...DaimlerChrysler: The Quest to Create “One Company” Case Analysis AMBA 650 Professor Bensimon February 12, 2013 In 1998, the Daimler Benz and Chrysler companies decided to merge together in an effort to capitalize on each other positioning in their respective markets. This merger would join together Germans and American to create synergy to dominate the world automotive market. In theory, this was a brilliant idea to bring together the best engineers and auto stylists in the world. However, differences in culture which was thought to be a minor barrier turned out to be a major underlying factor behind the failure of DaimlerChrysler. Separate cultural ideals on business practices, communications and management destroyed this endeavor. In this case analysis, we will evaluate and understand how cultural differences, organizational structure, management styles, integration strategy and stakeholders played a role in this failure. The cultures of these two companies were totally different; Daimler Benz was aggressive and believed in gaining every advantage possible to be the top automotive company in the world. Chrysler was a firm that was non-aggressive and progressed slowly. They believed that they gained most of their success from production and operations flexibility. In addition to this, the procedures for compensation and decision-making cause severe friction between top level managers of the newly merged DaimlerChrysler. At lower levels, employees bickered...
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...------------------------------------------------- Introduction In May, 1998, Daimler-Benz1 and Chrysler Corporation,2 two of the world's leading car manufacturers, agreed to combine their businesses in what they claimed to be a "merger of equals." The DaimlerChrysler (DCX) merger took approximately one year to finalize. The process began when Jurgen Schrempp3and Robert Eaton4 met to discuss the possible merger on January 18, 1998. After receiving approval from a number of groups, (Refer Exhibit I), the merger was completed on November 12, 1998. The merger resulted in a large automobile company, ranked third5 in the world in terms of revenues, market capitalization and earnings, and fifth6 in the number of units (passenger-cars and commercial vehicles combined) sold. DCX generated revenues of $155.3 billion and sold 4 million cars and trucks in 1998. Schrempp and Eaton jointly led the merged entity, as co-chairmen and co-CEOs. | | DCX sources were confident that the new company was well poised to exploit the growth opportunities offered by the global automotive market in terms of geographical and product segment coverage. (Refer Exhibit II for Daimler Benz and Chrysler's product ranges) | However, analysts felt that to make the merger a success, several important issues needed to be addressed. The most significant of these was organizational culture. German and American styles of management differed sharply. A cultural clash would be a major hurdle to the realization of...
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...(consulting/editing) TEAMKOM Kommunikation&Design (design) Netfederation GmbH (interactive online report) Photography Bildarchiv Daimler AG, Fotolia (icons p. 18/19) Production l in millions of € 8,116 10,139 10,179 j in millions of € 6,830 8,720 7,290 l Total vehicle sales in millions 2.2 2.35 2.55 j 1,451,569 1,565,563 1,722,561 j Unit sales of Daimler Trucks 461,954 484,211 495,668 j Unit sales of Mercedes-Benz Vans 252,418 270,144 294,594 j 32,088 33,705 33,162 l in millions of € 79,986 83,538 98,967 j in millions of € 2,369 2,471 2,383 l in g CO2/km 140 134 129 l Unit sales of Mercedes-Benz Cars Unit sales of Daimler Buses Contract volume of Daimler Financial Services Product responsibility Dr. Cantz’sche Druckerei Medien GmbH (reprography) Bechtle Druck + Service GmbH und Co. KG (printing) Contact j 10,752 CO2 emissions of the European fleet (vehicles from Mercedes-Benz Cars) Mirjam Bendak 129,872 10,815 Group net income Daimler Sustainability Report 2014. Publications Manager Thomas Fröhlich 117,982 8,820 Research and development expenditure on environmental protection For the publisher Daimler AG, Mercedesstraße 137, 70327 Stuttgart, Germany 114,297 in millions of € Profit before taxes on income1 Publisher in millions of € Operating profit/EBIT1 Operations-related environmental protection Daimler AG, HPC E402 70546 Stuttgart Tel. +49 (0) 711 17-0 (headquarters) Fax +49 (0) 711 17-790-95251 E-Mail: sustainability@daimler...
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...Bank University 17/12/2003 Table of Contents List of Figures................................................................................. i Introduction ................................................................................... 1 1. The changing world automobile industry .............................. 1 2. Reasons for mergers and acquisitions .................................. 3 2.1. 2.2. Daimler-Benzs’ motives..................................................................... 3 Chryslers’ motives ............................................................................. 5 3. The Post-Merger Integration Structure................................... 7 3.1. 3.2. 3.3. Preparations for the merger .............................................................. 7 Integration Structure of DaimlerChrysler......................................... 7 Expected Synergies ........................................................................... 8 4. Cultural Issues ......................................................................... 9 4.1. 4.2. 4.3. Daimler-Benz’s Culture...................................................................... 9 Chrysler’s Culture ............................................................................ 10 Key Integration Problems and Post-Merger Business Culture .... 11 5. Used Management Approaches to solve the problems ...... 13 Recommendations ...................................................................... 14 References...
