The paper is presents a methodology for assessing some of the influences which lead to Chrysler declaring bankruptcy in 2009. The research design is based on the collection of data already available in the public domain which can be subject to statistical analysis. The general approach is summarized and explained. Data presented includes level of Chrysler sales, production of cars in the US, cost of gasoline and unemployment levels for the period 1999 - 2011. Analysis of the data is not included.
¶ … 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.
Data
The data has been collected from a number od sources. Each year figures on the sale of Chrysler cars is released. The performance of the firm is being assessed using the number of cars sold by the firm each year. This is shown in the first column of table 1 below. The data was taken from a number of different news sources and correlated. The second column, the change in sales has been calculated from the sakes figures, and will provide data which may be used in the assessment.
Three sets of independent variables were collected. The first is the total number of vehicles that were produced in the USD in each of the years, in thousands. The second independent variable is the cost of gasoline. This has been assessed as the cost in cents on a per mile basis, given at current prices. Both the production levels and cost of gasoline have been taken from the Bureau of Transport Statistics. The last independent variable is the unemployment rate. The data is taken as a seasonally adjusted figure for the December of each year.
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