Core tips:
CEO Dan Ackerson and his team scored high on the company’s financial performance, but their scores were mixed in changing corporate culture and managing bureaucracy.
(Source: AKERSON;RAMIN TALAIE-CORBIS)
Rank: No. 8 Turnover in 2010: US$135.6 billion Profit in 2010: US$6.2 billion Company headquarters: Detroit Employees: 202,000
The price of stocks has fallen by 35% since the beginning of 2011 so far
The Obama Administration’s Automotive Industry Working Group gave General Motors two help: through bankruptcy, GM got rid of a century-long debt; transferred GM’s management to a group of people outside of Detroit Team, they use a new perspective to observe the company. Under the leadership of chairman and CEO Dan Akerson, this new team led GM to create gratifying financial results, regained market share, and consolidated its position in the Chinese market. In the first half of 2011, the company realized a profit of 5.4 billion U.S. dollars, more than double the 2.2 billion U.S. dollars in 2010, and regained the throne of the world's largest automaker. However, in order for these achievements to be maintained, GM must put aside the boring, risk-averse and cautious corporate culture, and stand up again and become a company that is adept at capturing opportunities, being flexible and acting fast. For GM, this is not easy. In the 34 years following the tracking of General Motors, I have observed that many efforts to start reforms with good starting points have just reached the middle management level. Like many bureaucratic organizations, General Motors has a large white-collar workers team (in 2010 the company had 26,000 white-collar workers in 120 countries and regions around the world), and they stubbornly resisted reforms. A former CEO called General Motors' "Central Frozen Zone."
Detroit is not friendly to outsiders. Keith Crain, the famous publisher of "Automotive News" weekly magazine, has been a firm supporter of local companies. He almost accused GM of its new management team as a speculator. He also complained that they had The "completed work" is for its own sake. Putting aside local arrogance, one of the most frequently asked questions in Detroit is: “Is General Motors replacing the new balance sheet still pursuing the original corporate culture?†Let us see, How successful the Axelson team has been in reinventing GM’s efforts.
High-level reforms On the 39th floor of General Motors' headquarters building, Akson is fully committed to reforms. Of the 14 subordinates reporting directly to him, at least six had worked at GM for less than two years. He expanded the scale of the Senior Management Committee by adding the design director Ed Welburn and the manufacturing director Diana Tremblay to hear more different opinions and professions. opinion.
Axon did not spill alcohol, he got up between 4 and 4:30 in the morning, and then exercised, and then he handled the day's affairs with the same tension. He graduated from Annapolis University and liked to say that he had a task rather than a job. He would add words such as "leadership" and "responsibility" to his speech to regulate the atmosphere.
Axon's best assistant, Steve Girsky, is an expert in solving problems and also an advisor to Akson. In 2009, Gilsky joined the General Motors board as a representative of the United Auto Workers; Edwintacre's predecessor, Ed Whitacre, promoted him as vice chairman of the company. 49-year-old Gilski used to be a securities analyst. He evaluated General Motors as an outsider for 20 years. Now he has an enviable (or deterring) opportunity, which is to start from inside the company. Let your own approach take effect. He is responsible for many of General Motors' businesses, including company and product strategy, product planning, and procurement.
The 39-year-old chief financial officer Dan Ammann joined General Motors as a treasurer a year ago. Before that, he spent 15 years as an investment banker at Morgan Stanley when Gilski was And he is a colleague. Oman was the first financial controller of General Motors to keep "Van Dieck" even the beard. After the sudden departure of the company's former chief financial officer, he took office in April this year. Oman, born in New Zealand, vowed to end his so-called "analysis" state and declare war on the complexity of phasing in profits (too much powertrain, too much interior trim, too many models). Given that General Motors’ breakeven point has reached its lowest level ever, he believes the company is ready for rapid growth. "For the first time in five years or even 10 years, the company has released the crisis mode," he said. "Now we can focus on the turnover issue."
Axon, Gilski and Oman became commuter executives. On working days, they live in the same hotel in the city center. This makes some old employees unhappy. Since purchasing an apartment in the city center, Aksen and his wife can now spend the weekend in Detroit, and he also began to participate in some local charity events.
