Evaluation of the General Motors Corporation

EVALUATION OF THE GENERAL MOTORS

CORPORATION

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General Motors Corporation

Introduction

General Motors Corporation is more than just cars and trucks. This corporation is involved in Telecommunications, Aerospace, Defense, Financial and Insurance Services, Locomotives, Automotive Systems and Heavy Duty Automatic Transmissions. General Motors comes in second on the Fortune 500 list behind only Wal-Mart, with total revenues of over 186,736 million dollars. This massive corporation employs over a quarter million people, and has thousands more wishing they could work for this industry leader (Fortune, 2003).

Company Background

Under Billy Durant's leadership, General Motors Company is organized in 1908, incorporating the Buick Motor Company. Olds Motor Works was sold to GM on November 12, 1908, and a few months later GM also bought out Cadillac Motors for 5.5 million dollars. During the next 80 years General Motors Corporation has extended its automotive line to consist of over 10 different brands including; Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, Holden, HUMMER, Oldsmobile, Opel, Pontiac, Saab, Saturn and Vauxhall. General Motors also has global partners that include: Fiat Auto Spa of Italy, Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd., Isuzu Motors Ltd. and Suzuki Motor Corp. of Japan, which are involved in various product, powertrain and purchasing collaborations. In addition, GM is the majority shareholder in GM Daewoo Auto & Technology Co. of South Korea.

GM also has technology collaborations with BMW AG of Germany and Toyota Motor

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Corp. of Japan, and vehicle manufacturing ventures with several automakers around the world, including Toyota, Suzuki, Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp. of China,

AVTOVAZ of Russia and Renault SA of France. GM operates one of the world's leading financial services companies, GMAC Financial Services, which offers automotive and commercial financing along with an array of mortgage and insurance products (GM Annual Report, 2002).

Company Hiring Policies/Benefits/Training Programs

General Motors Corporation employee over 342,000 people, and with that many employees it is impossible to keep them all happy. That's why General Motors breaks its corporation down in to separate divisions; each division has its own management, as a result the management team is more in touch with their employees need. General Motors has a tough hiring policy. They hire their hourly employees mostly from employee referrals. This means you have to know someone who works with GM to even get an application. Once you get an application you are put in a pool, and then they pick names out of the application bank. Once you name is picked out you then have to take a drug test to get hired. For skilled salary workers the process is a little different, most of these positions are filled by GM's internship and co-op program. These programs are designed to provide GM with a source of highly talented candidates while giving students valuable in-depth experience. As a result, a great percentage of new hires for GM salaried positions are selected from this pool of program participants. Once you get hired, you become part of one of the best benefit packages offered by any large corporation (General Motors, 2003).

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These benefits include:

* Healthcare - At GM, you'll have a wide variety of options to choose from, including the Basic Medical Plan, the Enhanced Medical Plan, and where available, a Health Maintenance Organization, or a Preferred Provider Organization Option.

* Insurance - You'll receive basic life and disability insurance. You'll also have the opportunity to purchase optional group life for yourself, dependent group life for your family, and personal accident insurance for yourself and your family.

* Savings/Investment - GM offers a Savings-Stock Purchase Program (SSPP). Employees can save up to 20% of their base salary.

* Retirement Program - GM provides excellent retirement benefits. These basic benefits may also be enhanced through employee contributions.

* Work/Life Program - GM provides its salaried employees and their managers with a number of policies