Strategy Management Case Study

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Table of Contents
1. Executive Summary -------------------------------------------------------------------- 2
2. Introduction ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 3
3. Strategy analysis------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4
3.1 External Environment of VW -------------------------------------------------- 4
3.2 Opportunity and Threats of VW ---------------------------------------------- 5
3.3 Internal Environment of VW -------------------------------------------------- 6
3.4 Strengths and Weaknesses of VW -------------------------------------------- 7
4. VW & its Strategy Direction Setting ------------------------------------------------ 8
5. Business Strategy of VW --------------------------------------------------------------- 9
5.1 Ansoffs Product/Market Business Level Strategy --------------------------10
5.2 Miles & Snows Adaptive Strategy ------------------------------------------- 10
5.3 Porters Competitive Strategy --------------------------------------------------11
5.4 Conclusion on Business Level Strategy --------------------------------------11
6. International Strategy of VW -------------------------------------------------------- 12
6.1 Transnational Strategy of VW ---------------------------------------------------12
7. Strategy Implementation -------------------------------------------------------------- 13
7.1 Financial Performance--------------------------------------------------------------13
8. Issues of Strategy Implementation ----------------------------------------------------14
8.1 Environmental Issue-----------------------------------------------------------------14
8.2 Customer Satisfaction Issues -----------------------------------------------------15
8.3 Conclusion for Issues --------------------------------------------------------------16
9. Strategy Evaluation-----------------------------------------------------------------------16
10. Recommendations -----------------------------------------------------------------------18
11. Conclusion --------------------------------------------------------------------------------19
12. References --------------------------------------------------------------------------------20
13. Appendix ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------22

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1. Executive Summary
The case study report is based on Volkswagen (VW), the German automobile manufacturer
which is producing and selling vehicles that are sold all over the world. The company makes
a suitable analytical subject, given its SWOT analysis for external and internal environment
can be identified visibly through examination of companys performances within itself and as
comparison to the industry and market. The utilization of PESTEL model and Porters
competitive model has structurally listed the strengths and improvements could be made, as
well as inference to VWs potential and challenges ahead. Next, the report discusses VWs
broad mission and objectives to satisfy all stakeholders by committing financially, politically
and socio-environmentally to their strategies planned. Follow on, a combination of Business
level strategy and International level strategy is examined to provide knowledge on company
management movement. The implementation of the strategies is then being assessed with
understanding of market and industry feedbacks from different groups of stakeholders. On
the flip side of a coin, problems and issues faced by the unsuccessful implementation of
strategy are discussed, which revolves around VWs insufficient effort put in. Towards the
end, some recommendations would be provided based on the challenges, after evaluation of
strategy using triple bottom line reporting. Lastly, the report summarize with a conclusion.
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2. Introduction
Volkswagen Group is a well-known international automotive brand by German industrial,
and is headquartered in Wolfsburg. It is currently the worlds second largest motor vehicle
manufacturer, and have the largest base in Europe. Volkswagen (VW) operates globally and
have manufacturing and assembly plants in 10 countries. VW is making hits for the past two
years, exceeding expectation and outperformed the overall market by increasing sales
revenue of 25.6% in the year 2011 financial report. The expansion of model portfolio, market
into china, investments and new plant have demonstrated the companys ambition to be the
leader and biggest in the industry.
The success of VW has proven relation with strategic management as a form of ongoing
process to evaluate and control the business, which assess itself and competitors, at the same
time set goals and strategies to meet existing and potential needs. The purpose of the report is
to identify the relation and analysis the strategies VW have targeted for the company,
competitors and stakeholders so as to achieve organizational goals. Part two discuss the
external and internal environment of VW to identify companys strengths, weaknesses,
threats and opportunities in the industry. Part three summarise companys mission, vision and
objective and evaluate their efficiency and relevance to the stakeholders. Part four of the
report elaborate on the relative business level strategies and international strategies the
company has created to satisfy company objectives. Part five is the assessment on degree of
success and hindrance of strategies after implementation. Part seven evaluates the overall
strategic management and provides recommendation on future prospects. Lastly, part eight
concludes the report.


