| In Association With... |  |
|
|
|
Taken for a Ride : How Daimler-Benz Drove Off With Chrysler | 
 enlarge | Authors: Bill Vlasic, Bradley A. Stertz
Category: Book
List Price: $15.95
Buy New: $6.95
You Save: $9.00 (56%)
New (9) from $6.95
Avg. Customer Rating:  40 reviews
Sales Rank: 1280576
Format: Bargain Price
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 432
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 7.8 x 5.3 x 1.1
ASIN: B000C4SF56
Publication Date: July 1, 2001
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
|
| Also Available In:
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com Review
It all started with a misunderstanding. Kirk Kerkorian, the Las Vegas wheeler-dealer, thought Chrysler's management would back him up if he tried to take the company private. Chrysler's management thought they'd made it clear they had no interest in such a deal. As the two sides faced off--Kerkorian and legendary Chrysler chairman Lee Iacocca on one side, current Chrysler boss Bob Eaton and his top executives on the other--Mercedes-Benz CEO Helmut Werner stepped in. The result is the company now known as DaimlerChrysler. But Vlasic and Stertz make clear no one really knows the result of the deal. It's far too early to tell if blending the manufacturer of sleek German luxury sedans with the Detroit-based progenitor of the minivan will succeed in the global marketplace. Instead, they show in riveting detail how the deal came to be, and the immediate aftermath. They give us private moments with the major players and show us the multilayered considerations that crop up when two gigantic companies merge. Another book will have to judge the ultimate success of the merger, but the immediate results aren't exactly promising. By late 1999, a share of the original Chrysler was worth a few pennies less than it had been before the merger was announced, and only about a dollar more than before Kerkorian made his move back in April 1995. --Lou Schuler
Product Description
Here is the book that exposed the Daimler-Chrysler "merger of equals" as a bold German takeover of an industrial icon. Taken for a Ride reveals the shock waves felt around the world when Daimler-Benz bought Chrysler for $36 billion in 1998. In a gripping narrative, Bill Vlasic and Bradley A. Stertz go behind the scenes of the defining corporate drama of the decade -- and in a new epilogue chart its chaotic aftermath.
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 35 more reviews...
 Great account of a historic business transaction December 21, 2006
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
The take over of Chrysler by Diamler-Benz was heralded as the "merger of equals". This merger was a joke that was really a buyout of an American icon. The story of the merger is one of intrigue on two continents and is told very well here. It is an interesting book and very well written. I highly recommend it for those who want to see what happened at Chrysler after Iacocca retired.
Great Storytelling, Good Lessons, Too Much Regret August 28, 2005
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
In 2000, hot on the heels of the Daimler-Chrysler merger, Bill Vlasic and Bradley A. Stertz, both of the Detroit Free Press, chronicled the merger and the run-up to it. Being from Detroit, lament pervades an otherwise riveting story full of intrigue from the Chrysler executives fending off raider/financier Kirk Kerkorian, through the unrelenting pace of the merger talks, and finally the aftermath where the former Chrysler executives started to roll over or jump ship.
At the book's core are the merger negotiations and the power struggle that followed. Starkly contrasted are the styles of Jurgen Schrempp, the awesome Daimler-Benz Chairman, and Bob Eaton, his diffident Chrysler counterpart. From the outset, Eaton is cast as a weakling who crumbles in the face of bigger personalities. The horrendous miscommunication between Eaton and Kerkorian on the eve of Kerkorian's acquisition announcement foreshadows Eaton's flaky approach to the negotiations with Daimler. Throughout the book, Eaton is portrayed as hapless and hopeless. An outsider, chosen as CEO because of a clash of egos that disqualified the vastly more talented Bob Lutz (now the septuagenarian Vice-Chairman of General Motors), he, by all the books accounts, failed to ever become part of Chrysler. Time and again, Eaton is shown to be a ditherer and a weakling - indeed he is reported to have broken down in front of hundreds of senior managers no fewer than three times.
Across the table from Eaton is Jurgen Schrempp, a big man with an insatiable appetite for action. Whether against internal Daimler rival Helmut Werner or at the table with Eaton, he comes off as a brilliant strategist with an unrelenting drive who lives for the big moments.
Irrespective of how the market will judge the merger, the book offers useful lessons for negotiators. The Americans proved the negotiator's adage that failing to prepare is preparing to fail. The Daimler executives set their objectives and then prepared their strategy meticulously. Schrempp created alternatives to a negotiated solution, including the unlikely possibility of an alliance with the Ford Motor Company. At every step, by the Chrysler management team's own admission, they were out-prepared by as much as eighteen months.
The weakness of the book is the authors' undisguised disappointment with the "loss" of an American industrial icon. It is an absolute hatchet job on Eaton who cannot possibly be as pathetic as he is made out to be. After the merger, the German executives are cast as jealous bureaucrats defending their turf. It is hard to determine whether this is an accurate description or the ever-present regret of the authors.
This story feels real. July 8, 2004
I don't know how Vlasic was able to get the information in this book. The conversations ring true to me and this story feels as if it really could have occurred the way Vlasic describes it. This is one of the best books I have read in the past year. He is able to take a somewhat chaotic true story and assemble a story that flows smoothly yet also seems accurate. His ability to draw a picture of the characters is outstanding and they have proven quite prescient as time has passed.
 Outstanding work about the loss of an American Icon May 13, 2004
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
If you are looking to find out exactly how the Germans came in and stole Chrysler out from under its American leadership, this is the book for you. Superbly written and researched, the book is a page turner that kept me up till the early morning hours. I highly recommend it and hope that nothing like this ever happens again in corporate America. "Taken for a Ride" couldn't be a more fitting title.
A must for all automotive industry folks December 13, 2003
Sometimes the reading gets boring in too many details, but the facts in this book are INCREDIBLE!
It shows that Juergen Schrempp never wanted to merge, but to buy, Bob Eaton was totally involved and everybody else was taken by surprise. Bob Eaton never actually ran the company, maybe that is why he sold it.
|
|
|
Powered by Associate-O-Matic
| |
