Environmental Scanning Assignment - Admission/Application Essay Example

GMs FAULTY IGNITION SWITCH   As of 31st October, the number of deaths resulting from General Motors Co. stand at thirty. Those with serious injuries are still at thirty one. This number is expected to rise if GMs compensation fund weekly updates are anything to go by. This challenge opens GM to investigations, unnecessary expenses, litigation, federal criminal probe, bad publicity and unnecessary loss of human life. Currently, GM has set aside four hundred million dollars to pay for claims and is ready to inject another 200 million dollars. Mr. Kenneth Feinberg who oversees the compensation fund claims that there is no cap on how much payout will be awarded.

This opens General Motors to a likelihood of substantial financial loss. The faulty ignition switch slips from "on" to "accessory" thereby switching off the engine. This deactivates the electric steering and the airbags. With no airbags and electric steering, the occupants of the vehicle are vulnerable thus the huge number of deaths and injuries. GM needs to speed up the recall. Though up to twenty eight million vehicles have since been recalled, this need to improved as there are still millions of vehicles out there with this faults.

Also, GM needs to issue their dealership the necessary parts to replace the defective ignitions as the demand outstrips supply. GM can use this challenge as an opportunity to improve. A better engineering and quality assurance team needs to be assembled to prevent this problem from ever recurring. If GM can reinvent itself moving forward, this PR nightmare will be a thing of the past. One example of a company that reinvented itself is Apple. Today no one remembers its past since the products it produces outshine almost all other tech products.

GM can work on improving not only the ignition switch but all its products. If it can do this successfully, in a few years no one will remember the faulty ignition switch.    BibliographyBennett, J. (2014, November, 4) GM deaths linked to faulty switch remain at 30. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved from.http://m.wsj.com/articles/gm-deaths-linked-to-faulty-ignition-switch-remain -at-30-1415029790?mobile=y#livefyre-comment Brickley, P. (2014, September, 2)GM Seeks to Fend Off Review of Ignition-Switch Recall Case The Wall Street Journal.

Retrieved from. http://online.wsj.com/articles/gm-seeks-to-fend-off-review-of-ignition-switch-rec all-case-1409691848 Vlasic, B.( 2014, July, 24) G.M. Results Show Financial Hit of Recalls. The New York Times. Retrieved from. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/25/business/gm-plans-to-pay-more-than-400-m illion-to-victims-of-faulty-ignition-switch.html?_r=0Stout, H. (2014, October, 15) Class-Action Case Accuses G.M. of Neglect Beyond Ignition Switch. The New York Times. Retrieved from. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/16/business/class-action-case-accuses-gm-of-n eglect-beyond-ignition-switch.html