STP, PRODUCT MANAGEMENT & SITUATION ANALYSIS

ASSIGNMENT OVERVIEW

This Case Assignment focuses on Volkswagen’s emissions scandal and related brand management and business ethics issues.

CASE READING

A mucky business; the volkswagen scandal. (2015, Sep 26). The Economist, 416, 23-25.

Boston, W., & Houston-Waesch, M. (2015, Oct 15). Volkswagen suspends another top engineer; berlin orders recall; transport minister says recall of tainted diesel cars is mandatory. Wall Street Journal (Online).

Cremer, A. (2016, April 20). VW to pay each U.S. customer $5,000 to settle dieselgate: Die Welt. Reuters. Retrieved from http://www.reuters.com/article/us-volkswagen-emissions-court-idUSKCN0XH0ZV

Danny, Hakim, Kessler, A. M., & Ewing, J. (2015, Sep 27). As VW pushed to be no. 1, ambitions fueled a scandal. New York Times. De Cremer, D., & de Bettignies, H. (2013). PRAGMATIC BUSINESS ETHICS. Business Strategy Review, 24(2), 64-67.

Ewing, J. (2016, April 21). Volkswagen Reaches Deal in U.S. Over Emissions Scandal. New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/22/business/international/volkswagen-emissions-settlement.html?_r=0

Lane, C. (2015, Oct. 26). Emissions scandal is hurting VW owners trying to Resell. Retrieved from http://www.npr.org/2015/10/26/450238773/emissions-scandal-is-hurting-vw-owners-trying-to-resell.

La Monica, P.,R. (2015, Sep 23). Volkswagen has plunged 50%. will it ever recover? CNN Wire Service.

Tabuchi, H., Apuzzo, M., & Ewing, J. (2017). U.S. Charges 6 Volkswagen Executives in Emissions-Cheating Case. New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/11/business/volkswagen-diesel-vw-settlement-charges-criminal.html?_r=0

Here are some articles on brand equity and brand management.

Keller, K. L. (1993). Conceptualizing, measuring, and managing customer-based brand equity.Journal of Marketing, 57(1), 1-22.

Helm, S., & Tolsdorf, J. (2013). How does corporate reputation affect customer loyalty in a corporate crisis? Journal of Contingencies & Crisis Management, 21 (3), p144-152.

CASE ASSIGNMENT

Develop a report in terms of the following guidelines. A well-written report should have a brief introduction, headings or subheadings, and a brief concluding comment. Note that you should use some keywords as headings or subheadings such as “Brand Equity of VW”, instead of a sentence or a question. Read and cite required articles on Volkswagen’s emissions scandal, as well as additional research you have done, and address the following issues:

1. Briefly describe Volkswagen’s emissions scandal and provide background on the company and automobile industry.
2. Do you think Volkswagen’s brand reputation was severely damaged by the emissions scandal? How about its brand equity? Discuss what brand equity is, and how Volkswagen’s brand equity will be impacted.
3. H,ow should Volkswagen handle the emissions scandal in an ethical way? Discuss the related ethical issues from both consumer and brand manager perspectives.
4. What can you learn from this case? What suggestions could you offer to executives of other car manufacturers?