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3. Strategic Analysis
This part of the report summarizes VWs overall market performance in the industry and
global wide from the past year reports and analysis to identify the companys key trends for
the next 3 to 5 years. The strategic analysis is taking a closer look at the companys
competitive level within the industry, as well as the opportunities ahead and pressing threats
in the global market.
3.1 External environment of VW
Using PESTEL model, the analysis can be generalised as follow:
Political and Legal structure- VW has manufacturing or assembly plants in more than 15
countries all over the world. This makes compromising with government policies and
regulation more complex and difficult for the company. For example, the entry into China in
the 1980s involved a great deal of interaction with government as it was centrally ruled by the
communist party. Back then, the management had to negotiate terms and conditions with the
Chinese government to set up joint venture firms in order to step into China. Nevertheless,
over the years of hard work, the great improvement of 9% of sales in China in year 2011
suggests that the Asia tiger has fully opened up its door to accept VW (annual report 2011).
Economic structure- Though economy has shown sustaining improvement since GFC, the
debt crisis still weigh on the uncertain European market. This weak phase is set to continue
into 2012 due to widespread loss of confidence in economic policy and unresolved financial
problems that result uncertainty among producers and consumers in the current market.
Therefore VW is inclined towards expansion of the Asian market instead of getting too
involved in the Europe so as to maximise their sales and revenue in the next few years.
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Social structure Focuses are on relationship with customers, suppliers and VW employees
(Sustainability Report 2011). Customer satisfaction is still on the top priority to indicate
product developments and strategy management to cater to needs of stakeholders for the next
few years. Agreements have been made with suppliers to improve continuously on quality
and keep transparency are key factors to sustain relation with them, as the same time,
increase interaction through meetings and videoconferences. As shown in Appendix 1, the
employee satisfaction rate has shown increasing from 85% to 90% over the years as company
carried out family-friendly environment, as well as offer opportunities and vocational
trainings to employees. (Sustainability Report 2011)
Environmental structure- VW is aware of the global emphasis on corporate social
responsibility and triple bottom line regarding environmental protection and sustainability
activities. Therefore, VW set out global responsibility actions to cut down carbon dioxide
emission, increase fuel efficiency, and increase focus on electric vehicles creation and
manufacture etc., which will be commenced continuously (Sustainability Report 2011).
Technological structure- The Company is aspired to be market leader in innovation; hence
heavy investment and attention have been targeted at the Research and Development unit. In
the next 10 years, VW is planning to create more electric vehicles that are more efficient yet
provide less impact on environment.
3.2 Opportunities and Threats of VW
For the past five years, the automotive industry profits have suffered mainly due to the energy
crisis and the increasing demand for oil (The Wall Street Journal, 2012). Moreover, when
Global Financial Crisis (GFC) hits in 2009, almost all automotive producers suffered from
losing profit and revenue. Nevertheless, VW has shown an impressive growth of revenue and
operating profit in its fiscal year 2010 and 2011, suggesting the companys capabilities and
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successes on the company strategies to counteract the recession (Annual Report 2011). The
growth in China and India creates more economic growth through expansion aboard. At the
same time, the new plant in Chattanooga has provided US development in gaining market
share. With the increase awareness on environmental issues, opportunities on manufacturing
of hybrid electric vehicles are on demand in the near future. VW should adopt a positive
attitude to develop better fuel efficient and environmental friendly vehicles to meet consumer
needs
On the other hand, VW is still in an extremely competitive industry whereby strong
competitors are at arms length. Other than to compete with existing automobile makers such
as GM, Toyota etc, some other countries where VW cars were imported are able to produce
cars of similar quality at lower costs domestically. Moreover, the high fuel and gas prices per
gallon also influenced the use of alternative transportation and increased chances of product
substitution.
