Establishing dispersed operations in Mexico for an automotive systems supplier - A diagnostic approach

Diploma Thesis from the year 2007 in the subject Business economics - Business Management, Corporate Governance, grade: 2,0, University of Paderborn, language: English, abstract: Dispersing operations in foreign countries is not a development in only recent years and we can face it almost daily in the newspapers and on TV. Not only by the takeover waves among big multinational companies in the late nineties (for instance the lastly loosed merger of Daimler and Chrysler) but also by the riots in the run-up to the 33rd G8 Summit 2007 in Germany the issue of globalisation was spotlighted to the general public. Based on the economic research this diploma thesis addresses the topic of dispersed operations and should give advice and instructions how to reach a successful access to markets in foreign countries in practice. Since the international orientation of enterprises cannot be generalised and is different (among other things) from branch to branch the establishment of dispersed operations is examined for the example of an automotive supplier starting business activities in Mexico. The automotive supply industry seams to be very applicable for such an analysis as the traditionally very internationally oriented automotive manufacturers, i.e. the customers of the suppliers, were notably influenced by the consolidation processes in the last years and decades. Considering this the question needs to be posed if this alteration of business conditions has impacts on the suppliers as well. The United Mexican States as one of the biggest economies in Latin America are a quite popular location especially among the North American investors for a long time. Mexico connects (not only physically) the huge markets of Canada and the United States of America with the BRIC state of Brazil which is considered by many experts to be the growth market of South America in the next years. Since all well-known vehicle manufacturers run representations on the Mexican market it suggests examining the international orientation of automotive suppliers in respect of especially this market.