Score: A-
In addition to the old cloth new Akzo is closely watching the weaknesses of the old General Motors company, and concentrate on eradicating it. "Whenever someone tells me 'this is the way General Motors handles', I will be more careful," he said. "90% of General Motors's treatment is quite good, but 10% should be abandoned." He is known for his sharp questions, such as why GM has to equip four car brands with 18 different engines, why the cost savings of 10,000 US dollars The measures cannot be implemented in the Chevrolet Volt, which costs $40,000. "Dan has given everyone a sense of crisis," said an executive.
More than 100 members of the Global Market and Industry Analysis Group have found that Gilsky is also true. Before bankruptcy, they were accustomed to collecting data from the car markets around the world and analyzing them, and then making them into countless PPTs. Each month, these PPTs are passed between 150 recipients. Gilski suspected that no one looked at these PPTs at all, so he ordered a one-month suspension. When Gilski found that few people complained about it, he terminated the publication of the report.
The complex old management system of General Motors has ceased to exist. As this system causes overlapping functions and geographical tasks, it weakens everyone's duties. "We don't need to call 200 people every morning," said Gilski.
Score: B
Nurturing new ideas and new ideas is gradually infiltrating GM from different places. Joel Ewanick, the head of global marketing, received the name "decorator" and received a $50,000 grant to revamp his office. However, he purchased from IKEA, Crate & Barrel, and Target, which saved him 48,000 US dollars. Sometimes, Evnick and design director Willburn will exchange design ideas at the nearby Starbucks. They start their work all day while drinking coffee. At the new General Motors Corporation, the dialogue between different functional departments is becoming easier and easier.
Vicki, a veteran who has worked at GM for 39 years, seems to be more liberal in managing his own department and is rarely restricted by high levels. During my last visit to Detroit, he took me to visit some of his design kingdoms, which I have never been to before. He swipes his key card and allows me to go to Advanced Design, which studies product trends before 2020. However, at present, the company does not allow any visitors to enter the so-called Studio X research institute. Wilburn did not disclose its specific position to the senior management of the company. Currently, a group of designers is here to do a clay model for the new 2014 Corvette. “In the past, General Motors, we spent half of our time making speech material until the final stages of the process,†said Willburn. "Now, the decision cannot be changed, and the designer knows they will not change."
Score: B
Increasing GM's affinity Unlike other car manufacturers, GM always lacks a face that can please the public, such as Bill Ford or Lee Iacocca. Akxon is trying to make up for it. Among the top 9 CEOs in General Motors, I interviewed eight people, but Aksen was the first person to invite me to dinner and was the first to continue to invite me to go to his office the next day for an hour. People at the conference. He was the only one who had mounted the cover of Fortune magazine in his office. It was Fortune magazine on August 22, 1983. There were four General Motors cars on the cover. They represented four different brands, but it was difficult for outsiders to distinguish between their similarities and differences. The title of the cover article is "Success will spoil General Motors? (Will Success Spoil General Motors?).
However, the issue of public relations will not be solved by the CEO. Exxon found that this is a tricky job. Earlier this year, when he casually compared Toyota's Prius to the "technical enthusiast's car," public opinion was awkward; when he mocked Ford to reshape Lincoln's efforts. Saying "you may just sprinkle some holy water, it's already finished" is even more of a stone.
Ackerson received the support of local famous person Bob Lutz. Lutz praised Akxon for having a "tough personality," but at the same time stressed that this may be "backfired and unpleasant." Some of Akerson’s comments did not bring him any benefit, as he recently spoke of his own words as a private equity investor in the Carlyle Group. When Detroit News asked a report that he abandoned partner status to manage General Motors and gave up $100 million, Akson bluntly replied: "More than that."