3.3 Internal Environment of VW
For the internal environment of VW, Porters five forces would be deployed as a tool of
measurement of the companys strengths and weaknesses in the market. Out of the five
forces, three main forces identified to evaluate the companys competitiveness. Buyers
power shall not be discussed in detail here, as customers generally would not purchase a big
volume of the product even though it is price sensitive. Also, suppliers power to bargain is
minor as the suppliers of the automotive industry are fragmented.
Threat of new entrants As all known, China has provided great potential growth for VW to
enter the country in the 1980s, as joint venture with the Chinese automobile makers. Twenty
years now, China is capable of producing similar quality cars with lower production costs
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locally. As discussed by Porter (2008), the emergence of foreign competitors with the capital,
required technologies and management skills began to undermine the market share of VW.
Availability of Substitutes- The higher the cost of operating a vehicle, the more likely
consumers will seek alternative transportation options (Porter, 1980). At the same time, the
price of gasoline influences on consumers' decisions to buy vehicles.
Competitive Rivalry In the past, price-based competition is unlikely to happen in
automotive industry as the market structure is generally considered to be an oligopoly.
However, competition has been intensified after the GFC and European crisis with other
offers to attract customers, such as rebates and longer term warranties (International Business
Time, 2011). These actions have increased the pressure of profit margin for the companys
vehicle sales.
3.4 Strengths and Weaknesses of VW
Despite the competitive market and poor performance of the European countries, VW
managed to increase sales and profit margins for the past two years have provided evidences
that the company hold strong brand portfolio and still one of the most recognised automaker
in the world (The Wall Street Journal, 2012). Sales of over 8 million cars sold in 2011 also
project the companys production capabilities. Moreover, the consistent focus on research
and development allow the company maintain the lead of innovation and creation in the
industry.
Even though VW has outperformed many other competitors in overall sales in 2011, the
company only holds approximately 10% of global market share (Appendix 2). In order to
stay competitive against the bigger auto companies, VW has to strategize accurately and
progressively so as not to lose on economic of benefits. Another problem VW may face
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would be its dispersed plants in different geographic areas. Sluggish performances and
management issues have been raised in concern in different plants required attention from the
headquarters, as well as shift of attention different geographic areas to accommodate
consumers and suppliers also require the companys comprehensive planning.

4. VW and its Strategy Direction Setting
Volkswagen was created during Adolf Hitlers regime of time with the ideology to develop
peoples car. Despite half a centurys evolution in the automobile industry, the company
still placed the emphasis on serving people by being a responsible business to consumers.
Other than financial objectives to increase sales and profit margin, the company aspire to
satisfy customers and employees all around the world, at the same time become the innovator
of technology to make vehicles safer and more environmentally friendly. Moreover, the
vision to become the leader of automotive industry also requires VWs attention on all
aspects to be responsible internally and to the society (Annual Report 2011).
The main stakeholders of the company are their valued customers, employees all over the
world, shareholders, suppliers, government regulators and the society as a whole. Customer
satisfaction is set by companys strong foundation on brand and constant improvement on
technology to build better cars to customise to customer needs. Nevertheless, the company is
expected to build up on the customer services in countries outside Europe, for example India,
as responses show that many customers did not receive reasonable customer care after the
purchase. In terms of employees, VW seek out for individuals with a variety of talent,
qualification and experiences and to build a family friend environment to create an efficient
team of high quality production. The expansion of employee base global wide also generates
higher expectation on employees training and skills to extend their potential in work by
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providing vocational trainings and programmes to reach out to employees. According to
Appendix 1, company employee satisfaction has improved by 6% for the past 5 years, hence
showing that the effort done by the management were fully appreciated by the employees.
VW places shareholders interests as a main objective to actively update news to shareholders
and have provided significantly high dividend payout to show appreciation (Annual Report
2011).
