Renault-Nissan Essay

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how should the Renault–Nissan experience be interpreted? In the spring of 1999, Renault and Nissan’s CEOs negotiated a possible acquisition by Renault of the Japanese manufacturer. For Nissan, this became cru- cial, as the company had lost its competitive edge, and its production rate had decreased by 20% since 1992. For both companies, bringing their teams to- gether meant much more than an acquisition: the Al- liance, not yet a legal entity, was created to develop joint projects. And the vision was promising: not only did it create the possibility of a major rationalization of the manufacturing systems of both companies, but sales networks were very complementary and each manu- facturer could benefit from the technical expertise and organizational know-how of its partner. Moreover, Re- nault was willing to implement a strategy frequently adopted by most manufacturers: the development of common platforms (roughly speaking, the wheel base systems), which could pave the way for substantial economies in developmental costs (design studies, pro- totyping, validation protocols), industrial equipment and purchasing. It would also make it possible to pre- serve brand identity and vehicle diversity. It was a context in which the nature of the relation- ship between the two manufacturers was rather am- biguous: they were still competitors in world markets, Renault was the owner of Nissan and, at the same time, the two manufacturers had set up the Alliance to sup- port common projects. The potential challenges inher- ent in such a project are legion and, as a perusal of the growing literature on inter-firm relationships reveals, the case can be interpreted in several different ways. 1.1. Defining appropriate structures according to joint projects From an economic point of view, the Alliance between Renault and Nissan can be seen as a means of integrating two companies in

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