...1. What is your assessment of the new process for managing IT priorities at Volkswagen of America? Are the criticisms justified? Is it an improvement over the old process? The new process is clearly an improvement over the old process. The following are the three strengths of the new process: 1. Matulovic created a new internal IT Department – Business Process, Technology and Organization (BPTO), which would serve as a centralized point of contact for all IT activities and governance issues. This resulted in much improved and effective IT governance, one in which IT supports business goals and that IT-related risks, benefits, and opportunities can be identified in a much clearer and faster fashion. Also, by having an internal IT Department within VWoA, this would mean that VWoA now has dedicated IT employees and internal expertise required in order to keep up with the dramatic growth in the use of IT within VWoA and to remain competitive among the competitors. 2. The design and flow of the new process for funding projects are now much more organized and involve various stakeholders in the decision-making process. By including everyone in the process, the VWoA is able to account for all possible small details and draw a big picture of the project structure from these parts. This process helps the organization streamline projects with similar functions and fund projects with higher priority in order to save money and time and to achieve the best synergy and utilization for...
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...1. What is your assessment of the new process for managing priorities at Volkswagen of America? Are the criticisms justified? Is it an improvement over the old process? The new process is much more structured and organized so it is definitely a substantial improvement over the old process. In the new process IT projects are prioritized to determine funding in a very efficient way, ensuring that the projects that are very important to business strategy meet their financial requirements, enabling business unit managers to work together so they would make decisions focused on the overall strategy of the company. With the new process IT resources would be aligned to corporate and business unit goals, keeping expenses under control, as well as schedule and cost overruns. I think that the criticisms by the Executive Leadership Team members were not justified at all. 2. Who controls the budgets from which IT projects are funded at Volkswagen of America? Who should control this budgets? Should the IT department have its own budget? VWAG (the parent company of VWoA) controlled the budget from which IT projects are funded at VWoA which in this case was $60 million. However this budget was controlled through a process that involved several organizational entities. There are four specific teams involved in this process: 1) the ELT (Executive Leadership Team) which had primary responsibility for executing the NRG program, the ITSC (IT Steering Committee) that would guide...
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...Sona Patel Volkswagen of America Managing IT Priorities The new process at Volkswagen to select, manage, schedule and fund projects seems structured and effective. The Transformation: In the 1990s, Volkswagen had a very decentralized IT system. Initially they had outsourced all their IT work to Perot Systems and in doing so they drastically reduced the IT staff within the organization. When that didn’t work well, they created Volkswagen AG company gedasUSA Inc. which acted as the point of contact with Perot Systems. Soon, they also created eBusiness teams within each Business unit which in turn developed relationships with their own third party IT providers. This highly segmented design led to high costs and poor timeline adherences. To correct this, Volkswagen created a new business unit within the organization that would be the single point of governance for IT related issues. This unit worked in conjunction with the eBusiness teams and the gedasUSA team but was solely responsible in the management, scheduling, budgeting and execution of the IT projects. This was the first step in the right direction. The New Process: There are a lot of factors that govern which projects are the most ideal to be funded and the new system seemed to understand that. The three step process was very structured and first identified the dependencies between various projects. It also classified similar projects and grouped them together for execution. This immensely helped to narrow down...
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...VW America Case: 1. What is your assessment of the new process for managing priorities at Volkswagen of America? Are the criticisms justified? Is it an improvement over the old process? Beginning with Pischetsrieder’s arrival in 2001, VWAG initiated an unprecedented product-diversification rebirth, globally as well as in the US. A consequence of this strategy required a comprehensive business realignment within VWoA called the “Next Round of Growth” (NRG). NRG clarified two high-level strategic business goals, “Build Brand Customer Loyalty” (number one) and “Improve Vehicle Value” (number two). Somewhere, during this course, I read “the primary function of IT is to support the business’s strategic goals and objectives.” With the newly defined goals within NRG, we see that Dr. Matulovic is doing just that. He is instituting a long overdue process of prioritizing IT projects which are aligned to the goals and objectives of the company. Today we say that this is a basic business fundamental but we need to keep in mind of the timeframe that this is occurring; the 1990s through the early 2000s. In this study we are seeing a company not only undertaking a major product line transition but a company in transition during the emergence of IT technologies. Through all of this and its history I see that VWoA is finally getting it right; aligning their IT priorities with their business goals. As with any new process, criticism and resistance will always be within an organization...
