for 75% of GM’s revenues.
 Chevrolet is its strongest brand and accounts for 60% of the sales.
 GM has $10 bil. cash, which gives it some breathing room.
 GM has been able to reinvigorate Cadillac, so it has a model for change.
 GM is seeing success in growing Asian markets and particularly in China.
 In a few years, the huge retirement benefits obligations will peak.
We will go through the SWOT in class.
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How important were the problems you identified and what were the root
causes of the problems? How did you rate them and prioritize them?
How important is keeping manufacturing costs down? Quality of cars?
Getting rid of multiple similar models? Building more appealing cars?
Going green or focusing on better gas mileage? Lowering incentives?
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Based on your prioritization, solutions should be directly relevant to
problems and you identified the risks associated with them – for example,
problem of too many ineffective brands would mean killing one or more,
which would cost somewhere around $2 billion, and would likely anger
workers, the union, suppliers, dealers and loyal customers.
Recommendations – and why not also for the SWOT factors?
 Clearly identified and rated the importance of problems: The most important
problem is to change the hierarchy and culture of entitlement at GM that
prevents change, innovation and teamwork.
 Connected recommendations directly to problems: Retraining, new hiring
criteria and motivating existing workers by doing X, would begin to change the
corporate culture, which is a problem at GM.
 Provided some clear roadmap for the future action: First, an announcement of
the new training would be accompanied by incentive bonuses for workers
meeting teamwork, quality and innovation targets. Next, criteria for new hires
would be changed to bring in more flexible, team-oriented employees…
 Recommendations solved the problem: These new initiatives would begin to
change the hierarchy and combative nature of the corporate culture…