Driving with engineers’ professionalism and family values: The BMW trajectory from a regional carmaker to a global premium player

Abstract

BMW is the world’s second most profitable carmaker in terms of the money earned per produced car (after Porsche). BMW experienced a worldwide growth in production and sales between 2000 and 2005 of more than 50 per cent up to 1.3 million cars - only Toyota has a similar high growth rate, but at an even higher level of about 7.7 million cars in 2005. Together with Mercedes-Benz, Lexus and Audi, BMWis one of the most important premium carmakers. BMW changed dramatically over only ten to fifteen years from a regionally producing and thinking company to a global player. How was this possible? What have been the driving forces of these fundamental changes of the consortium since the 1990s?.