Word: germans
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Schrempp knows this is risky, because mergers often fail, and big ones fail more often. So DaimlerChrysler is dancing a transoceanic jitterbug that is testing the limits of corporate convention. German and American bosses are fusing their cultures on napkins in airport lounges and in the conference rooms of five-star hotels. The transatlantic traffic became so heavy that DaimlerChrysler, which owns 20% of Airbus, bought an A320 and outfitted it like an NBA charter so its executives could get some sleep between meetings. The 53-seat plane (an A320 normally has 150 seats) flies four weekly round trips between...
...toll on top managers. The stress has already led to some marital de-mergers, including Schrempp's. The chain-smoking CEO is so determined to make DaimlerChrysler the world's No. 1 transportation-services company that he let his 35-year marriage collapse, because, as he told the German tabloid Bild last month, "the merger means more to me than anything in the world...
...enthusiasm for the deal, Eaton acceded to an acquisition of Chrysler by Daimler-Benz. And over months of secret talks, Chrysler's leverage was whittled away. Although Chrysler was more profitable, Daimler-Benz was bigger. Although the Americans wanted the new company to be based in the U.S., German law made it impractical and expensive. Inevitably, a German-registered company was going to be dominated by German managers, and it is. When it came to money, though, Eaton won a handsome premium for Chrysler shareholders (and top Chrysler executives) in a head-to-head negotiation with Schrempp...
From the start, the culture gap made DaimlerChrysler's post-marriage period of adjustment more difficult than that of any other merger around. When Stallkamp and two other Chrysler execs named Tom were introduced to their German counterparts, who by custom all use the title Doctor, Stallkamp broke the ice. "Titles are important in America too," he said. "'Tom' is the title you get when you have an M.B.A...
From the outset, the German obsession with planning has kept everyone on edge. No sooner was the merger announced last May than Schrempp's phalanx of strategic thinkers began issuing reams of organizational flow charts. Every phase was delineated with titles like "synergy tracking"; every group had its weekly meeting schedule, from last year until 2001, when the integration is to be complete. The process is directed by Rudiger Grube, the tireless tactician who helped Schrempp restructure Daimler-Benz...