Score: C
After reforming the style of bureaucracy, General Motors had repeatedly promised to boldly reform its original style of work. However, the self-congratulatory, self-styled, and bureaucratic prevailing style has become so entrenched in the company that it eventually led to the collapse of the automaker. No link can be as severely affected as the development of new models. It is always GM’s internal regulations that prevail here, not the needs of customers. The GM ashtray is the most typical example. By design, it can work in minus 40 degrees, but it is difficult to open at normal temperatures. General Motors will stop at a cost of one billion dollars a year and restart the car development project. In the months of bankruptcy, it changed its new model introduction plan every month. During the financial crisis, the release of Chevrolet Traverse and its sister model was delayed by a year and a half.
In order to rejuvenate the product development system, Axon withdrew a long-standing senior executive and replaced with 49-year-old Mary Barra, an electrical engineer with an MBA degree working for the company. year. Bara's appointment sparked controversy - the former president of the position had hardcore supporters, and Bala came from the human resources department - but she understood Aksen's strict requirements for speed and urgency. Eight weeks after taking office, Barra has cut a level of management so that she can make more direct decisions on new models.
Akson himself also participated in the product development process, which made General Motors's traditionally oriented engineers even more disturbed. He made great efforts to increase production of Volt cars by increasing production, reduce unit costs, and lower retail prices. He advanced the release of the redesigned 2013 Chevrolet Malibu car for six months and ensured that the most fuel-efficient models were first introduced. He also questioned whether it is necessary to have a high-powered V8 engine. A long time ago, when the oil price was still 75 US dollars per barrel, Axon was asking if the oil price reached 120 US dollars, GM is ready to do. Some conservatives dismissed it. When the oil price reached 115 US dollars, they began to pay attention to this issue.
The first automobiles of the Akson era will not be available until 2014, but so far all the moves seem to be sensible.
Score: B
Producing Cars and Trucks that Customers Really Need The old General Motors company has two problems: most of the cars it produces are not very good, and they can't count on them to make money. It was Mark Reuss who managed to change this equation. He manages GM’s North American operations and is one of the few insiders around Axon. Lloyd’s father was the president of General Motors, and Lloyd, an engineer, spent a few hours on the test track, and Akson called him “the soul of GM.†47-year-old Laois knew the crux of the problem. "I still remember a long-lasting discussion about a 40-cent-a-day hydro-insulating sleeve," he said. "This situation must change."
Laois is prepared to devote one-third of his time to product development and design - which is far more than his predecessor - and he is also responsible for manufacturing, sales and marketing. Because the rewards given were too generous, Lloyd was criticized and recently criticized for the substantial increase in inventories. In the first half of 2011, GM’s market share in the United States rose slightly, from 19.2% to 19.9%. Malibu and Cruze are two of the best-selling models in the US market. The upcoming Chevrolet Sonic should allow GM to add an entry-level model that is highly competitive and has higher fuel economy.
Laois still has much work to do. When Strategic Vision, the brand analysis company of San Diego, announced the award for the 2011 Quality General Index in July, Ford Motor Company won in five product categories, Chrysler won in two fields, but GM did not win a single model. Classification champion. The majority of GM's profits in the United States are still derived from trucks and SUVs. This dependence has slowed down the pace of developing profitable vehicles that can replace traditional internal combustion engines, and it will face a lack of high profitability in the coming year. The dilemma of new models. If Lloyds can gain market share without providing high bonus incentives, he will be even more likely to become a CEO candidate in the future.
Score: Failed Because General Motors and Akson will start negotiations with their own shareholders, they will also face some tough problems in the future. GM recently discussed with the federal government the standards for future fuel economy, and the government still holds a 32.4% stake in General Motors. This fall, General Motors will also negotiate a new contract with the U.S. Auto Workers’ Consortium. The Auto Workers’ Union Trust Fund owns 12.8% of the company’s shares. Axelson and Gilski meet regularly with Bob King, president of the Auto Workers Association, but the activists in the federation will try to overturn the double-deal wage system that was reached in 2009 and seek a plan on the General Motors board of directors. Get a seat.
The talent, resources, brands and traditions that have made General Motors once again a strong competitor have all been put in place. What the Axon team must do is to get other 25,990 regular employees to work with them. Whether they can do it all depends on whether General Motors is returning to the ranks of large industrial companies, or whether it will be able to pass the passing score.