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...Chrysler and Daimler merger case 1) in 1998 the worldwide car market is growing (from 46 million in 1993 to 52 million in 1997), but more and more competitor are present in this business market in a worlwide level. In the 90's the incumbent competitors are threatening by the emergence of Korean manufacturers ( Hyundai, Kia ), because the firm are offering cheap and good quality cars. the emerging firms in the 90's are from Asia, where the work force is cheaper than in westerners country, in this way these firms can offering a high quality product ( Lexus, Infinity, etc) for an affordable price. Thus High end firms as Mercedes, BMW, are threatened by those firms. In this way to face with the competition most of companies are shifting their production toward developing countries for reducing their cost and compete in a better way with these emerging firms. Moreover according to some analysts there would be a reduction from 39 current producers to 20 major companies. That would be because of the high competition that would be especially due to present in the market. Furthermore each year the plant capacity exceeded demand of cars by15 million vehicles, thus the profitability of the firms is reduced, and that affect on the long term financial health of the different firms. Finally the industry is stroke by several mergers and acquisitions, which reinforce the competition in the markets. 2) In my point of view the merger make sense, because in a competitive market firms face...
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...Chrysler’s management expectations were quickly erased as CEO Juergen Schrempp of Daimler never intended equality in running the new acquisition. Within the first year, it became apparent that Chrysler had become a division of Daimler - a point Schrempp verified in interviews with the media. Schrempp’s attempts at boosting Chrysler’s sales had flopped; the company experienced huge losses and Schrempp began to send his orders though his German assistant Deiter Zetsche, who was at least able to make some positive progress. However, with no input from Chrysler executives once again, Schrempp made another huge deal by acquiring 34% of Mistubishi Motors, which had been losing money as well. Schrempp also refused to meet with the 3rd largest holder of Daimler/Chrysler stock Kirk Kokorain to explain how he intended to turn the company around, most likely as a result of a clash of cultures, different nationalities, the German focus on hierarchy, or. order and planning. No turnarounds had been made and in 2006, Chrysler posted a 3rd quarter loss of $1.5 billion and it became apparent that Daimler would sell off Chrysler. The merger was over. The underlying intentions of Jurgen Schrempp to never accept the Chrysler merger as an equal should be considered unethical because of his attempts to take advantage of a smaller company using unconventional business practices. The original agreement and foundation for the Daimler-Chrysler merger assumed each CEO would respectively contribute to all decision...
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...Summary: The Daimler Group is one of the world’s leading company in the automotive and commercial vehicle industry. The company originally stationed in Stuttgart, Germany exports their vehicles to most developed countries around the world including Brazil, England, United States among many others. Daimler is a proud representative of various commercial vehicles and trucks such as Mercedes-Benz, Freightliner, Fuso, and Western Star amongst other vehicles. The main brand with the most varied line-up of cars is the Mercedes-Benz Truck Company is recognized worldwide for its outstanding quality and performance. The primary characteristics to build a successful truck include the possession of a powerful engine that can be fuel-efficient in moving the big commercial vehicles, a reasonable and standard size that meets road rules of all existing and new markets, as well as having a resisting and long-lasting body frame. The suggested market of entry for Daimler (Mercedes-Benz) is the developing country of China, more specifically located towards the southwestern cities, such as the industrial city of Guiyang. Our market proposition is the alteration of an existing product line-up to include to our joint-venture partner, Dongfeng Motors. A joint-venture strategy will be done to accommodate to the political environment in China requiring a joint venture to join the market. Staffing will be taken into account by hiring local employees to create jobs in a developing country. Local Daimler employees...
