Execution versus Management

At Adani Institute of Digital Technology Management, the course combination is 50% Management subjects and rest are Technology and Big Data Analytics. 

Our visiting faculty From IIM Rohtak, Aninda was curious as why we have Execution Skills as a topic. Here's what I told him.

Alfred P Sloan took over as president of General Motors (GM) in 1923. Ford was then dominating the sector with 60% share of the US car market against General Motors’ 20% market share. Sloan realised that General Motors needed a different market penetration strategy with different price bands. He introduced multiple brands of cars, each with its own identity targeted at different budgets of American customers. These included the still relevant iconic names such as Chevrolet, Pontiac, Oldsmobile, Buick, and Cadillac. Even within each brand, there were several models at different price points.

General Motors wanted its customers to upgrade to a better car over time. So, it continued obsoleting its own products yearly, rolling out new models every year. At home, Maruti has done it well.

Now, interesting fact here is that Sloan was not the founder of General Motors. He joined the company when General Motors was already $700 million.

So the question now is: Who was General Motors’ founder, and why is the founder not known as much?

That is the difference between being visionary versus having great managerial and execution skills.

The founder of General Motors was William Billy Durant. A visionary who knew in 1904 that automotive will forever change the way transport looks like today.

Back to our question again. Why do people not remember him? Because he failed good execution skills along with people management. Instead, was asked to leave from the very company he founded.

Why? And what do our faculty lounge opines about it?

More on this in next post. Stay tuned.