As I write this article, GM is
making headlines around the
world. Earlier in this same Analyst magazine I had suggested
"Small as the New Big" as GM strategy for
self renewal. One century from now, business historians may well view
Gen-eral Motors as iconic of the "Great
Mismanagement: The American Way". So, exactly what had gone wrong with
American GM? What can be done about it? Is there a clear light ahead for GM to
pursue? These are what we seek to explore here. Why is it necessary for us
to qualify the GM here as specifically the `American GM'? The other
GMs—especially the one across the Pacific
Ocean, the Chinese GM—are even thriving. Buoyed by 75% increase in sales,
the Chinese GM is planning to add yet another factory.
Everybody knows American GM is undergoing bankruptcy proceedings
but will be reconstituted by Obama's government. Going
by the 8th century The Tibetan Book of the
Dead by Guru Padmasambhava, American GM is now undergoing Bardo. Under the
watchful eyes of a judge, GM is seeing clearer,
the light of reality. The indication of what a reincarnated GM in the US will look
like is already emerging: Brands, no more eight down by four;
workforce, less by 21,000 employees: downsizing, by a
third; dealerships, reduced to 3,605 from 6,246.
During the heydays of the 1970s, GM bankrolled a strong,
American workforce of 600,000, larger than the active US army military personnel.
Already distinctive divisions are to be dismembered, put up for sale. For
example, Hummer goes to Teng Zhong Heavy Industrial Machinery
in Sichuan, China. Others will partake of Saturn, Saab and Pontaic.
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