Translator: Qian Zhiqing
CEO Dan Ackerson and his team scored high on the company’s financial performance, but their scores were mixed in changing corporate culture and managing bureaucracy.
(Source: AKERSON;RAMIN TALAIE-CORBIS)
Rank: No. 8 Turnover in 2010: US$135.6 billion Profit in 2010: US$6.2 billion Company headquarters: Detroit Employees: 202,000
The price of stocks has fallen by 35% since the beginning of 2011 so far
The Obama Administration’s Automotive Industry Working Group gave General Motors two help: through bankruptcy, GM got rid of a century-long debt; transferred GM’s management to a group of people outside of Detroit Team, they use a new perspective to observe the company. Under the leadership of chairman and CEO Dan Akerson, this new team led GM to create gratifying financial results, regained market share, and consolidated its position in the Chinese market. In the first half of 2011, the company realized a profit of 5.4 billion U.S. dollars, more than double the 2.2 billion U.S. dollars in 2010, and regained the throne of the world's largest automaker. However, in order for these achievements to be maintained, GM must put aside the boring, risk-averse and cautious corporate culture, and stand up again and become a company that is adept at capturing opportunities, being flexible and acting fast. For GM, this is not easy. In the 34 years following the tracking of General Motors, I have observed that many efforts to start reforms with good starting points have just reached the middle management level. Like many bureaucratic organizations, General Motors has a large white-collar workers team (in 2010 the company had 26,000 white-collar workers in 120 countries and regions around the world), and they stubbornly resisted reforms. A former CEO called General Motors' "Central Frozen Zone."
Detroit is not friendly to outsiders. Keith Crain, the famous publisher of "Automotive News" weekly magazine, has been a firm supporter of local companies. He almost accused GM of its new management team as a speculator. He also complained that they had The "completed work" is for its own sake. Putting aside local arrogance, one of the most frequently asked questions in Detroit is: “Is General Motors replacing the new balance sheet still pursuing the original corporate culture?†Let us see, How successful the Axelson team has been in reinventing GM’s efforts.
High-level reforms On the 39th floor of General Motors' headquarters building, Akson is fully committed to reforms. Of the 14 subordinates reporting directly to him, at least six had worked at GM for less than two years. He expanded the scale of the Senior Management Committee by adding the design director Ed Welburn and the manufacturing director Diana Tremblay to hear more different opinions and professions. opinion.
Axon did not spill alcohol, he got up between 4 and 4:30 in the morning, and then exercised, and then he handled the day's affairs with the same tension. He graduated from Annapolis University and liked to say that he had a task rather than a job. He would add words such as "leadership" and "responsibility" to his speech to regulate the atmosphere.
Axon's best assistant, Steve Girsky, is an expert in solving problems and also an advisor to Akson. In 2009, Gilsky joined the General Motors board as a representative of the United Auto Workers; Edwintacre's predecessor, Ed Whitacre, promoted him as vice chairman of the company. 49-year-old Gilski used to be a securities analyst. He evaluated General Motors as an outsider for 20 years. Now he has an enviable (or deterring) opportunity, which is to start from inside the company. Let your own approach take effect. He is responsible for many of General Motors' businesses, including company and product strategy, product planning, and procurement.
The 39-year-old chief financial officer Dan Ammann joined General Motors as a treasurer a year ago. Before that, he spent 15 years as an investment banker at Morgan Stanley when Gilski was And he is a colleague. Oman was the first financial controller of General Motors to keep "Van Dieck" even the beard. After the sudden departure of the company's former chief financial officer, he took office in April this year. Oman, born in New Zealand, vowed to end his so-called "analysis" state and declare war on the complexity of phasing in profits (too much powertrain, too much interior trim, too many models). Given that General Motors’ breakeven point has reached its lowest level ever, he believes the company is ready for rapid growth. "For the first time in five years or even 10 years, the company has released the crisis mode," he said. "Now we can focus on the turnover issue."
Axon, Gilski and Oman became commuter executives. On working days, they live in the same hotel in the city center. This makes some old employees unhappy. Since purchasing an apartment in the city center, Aksen and his wife can now spend the weekend in Detroit, and he also began to participate in some local charity events.
