Case Teaching Package
A case teaching package is available for this case. It includes strategies for case presentation, key concepts, solutions to the assignment questions in the case, and suggestions for the most effective ways to work this case into your course.

Length
This case is 16 pages in length and its case teaching package is 8 pages.

Abstract

Over the years, the brand images of General Motors' products have become blurred. Focusing on its North American light vehicle operations, this case deals with introducing a change in how new products are developed. With this change comes a reorientation of company values, with the inevitable culture clashes, and a formal restructuring of the organization to ensure the new product development method chosen by Ron Zarella is given its proper emphasis.

Linkages to Textbooks or Journal Articles/Fit Within a Course

For use by marketing majors in a marketing management course at either the undergraduate or graduate level. This case can be used as "stand-alone" case dealing with the introduction of the brand manager concept to a large corporation, or it can be used as paret of a continuing or semester-long series of cases dealing with General Motors and its new product development and brand-imaging efforts. If the latter teaching strategy is employed, this case should be followed by Pontiac Goes Back to the Future and Right-Sizing GM's Dealership Network.

Study Questions

1. What does the case's opening anecdote about Lloyd Ruess and a Chevrolet customer say about General Motors?
2. What were the historical elements or roots of GM's market segmentation approach? To what degree is that approach being practiced by GM today? What elements or factors have acted to destroy the implementation of its long-held ideal of distinctive cars for definable segments?
3. What culture clashes do you believe occurred when Lloyd Reuss and Robert Stempel were fired and the "marketing types" John Smale and Ron Zarella were brought into GM? What values were associated with or prized by the traditional GM types? What values do the new marketing types bring to GM?
4. Did Ron Zarella have to overcome any credibility problems when he arrived at GM in December 1994? What credibility problems do the "outside" brand managers he has hired possess? In bringing about a marketing revolution within GM, from what power bases can Zarella and his new "outside" hires operate?
5. What problems have been caused within GM due to its need to share chassis and components?
6. What factors within GM will serve to frustrate the effectiveness of its new Four-Phase Vehicle Development Process as a new product development concept?
7. What are the crucial steps in GM's Four-Phase Vehicle Development Process as presented in Table 8? How were these steps implemented in the development of the Oldsmobile Aurora as outlined in Table 9?
8. Reviewing the 1995 Oldsmobile Aurora's test reports in Table 10, what kind of car was ultimately produced by GM? Will this car appeal to the target market's customer? Is the Aurora competitive with the other cars in its intended class?

The downloadable file for this case is in Microsoft® Word 97 for Windows®.

If you do not have Microsoft Word, you can download the free Microsoft® Word Viewer 97 right here:   For Windows 3.x   For Windows 95

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