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My Years with General Motors (Paperback)
by Alfred P. Sloan, JR.
| Category:
Management, Leadership, Entrepreneurship |
| Market price: ¥ 238.00
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¥ 198.00
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| MSL Pointer Review:
First published in 1969, this book is a time-tested classic on management which has great impact on entrepreneurs such as Bill Gates. |
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Author: Alfred P. Sloan, JR.
Publisher: Currency Doubleday
Pub. in: October, 1990
ISBN: 0385042353
Pages: 496
Measurements: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1.1 inches
Origin of product: USA
Order code: BA00019
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- Awards & Credential -
This book has long been regarded as one of the best business books for business schools and working professionals. This book is also Bill Gates's favorate business reading. |
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- MSL Picks -
The book is a standard and vital text in management. In My Years With General Motors, Sloan ruminates on labor/management relations, industrial design, financial management, wartime mobilization, the evolution of automobile technology, product lines, dealer networks, and the model year. Many of these subjects were handled very casually before he took the reins at GM, and some were concepts that GM invented from scratch.
Alfred P. Sloan Jr. was CEO of GM from 1923 to 1946. This book was originally published in 1964. Sloan is seen as the first person to have worked out systematic organization in a big company, planning and strategy, measurements, the principle of decentralization - in short, basic concepts of a discipline of management. This is a difficult book to review, since it is more a historic piece on GM's history and development from Sloan's perspective than an autobiography. It does not discuss the individual Alfred P. Sloan Jr., it discusses Alfred P. Sloan Jr. as professional manager. The chapters also come across as business school lessons in different subjects, ranging from general management through to accounting, marketing and compensation strategies.
The book consists of two parts. "Part One is an integrated continuous story of the main lines of General Motors' progress, involving the origin and development of the corporation's basic management concepts in the areas of organization, finance and product." It discusses the extreme growth and development of the automobile industry from the early 1900s through to the early 1960s. It also discusses the methods General Motors introduced used to manage the corporation (Sloan all through the book keeps emphasizing the concept of the corporation). He later became known as a committee-man, because he used different types of committees to get/keep various divisions talking and working with each other.
"Part Two consists of individually distinct sections dealing in some detail with engineering, distribution, overseas operations, war and defense products, incentive compensation, and other aspects and branches of the enterprise." This part of the book discusses in greater detail the different experiences and events during Sloan's reign as CEO. It discusses some very interesting subjects, such as the evolution of the automobile, relationships with dealers, World War I and II efforts, and personnel and labor relations. Chapter 23 and 24 are really the conclusion to this book.
Yes, this is a great book. It is a TRUE business classic. It discusses all the subjects involved in business from a CEO's point of view. I was amazed to see the amount of detail Sloan has gone through while writing this book, there are plenty of quotes from annual reports, memoranda, conversations, etc. However, some readers will be disappointed by the lack of insight into Sloan's personal life. This particular edition includes an introduction by Peter F. Drucker, who explains why this book is MUST reading for all MBA and business students, but also all people that want to be serious about management. Highly recommended. The book is written in simple business American English. (Quoting from Gerard Kroese, The Netherlands, USA)
Target readers:
Executives, managers, entrepreneurs, professionals, government officials, MBAs, and other business lovers.
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From the Publisher:
Only a handful of business books have reached the status of a classic, having withstood the test of over 30 years. Even today, Bill Gates praises My Years with General Motors as the best book on business, and Business Week has named it the #1 choice for its "bookshelf of indispensable reading."
My Years with General Motors became an instant bestseller when it was first published in 1963. it has since been used a manual for managers, offering personal glimpses into the practice of the "discipline of management" by the man who perfected it. This is the story no other businessman could tell – a distillation of half a century of intimate leadership experience with a giant industry and an inside look at dramatic events and creative business management.
When Alfred P. Sloan, JR., joined General Motors in 1918, the company was in crisis and its future in doubt. Today G. M. is among the largest industrial complexes in the world and keystone of the American economy. My Years with General Motors describes the early innovations and development of the company's basic management policies and strategic concepts in such areas as planning and strategy, stabilization, financial growth, and leadership.
Draft your own blueprint for organizational success by using the tools found in this book. Learn the valuable lessons that only Sloan could teach.
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Growth and progress are related, for there is no resting place for an enterprise in a competitive economy. Obstacles, conflicts, new problems in various shapes, and new horizons arise to stir the imagination and continue the progress of industry. Success, however, may bring self-satisfaction. In that event, the urge for competitive spirit survival, the strongest of all economic incentives, is dulled. The spirit of venture is lost in the inertia of the mind against change. When such influences develop, growth may be arrested or a decline may set in, caused by the failure to recognize advancing technology or altered consumer needs, or perhaps by competition that is more virile and aggressive. The perpetuation of an unusual success or the maintenance of an unusually high standard of leadership in any industry is sometimes more difficult than the attainment of that success in the first place. This is the greatest challenge to be met by the leader of an industry. It is a challenge to be met by the General Motors of the future?
