Dec & Fall Am Auto Ind

As another reviewer has pointed out, this book is not a business school case study - if you want a hardcore management study of GM, or a trip through the nuts and bolts of the manufacturing process, look elsewhere. However, this is one of the best looks at what really killed General Motors: a corporate culture divorced from reality and impervious to outside ideas (let alone criticism). In my opinion, at least, all the stupid things they did on their long road to bankruptcy were symptoms of the fact that the company spun off into a reality of its own imagining. Brock Yates wrote this book in 1984 with a mixture of love, humor, and frustration. Nothing he describes in the book ever got fixed and the eventual results speak for themselves. I bought this many years ago when it came out in paperback, and I've hung on to my copy for all these years. It's a great read, and it's a good reminder of the dangers of complacency. It's just too bad that GM paid no heed to Yates or any of the other critics who tried to wise them up back when the company still could have been saved.

Book is about GM and their problems in the 1980's trying to create a small car to compete with the German's and Japanese. They thought they had it with the Cavalier, but because of near sightedness, and other restrictions in the corporation, came up with a very sub par creation. Seems like they haven't learned, still 25 years later, have a lot of the same problems today! A very good read. Also tells that Ford and Chrysler were in the same boat. Maybe Brock Yates should write a revised edition.