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...figuring out how to bring together the two cultural differences between Daimler-Benz AG and the Chrysler Corporation that would create a positive and profitable synergy for DaimlerChrysler as a whole, while regaining stockholders trust. As the post-merger integration process accelerates, they need to identify opportunities to increase sales, reduce purchasing costs, and create new markets for DaimlerChrysler. DaimlerChrysler internal environment, the company went through many changes post-merger. Starting with the creation of the “Dream Team” in 1998, resignations of key members of the dream team led to a two-tiered board system: the supervisory board and the board of management. There was apparent unrest among top executives and a growing chasm between the Americans and Germans due to differences in management styles, processes, cultures and work styles. DaimlerChrysler implemented a variety of exchange programs designed to help the two companies meld an understanding of the cultural differences between the two and their respective countries. They created the Automotive Council, which allowed the sharing of innovation, knowledge, technologies and ideas between the two companies to drive future product integration. They also created the Executive Automotive Committee (EAC) which worked towards corporate integration and the analyzing of products, powertrains and components to find commonalities between Daimler-Benz and Chrysler. Finally, I believe the DaimlerChrysler organization...
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...CASE STUDY - “Daimler and Chrysler: lessons from a merger”. This case study is about the merger occurred in 1998 between two big companies in the auto industry: German company Daimler-Benz and American auto manufacturer Chrysler Group. At the end, this merger appeared to be a failure because of different types of problems. Chrysler benefited from Mercedes while benefits to Daimler were harder to find, so that Daimler decided to sell 80% of its stake in Chrysler for just 7.4 billion dollars. They were two companies from different countries with different languages and different styles that came together although there were no synergies. First of all, these firms operated in the same sector but they had different customers, goals and cultures so there was a lack of common vision and values. Daimler was a luxury brand based on excellence and superior engineering that wanted to enter new markets and develop new products, especially by raising its standing in the North American auto market. On the other hand, Chrysler addressed to “blue collars” purchasers and decided to look for a partner being aware of the overcapacity in the industry. Originally, the plan was for Chrysler to use Daimler parts, components and even vehicle architecture to sharply reduce the cost to produce future vehicles. The operation started with the intention to realize a “merger of equals” but it ended up being more like an acquisition as Daimler strove to impose its own position, even though Chrysler...
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...& DaimlerAcquisition-Merger Case Study | | Situation faced by company After facing some hardships and bad acquisitions in the 80s and 90s, Daimler-Benz led by Jurgen Schrempp began to see the light in the mid-90s. By focusing on the most profitable businesses within Daimler and reducing the number of businesses at Daimler from 35 to 23, Shrempp was able to post high profits in 1996 and 1997 despite the poor looking financials in the previous years. In order to remain profitable in this highly competitive market, Shrempp knew that the company had to continue to grow. They needed to reach customers down market without compromising their high-quality brand. To do this, they began selling vehicles to the market’s premium niches and were quite successful. Along with broadening their product offering, they were becoming more and more international with their production because of the high amount of revenues being generated internationally. Schrempp knew that these steps would only keep them competitive for so long though. With the nature and frequency of alliances and mergers in the automotive industry becoming more and more frequent, he knew that to keep up with the changing industry and increased time and cost pressures, he had to take another step in order to not fall behind the competition. SWOT analysis Daimler-Benz | Strengths * Attention to detail * Brand image * Engineering * Global distribution network | Weaknesses * High-cost & inefficient...
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...DaimlerChrysler Merger: The Quest to Create “One Company” Tom Stallkamp, Chrysler president and executive in charge of accelerating integration of the recently merged Daimler and Chrysler companies, was feeling great frustration. Why couldn’t he move the integration process along more rapidly? He could see clearly the amazing potential for payoffs, but it just wasn’t happening. He wasn’t used to being unable to move the organization, and he hated the feeling of being able to visualize great things without being able to mobilize people to action. What else could he do? Maybe it was time to let the two cultures duke it out, and allow the stronger one to win. That would be one kind of integration, though not quite what he had been working for. Background At 4:00pm on November 12, 1998 as the final bell rang on the New York Stock Exchange, U.S. automaker Chrysler Corporation and German automaker Daimler-Benz ceased to exist. They emerged the next day as a new global conglomerate named DaimlerChrysler AG. With combined revenues of $130 billion and a market capitalization of $92 billion, DaimlerChrysler became the fifth largest automaker in the world in number of vehicles sold and third largest in sales. The $40 billion stock deal was the largest ever in the industrial world. Upon completion of the transaction Daimler stockholders owned 57 percent of the new DaimlerChrysler and Chrysler stockholders the remaining 43 percent. After ten months of discussions and negotiations between...