Score: A-
In addition to the old cloth new Akzo is closely watching the weaknesses of the old General Motors company, and concentrate on eradicating it. "Whenever someone tells me 'this is the way General Motors handles', I will be more careful," he said. "90% of General Motors's treatment is quite good, but 10% should be abandoned." He is known for his sharp questions, such as why GM has to equip four car brands with 18 different engines, why the cost savings of 10,000 US dollars The measures cannot be implemented in the Chevrolet Volt, which costs $40,000. "Dan has given everyone a sense of crisis," said an executive.
More than 100 members of the Global Market and Industry Analysis Group have found that Gilsky is also true. Before bankruptcy, they were accustomed to collecting data from the car markets around the world and analyzing them, and then making them into countless PPTs. Each month, these PPTs are passed between 150 recipients. Gilski suspected that no one looked at these PPTs at all, so he ordered a one-month suspension. When Gilski found that few people complained about it, he terminated the publication of the report.
The complex old management system of General Motors has ceased to exist. As this system causes overlapping functions and geographical tasks, it weakens everyone's duties. "We don't need to call 200 people every morning," said Gilski.
Score: B
Nurturing new ideas and new ideas is gradually infiltrating GM from different places. Joel Ewanick, the head of global marketing, received the name "decorator" and received a $50,000 grant to revamp his office. However, he purchased from IKEA, Crate & Barrel, and Target, which saved him 48,000 US dollars. Sometimes, Evnick and design director Willburn will exchange design ideas at the nearby Starbucks. They start their work all day while drinking coffee. At the new General Motors Corporation, the dialogue between different functional departments is becoming easier and easier.
Vicki, a veteran who has worked at GM for 39 years, seems to be more liberal in managing his own department and is rarely restricted by high levels. During my last visit to Detroit, he took me to visit some of his design kingdoms, which I have never been to before. He swipes his key card and allows me to go to Advanced Design, which studies product trends before 2020. However, at present, the company does not allow any visitors to enter the so-called Studio X research institute. Wilburn did not disclose its specific position to the senior management of the company. Currently, a group of designers is here to do a clay model for the new 2014 Corvette. “In the past, General Motors, we spent half of our time making speech material until the final stages of the process,†said Willburn. "Now, the decision cannot be changed, and the designer knows they will not change."
Score: B
Increasing GM's affinity Unlike other car manufacturers, GM always lacks a face that can please the public, such as Bill Ford or Lee Iacocca. Akxon is trying to make up for it. Among the top 9 CEOs in General Motors, I interviewed eight people, but Aksen was the first person to invite me to dinner and was the first to continue to invite me to go to his office the next day for an hour. People at the conference. He was the only one who had mounted the cover of Fortune magazine in his office. It was Fortune magazine on August 22, 1983. There were four General Motors cars on the cover. They represented four different brands, but it was difficult for outsiders to distinguish between their similarities and differences. The title of the cover article is "Success will spoil General Motors? (Will Success Spoil General Motors?).
However, the issue of public relations will not be solved by the CEO. Exxon found that this is a tricky job. Earlier this year, when he casually compared Toyota's Prius to the "technical enthusiast's car," public opinion was awkward; when he mocked Ford to reshape Lincoln's efforts. Saying "you may just sprinkle some holy water, it's already finished" is even more of a stone.
Ackerson received the support of local famous person Bob Lutz. Lutz praised Akxon for having a "tough personality," but at the same time stressed that this may be "backfired and unpleasant." Some of Akerson’s comments did not bring him any benefit, as he recently spoke of his own words as a private equity investor in the Carlyle Group. When Detroit News asked a report that he abandoned partner status to manage General Motors and gave up $100 million, Akson bluntly replied: "More than that."
