Professor Elam

Students tend to fixate on their 'major.'  Indeed this is a serious problem for any college of business. Student ignore or fail to seriously study classes out side their 'major.'  Yet there is no one that just does accounting or marketing or statistics all day long, indeed we need all those disciplines.

I have learned a lot about managerial accounting and marketing and statistics reading Jerry Flint at Forbes.   Mr. Flint has covered the auto industry since the 1950s and understands a great deal about long term perspective. This hyperlink will take you to a list of his recent articles. The one about market share for the Detroit Three and the next 100 days is a particularly good example of  blending disciplines. 

My take, I suspect Chrysler is a dead man walking with the Ram pickup eventually being sold to a large truck company.

GM cannot survive as it is and continue to shed brands and market share, read the article about the importance of German engineering at OPEL, and how GM will now be with out it as well as Olds, Pontiac, Hummer, Saturn, Saab, etc. As market share drops below 16% by next spring it will be harder and harder for the govt to support and send more money to GM.

Ford looks like it has the best chance to survive, but again, without mercury, aston, jag, lincoln (anyone want to own a lincoln) hmm I guess they still are the proud owners of volvo  But a surviving Ford only really makes sense without its crosstown rivals of Chrysler and GM.