Corporate Entrepreneurship : Is it a solution for the automative crisis?

Abstract:            The global financial crisis of 2008-2009 that the world economy is passing through has a major effect on the automotive industry in particular. The impact of the international financial market crisis on the automotive industry is dramatic.  The global unit sales of cars has decreased by approximately 5%, the biggest drop in nearly 30 years, and a significant sharp drop in demand in the volume in all market. Daimler AG with no exception along with all the big players in the automotive sector is faced with critical strategic dilemmas to deal with the current automotive crisis resulting from the global financial crisis. The main purpose of this thesis is to study Daimler AG Company entrepreneurial activities and practices that can help establishing Corporate Entrepreneurship in the organization. It aims to identify the models used by Daimler for maintaining or even creating the corporate entrepreneurship. It will be concentrating of certain aspects of CE mainly related to leadership, culture, structure, and strategy of Daimler AG. We also aim to understand if Corporate Entrepreneurship is a solution for Daimler AG to survive in this automotive crisis. Qualitative method is used in our study in order to evaluate and test our research questions. Qualitative method in this research will aim to collect both primary data through semi-structured interview, and secondary data related with Daimler and corporate entrepreneurship which is obtained through Daimler website and relevant reports, academic journals, university database, books and relevant websites. Therefore, is corporate entrepreneurship (CE) a solution for the automotive crisis? We conclude that Daimler is applying a strategy based on creating a high entrepreneurial environment within their organization. The current performance measures show that Daimler is improving and in a better situation than many other automotive manufacturers.  However, we believe that corporate entrepreneurship (CE) by itself is insufficient for MNCs like Daimler to survive the current crisis. Nonetheless, CE is a crucial supporting factor that is needed for an organization to survive in an extreme business environment, where constant innovation and further development is always needed to sustain future growth.