Saturn Corporation Company Causes of Challenges Essay

Saturn Corporation Company Causes of Challenges - Essay Example According to a study conducted by J.D. Power & Associates 42 percent of the customers would not even consider GM car. Saturn’s mission was to compete with big rivals like Honda, Toyota and Nissan in small cars’ market. Since its foundation, Saturn has undergone through many ups and downs such as being ranked third in new-car buyer satisfaction preceded by Lexus and Infiniti. It also left behind Hyundai, Subaru, Volkswagen and Mitsubishi with 2.1 percent share in US auto market. Many Saturn dealers sold demonstration models due to the high number of buyers and ended with advance production orders in 1991. Saturn also faced great difficulties in meeting production requirements at the same time, because it could not afford to compromise on quality. Despite Saturn was equipped with latest technological resources and manufacturing methods it greatly inclined towards serious labour dependency, because it was thought a key to productivity and quality measures. A matchless partnership between United Auto Workers (UAW) and GM in the auto industry decided to work side by side for the success of Saturn. Every employee at the Saturn was extensively trained to work with teams and to monitor costs. The overall plant’s design was one of the strategic steps towards Saturn’s attainment targets. It truly reflected people oriented philosophy. Marketing tactics were proved to be revolutionary in Saturn’s success because Saturn’s every decision was made after consultation with marketing agencies and dealers. With the help of Hal Riney & Partners (official ad agency) and Saturn’s dealers' company decided to name all sales outlets as â€Å"Saturn of (Geographic Location)† to emphasise on company’s name, this contributed Saturn’s recognition at the global scale. Employees at Saturn were found emotionally attached to the company; therefore Riney took great advantage for Saturn’s promotion from internal sources as well. A documentary made by Riney for advertisement campaign showed how workers were sensitively attached with Saturn.