Chrysler's 2009 bankruptcy: analyzing factors in firm decline

¶ … Chrysler's Bankruptcy

Classification of data

To assess which influences were able to impact on Chrysler to bring about the firms downfall in 2009 when the firm filed for bankruptcy. To assess the influences that caused the decline a statistical analysis will be undertaken by examining the way in which the firms performance was impacted by different events. The underlying hypothesis is that the firm faced bankruptcy as a result of their failure to adapt and change in a manner suited to the market as the environment changed.

In order to assess the issue it has been determined that new primary research will not be created: instead data will be gathered from publicly available sources in order to assess the potential impact of the different influences and their importance.

The research methodology will be based on the collection of data regarding the firm. This approach is usually classified as a case study approach; focusing on one case only. However, although case study research is often associated with qualitative text-based research, Yin (2002) argues that it is actually a research strategy with the potential to incorporate quantitative and/or qualitative data.

The research will adopt a quantitative approach with the identification of relevant statistics that may be used to assess the performance of Chrysler, which will be the dependable variable, and the influences which may have impacted on the firm. The questionnaire created is one that will be applied to the research to collect data that has already been collected elsewhere. Existing data sources where there are the collections of statistics as well as new articles from respectable sources will be used to gather the data.

The methodology will bring the data together to determine any correlation or patterns between the different influences. The data will be in the form of existing national statistics. so will be deemed to be representative of the U.S. marketplace as a whole.

2.

The Questionnaire

The questionnaire has been created to guide the collection of data which may be used later for the analysis. The first question is the assessment of the performance of Chrysler. In usual circumstances data may be taken from the annual reports; however as Chrysler has been owned by different firms the required data for just the Chrysler cars division is not easily available. An alternate measure, which will be just as effective, is the measurement of the number of cars sold each year. The numerical data may also be used to assess the patterns in terms of an increase or decrease in sales each year. This will provide the dependent variables that are to be assessed.

The next question will be to assess the number of cars that were produced in the U.S. In each year, allowing for a comparison to be made between the firm and the total U.S. industry. One variable that has been identified as a potential influence has been the cost of gasoline, so the cost of gasoline will need to be identified in a meaningful context, such as the average cost of gasoline in a per mile basis.

The economic influence has also been cited. This may be assessed in terms of the overall unemployment, with an annual figure that can be examined to determine if there is a correlation between unemployment and Chrysler car sales patterns.

3.

Classification of data

The number of cars sold, number of vehicles manufactured and cost of gas per mile are all interval numbers; they present meaningful data that have even gaps between the numbers and can be used to rank and assess the levels within the set scales. The change in sales and the seasonally adjusted unemployment rates are ratio numbers.