Case Study: Daimler Chrysler

What are some of the major differences you see in doing business in Germany if you are American? Most of the differences that I see are the different working styles and their ethics. In Germany it is much more of a dictatorship than here in America, for the most part in Germany there is a leader (or dictator) and whatever they say goes. "German culture tends to be very hierarchical while Americans, as noted earlier, are very egalitarian and prefer flat organizations (Ahlstrom and Bruton, 57). In Germany, once a decision has been made there is no discussion, no lollygagging, you just get it done. We see this in the military a lot, follow your superior...no questions asked...it is critical to follow orders. Disobeying an order could possibly result in the death of you or someone else. In Germany, an employee is somewhat like a soldier and has absolute confidence that their superior knows what their talking about. America on the other hand (from what I have experienced) will hold meetings where employees can voice their opinions on different matters. Chrysler wants to hear what their employee's recommend which insures that they are able to make the most accurate decisions as to what the general public expects in a car. I believe the more people you consult the better the decision. America tries to practice the theory that the combined knowledge of everyone is always greater than anyone person.

Renault Motors is a French firm that owns Nissan Automobile of Japan. Why do you think this merger worked when Daimler Chrysler merger did not? : I think the main reason is cooperation. Renault and Nissan understood they were part of the same team and for the most part worked as a team. If someone needed help they were there to pick up the slack. By helping each other they both became stronger than they would have been alone. Daimler and Chrysler may have been owned by the same organization but they were never a team. "The Daimler engineers felt using the Chrysler lower cost/lower quality inputs would damage their brand image, and Daimler did not want to share its parts with Chrysler" (Ahlstrom and Bruton, 57). I think logically if you do not want to use Chrysler parts because they were cheap then put your parts into Chrysler and make a better car using your resources. They didn't actually compete with each other because they were integrated now but they were still acting as rivals. It's like a football team with a varsity and a junior varsity team, they may not be competing in the same market since JV will never play a varsity team but they still need to work together. They still need to remember they are one football team just playing at different levels. If by some chance a player or two on the varsity team gets hurt JV may need to step up and help a little by possibly sharing a player. At the same time the varsity wants the JV team as strong as possible because eventually varsity will need their help. Daimler did