Mr. & Mrs Chrysler Announce . . .
the marriage of their daughter Mable Chrysler to Mr. Sergio Fiat.
Talk about the large project to manage, how about the upcoming absorption of Chrysler by Fiat. The sheer complexity of the merger. The article in the April 20th issue of Business Week talks about the apparent bailout of Chrysler by the Fiat group. There are a lot of issues that will need to be addressed in this proposal. The management of this merger project has many facets that need to be watched and integrated.
The interesting part of this article is the statement that Fiat was laying groundwork to make another attempt at entering the US market. They have been absent from the US dealerships for 25 years, however they were looking to some of the other foreign car manufacturers to partner with them to produce the smaller Fiat models here in the US.
This project would have to manage mergers in different countries, with different laws, and different employee agreements. Besides this will come retooling of some factories, new and integrated IT systems, and different corporate cultures.
From only an information systems integration, this is a significant project management challenge. If I was to be the lead on this, I would start by identifying what the two current ERP systems have in common. After that, I compare the remaining parts however, I would most likely retain the Fiat model since that one has proven more successful over time. Chrysler I’m sure does not have a mature model yet having been recently divorced by Diamler Benz after a disastrous marriage. There may be some parts of the Chrysler IT infrastructure that might be beneficial. Since Fiat has no footprint in the US market, there may be aspects of the Chrysler infrastructure that could benefit.
Bottom line, no matter how many times I read chapter 14 I wouldn’t know how to start or manage a large IT project such as this. I’m looking forward to see how the merger of these two companies work out.
What do you think the main obstacles will be in making this merger work?
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Hey Darrell,
ReplyDeleteI think that the proposed merger of Chrysler by Fiat will not resolve in saving Chrysler from bankruptcy. Top management will need to make some tough decisions to minimize the risk from such as merger because of the cultural differences and the current market. They will need to come up with new fuel efficient automobiles that will be least costly to the consumers. I recall that when I was in high school and junior college, Fiat's were not considered reliable vehicles so how can a merger make the situation any better? The reputation of a company really matters to the public. I'm not in favor of the merger.
I think that the biggest obstacle will be convincing Chrysler executives that they need to abandon their existing development and marketing strategies. Fiat needed a "turnaround" several years ago in order to regain profitability and the management they brought in was able to achieve this difficult goal. Maybe they can help Chrysler do the same...
ReplyDeleteI think it is extremely important to get out of Chapter 11 as quickly as possible. If Fiat thinks they can handle this task of taking on Chrysler at this critical point in the firm's history then I think it's a good decision. Especially since the CEO already did this job on turning around Fiat when they were at their low point.
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