Jose Ignacio Lopez de Arriortua
Case number:
A02-98-0003
Abstract
This case explores one of the most controversial managers of the past decade, José Ignacio Lopez de Arriortua, the former purchasing czar for General Motors Corporation. The case highlights the 1992-93 period in which Lopez headed GM's purchasing in North America. During this period he is credited with saving GM approximately $4 billion in expenses, and potentially causing irreparable harm to the long-term supplier relationships key to GM's future competitiveness. The case also describes the revolutionary Plant-X design of modular consortium manufacturing which was Lopez' dream, finally fulfilled in the 1996 start-up of Volkswagen's Resende, Brazil truck and bus manufacturing plant.
Teaching
This case has been used in a variety of executive education programs in which leadership, operations management, ethics, supplier relations, or some combination, is topical. It is used primarily as a foundation for discussion and debate, not as a specific decision-based discussion. Participants are often intrigued by the power of the individual personality, the innovativeness of intellectual ideas, but increasingly dismayed by the ethics of the individual as the case discussion evolves. Case discussions can become emotionally-charged and argumentative.
Case number:
A02-98-0003
Subject:
Business Ethics
Year:
Setting:
United States/ Germany
Length:
12 pages
Source:
Library case