JOINT VENTURES: Courtship of Giants

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Boardrooms were buzzing from Bangkok to Boston last week over word of an impending alliance between industrial powerhouses Daimler-Benz and Mitsubishi. Daimler-Benz, maker of the best-selling Mercedes-Benz automobiles and a partner in the Airbus consortium, is West Germany's largest industrial group. Mitsubishi, with interests ranging from electronics to real estate, surpasses all of its Japanese rivals. Emerging from talks in Singapore, representatives of the two firms said they are negotiating joint ventures that would link their businesses in the auto, aerospace and consumer-electronics industries.

Such alliances could help Daimler-Benz spruce up its consumer-electronics group and afford entry to Japan's domestic markets. Mitsubishi would position itself for 1992's united European market and, with access to Daimler aircraft technology, might enter the commercial aircraft field -- a dream come true for the Japanese but a nightmare for Boeing.