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...Introduction: In 1937, the Volkswagen was born in German it is an automobile company, through the 70 years of development it get the public favorite cars of all over the world. The company of Volkswagen means mass consumers can use and buy it; it has ten brands with them own enterprise. Such as Audi Porsche Skoda Bentley Lamborghini Bugatti Volkswagen Skoda Seat, the Volkswagen group’s portfolio is made up with nine successful brands that excite one billion of customers around the globe. In 2010 that groups further sharpened the individual, distinctive image of each individual brand. Focus on American and china most of customers are usually like to buy the car of Volkswagen. In china the company publicity their own culture and across the advertisement to tell the public it is contains one hundred years of brand. And the products high-end brand image at present was most consumers are recognized. Because official business is widely used the car of audi also gives the Volkswagen to promotion their brand in public mind. Analyze: Marketing mix of the Volkswagen in the international The brand of the Volkswagen is the successful marketing in the world. It used the 4ps in the different countries. Covering the international market, subsequent the most important concerns the implementation by touching the 4ps: product price place promotion. It changes the standardization and adaptation in the marketing Product: The Company concerns about the development and renew the product, cause...
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...Employee “The Volkswagen Group, with its headquarters in Wolfsburg, Germany, is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world and the largest carmaker in Europe. The Group operates in more than 62 production plants in Europe, the Americas, Asia and Africa. Around the world, more than 400,000 employees produce about 30,000 vehicles that are sold in 153 countries. We also believe that the powerful principles of diversity and inclusion help us create an environment where each person feels respected and appreciated. This enables us to develop a workplace where employees can realize their full potential and individually and collectively do our best work. In doing so, we can better achieve its full potential too, because Diversity and Inclusion promotes superior business performance and a competitive advantage.” (volkswagen, 2014) Connected stakeholders: * Customer: Volkswagen is a global company so it has a huge of number customer in the world so customer plays an important role in developing process as well as affecting profitability of company. The customer is the foundation of Volkswagen’s success, increasing customer loyalty is important mission of company. * Supplier: Volkswagen cannot success without supplier, company has a wide of supplier around the world and the must to achieve its standard. The production processes and working conditions at suppliers of Volkswagen should be oriented at global minimum standards. The standards which are used by Volkswagen itself...
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...2012 International Business Globalization - Volkswagen Akshayita Saxena Anirudh Kunjal Avinash Unni Nair Nilisha Aggarwal Rahul Raghunathan Raj Jatheendran Santosh Gaurav Volkswagen – Das Auto INTRODUCTION : A BRIEF HISTORY Volkswagen, in English, translates to “people’s car”, and the German Labour Front originally founded this company in 1937, with the sole purpose of manufacturing cars for the common man, in a German car market dominated by luxury cars. The People’s car, available at a mere 990 Mark, was positioned around factors such as better fuel efficiency, reliability, ease-of-use and economy of usage. Its first prototype, the kdF-Wagen, had a distinctive round shape to its design (the Beetle continues with this design even today) and had about 336,000 takers. By 1946, the Wolfsburg factory was producing close to 1000 cars a month, a remarkable feat in those times. Post the 2nd World War, Volkswagen served as an icon for the resurrection of West Germany, and showed signs of international expansion by selling its first model in the United States of America in 1949, and its sales services were standardized there by 1955. The Golf Type-I model, was given the title “Beetle” by the quirky, hugely popular advertisement campaigns run in the U.S. then, and was officially adopted by Volkswagen only in 1998. By 1961, VW expanded its production line to include Type-III and Type-IV models, and in 1964, VW bought over the Auto Union and the NSU, successfully creating a merger...
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...people are more willing to spend money on chocolates as there are more types of chocolates available to them. As well as making customers potentially spend more money on products from different countries, companies who import these products have to pay a certain amount of tax to the government for its trading activities, and as a result that’s the reason why for example: American sweets are more expensive. Companies raise the price of their products in order to cover up for the transportation of the product and the taxes imposed by the government on the product. For Volkswagen because they operate in multiple countries it means that they are able to distribute their cars to people from all around the world increasing their profits as well as the governments financial status. Tariffs- In the simplest term a tariff is a tax imposed by the government etc. This is a big factor which could potentially affect Volkswagen as they have to look at how much tax a certain government is imposing on their products. Countries which are under...
