General Motors Returns to the Basics

In earlier classes we have learned that the key to making sure a new or already existing product is to be successful in the market the manufacturer has to first begin with the customer and addressing their wants and needs that will generate the desired high sells. An example of this would be when as a class we conducted a paper airplane-building project, in which the paper airplanes were to be built for the use of the consumers.  At the end of the project we came to realization that nobody had gone to ask the customers what type of paper airline they wanted or what features they wanted included. From this we learned that many of existing companies do this with many of their products, they launch them out into the market without first attending to the needs and wants of their customers. The imitate launch creates an unnecessary risk for the life span of the product. Initially many issues and concerns with the launch of a new product can be addressed early if the companies were to ask the customers first of what they would like to see and buy from them. It is important to address the issue because in the end the customer holds all the power of the success or failure of a product in the market.

A great example to relate to our class project of building the paper airplanes and having the customers input first prior to any new products releases is the change that General Motors is trying to undergo. In the news recently General Motors announced that they will begin “to drive top performance in customer experience and product quality” for a new change that they hope to assist them in the growth in the auto industry.  With the new push, General Motors is going back to where all new products need to begin…the customer. Now the to keep the customer satisfied the push is trying to enhance the car shopping experience for them to feel more comfortable when making a decision on buying a car. While at the same time General Motors is trying to go that extra mile to keep their current customers loyal to the brand by asking for input on new products and existing products that might need adjustments as well.

Certainly one can see that after the downfall that General Motors experienced in the past, it is trying to continue to be a leader in the auto industry with their profits and their customers as well, but is this what they need? Will this new initiative assist the growth of General Motors to gain new customers and retain previous customers what it really needs to succeed? Or does it require something else in order to be able to compete in the car industry?

http://media.gm.com/media/us/en/gm/news.detail.html/content/Pages/news/us/en/2012/Sep/0919_customer.html

3 thoughts on “General Motors Returns to the Basics

  1. GE has really given a lot of effort in their implications of quality. The GE organization can expect its reputation for quality to follow it. Their global implications and product liability have been impacted tremendously in their downfall yet I fell that, as you mentioned, it is trying to continue to be a leader in the auto industry with their profits and customers regardless. I feel as a whole the company needs to take a look at TQM (Total Quality Management) in order to be able to compete in the car industry. Thank you for your find, this was a great post.

  2. General motors has always been famous for following the product oriented business philosophy and used marketing as their major tool to push on there products onto customers. GM failes to respond to competition from japanese manufacturers like toyota and lexus who focused more on quality rather than just marketing. Whereas tried to push the benefits of inferior Grand prix, malibu etc.
    GM should focus more on their quality if they want to get back in competition with quality philosophy founders like toyota.

  3. I do believe that asking customers for their input on what their ideal car would be is a great idea, because as you mentioned earlier, the customer holds all the power of the success or failure of a product in the market. But like f1213araza said above, GM should also focus on quality, not just marketing to be successful. Having worked four years with GM’s PDC (parts distribution comany), I have seen the lack of quality in some of the cars being produced. I can remember one instance when there were a couple of vehicles being recalled at the same time, which only denotes the lack of safety and quality assurance in their products. At open houses, GM would have customers fill out surveys asking what they looked for when purchasing a vehicle, which is good and all because you get somewhat of a customer-product interaction, but if the company fails to build quality products that the customer is looking for, then what is the point of getting customer input?

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