- Refusing to design fuel efficient automobiles, relying instead – for example, with Ford – on pickup trucks, while automotive innovation withered.
- Refusing to continue developing electric cars, e.g. 1996-1999, GM had the EV-1, an electric car which it stopped making available to the public.
- Fighting far-sighted legislation, e.g. litigating away the California Air Resources Board(CARB) rulings that prompted GM to market an electric car in the first place.
- Refusing to design automobiles capable of either right or left hand steering – thus excluding large international markets.
- Fighting the metric system – thus discouraging adoption of American-made automobiles in many markets.
- Choosing short-term profits over continued re-investment and innovation in future products.
Corporate leadership is responsible for poor strategic decisions.