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...Volkswagen: Company Profile and Moving Forward Cody Marek, Bernardo Scavelli, Jessica LaMarca, Tommy Patzin, Lizzy Sutton, Jake Trancoso, John Delanois MQM 385 Section 9 Professor Avi Datta Group 3 5/5/2015 Executive Summary Volkswagen is a largely known contender in the motor vehicle market. Ever since VW began production at the end of World War II, the company has produced many successful models and innovations. The company has also been able to launch consistently key developments in order to improve products, customer base, and market share.Their first Expansion began with entering foreign markets, but Volkswagen currently focuses on product diversity, specifically the addition of SUV offerings. Volkswagen operates in a mature and well-established industry. The strong rivalry, relations with suppliers and customers, substitute products, and potential competition all contribute to this environment. Volkswagen’s distinctive competencies of being highly innovative, customer-focused, and responsible allow it to compete effectively in this market. Milestones (Key developments/launching of key products) Volkswagen is a very well-known brand that has produced many models over the years. Volkswagen has launched at least one key product and had at least one key development every decade since the 1940s. This trend began in 1945 when Volkswagen began producing cars. At the end of World War II, Volkswagen began production of cars after having produced...
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...Volkswagen of America Case Questions & Answers: 1. What is your assessment of the new process for managing priorities at Volkswagen of America? Are the criticisms justified? Is it an improvement over the old process? To manage priorities at Volkswagen of America, a new process was implemented. It was the most efficient way of implementing a project in terms of selection and precedence,for the type of projects whose main aim was to meet the financial requirements in respect to the NRG goals. Although, there were some drawbacks in the system due to the way they evaluated all the projects using a type of ranking system.For example,if VWoA used a ranking system to select a project, their corporate did not fund for projects at the lower levels as they did not meet the company goals, even if the project would have a potential to gain success or a positive impact on the business. According to me, the criticisms are not justified, as the company derides IT as the main reason for increasing costs.This aspect of the company about IT is not completely true. The costs involved in IT projects should be considered as a long term investment which yields higher return. Therefore, the best way of selecting a project is through the ranking system which will not only help the project team choose the project easily on the basis of priority but helps in problem solving too. The new process however has helped in improving the business units in a big way because these business units...
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...9-606-003 REV: JUNE 14, 2007 ROBERT D. AUSTIN Volkswagen of America: Managing IT Priorities Dr. Uwe Matulovic, chief information officer (CIO) of Volkswagen of America (VWoA), placed the telephone in its cradle and leaned back in his chair, replaying the just-completed conversation with one of his peers from the Executive Leadership Team (ELT). The call, Matulovic mused, had been similar to three others he had participated in that week, each with a different ELT member. The results of a new prioritization process—a list of IT projects that would be funded in 2004—had been unveiled only a few days earlier. But already a storm was gathering. The phone calls from other executives had common themes. All the callers had expressed concern that high priorities for their areas of the company had not been funded. Some had repeated views expressed during the prioritization process by people who worked for them about supposed categorization mistakes that penalized their business units. And each of the calls had concluded with an informal request to insert an unfunded project (or two) into the IT department’s work plans. “We don’t have to reopen the process,” the most recent caller had said, “but perhaps spare capacity might be applied to make some progress on this project in 2004—we’ve done this before, and it would mean a lot to our area and to the company’s growth plans.” The 10 business units that made up VWoA had proposed more than 40 projects, with funding requirements totaling...
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...Volkswagen of America: Managing IT priorities Volkswagen, as the name suggests means “people’s car” and defines its objectives to design and manufacture cars which are fuel efficient and affordable. With continuous improvement, Volkswagen has not only subjugated the automotive market with respect to its low priced cars, but also earned industry acknowledgement. The core competency of Volkswagen is structured to build customer loyalty. Although, Volkswagen suffered from erratic sales pattern when the company introduced a new model commonly called as the “Himalayas chart” due to its rise and falls (Austin, 2007).This was because of the management not dealing with situations proactively. This problem was mitigated soon through its competencies in strategizing and manufacturing potentials as well as the expansion of its product diversification, i.e. the establishment of new brands which were the “classic” and the Audi brand group so that the focus is not just on the traditional mid-sized vehicles of a particular segment. Moreover, given the high quality of cars they manufacture, good service, focussed marketing and well-organized stock rotation gives Volkswagen a competitive edge over the other automobile manufactures. The highlight of this case study is to analyse Volkswagen’s business and IT strategies and the importance of process prioritization in executing and aligning these strategies with enterprise goals. With more in-depth analysis of the case, the major challenge faced by...
