Smith made sweeping changes at the auto giant, which had become complacent in its success and was losing share to foreign imports. Smith instituted a barrage of controversial changes at GM that included forming strategic joint ventures with Japanese and Korean auto makers, launching the Saturn car, investing heavily in technological automation and robotics, and ridding the company of its risk-averse bureaucracy. Though these changes struggled to earn consistent profits for GM, Smith was nonetheless credited with putting it back on the path to success.