Daimler Chrysler Corporation - Company Research

Research by: Jonathan Brown

Daimler Chrysler Corporation (Chrysler Group) is a division of Daimler Chrysler, AG, a publicly traded company, and is made up of the Chrysler brands Chrysler, Dodge, and Jeep. Daimler Chrysler AG’s other chief units are Mercedes and its commercial vehicle division. Daimler Chrysler Corporation has 12.8% market share in the North America auto market as of 2004, an increase of 0.3% share from 2003, and also produces the Western Star and Freightliner commercial vehicles. The division makes few sales (< 6% revenue) outside North America.

Daimler Chrysler Corporation is headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan, where its finance, marketing, and management offices are located, with production facilities throughout Canada, Mexico, and the United States. It has subsidiaries in Mexico and Canada, and regional business centers managing vehicle sales and dealer relations.

Daimler Chrysler Corporation has shown modest growth in revenues from 49.3 billionto 49.5 billion euros from 2003 to 2004. However, this belies growth in auto sales due to weakness of the dollar against the euro, with the company improving productivity and targeting a younger demographic to move from a 506 million euro operating loss in 2003 to a 1.4 billion euro operating profit in 2004.

The major transitional item for the Chrysler group is its overseas expansion. The traditional Chrysler brands of Chrysler, Dodge, and Jeep are expanding production in Russia and Asia, including joint development with Mitsubishi. Chrysler is also expanding into new fuels, with a focus on development of hybrid and hydrogen technologies over the next 10-15 years.

Finance careers at Daimler Chrysler Corporation involve the whole spectrum of company activities. After a successful summer internship, new finance-area employees proceed through a four-year rotation through various positions in manufacturing, corporate financial analysis, and global sales and marketing. There appears to be considerable opportunity for international and overseas assignments through the parent company, DC AG. Finance work includes business analysis and input to decision making, as well as legal and regulatory compliance.

One of the more interesting programs offered by the parent company is the Daimler Chrysler Career Partnership. This program encourages direct involvement with the company through the last two years of work on a degree, and includes requirements for German language basic competency and international exposure. Assignments in the Chrysler Group through this program are possible.

Missing Details from Daimler Chrysler Corporation Research

Specific Points:

  • Rotational Program: I could find few specific details on the financial Advance Degree Development Program as to how many rotations there were and what happened at the end of the four-year program.
  • Daimler Chrysler Corporation appears to recruit heavily on campus, with the parent company Daimler Chrysler AG even discussing hiring students during degree programs. However, I could not find specific details of career fairs or other on-campus activities. The websites suggested that more details would be available in the future.

Hiring Process

Finding details about the hiring process at Daimler Chrysler Corporation was difficult, and I did not find these readily. I did find that Daimler Chrysler Corporation:

  • actively hires MSU MBA graduates
  • focuses on internships as a selection criteria for full-time positions
  • relies on a rotational program after hire to fully integrate finance people into the company’s operations
  • employs several several recent MSU MBA graduates

The next step to follow up on these details would be to contact the career center at MSU’s MBA program to be put in touch with some of these recent graduates to get additional details on the hiring process.