Mergers and Acquisitions As Strategic Methods of Business Development in the Global Automobile Industry: An Analysis of Five Cases

This book examines one set of processes, mergers and alliances, which have underpinned changes in the automobile industry. Merger and alliance activity is explored against the long term economic forces which have shaped the industry. Whilst short term crises catch the headlines, the long term perspective forms the backdrop for understanding the processes of change. The automobile captures our imagination as few other products do. It can be anything from a simple, and for some regrettable, necessity of modern life to an expression of our personality and our prize possession. For millions of people the auto is also a source of employment. The almost unthinkable consequences of failure of the industry and the efforts which governments round the world have recently made to save it underline its enduring importance. But the automotive industry is of far greater interest than simply the provider of one of the most ubiquitous and recognisable products of the industrial age. There is probably nothing else which better exemplifies the shifts and changes in industry patterns. Whether these patterns are expressed in spatial, economic, ownership or organisational terms the conclusion is the same; we would be hard-pressed to find any other industry where change has been so extensive and far-reaching.