Score: C
After reforming the style of bureaucracy, General Motors had repeatedly promised to boldly reform its original style of work. However, the self-congratulatory, self-styled, and bureaucratic prevailing style has become so entrenched in the company that it eventually led to the collapse of the automaker. No link can be as severely affected as the development of new models. It is always GM’s internal regulations that prevail here, not the needs of customers. The GM ashtray is the most typical example. By design, it can work in minus 40 degrees, but it is difficult to open at normal temperatures. General Motors will stop at a cost of one billion dollars a year and restart the car development project. In the months of bankruptcy, it changed its new model introduction plan every month. During the financial crisis, the release of Chevrolet Traverse and its sister model was delayed by a year and a half.
In order to rejuvenate the product development system, Axon withdrew a long-standing senior executive and replaced with 49-year-old Mary Barra, an electrical engineer with an MBA degree working for the company. year. Bara's appointment sparked controversy - the former president of the position had hardcore supporters, and Bala came from the human resources department - but she understood Aksen's strict requirements for speed and urgency. Eight weeks after taking office, Barra has cut a level of management so that she can make more direct decisions on new models.
Akson himself also participated in the product development process, which made General Motors's traditionally oriented engineers even more disturbed. He made great efforts to increase production of Volt cars by increasing production, reduce unit costs, and lower retail prices. He advanced the release of the redesigned 2013 Chevrolet Malibu car for six months and ensured that the most fuel-efficient models were first introduced. He also questioned whether it is necessary to have a high-powered V8 engine. A long time ago, when the oil price was still 75 US dollars per barrel, Axon was asking if the oil price reached 120 US dollars, GM is ready to do. Some conservatives dismissed it. When the oil price reached 115 US dollars, they began to pay attention to this issue.
The first automobiles of the Akson era will not be available until 2014, but so far all the moves seem to be sensible.
Score: B
Producing Cars and Trucks that Customers Really Need The old General Motors company has two problems: most of the cars it produces are not very good, and they can't count on them to make money. It was Mark Reuss who managed to change this equation. He manages GM’s North American operations and is one of the few insiders around Axon. Lloyd’s father was the president of General Motors, and Lloyd, an engineer, spent a few hours on the test track, and Akson called him “the soul of GM.†47-year-old Laois knew the crux of the problem. "I still remember a long-lasting discussion about a 40-cent-a-day hydro-insulating sleeve," he said. "This situation must change."
Laois is prepared to devote one-third of his time to product development and design - which is far more than his predecessor - and he is also responsible for manufacturing, sales and marketing. Because the rewards given were too generous, Lloyd was criticized and recently criticized for the substantial increase in inventories. In the first half of 2011, GM’s market share in the United States rose slightly, from 19.2% to 19.9%. Malibu and Cruze are two of the best-selling models in the US market. The upcoming Chevrolet Sonic should allow GM to add an entry-level model that is highly competitive and has higher fuel economy.
Laois still has much work to do. When Strategic Vision, the brand analysis company of San Diego, announced the award for the 2011 Quality General Index in July, Ford Motor Company won in five product categories, Chrysler won in two fields, but GM did not win a single model. Classification champion. The majority of GM's profits in the United States are still derived from trucks and SUVs. This dependence has slowed down the pace of developing profitable vehicles that can replace traditional internal combustion engines, and it will face a lack of high profitability in the coming year. The dilemma of new models. If Lloyds can gain market share without providing high bonus incentives, he will be even more likely to become a CEO candidate in the future.
Score: Failed Because General Motors and Akson will start negotiations with their own shareholders, they will also face some tough problems in the future. GM recently discussed with the federal government the standards for future fuel economy, and the government still holds a 32.4% stake in General Motors. This fall, General Motors will also negotiate a new contract with the U.S. Auto Workers’ Consortium. The Auto Workers’ Union Trust Fund owns 12.8% of the company’s shares. Axelson and Gilski meet regularly with Bob King, president of the Auto Workers Association, but the activists in the federation will try to overturn the double-deal wage system that was reached in 2009 and seek a plan on the General Motors board of directors. Get a seat.
The talent, resources, brands and traditions that have made General Motors once again a strong competitor have all been put in place. What the Axon team must do is to get other 25,990 regular employees to work with them. Whether they can do it all depends on whether General Motors is returning to the ranks of large industrial companies, or whether it will be able to pass the passing score.
Translator: Qian Zhiqing
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