Would you buy a car from GM or Chrysler?
Posted by steven_spear | Under Auto Industry, Business Strategy, organizational learning Monday Jun 8, 2009Would you buy a General Motors or Chrysler car? That was the question put to me by Pimm Fox during a Bloomberg Radio interview on Thursday, June 4th. My answer? Only if they combine quality, functionality, and cost that beats their competitors.
His next question, What’s the chance that they will? That depends on the company. The chatter on Chrysler is that their owners took a fairly cynical approach–managing the company for sale or merger, not for self sufficiency. So, the brand-name and sales channels were left intact, but new product development was reportedly gutted. From what I’ve heard, there is no product in the pipeline, so if you buy a Chrysler, you’ll be getting technology one, two, or more years out of date.
General Motors is a different story, a bloated but nevertheless self-reliant organization (functionally, if no financially). The big problem is there is tempo. A management system built for simple markets, products, and processes sixty years ago isn’t agile enough for today’s complex and dynamic situation.
The solution? Everyone at General Motors–Fritz Henderson on down–starting the day with the question: The work I do, why can’t I do it in half the time? and ending the day with some understanding of how to extract more time while creating more value. Faster to identify market need, faster to design market delighting products and services, and faster in their delivery. That is how ‘high velocity organizations’ get ahead and stay ahead of their rivals.
Related posts:
- Why Bailout Chrysler/Cerberus? The Times Gets it Right
- Well meaning promotion compromises GM product innovation…
- Chasing the Rabbit wins prize and great review for how-to of systematizing innovation
- Toyoda to Run Toyota–Stoking the Innovation Engine
- Made in Michigan: Succeed by Out Innovating, not Outsourcing…Gentex
You simply have to be able say ‘no, thanks at that price’ at least once to the dealer. This gives them a strong message that you are serious about your research.
You should also bring a piece of paper to the dealership and make sure you do all the math of the finance calculations yourself. The point is not that they will do the math wrong. The point is you will see exactly how the deal is structured. Do not be afraid to take the time to do this or look like a fool for mapping out your car deal in the dealership.
My dad swears by this process, http://tinyurl.com/knflt6