Alfred P. Sloan

Lore & Background

Hyatt supplied bearings to Oldsmobile and Ford, and a conversation with Henry Leland gave Sloan a conception of mass production. In 1916, Hyatt merged into United Motors Company, which soon became part of GM. Sloan established annual styling changes and a pricing ladder from Chevrolet to Cadillac, keeping buyers within the GM family. These strategies, combined with Ford's resistance to change, propelled GM to industry sales leadership by the early 1930s.

Reader's Guide

Alfred P. Sloan's significance lies in his transformation of General Motors into the world's largest industrial enterprise through systematic management and marketing innovations. He introduced financial controls like return on investment, annual model changes, and planned obsolescence, which reshaped the automobile industry and consumer culture. His creation of the auto loan credit system through GMAC made car ownership accessible to millions. However, his legacy is complex: he is admired for his business acumen and philanthropy, but criticized for his attitudes during the interwar period and World War II, as well as his anti-union tactics involving espionage. The Alfred P. His memoir remains a classic management treatise, though it foresaw challenges GM would face in later decades.

Did You Know?

• Sloan graduated from MIT in 1895.
• In 1899, he became president and owner of Hyatt Roller Bearing after his father bought a controlling interest for $5,000.