Daimler-Benz

Daimler AG and Chrysler merge
Introduction Daimler
Daimler is a big company that owns Smart, Mercedes Benz and Maybach. Its headquarters are located in Stuttgart (Germany).
It has a worldwideservice. Its main products are automobiles, commercial vehicles.
In 2011 it had over 267.274 employees.
Founded: 1883

Introduction Chrysler
Chrysler is an American car brand founded in 1925. Itsheadquarters are in Michigan (US)
The chrysler bran was originally a premium luxury postion competing with cadillac and lincoln owned respectively by Chrysler Group’s Detroit rival, General Motors andFord Motor Company.
Problems
German and American styles of management differed sharply
The former Chrysler group was given autonomy to manufacture mass-market cars and trucks, while the Germanscontinued to build luxury Mercedes
Analysts felt that Zetsche would impose Daimler's culture on its American counterpart. A few senior Chrysler executives had already left and more German executives werejoining Chrysler at senior positions.
In an interview to the Financial Times in early 1999, Schrempp admitted that the DCX deal was never really intended to be a merger of equals and claimed thatDaimler-Benz had acquired Chrysler

DCX's success depended on integrating two starkly different corporate cultures. "If they can't create a climate of learning from each other," warned Ulrich Steger,a management professor at IMD, the Lausanne business school, "they could be heading for an unbelievable catastrophe."
Germans disliked huge pay disparities and were unlikely to accept any steeprevision of top management salaries.
In early 2001, DCX announced that it would slash 26,000 jobs at its ailing Chrysler division. "No one wants this to happen. I personally wish it didn't have tohappen,"

Analysts felt that strategically, the merger made good business sense. But opposing cultures and management styles proved to be a hindrance to the realization of the synergies. Daimler-Benz...