Was Lost Market Share To Blame For Joel Ewanick’s Ousting?
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Choosing major soccer sponsorships across the pond over events such as the Super Bowl, the constant switching of ad agencies, and the controversial termination of Facebook advertising could all have been seen as how Joel Ewanick ”failed to meet the expectations the company has of its employees”. But for the now-former General Motors Chief Marketing Officer, these moves may not have been the reason for his departure at all.
Instead, according to sources of The Detroit Free Press, Ewanick’s marketing tactics failed to gain ground in the market. In fact, the company has actually lost market share from this time a year ago, down to 18.1% in the first half of 2012 from 19.9% a year earlier. This loss, according to the sources, was enough to demand Ewanick’s resignation.
However, the Freep did note Toyota’s recovery from the natural disasters that affected Japan, which more than probably played a role in GM’s market share loss, along with the company’s slowed product cadence on volume models between now and a year ago.
Here is a point I would like to bring up, no affordable V6 option, will really hurt GM, I love my BU Maxx with V6, affordable, powerful, not a great interior… Allot of us want the output of a V6 and the reliability in an affordable package. For many of us it’s about 4 wheels and getting to work…
So here we have a successfull executive with a proven track record being shown the door, happens all the time, but not sure in this case it was his time to go… Let’s be reall there are many other stakeholders that impact GMs direction besides Ewanic… Let’s hope old GM isn’t comming back from the dead…
True, won marketing chief, even one as powerful as Ewanick, simply cant be wholly or maybe even partly for a large decline in market share in a company as big as GM. Im sure everyone at GM understands. And i dont see anyone else being kicked from the company. No, I dont think he was kicked because of the market share decline, though that might have had a small part in the descision. Im pretty sure he rubbed the board the wrong way, someway somehow. Ewanick seemed like a big money guy to me, who makes big and bold descisions. From what I see, GM and its board and even Dan seem very conservative and cautious these days. He probably didnt fit in with GM’s “culture”.
Babersher, I think you are right… Did not fit in…
He had a string of disasters- he didn’t understand the equity in the “Chevy” name when he put out a strange directive on its use? Chevy Runs Deep? No logo on the jersey of a sponsored team? These are major mistakes. Giving cars back if you don’t like them? Brilliant at Hyundai during the economic meltdown, but not for this brand now. Sounds like he had only one play in the playbook. I think he got exposed, that’s all. It’s rare in this business.
Who’s getting fired for the Lincoln brand debacle coming?
Michael, he was exposed and he did not fit in; very true…