Research Paper on:
Rover/Honda Alliance

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
it had a reputation of lacking quality in its products. Honda, known for quality as well as its management processes, wanted to break into the European market. The alliance improves  Rovers quality and gave Honda its entrance to another market. Rovers styling is more attractive to the European consumer, which is another strength of this alliance. Rover needed a new  model to fill a gap in its line, Honda provided that. Trust between the two companies has increased over the years. The number of collaborative projects has increased  since the beginning to the point of a jointly-produced Honda Legend, an upper-scale executive car, incorporating Hondas quality and Rovers styling sense. Following Hondas philosophy of making the perfect car,  Rover was able to decrease their costs for production and increase the quality of their products. The joint decision to stop building each others cars, which, based on low sales  volume, also reduced costs for each company. Each company has a 20 percent share in the other, which gives each more of a vested interest in the others success.  Each company has grown appreciably since their alliance. Weaknesses: The two companies entered into an alliance with little trust between them. Rover was concerned Honda would gain Rovers knowledge  about car-making and the market and then end the alliance. As Rovers executive said, the Japanese are naturally secretive so the risk was lower for Honda than for Rover. Although  trust has increased, they still do not trust each other enough for smooth management processes. They share knowledge only on a very limited need-to-know basis. They could accomplish a great  deal more if they were to have greater trust and confidence in each other. However, since Rover has been involved in at least 15 unsuccessful alliances during its history, including