THE ROVER/HONDA ALLIANCE AND THE BMW
             Rover was an ailing car manufacturer in the 70's, owned by the British government, which was losing a significant amount of money. It was having trouble with quality control mechanisms and needed a new product in the "lower-medium" sector to plug a gap in its product range. At the same time, Honda was becoming a larger player in the automobile sector. After laying its foundation as a high quality motorcycle manufacturer, Honda needed a stronger presence in Europe and in 1979 an alliance was formed between Rover and Honda to leverage each other's resources and capabilities. Rover would leverage Honda's quality controls and high reputation, and Honda could use Rover's manufacturing facilities, which were running under-capacity. The relationship developed much further over the years, to the point of minority ownership in each other's companies.
             Key Success Factors of the automobile industry in the middle of the 1970's
             The 70's were an era of industrial change in the world. The word „globalization" was being used more and more, especially in the automobile industry, where names such as General Motors and Ford were becoming synonymous the world over. Managing all this change and converging marketplaces meant a great deal of work for existing companies wishing to compete on the global scale. Key factors necessary for success included:
             · Looking at ownership structure and deciding on strategic intent
             o To Rover it was difficult being a crown corporation, (owned by the government) and it inhibited them somewhat in maintaining competitive in the marketplace. Unionization also hurt Rover as dealing with those issues deterred it from its strategic intent. On the other hand, Honda was quite successful because they were a de-regulized company which allowed them to be more competitive and flexible. At the same time Honda stayed...