International business environment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

International business environment - Essay Example Since 2010, the company has been making profits that are annually reported. General motors however can reduce tax and pay for it in future dates by carrying forward the past losses and applying it on future dates. It was estimated by wall street journal in the past that the tax break that the company will enjoy in the next 20 years will be close to $45 billion including credits for pension costs (Hill, Gareth, & Jones, 2009). In 2010 alone, general motors reported an earning of 4.7 billion us dollars. In the same year 2010, the company was ranked the second in the list of companies that produce 8.5 million units across the world. In the following year 2011, it was ranked the first with production of 9.025 units that were sold globally (Gall, 2011). These units sold in 2011 command an 11.9% of the market share in the motor vehicle industry across the world (Gall, 2011). General motors performance was boosted by its brand called Chevrolet that recorded a global sale of 4.76 million in 2011. Cadillac, Chevrolet, Buick, and GMC are the four main divisions of gm products (Gall, 2011). The GM always do some restructuring and this have helped the company a lot to retain the quality of vehicles it produces and have also enabled the company to produce safe and fuel efficient cars. General motors products have done very well in Asian countries over the past decade. In china, it manufacture its products through shanghai GM which is a local manufacturer and in Japan it manufacture through GM Chevrolet shop. Its sales in China rose 28.8 percent to a record 2,351,610 units in 2010 (Mueller, 2008). To ensure that it keep up with the research, GM set up a research centre in shanghai to help develop electric vehicles and gasoline-hybrid cars engines and other fresh technologies. Since fuel prices skyrocketed in 2000 and 2010, general motors have shifted its interest to produce small capacity vehicles in the United States (Mueller, 2008). This program will help create thousands of jobs and help the company increase its sales. In 2008, the company made it public that it was considering phasing out some brands that includes Pontiac in an effort to get 25 billion dollar loan through the help of congress (Mueller, 2008). It also made other very serious proposals in 2009 that include the phasing out of Saturn, sale of Saab and either to phase out or sale Hummer. Pontiac was therefore to cut its model and possibly remain with one but had to shift to production of youthful and sporty models. General Motors would cut out another 7,000 to 8,000 factory jobs in the United States under a revised business plan set up by Obama administration (Kerzner, 2010). Fritz Henderson the CEO of the company said that Pontiac brand would be closed by 2010, terming it an â€Å"extremely personal decision.† In addition to speeding up decisions on Saturn, Saab and Hummer, GM will be left with four brands – Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac (Kerzner, 2010). Shanghai Gen eral Motors' sales surpassed those of sister company Shanghai Volkswagen's in 2005 and was in that year China's top selling joint venture. Its sales keep going up in 2006 and 2007 but later in 2008 recorded slight reduction in its sales trailing shanghai VW, but it was later to return to number one slot in 2010 and have kept that position to today (Kerzner, 2010). Shanghai GM introduced Chevrolet brand in the country in 2005 and in that year it also started domestic production of the Cadillac