#44 Transnational Takeover Alert: Volkswagen – Suzuki
Volkswagen just announced that it will acquire a 20 % stake in Suzuki of Japan. The move is expected mainly driven by VW’s intent to increase its presence in the Asian market for small trucks.
About Apfel
Posts by Gerhard Apfelthaler:
#43 Chrysler and Aung San Suu Kyi
Something may have gotten past me, but does Chrysler really have a lot of wiggle room for experiments on their customers? It’s recent commercial for the Chrysler 300 features former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, former Polish leader Lech Walensa and is a call for freedom for Burma’s Aung San Suu Kyi. The commercial is an […]
#42 SAIC in India
As reported earlier (on this blog and elsewhere) Chinese automaker SAIC will enter into a 50:50 joint venture with GM to sell small cars and light trucks in India. There’s not only the GM angle to this move. Viewed from the SAIC angle, memories from the recent past arise. In 2004, SAIC purchased a majority […]
#41 And now for something completely different: Marketing in India
How is this different? Well, this blog tends to report on how things go WRONG in international markets. Here’s a video from FT.com that talks about how to get your marketing RIGHT in India: http://www.ft.com/cms/a5dd621a-e39d-11dc-8799-0000779fd2ac.html?_i_referralObject=4747400&fromSearch=n
#40 GM China finally Chinese
Over the years General Motors (GM) has become China’s second largest automaker, mainly through a 50:50 Joint Venture with Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC). This is an achievement for which GM should command a lot of respect as joint ventures with Chinese partners have been known to be tricky at times. Now GM has just […]
#39 Daimler in Alabama
German carmaker Daimler announced that it will move part of its C-class production to Alabama. Besides Germany, the C-class has already been produced in two other countries for a while – South Africa and China. The facility in Tuscaloosa, Alabama that so far has specialized in Daimler’s M-, GL- and R-class vehicles. When the production […]
#38 Starbucks intl exec resigns
Martin Coles, Starbucks’ top exec for international markets resigned and will be replaced by John Culver. This year Starbucks closed more stores than it opened, but for 2010 it looks at opening 200 new stores internationally. Given the limited success in some markets in the past (such as Austria or Australia), the hope may be […]
#37 Failure breeds success
Here’s an older article from Businessweek. It’s not about international business failures, but the general message is very fitting: good companies embrace and learn from failure. I am just wondering if embracing failure sometimes doesn’t only promote creativity and risk-taking, but also ignorance and stupidity. That failure is tolerated could easily mean that companies don’t […]
#36 Disney in Shanghai
Disney has recently announced that it’s plans to open a theme park in Shanghai’s Pudong area have received a nod from the Chinese government. It’s clear that a market as large and dynamic as the Chinese must be mouthwatering to Disney, but….! Not only are there countless stories of US-based multinationals who have found the […]
#35 Transnational Takeover Alert: Liberty Global-Unity Media
As the New York Times reports, US-based cable TV operator Liberty Global takes over Germany’s Unity Media for $3.7 bn. A case to watch.
#34 Wai? Wai?
Days after Apple’s official introduction of the iPhone in China, the media report of a rather lukewarm reception for the gadget that has been hugely successful in other countries. Where there were long lines in front of stores in the United States, employees at the Apple store in Beijing are yet waiting for the big […]
#33 Magna-Opel’s Opus Magnum
Hold the horses! Stop the presses! Forget all about my previous comments about the GM-Opel-Magna-Sbersk deal because the deal is off. GM announced that it withdraws its prior agreement under which the Austro-Canadian conglomerate Magna would have purchased Opel from it. Even insiders are still wild guessing about the true motivation for hitting the brakes. […]