For the first section of your post, evaluate whether the
Fiat Auto acquisition of Chrysler represents a growth strategy. Conduct
outside research and prepare a 1 to 1.5 single-spaced page (500–750
words) analysis of the following key strategic issues:

• Analyze the external environment in which Fiat
  competes, including identification of the critical strategic factors in
  each of the following areas:
  • The General Environment
  • The Industry Environment
  • The Competitor Environment
• Based on the analysis of
  Fiat’s external environment, what recommendations can you give Fiat’s
  management to improve and continue the company’s successful expansion of
  the Fiat vehicles into the United States market? Your recommendations
  should be an integrated and coordinated set of commitments and actions
  that will exploit the company’s core competencies, sustain growth, and
  ensure maximum performance and value for shareholders.

For the second section of your post, you
will briefly evaluate one of the basic benefits of becoming
multinational corporations. Your textbook reading this week sets out the
different reasons firms cite when explaining why they cross the borders
of their home country and become multinational corporations. Read the
three basic benefits highlighted in the text and in Figure 8-1.

Select one of the reasons (or benefits) and
defend why it might be emerging as the most important one in firms’
decisions to internationalize in the 21st Century. In answering this
question, be sure to consider the international business conditions
today and look for the motivations that underlie these current trends.
In your answer, be sure to contrast the less important alternatives
that you did not select. It will create a more lively discussion if
participants don’t all select the same reason to defend as the most
important, emergent reason or benefit. This section of your post should
be 1/2 to 1 single-spaced page (250–500 words) in length.

The final section or paragraph (three or
four sentences) of your initial post should summarize the one or two key
points that you are making in your initial response.