Corporate and global strategy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Corporate and global strategy - Essay Example In the first quarter of year 2007, Toyota has been able to sell more number of cars than GM, pushing GM at the second place for the first time (USA Today, 2007). GM is headquartered in Detroit, Michigan and employs about 335,000 people. The brands include Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, GM Daewoo, Holden, Hummer, Opel, Pontiac, Saab, Saturn and Vauxhall. GM recorded revenues worth $192,604 million during the fiscal year ended December 2005. GM also owns equity partnerships in some regional subsidiaries and joint ventures like New United Motor Manufacturing (NUMMI), Suzuki Motor Corporation, Isuzu Motors, Shanghai GM, SAIC-GM-Wuling Automobile Company and CAMI Automotive (Datamonitor, 2006). The car market has indeed become very competitive, with major players like GM, Ford, Toyota, Audi, BMW, VW etc. vying for the international market, besides a number of local players in the car market. With technology playing a major role in advancements of the features in a car, ICT helping in making the care more intelligent, marketing communication techniques have started playing a major role in convincing the customer. General Motors has also outlined plans for ICT needs of its cares and the company has signed deals worth $15bn (Â £8.5bn) for the next five years with IBM, HP, EDS, Capgemini, Compuware Covisint and Wipro (Brown, 2006). General Motors has also unveiled E-Flex electric architecture, configured with GMs newest, most efficient hydrogen fuel cell system to date, at the recently held Shanghai Auto Show (GM, 2007). Company believes that the fuel cell technology has the potential to be a competitive alternative to the internal combustion engine - in size, performance, du rability and cost. Internationalization provides an opportunity for the company to plan out moves for a wider spectrum of customer base. Strategic decisions are concerned with the issue of setting a direction for the