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...DaimlerChrysler/Nummi Case#4 Daimler-Benz considered one of the first manufacturing companies dedicated to the automobile industry in late 1920's, its line of production was luxury brands like Mercedes Benz, Smart & Daimler Trucks among others. Unfortunately the company was not having the acceptance expected in Europe; need of an evolution the way it did, business to be able to position itself in other markets like Asia and the United States. Chrysler Corporation is a vehicle manufacturer company with a base in the United States and is considered the third distributor of vehicles behind GM and Ford. Prior to the merge of General Motor, the company had many internal problems that wouldn't let it move forward in the industry; actually manufacture the following brands Chrysler, Dodge & Jeep among others. Prior to the merger both companies differentiate from each other specially the different management and operation styles. In 1995 Chrysler had many labor problems due to the reduction in quality, re-calls and consumers dissatisfaction over 220,000 employees were lay-off. On the other hand the Daimler-Benz had a highly skilled workforce, job satisfaction, good relationships with German labor unions and managers getting involved on daily problem solving. The strategy of the Daimler-Chrysler merger would create the fifth company in the world, in the industry by volume compared with GM, Ford, Toyota and Volkswagen. The company would take the name of Daimler-Chrysler and would be...
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...successful? 1) The reengineering efforts of P&G focused on the business process system. Do you think other processes, such as the human system, or other managerial policies need to be considered in a process redesign? 2) What do you think was the reaction of the brand managers, who may have worked under the old system for many years, when the category management structure was installed? 3) As a consultant, would you have recommended a top-down or a bottom-up approach, or both, to process redesign and organizational change? 4) What are the advantages and disadvantages of each approach. 1) What is your assessment of Daimler-Benz's operations in many different fields? 2) Should the various groups operate autonomously? What kinds of activities should be centralized? 3) Daimler-Benz is best known for its Mercedes-Benz cars. Why do you think Daimler bought AEG in the first place and why did it venture into the Aerospace and Inter Services businesses? 4) Given the apparent mistakes in acquiring non-automotive businesses, what should Jurgen Schrempp do now? 1) Prepare a profile of the potential buyer of the Lexus. 2) What should Mercedes and BMW do to counteract the Japanese threat in the United States and Europe? 3) Why has the Lexus model been very successful in the U.S. but has not...
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...INTRODUCTION The Mercedes – Benz Company began with the merger of Daimler Motor Company and Benz & Company in 1926. Since the merger, Mercedes – Benz has created and sustained a reputation for innovation and excellence by producing high-quality automobiles. An analysis of Mercedes – Benz would not be complete without an examination of the DaimlerChrysler Automotive Group, as the two industry leaders merged in 1998. The Mercedes – Benz Company is now owned and operated as part of the DaimlerChrysler Automotive Group. Throughout the paper, the guiding principles of DaimlerChrysler will be referred to, as their management decisions directly dictate those of their subsidiary, Mercedes – Benz. PART A: KEY MANAGEMENT ACTIVITIES There are several key management activities that the DaimlerChrysler group executives take part in that contribute to the company being considered a leader in their industry. One such activity is when the CEO and other board members meet with the European Works Council (EWC) and with the World Employee Committee (WEC) each year (.eurofound.europa.eu). These two committees are dedicated to building and fostering strong relations between employees and management. During committee meetings, concerned employees are encouraged to present their thoughts, ideas and suggestions for change to the management board (.eurofound.europa.eu). Through this interaction, a direct link is created between management and employees. DiamlerChrysler created the World Employee...
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...Application of foresight in corporations 12th Session of the UNIDO General Conference EUR and NIS Regional Round Table Vienna, 5 December 2007 Dr. Frank Ruff Daimler AG Society and Technology Research Group Berlin, Palo Alto, Kyoto Agenda A Why Corporate Foresight? B A closer look at Corporate Foresight C Implications for UNIDO D Q & A, Discussion UNIDO 5 December 2007 / Dr. Frank Ruff 2 Why Corporate Foresight? History of Future Studies/Foresight Foresight embedded in enterprises First Think Tanks in enterprises (e.g. Shell, Toyota, Daimler-Benz) Corporate Foresight: Innovation and Technology Analysis Establishment of new (e.g. Daimler-Benz, variants and diffusion Siemens, Philips) of concepts of future studies and analysis Consumer and marketing-oriented trend research Future Consulting (e.g. Z_Punkt) Emergence of systematic resp. scientific future studies Journalists/Entrepreneurs/Expert-Networks/Consulting Warning future studies „Doom-Saying“ (e.g. Club of Rome, Robert Jungk) Economic and political future studies (e.g. Faith Popcorn, (e.g. Alvin Toffler, Trendbüro, John Naisbitt, Dan Coates, PROGNOS) Matthias Horx) „Premodern future view“ Delphic oracle Spiritual and religious foresight Outsider (e.g. Nostredamus) State-run/scientific/supranational institutions Military futurologic research MIT) Technology assessment Economic, political, Science and Technology resource-oriented (e.g. RAND Corporation...
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