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General Motors

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The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Strategic Management

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General Motors is a US automobile producer that at its peak was the largest corporation in the world.

From its founding as an automobile company in 1908, General Motors (GM) became one of the most prominent companies in the world. During the 1950s and 1960s, it was often listed as the world’s largest non-governmental employer. Its US market share in cars and trucks peaked in the early 1960s at about 50 %. GM has been widely analysed by journalists, historians, strategy scholars and, famously, by one of its early leaders, Alfred Sloan.

Sloan’s 1964 book, My Years with General Motors, is arguably one of the most comprehensive and penetrating descriptions of the evolution of a major corporation ever written by a corporate executive. Its most lasting contribution is its description of how Sloan designed an organizational structure for the company that, on the one hand, retained features of the decentralized decision-making that had prevailed as the company was formed...

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References

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Olin Business School, One Brookings Drive, Campus Box 1133, St Louis, MO, 63130-4899, USA

    Nicholas Argyres

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  1. Nicholas Argyres
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Correspondence to Nicholas Argyres .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Stanford University , Stanford, California, USA

    Mie Augier

  2. Tusher Ctr Intellectual Capital, University of California Tusher Ctr Intellectual Capital, Berkeley, California, USA

    David J. Teece

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© 2016 The Author(s)

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Argyres, N. (2016). General Motors. In: Augier, M., Teece, D. (eds) The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Strategic Management. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-94848-2_483-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-94848-2_483-1

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-349-94848-2

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