Renult/Nissan: the Making of a Global Alliance

Reading both sides of the same story really gives the opportunity to illustrate a mental picture of what this negotiation was all about. In this case, we find that one of the main struggles within any alliance or merger is the difference in management and organizational culture, to add more, the industry these companies are in gives little room for adjustments, since a decision is worth millions of jobs, and dollars and hours. However, this merger seems so perfect for each other that one can only admire the vision of these two companies to come together and form what they are today. In the case of Renult, its competences in cost management, marketing and design, global strategy for platforms and purchasing and the innovation in its products, gave way to complement these exact downfalls in Nissan’s management. On the other hand, Nissan’s engineering shocked Renault’s engineers with its advances in technology. Though Nissan’s plant was producing way below its capacity, Nissan’s plant productivity was another thing Renault saw as an opportunity for growth. The simple facts that their product portfolio complemented each other so well and that they could both maintain their own brands was reason enough to come together in a time when forming a larger group in the automotive industry was the only way to ensure long-term sustainability in order to have influence on the world market.  

In my opinion Nissan had far more problems than Renult to deal with. Its finances were very bad with continuous losses for many years, adding to that, its Keiretsu system was leading them to high cost suppliers and irrational purchasing, even worst, Nissan lacked the technology to produce small cars which was exactly what the market demanded. However, both of these companies had what I believe was their strongest allied, honesty. Further research has lead me to believe that it is this honesty that has kept them together throughout more than a decade, and though they might be competition...