Swatch is well known for its line of stylish, affordable wristwatches. In the early 1990s, Swatch CEO Nicholas Hayek had a novel idea to diversify his company’s product offerings: a stylish, affordable automobile. His vision was to create a two-seater car with minimal storage space. Fuel-efficient, he expected these cars would be highly attractive to younger European car buyers. Drawing on the company’s watch designs, the Swatch car was intended to have removable body panels so that owners could change the car’s look on a whim.

Swatch initially partnered with Volkswagen, but the alliance never reached production. In 1994, Swatch partnered with Mercedes-Benz. The vehicle was named SMART, which stood for “Swatch Mercedes Art.”

Using Internet resources, answer the following questions:

1. What resources did each partner bring to the partnership?

2. How successful has the partnership been for each company?

3. Which company seems to be deriving the greatest benefit from the partnership and why?