Word: sloane
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Indeed, the luxury movement represents the industry's first significant market shift since the introduction of the minivan and the Jeep Grand Cherokee in the mid-1980s. And it suggests that the old model developed by General Motors' Alfred P. Sloan in the early 1920s, which sliced the industry into carefully graded segments and moved consumers up as their income rose, may be headed for extinction. Instead, as automakers lavish more and more attention on a narrower, wealthier band of consumer, the U.S. is moving to a more European marketing model built around sales of luxury cars to the affluent...
...which has scored a connection to boomers with its Jeep Grand Cherokee, last year launched the 300M, a sleek, import-fighting luxury sedan that competes against such other luxury sedans as the BMW 3 Series and Audi A4. "Our cars became boring, and we lost some ground," says John Sloan, director of DaimlerChrysler's large-car operations in Auburn Hills, Mich. "But our 300M makes you fantasize about driving Route 1 in California...
American execs, known for overindulging in the hottest trend of the day, insist they'll tread lightly on the techie gizmos for now. Real luxury should simplify a driver's life, not complicate it, they say. "Some of these kinds of items come in handy," says DaimlerChrysler's Sloan. "But we have to be careful about creating too much driver distraction." Maybe so. For now, though, the biggest distractions seem to be parked in rival dealers' lots...
...then Alfred P. Sloan had combined various car companies into a powerful General Motors, with a variety of models and prices to suit all tastes. He had also made labor peace. That left Ford in the dust, its management in turmoil. And if World War II hadn't turned the company's manufacturing prowess to the business of making B-24 bombers and jeeps, it is entirely possible that the 1932 V-8 engine might have been Ford's last innovation...
...Alfred Sloan literally wrote the book on managing large organizations--My Years with General Motors. No large company is untouched by his concept of decentralized management. He came into a GM that was cash short, chaotic and nearly bankrupt--Ford had a 60% market share--and brought discipline to a sprawling company, clearly defining the issues of planning, strategy and organization. He mastered the concept of market segmentation--Chevrolets for Everyman, Cadillacs for the wealthy--to better target GM's sales and avoid internal competition, a strategy that left Ford behind. Sloan also understood what managers today call "consumer insight...