Chrysler Case

Chrysler

Synopsis

Chrysler was started in 1925. Maxwell Motor Company was undergoing changes and later the name was changed to the Chrysler Corporation. Walter Chrysler was hired to turn the company around. He launched the Chrysler automobile and the Maxwell name was dropped in 1923. Chrysler later began to put its cars into categories depending upon the functions and price. The main brands that the car produces are Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge, Ram.

Chrysler has had significant ups and downs even emerging from a bankruptcy that was government backed. They currently have created and alliance with an Italian company named Fiat in hopes to remake the company (Wheelen & Hunger, 2012, p. 17-2 & 17-3).

Resources

Chrysler has the ability to specialize in smaller cars if they wanted to. With gas prices continuing to rise, consumer demand for smaller vehicles will continue to increase. They need to make and development this as a top priory. In order to do this they will have to stop the production on some of their bigger cars and trucks like the Aspen or Town and Country and move the people developing those cars to start creating small ones. They could buy small cars from foreign companies in China or Japan and then sell it under the Chrysler brand (Wheelen & Hunger, 2012, p. 17-1).

Chrysler is seen as one of U.S.A's "big three" car companies. Lately, Americans have started to purchase more foreign vehicles and have stayed away from buying cars from American companies. Chrysler still has a large amount of brand loyalty and can find a way to convince consumers to buy their product once again. The American market is huge and Chrysler has the resources to establish a presence in order to restore the company and become successful once again.

They have the resources also to start a brand new advertising campaign that focuses mainly on being "America's Company". You could put all of their vehicles into one commercial and have them driving next to each other and have patriotic words being said with visual affects that are very modern and appealing to the American audience. They could also move away from their "Inspiration Comes Standard" slogan and use "The American Classic" as their new one. However, they would need two different slogans because "The American Classic" would not do well in some parts of the world.

Core Competences

Branding is one of Chrysler's main core competencies. Chrysler held 23% of market share in the United States auto industry as close back as 1997. With the help of Fiats fuel efficient engines and advanced technologies Chrysler should be able to offer products in a more diversified range of models.

The arrival of the Fiat brand into the American will gain publicity and increase at Chrysler dealerships benefiting both companies. Chrysler has been the dominant of minivan market for over 25 years. Chrysler and Dodge hold over 40% share of United States minivan market. This will bring the company advantages over the competitors if the Chrysler gives more focus on this market of buyers (Wheelen & Hunger, 2012, p. 17-10 & 17-11).

Chrysler was also the first auto company having a Chief Customer Officer. The company had also at one time given more focus on customer care by appointing Douglas Betts to the Chief Customer Officer. This move was a significant improvement in customer service and their ability to create a great competitive advantage.

Capabilities

Two capabilities that Chrysler has are the ability to create alliances and reduce cost horizontally across the board. By merging with Fiat this enabled Chrysler to create a solution to the problems that have been arising with not just Chrysler but in recent years the global automotive industry as a whole. Bringing together Fiat's world class technology, and power trains for small and medium sized cars and its vast distribution network in Latin America and Europe with Chrysler's rich heritage, strong North American presence, and talented and dedicated workforce will create a powerful new automotive company (Wheelen & Hunger, 2012, p. 17-10 & 17-11).

This also helped keep jobs and a manufacturing industry that is critically important to the United States and Canadian economies. By being able to reduce costs across the board this allows the company to grow. Being a part of the alliance both of the companies would reportedly