It is obvious that, with stable material costs and wage rates, if our bench mark showed that unit costs were high in relation to price, efficiently had been reduced. Because of competitive resistance to price increases, profits could be maintained only by reductions in unit costs. If there was a general rise in what the industry paid for materials and labor, competitive forces might allow prices to rise. This was likely if consumer demand for cars was strong. Without higher prices under the circumstances, the automobile industry could not long continue to supply the cars that the market wanted. However, even in this case the individual manufacturer was under pressure to reduce his unit costs, since competition would probably not allow price increases sufficient to recover the full cost increase.
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| View all 5 comments |
The Wall Street Journal, USA
<2006-12-22 00:00>
There's no one better qualified to tell the story of a triumph that has fascinated students of business for decades. |
David Field, USA
<2006-12-22 00:00>
On the good side, this book has a great deal of information about the growth of General Motors, and it's ghost-written by a journalist, so it's easy to read.
Sloan was one of the first modern-style businessmen. He grew GM from a bunch of mechanical geniuses and seat-of-the-pants administrators to the biggest company in the world after World War two.
However, the U.S. auto industry was at the peak of its powers and was about to begin the long slow (but inevitable) decline. And unfortunately you can see why. In 1964 autos wouldn't last more than a few years, and were sold on the basis of the annual model change. It truly was a seller's market, and you can see how the problems of today stem from the attitudes of that time.
Sloan is at his best describing the period 1921-1929 when the industry fell into place. The thirties get little mention and the period after the war is treated as one long period with no developments.
Sloan is glib when it comes to showing off the attitudes of management of that time. Because GM couldn't sell high-profit cars during the war but instead did defense work, this "proves" that wars do not benefit business. There are two chapters, one on labor relations ("how we kept the hourly paid workers' wages down"), and following that, on executive bonuses ("must be kept in place").
It's a worthwhile read, but it's becoming more historical than instructional. |
Louise McCauley, USA
<2006-12-22 00:00>
In this book, Alfred P. Sloan tells the story of his years as president and CEO of General Motors. His story is relevant for anyone who needs advice on how to save a company that is on the verge of bankruptcy and get it growing. Sloan has divulged his insights on organizational structure, management processes, financial control, product strategy and research. Here is some of the advice he offers:
- Balance cooperation and control: Sloan implemented a framework of coordinated policy and decentralized operations. Top managers made policy, and individual business units were free to implement the policy in the way they wanted. He created interdivisional committees to ensure continuity.
- Management. Rather than expecting managers to behave like drill sergeants, Sloan pushed for "selling" at all levels. Corporate leaders were expected to sell their policy decisions to divisions. Division managers were encouraged to sell operational initiatives to top management.
- Finances. Sloan created a system for reviewing appropriation requests to control spending. He also created a system of four-month forecasts to make sure the size of inventory did not exceed the needs of production.
- Product Strategy. Sloan developed a marketing strategy for General Motors to offer an automobile for every price range. The company had previously been stuck offering cars only in the mid-price range, and had lost considerable market share to Ford.
- Research. Sloan recognized that research was just as important as manufacturing and put both research and operations on the same organizational plane.
- Distribution. Sloan turned automobile dealers into business partners and simplified the process of distribution for General Motors. He also created GMAC, a financing entity that allowed the "average man" to buy a car and pay in installments. When he began this program, banks refused to lend money to working people to buy automobiles, considering them a bad risk. |
Dave Malecki, USA
<2006-12-22 00:00>
This book My Years with General Motors was originally published in 1963 and is just as relevant reading today as any books written by top managers since then. The book is not easy to read, it is well over 400 pages of thoughtful text, but it is well worth reading for people with an interest in the history of General Motors, the history of the automobile, history of industrial technology in the 20th century, etc...
It was published shortly after I was born and I was aware of it during grade school but unfortunately didn't bother reading it until recently. The book is well-positioned with the Bill Gates quote on the cover that reads, in part, "... the best book to read if you want to read only one book about business...". I completely agree with that!
This book is better than any other book I am aware of regarding the Automobile industry if you are interested in business and management evolution. It provides much better insights into business than books I have read by and about say John DeLorean, Lee Iacocca, or Howard Hughes. Those other books may be more entertaining however for people looking for entertainment. This book provides broader insights into general industrial management for contemporary use than say the two books written by Bill Gates do.
This 1990 edition of "My Years with General Motors" also provides an insightful introduction by Peter F. Drucker that adds considerably to the understanding of Alfred P. Sloan. This book is interesting for what it doesn't cover as well as for what it does cover.
It does seem Mr Sloan believed in the importance of a well defined structure for management, a constitution if you will. However, the ultimate goal is to put people to work to produce the best possible result. Leadership is seen as more important than structure by Sloan, this is not what the popular opinion of General Motors would be however.
That is why I recommend reading this book as an Excellent Historical Account of Management at General Motors. Four out of Five Stars. |
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