This 3-page paper provides a SWOT analysis for Saturn, as well as turning points in the auto-maker's history. Bibliography lists 3 sources.
Name of Research Paper File: D0_MTSWOTsatu.rtf
Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
long on style and mileage and made in America. Over the years, Saturn has billed itself as a work-friendly place filled with people who care greatly about the cars they
manufacture. The company also caught the imagination of the buying public with its "experiment" in auto manufacturing, in which almost all employees had a say in the end result of
the car. The initial goal was to design an advanced car division that would be free from the typical worker-management problems, then compete effectively against Japanese rivals (Holstein, 1998).
In this paper, well provide a SWOT analysis for the car maker, and also examine specific incidents in the companys history.
Strengths. The main strength of Saturn is that it was going to be different. The company was going to create cars differently, by
using teamwork and consensus (Holstein, 1998). This looked very good on paper -- so good, in fact, the company built it into its advertising campaign. The Saturn ads came as
a breath of fresh air in the 1980s -- a time during which the Japanese auto makers were dominant and the "Big Three" were considered behind the times. Saturn proved
to be an excellent alternative, an American company, building American cars, while management and workers actually got along. Weaknesses. The main problem
Saturn had was that GMC wasnt committed to keeping it going (Holstein, 1998). In the late 1990s, General Motors did its best to wring out any independence from Saturns efforts
and, in an attempt to save costs, merge it with GMs other small car operations, meaning common designs, parts and products were shared -- it also rattled Saturns corporate culture