When Transformation Fails: Twelve Case Studies in the American Automobile Industry

The demise of 12 American automobile brands over the past century is discussed. Companies can respond to various difficulties by making decisions on their automobile offerings. These decisions are central to relationships between companies and consumers. These decisions included broadening their offerings to address a larger portion of the automobile market, narrowing their offerings to address the company’s financial situation, focusing on current offerings to keep them successful, or switching to other offerings to achieve greater profits. A case-based approach is used to explore the detailed nature of this range of attempts to change. Due to a variety of factors characterized in terms of four levels of explanation, these brands failed. Consequently, these companies’ attempts to transform via offering-related decisions failed. These failures reflect, to a great extent, inabilities to balance the tension between differentiated offerings and economies of scale or market demands.