History

On May 1, 1924 an agreement document of interest was signed between Benz and CIE and Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft as well as Wilhelm Maybach. The two companies continued to make spate internal combustion engine brands and automobile until a formal merger on June 28, 1926. The merger which resulted in Daimler Benz AG decided that the brand name Mercedes Benz would be used on the automobiles by all the factories.

In 1998 Mercedes Benz’s manufacturer Daimler Benz of Stuttgart, Germany made a deal and merged with Chrysler Corporation (based in the United States) to form Daimler Chrysler. This was the merger that created Daimler Chrysler; however the deal failed to produce the tans – Atlantic automotive powerhouse dealmakers had wanted thus, DaimlerChrysler declared on the 14th of May 2007 that Chrysler would be sold to New York’s Cerberus Capital Management. Cerberus Capital Management is a private equity firm that specializes in streamlining companies that are facing difficulties. A DaimlerChrysler Extraordinary Shareholders’ Meeting decided on giving the company a new name on October 4, 2007. The new name took form the following day, October 5, 2007, which is Daimler AG.

Daimler produces trucks and cars using the brands of Maybach, Mercedes Benz, Smart and Freightliner as well as several others.

Nissan has a history with Datsun, a brand for which the company marketed vehicles. Datsun was considered to be an automobile brand that manufactured many cars. Nissan entered an agreement with Renault S.A of France in 1999. As of 2008 Renault S.A has 44.4% ownership rights of Nissan. In the United States, Nissan is a brand that is among the top three Asian rivals of the Big Three. The Big Three refers to the three major North American automotive companies; they are Ford, General Motors and Chrysler. Presently Nissan is the third largest Japanese car manufacturer and is the maker of the Infiniti luxury brand vehicle.

For fourteen (14) consecutive years the Nissan VQ engines, configured by V6, have been recognized among Ward’s 10 Best Engines. The Ward’s 10 Best Engines is a yearly list that shows the ten best automobile available in the United States market. The best engines are selected Ward’s AutoWorld magazine.

History

The name Nissan was derived from the holding company that was established by Yoshisuke Aikawa in 1928. The company was called Nippon Sangyo which meant Japan Industries or Nippon industries. The Nippon Sangyo company used the name Nissan when trading stocks. This company was well known for the Nissan Zaibatsu which comprised Hitachi and Tobata Casting.

Eventually Nissan added to its size by incorporating seventy four (74) firms making it the fourth largest merge in Japan during the Second World War.

Aikawa purchased shares in DAT Motors in 1931, later it merged Tobata Casting’s automobile parts depart with DAT Motors 2 years later. Seeing that Tobata Casting was originally a Nissan company this was the commencement of the manufacturing of Nissan automobiles.

History

When the Dow Jones Industrial Average was formed in 1896, General Electric Company was among the twelve companies listed on it and has been on it for 113 years. In 1911 the National Electric Lamp Association (NELA) was included in General Electric lighting business. General Electric later instituted its lighting division headquarters at Nela Park in East Cleveland Ohio. Nela Park is still the headquarters for General Electric’s lighting business.

General Electric’s long history of working with turbines in the power generation field gave them the engineering know-how to move into the new field aircraft turbo super chargers. The first superchargers were introduced during the First World War through the leadership of Sanford Moss; developing the superchargers continued during the Interwar period. They became essential in the years prior to the Second World War and General Electric became the world leader in exhaust – driven supercharging at the start of the war. From this experience General Motors was an automatic selection to develop the Whittle W. 1 jet engine that was shown in 1941 in the US. Albeit General Electric’s work with Whittle’s designs was later given to Allison Engine Company, General Electric Aviation came out as one of the world’s largest engine manufacturers next to Rolls Royce plc. Rolls Royce plc was the leader in innovation, reliability and efficient high performance heavy duty jet engine manufacture and design.

General Electric was also one of the eight major computer companies throughout the 1960s. The company had an extensive line of general purpose and extraordinary purpose computers.

1910 is the start date of Hitachi. It was established as an electrical repair shop but today Hitachi is one of the top producers in new technology. The company if the oldest member of the Hitachi Group and has three factories within it namely, Kaigan, Yamate and Rinkai Works. Yamate Works surpasses the other two in terms of years as it was established by Namihei Odaira as an electrical equipment manufacturing and repair in 1910. The name of the facility was Hitachi and is seen as the ancestral home of Hitachi Ltd.

Before a management trainee is permanently assigned to a Hitachi unit he or she interns at Hitachi Works. Persons in senior management position tend to take part in rotations at Hitachi Works for a couple years during the development of their careers as they position themselves for head office positions.

Hitachi won a few awards which include:

• Asia pacific Entrepreneurship Awards (this was awarded by Enterprise Asia). This award was given to Hitachi for their continued efforts in building human talents.
• Investment in People Award (awarded in 2007)

Main Products and Services

A division of seven industries make up the Hitachi operations these industries are as follows:

1. Information Telecommunication system (this makes up 11%)
2. Electronic Devices (this makes up 11%)
3. Power and industrial Systems (this makes up 26%)
4. Digital Media and Consumer products (this makes up 13%)
5. High functional Materials and components (this makes up 15%)
6. Logistics, services and other (10%)
7. Financial Services (4%)

Hitachi also trades its stocks on New York, Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, Fukuoka and Sapporo stock exchanges.

• Buick
• Cadillac
• Chevrolet
• GMS
• GM Daewoo
• Holden
• Opel
• Vauxhall
• Wuling

The United States is the largest national market for GM, followed by China, Brazil, United Kingdom, Canada, Russia and Germany. On July 10, 2009, General Motors Company took control of General Motors Corporation. This acquisition took place because the company faced bankruptcy.