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...INTRODUCTION COMPANY PROFILE Volkswagen is a manufacturer of passenger and commercial vehicles. The company markets its cars under the following Brands: Volkswagen, Skoda, Bentley, Bugatti, Audi, Seat and Lamborghini. The company is headquartered in Wolfsburg, Germany and employs about 300,100 people. The Group operates 106 production plants in 19 European countries and a further eight countries in the Americas, Asia and Africa. Every weekday, 572,800 employees contribute to produce cars, to keep continuous relationships with customers, suppliers and partners in 153 countries. Volkswagen is a manufacturer of passenger and commercial vehicles. The company’s key products and services include the following: Products: Passenger cars Vans Light trucks Buses Pick ups Campers Brands: Volkswagen Audi SEAT Lamborghini Skoda Bentley Bugatti Some of the company’s data are given below: (* this data is for Volkswagen AG only) Revenues by Geography: Europe, Volkswagen’s largest geographical market, accounted for 44.1% of the total revenues in the fiscal year 2006. Revenues from Europe reached €46,211 million in 2006, an increase of 9.4% over 2005. Germany accounted for 27.2% of the total revenues in the fiscal year 2006. Revenues from Germany reached €28,544 million in 2006, an increase of 10.5% over 2005. North America accounted for 13.9% of the total revenues in the fiscal year 2006. Revenues from North America reached €14611 million in 2006...
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...Questions about the Volkswagen Scandal: Volkswagen is embroiled in one of the biggest corporate scandals of recent years. The German car maker has been installing “defeat devices “– software that allows cars to cheat in emission tests, making them appear than they actually are. What is Volkswagen accused of? Volkswagen’s software allowed it to beat the tests in a lab, but when on the road with emissions controls switched off, cars would pump out nitrogen oxide (NOx) at up to 40 times the legal limit. Crucially, the software “knew” when it was being tested, allowing it to switch emissions controls on and off. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) found that many VW cars being sold in America had devices in diesel engines that could detect when they were being tested. The EPA’s findings cover 482,000 cars in the US only, including the VW- manufactured Audi A3, and the VW brands Jetta, Beetle, Golf and Passat. Who is to blame? It’s not yet clear who is responsible for fitting the cheating software. Martin Winterkorn, the German company’s chief executive, accepted responsibility when he resigned, but denied any wrongdoing on his part. Prosecutors in Germany have opened a criminal probe into Mr. Winterkorn. Mr. Winterkorn is replaced by Matthias Mueller, the boss Porsche. Where did the incident happen and why did Mr. Winterkorn resign? This scandal has happened in the United States of America. Mr. Winterkorn denied having any knowledge of the emissions cheating...
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...lifespan (Robbins & Judge, 2013). The following essay will discuss why the company Volkswagen needs to trade in its current bureaucratic organizational structure for the more flexible and innovative matrix organizational structure if they want to stay in business in the U.S. (Robbins & Judge, 2013). Volkswagen Summary Volkswagen’s performance over the last two years in the United States has been less than favorable. This German run company saw sales in America for 2014 drop by 13.4%, supporting the idea that Volkswagen is in a “new product drought” and needs to start looking for new ways to meet consumer demands (Levin, 2014). Even though Volkswagen’s luxury franchise Audi has kept the company on the map, their lack of innovation and flexibility to predict and keep up with ever changing consumer desires could sink the company (Levin, 2014). The only way for Volkswagen to stay afloat in the U.S. would be to change the way the company functions internally. Current Organizational Structure Volkswagen has a bureaucratic organizational structure. Its use of centralized authority makes the company’s chain of command very linear (Volkswagen, 2013). All of the company’s decisions and design ideas are made at the top and flow down to each of its twelve brand managers (Volkswagen, 2013). The different brands function independently of each other and are bound by strict rules and regulations (Volkswagen, 2013). Even though Volkswagen’s high level of formalization results in consistent...
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