Yesterday I had about two hours of windshield time on a drive and when I have that type of time to drive I like to turn to business radio and listen to what is going on in that world of business.  One of the interesting topics yesterday was the item about General Motors and its announcement this week that it will be shuttering four United States plants and laying off close to 15,000 workers come next spring.  The big news was about a meeting consisting of the Michigan congressional delegation and General Motors CEO Mary Barra.

As you can understand with politicians, CEO Barra was repeatedly chastised for her decisions to idle plants and lay off employees in a year when General Motors will probably show record profits.  That bit of consternation among the politicians actually sounded appropriate to me, especially if I would have quit listening after hearing their discussion.

However, several business analysts came on the program and gave Barra high marks for “getting ahead” of the issues that General Motors will face, not this year but in the coming years.  Turns out that General Motors will be shuttering factories that produce “sedan” type automobiles and will continue to build transportation vehicles, such as Sports Utility Vehicles and trucks, in increased numbers,  at different factories geared to build them.  The commentators actually argued that GM sees the writing on the wall in declining sedan sales and is stemming those projected losses before they come.

And, the commentators contended, that GM sees the American consumer swiftly becoming high volume buyers of the popular SUVs and trucks in place of those sedans.

It was mentioned that the Fortune 500 list was first produced in 1955 and today, just over 60 years later, only 60 of the original Fortune 500 companies continue to exist.  Names like American Motors, Studebaker, Detroit Steel, Zenith Electronics, and National Sugar Refining now sit in the Fortune 500 graveyard.  I found an article on this fact that you can read here.  The article states that a lot of market disruption and churning has occurred over the last 60 years.  It also states that over time “the process of market disruption is being driven by the endless pursuit of sales and profits that can only come from serving customers with low prices, high-quality products and services, and great customer service”.

I think that there is a lot of truth to that last sentence.  So, my question to you, even while you may be riding high with great profits.  Do you have what many business analysts say that GM CEO Mary Barra has. . . . the courage to look ahead and plan the attack for the world as she envisions it or are you content to sit still, let the world and consumer make the decisions that you may not be ready for, and possibly go the way of Studebaker?  These are difficult questions for people who own and operate businesses. .  especially in a business like death care where we know that the consumer preferences will not stand still.