What's good for General Motors may no longer be good for America
(From The Japan Times June 3 issue)

変革を怠ったGMの破たん

General Motors Corp. symbolized U.S. prosperity in the postwar period. Its weight in the U.S. economy was summed up by the phase "What's good for General Motors is good for America" — attributed to a 1953 statement by GM's Chairman and CEO Charles Wilson.

GM enjoyed the position of the world's top carmaker for 77 years from 1931 in terms of the number of units sold worldwide until Toyota Motor Corp. took over. But GM has weakened to the point of needing government intervention and assistance.

The effective nationalization of GM and its Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing would have been something unthinkable in the past. GM's Chapter 11 filing, which follows Chrysler's similar move at the end of April, marks the largest failure of an industrial firm in U.S. history.

The U.S. government will acquire about a 60 percent equity stake, and the Canadian government and the Canadian province of Ontario about 12 percent, in a new, leaner GM to be established within 90 days. The government will provide some $30.1 billion in fresh loans to the new company. The government loans to GM, Chrysler and their affiliated firms will top $80 billion.

Until a few months ago, it was said that GM was too big to allow to go bankrupt in view of its effect on other industrial and financial firms. But the U.S. government has found that it is no longer possible to continue to financially assist GM.

Behind GM's difficulties may have been the hubris and shortsightedness of management, which failed to implement policies that would let it successfully meet the challenges of a rapidly changing business environment. It continued to rely on sales of gas guzzlers because they brought large profits. It also could not reduce the so-called legacy costs associated with health care and pensions for retired workers.

The challenge for the new GM is whether it can develop and sell fuel-efficient and ecofriendly cars ― clearly the types of cars that consumers desire. For seven straight months, the U.S. car market has shown more than a 30 percent decline from the same month the year before. The challenge is big.

「GMにとって良いことは、アメリカにとっても良いことだ」と会長兼CEOのチャールズ･ウィルソンに言わしめたとおり、GMは戦後アメリカの繁栄の象徴だった。

そのGMがクライスラーに次いで連邦破産法第11条を申請、米製造業史上最大の破たんだ。

90日間で再建手続きを済ませ、株は米政府が60％、カナダ政府が12％を保有することになる。米政府はGMに約301億ドルを融資、クライスラーや子会社を含む支援総額は800億ドルに達する。

GM経営陣の驕りや近視眼的な考え方がビジネス環境の変化への対応を遅らせたのだろう。利幅の大きい大型車の販売を続け、退職者向け年金負担などの負の遺産も縮小できなかった。消費者が求める燃費のいいエコカーの開発・販売が課題となる。米自動車販売台数は7ヶ月連続で30％超の減少、GMの前途は多難だ。