Pepsi

Descripiton

Cincinnati-based G & J Pepsi-Cola Bottlers has distributed Pepsi products in Ohio and Kentucky for more than 40 years. The company is the #4 Pepsi bottler in the US, shipping to retailers leading Pepsi brands like Pepsi-Cola, Mountain Dew, and Aquafina. The bottler was formerly the Grandpop Bottling Co., under the direction of Walter Gross and Isaac Jarson. The company's current chairman, Stanley Kaplan, was married to Jarson's daughter, Mickey Kaplan, who died in 2003.

 

General Motors Corporation

Descripition

General Motors (GM) has steered around competitors to remain the world's #1 maker of cars and trucks, with brands such as Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, Pontiac, Saab, and Saturn. GM also produces cars through its Holden, Opel, and Vauxhall units. Other operations include Allison Transmission (heavy-duty automatic transmissions) and GM Locomotive (locomotives, diesel engines). GM also has stakes in Isuzu Motors, Suzuki Motor, and GM Daewoo Auto & Technology. Subsidiary GMAC provides financing. GM discontinued the Oldsmobile brand in 2004. GM has been selling off non-core assets including stakes in Fiat and Fuji Heavy Industries (Subaru), as well as its locomotive manufacturing business.

Although all automakers are facing the tough challenges of global overcapacity, tough competition, and rising fuel prices, the biggest roadblock to GM's success is health care costs. GM has made progress in lowering production costs and increasing productivity but its successes have been obscured by the huge amounts of money it spends on health care. In 2004 health care tacked $1,500 onto the sticker price of every vehicle GM sold ($5.2 billion).