Surviving Transformation: Lessons from GM's Surprising TurnaroundOxford University Press, 2004 M08 26 - 280 pages How did a major corporation manage to turn itself around while Wall Street and others continued to predict its slow death? The answer may surprise you, and it provides a model for corporate transformation for any company or government agency operating in a world of accelerating change. The company is General Motors, and this book tells how it was able to change the way important decisions were made, leading to resurgence in business across its many product lines. At the beginning of the 1990s, GM was perceived by nearly everyone as falling behind its competitors at an alarming rate. By the beginning of the twenty-first century, though, the company had come storming back with successful new automobiles and new business concepts that captured new markets, while simultaneously holding on to many of its existing customers. What GM did is not just the story of a single automaker, but rather a compelling insight into an approach for any business organization that is faced with the need for a true transformation. As many companies have discovered, efforts at transformation too often fail. GM's successful transformation illustrates the importance of management's ability to change its mindset and make the tough decisions that revitalize business with bold new products and business concepts. At the heart of successful transformation is the imagination, courage and leadership required to visualize the kind of company an organization wants to become and then work toward that goal. With the destination set and understood by those who will need to implement the changes, decision-makers find it less difficult to overcome impediments to achieving their goal while finding creative ways of doing what may seem impossible. The lessons from GMs turnaround can help any business organization change and keep pace with today's turbulent marketplace. |
Contents
Setting the Scene | |
APPLYING THE RIGHT BUSINESS DESIGN | |
Creating an Extended Customer Relationship Business | |
Creating the Business You Want | |
Transparency and a Dialogue with the Customer | |
Finding the Right Mix of Business Designs | |
LISTENING LEARNING AND LEADING | |
Solving the Right Problem the Right | |
Restoring an Existing Brand | |
MARKETING AS A STATE OF MIND | |
Understanding the System in Which the Enterprise System | |
Challenging Our Critical Assumptions | |
Leveraging Knowledge Across the Enterprise | |
Combining Imagination and Market Knowledge | |
Creating the Right Business Design in the Face of Uncertainty | |
Starting with Your Destination | |
Other editions - View all
Surviving Transformation: Lessons from GM's Surprising Turnaround Vincent P. Barabba Limited preview - 2004 |
Surviving Transformation: Lessons from GM's Surprising Turnaround Vincent P. Barabba Limited preview - 2004 |
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ability accepted actions allows alternative answer approach asked assumptions automotive benefits better brand business design Cadillac chapter competitive complexity Computer concept considered consumer costs create customers decision decision makers described determine discussed effective engine enterprise environment example existing expected experience face Figure Ford functional future gain GM’s idealized ideas important improve increase individual industry initial insight interactions introduced issue knowledge lead lease look make-and-sell manufacturing market research meet mind move needs offer OnStar operating opportunity organization performance position possible potential problem products and services profits purchase questions range requirements response segment sense-and-respond share solving strategy successful Taurus thinking truck understanding vehicle