Biography

Sloan was born New Haven, Connecticut and obtained a BSc from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He then worked for the Hyatt Roller Bearing Company, becoming the manager after his wealthy father acquired the failing company.  

In 1916 Sloan sold Hyatt to GM for $13,500,000, eventually becoming President of GM in 1923. Sloan reorganised GM in a Decentralised Structure, which maintained policy control at the top of the business, while devolving day-to-day control to the divisional managers. The result was that it became the world's largest business.  

He also introduced yearly models, believing that competition was essential for healthy performance, and internal performance measures such as Rates on Investment (ROI), through his colleague Frank Donaldson Brown.

Although impatient as a team builder, he spent time on decision-making to ensure that the policies were fully agreed. His book My Years with General Motors (1964) is recognised as a management masterpiece.  Safety at work was as obsessive, as was his hatred of the unions. Sloan introduced Drucker to management and is much referenced by Kaplan and Norton.

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