Chrysler Case Study

The Merger of Chrysler and Fiat
In the world today, many mergers and acquisitions are happening as a result of financial losses, gaining an advantage on a competitor, increasing capabilities, and strengthening services by diversifying the products. There are numerous other reasons, but this paper will focus on the reasons indicated above.
The merger between Chrysler and Fiat happened after many years of ups and downs for each company. Chrysler had merged before, unsuccessfully, with a German based company named Daimler-Benz AG (Boone & Kurtz, 2013). Daimler later sold 80 percent of stake to an American private equity firm Cerebus. Again, this did not work to the company’s advantage. Things continued to spiral down for Chrysler.
Fiat also had a history of crisis and recoveries. At the beginning of the last decade, Fiat was almost the product of a bankruptcy. Through deaths of two family members, managerial changes, and financial losses, Fiat was able to merge with Chrysler in January 2014, to form Chrysler Group, LLC.
Circumstances Resulting in Merger
On April 30, 2009, Chrysler filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and announced at that time they would join in a partnership with Fiat. Chrysler’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) stated, “In the life of every major organization and its people, there are defining moments that go down in the history books”. For Fiat and Chrysler, the agreement just reached with the VEBA is clearly one of those moments (Ebhardt, 2014).
The merger between Chrysler and Fiat was beneficial for both companies. For Chrysler, Fiat helped to rescue them from the 2009 bankruptcy. The financial crisis after a 15 year history of other mergers had left the company in a critical state. This critical state...

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...d be through numbers, wages and benefits of the employees. American employees previously receiving $28 per hour will now receive $14, employees have fewer benefits, and a shift in retiree health care (Barile, 2014).
In all, based upon the information listed here, Human Resource Management Practices have been changed due to the recent merger of Chrysler and Fiat. Many of the changes that have come from the merger are European influenced based upon the two to one at the executive level.
Conclusion
Though many changes have come to two different companies, many of the changes appear to be positive for both entities. Profits are up and there is a business plan in place to grow the company to possibly be a global leader in the automotive industry. This is a new beginning for Chrysler Group, LLC and a new chapter in the book to be placed in this company’s history.