Since 2009, GM obtained loans from European governments and has subsequently condensed its ownership stake in European operations as part of its reorganization exercise. By July 10th of this year the newly formed GM possesses over forty billion dollars in cash ($40b). The company’s reorganized liability total is $48.8 billion which also includes $24.4 billion which will be made payable to the Voluntary Employee Benefits Association (VEBA) trust, $9 billion to the United States and Canadian governments, and $15 billion in liabilities to suppliers and other bills. In December 2009 GM is expected to pay over $10 billion to the VEBA trust with incremental payments being made from 2012 to 2019. GM has up until 2013 to make contributions to its pension fund although it can make contributions before then if it so desires.

As stipulated in the company’s precepts at inception, Toyota Motor Corporation is concerned with adding value to the “welfare and development” of the countries within which it operates. It is also committed to creating an impact on employment and the economy. This is made achievable from profits made by the Company and the payment of tax revenue. In so doing, each society will not only benefit from the manufacturing of a product but will also reap financial rewards from its production and sale.

Toyota Motor Corporation is not only concerned with the manufacturing of motor vehicles but has also expanded its influence and operations to include areas such as housing, financial services, communications, marine vehicles, biotechnology etc. The Company is concerned with extending its reach into as many areas of human life as possible so that it can provide a holistic approach to its service. Its Corporate Governance strategies involve effective and quick decision making, building quality in at each step and responding to the needs of its stakeholders.

The Toyota Motor Corporation of the future will build its vision on three main principles technology, manufacturing and social contribution. The company will have to look at manufacturing automobiles that “zeronize” the negative and harmful effects on the environment and on society. This will further cement their contribution to the social need for safe and eco-friendly vehicles. To meet these two objectives, the Company must also review its manufacturing operations to ensure they are environmentally friendly and that the processes involved utilize effectively all resources and inputs and result in high quality automobiles.

HP is the largest technology worldwide and functions in practically every country. The company concentrates on creating and developing computing storage, software and services and networking hardware. HP’s man product line includes the following:

• Enterprise servers
• Personal computing devices
• Related storage devices
• A diverse range of printers and other imaging products

Other Product lines by HP are

• Electronic test equipment and systems
• Medical electronic equipment
• Solid state components and instrumentation used for chemical analysis which in 1999 was seen as Agilent Technologies

HP products are also marketed to small to medium size enterprises and businesses, households, through distribution, on line consumer electronics and office supply retailers, major technology vendors and software partners.

In 2006 HP’s annual revenue was US $91.7 billion which made it the world’s largest technology vendor in terms of sales, ahead of IBM which posted US$91.4 billion in revenues for the same year. 2004 revenue was $104 billion, this figure caused them to create history as the first IT company to exceed $100 billion in revenues. Four years later in 2008 HP bought EDS making a combination called HP – EDS which increased its revenues to US$118.4 billion. In 2009 HP received a Fortune 500 ranking of 9 and still retained its position as the largest technology company in the world.

HP has also surpassed their rivals Dell in being the largest seller of personal computers worldwide. HP got almost 3.9% market share lead over Dell at the end of 2007. HP is also the only American PC focused computer companies that traded publicly under the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).

In 1986 Honda became the first Japanese automobile manufacturer to release dedicated luxury brand. The company also produces marine engines, power generators, garden equipment and personal watercraft and others. Honda has also been actively involved with robotics or artificial intelligence research. The company unveiled their robot called ASIMO in 2000. Honda has also explored aerospace in 2004 with the establishment of GE Honda Aero Engines as well as the Honda HA-420 HondaJet which is scheduled to be made public in 2011.

History

Soichiro Honda had always had an interest in automobile, he worked for a Japanese tuning shop as a mechanic where he tuned cars and entered them in racing competitions. Soichiro is a self- taught engineer who worked on a piston design which he wanted to sell to Toyota but the initial drafts of the design were denied. The rejection did not stop him however, from working assiduously to make his design as perfect as possible as he went back to school and used his wife’s jewelry as collateral. This paid off as he entered into a contract with Toyota where he constructed a factory to build pistons for them. The factory was however destroyed by an earthquake. During the Second World War there was a gas shortage which meant Soichiro was unable to use his car instead he came up with an idea to attach a small engine to his bicycle, an act which drew a lot of curious onlookers. Following this he founded the Honda Technical Research Institute in Hamamatsu in Japan. The institute was established to create small two cycle motorbike engines. With the assistance of about 18000 bicycle shop owners, Soichiro was able to garner sufficient capital to construct his first motorcycle, the Honda Cub. This was the catalyst for the start of the Honda Motor Company.

The Ford Motor Company was established in 1903 by Henry Ford in a renovated factory with about $28.000 in cash from twelve investors. Henry was forty (40) years old when he founded the company which later became on of the world’s most profitable and largest automobile companies. The company was also successful in surviving the Great Depression, a period which many companies did not survive. Ford Motor Company is also one of the largest family owned and controlled companies in the world and continues to be controlled by the Ford family for more than 100 years.

Due to the number of vehicles sold annually, Ford is presently the fourth largest automaker in the world. Ford was in the third rank as it fell from second place in the annual vehicle sales, this happened for the first time in fifty six (56) years. Although Ford was below Toyota, on various occasions the company outsells Toyota. In the 2008 Fortune 500 list, Ford was ranked as the seventh over all American based company. This ranking was according to 2008 global revenues of $146.3 billion. In the same year, that is 2008; 5.532 million automobiles were produced by Ford with approximately 213,000 employees located at about ninety (90) facilities and plants around the world. Since 2007 J.D Power and Associates gave Ford more initial quality survey awards than any other automaker. Five of Ford’s vehicles have been positioned at the top of their categories and fourteen vehicles were ranked in the top three.