Research Paper on:
The Strategic Position of General Motors in 2010

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
2.2 Strategic Group Map 7 Figure 1 Strategic group map 8 2.3 Porters Five Forces Analysis 9 2.3.1 Existing Level of Competition 9 Table 3 Vehicle sales in the US March 2008 and 2009 10 2.3.2 New Entrants 11  2.3.3 Power of buyers 11 2.3.4 Power of suppliers 12 2.3.5 Substitutes 12 2.4 SWOT Analysis 13 2.4.1 Strengths 13 2.4.2 Weaknesses 14 2.4.3 Opportunities 14 2.4.2 Threats 15 3. Company Analysis 15 3.1 Mission and Purpose 15 3.2 Competitive Strategy 16 3.3 Resources and Competences 19 3.4 Main Challenges 20 3.5 Options 20 4. Conclusion 22 References 23  1. Introduction The automotive industry has been a major casualty of the 2008/9 recession, with global demand showing a significant decline  in a market where there was already an existing surplus of capacity the damage done to many firms has been significant. Arguably, General Motors is one of the biggest causalities,  the firm, which was once the worlds largest car manufacturer1 suffered due to its location in the US and the harsh condition seen in that county as well as the  way in which operations have differed from near competitors such as Toyota. The result has seen General Motors enter into bankruptcy and sell off parts of the firm such as  the Vauxhall group, in order to survive (Clark, 2009). 2010 appears to offer some relief, there is a slight increase in demand as the global recession and credit crunch eases,  but the firm is still in a difficult position. In order to assess the way in which the firm may move forward it is necessary to look at the industry  and the firm within that industry as well as consider the strategies that are being used. 2. Industry Analysis 2.1 General Trends The general trend over the last decade  has seen an increased demand for vehicles over the last decade, as disposable incomes have increased in developed countries it is becoming more common to have more than vehicle per