Building up rapport with suppliers is important to maintain responsibility and sustainability in
the industry. Interactions between both parties enhance understanding and aid in creation of
balance between quality of material and corporate responsibility achieved. In order to operate
internationally, the company is abided to each countrys laws and regulation of trading, as
well as maintaining positive relationship with the government body (Moore and Mark, 1995).
For example, in the 1980s, VW took a great effort to interact and build confidence with the
Chinese government, which was communist and not so open to foreign investments. Now the
successes of VW in China and further development plan into the country have proven the
importance of government relation.
According to the sustainability report (2011), VW is planning on long term commitment to
sustainability in various aspects so as to achieve corporate social responsibility on the society.
Innovation on environmentally friendly cars, cutting down emission of carbon dioxide and
wastage of energy during production and more, are all part of sustainability programme
initiated by VW. The aim is to create a better living environment for the general public and
provide more convenience to their daily life.

5. Business Strategy of Volkswagen
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Based on deWit and Meyer (2010), business level strategies are for a business in a single
industry. In this case, VW make use of a mixture of different business level strategies to
achieve company objectives. The strategies adopted in VW management include Ansoffs
product/market, Miles and Snows adaptive, and porters competitive business-level
strategies.
5.1 Ansoffs Product/market business-level strategies
Using Ansoffs strategies, it is visible to identify VWs plan for market penetration strategy
for the next few years to expand on existing markets in China and India with the popular
vehicle models so as to increase market shares. According to VW annual report (2011),
company saw demand growing in China and India and hence will be working to expand
product range and production capacity, as well as increase investments to sustain market
leadership for long term. Statistically shows that more Chinese people are moving to upper-
middle class and India is expecting more to upgrade to middle class with the fast growing
industries and markets in the both countries, higher demand for cars would be required.
Hence companys strategy is expected to bring in higher profit margin with least risk.
Nevertheless, VW has to gain approval from the government and regulators so as to expand
market shares (Moore and Mark, 1995). For example in China, expansion may be harder if
government intervention occur to protect local automakers. Simultaneously, a consequence
may result retaliation from the local automaker to start price war which would cause lower
profit and sales margin.
With certain extend, product development is also implemented in conjunction to market
penetration. The strong Research and Development team and management team of VW work
to customize the vehicle models that are most suitable for customer requirements and
preferences in different markets.
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5.2 Miles and Snows adaptive strategies
VW has always aspired to be the innovator, leader of the automobile industry, as well as the
largest automaker in the world, and therefore can be analyzed as a prospector who seeks
higher profit growth in the company (Robbins, Bergman and Stagg, 1997). The actions
company adopted as mentioned earlier to penetrate markets and innovations on product
development are also characteristics of a prospector.
5.3 Porters Competitive strategies
VWs approach using Porters competitive could be analyzed as an integration of both cost
leadership and differentiation strategies. Cost leadership to standardize on production of
popular vehicle models such as golf, Passat for assembly and parts help the company to lower
cost of production and inventory requirement. The high volume demanded keep production
ongoing and secure efficiency (Viljoen and Dann, 2003). On the other hand, brands such as
Audi and Lamborghini are for niche markets to provide superior experiences, services,
prestige and image building purposes. Higher price premium can be expected from offering
these differentiation brands through differentiation. Therefore, the company is able to capture
a larger customer market based on their different preferences and income level.
5.4 Conclusion on business level strategies
The three aspects of typologies mentioned above make the business-level strategies broadly.
More detailed approaches and strategize management are required to carry the strategies out
efficiently and comprehensively. At the same time, the processes of these strategies are
continuously reviewed and improvised to adapt to environment changes such as competitors
retaliations and customer preference changes.
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6. International Strategies of VW
International strategies are defined as strategies to develop a companys business outside its
domestic market (deWit and Meyer, 2010). In order to survive and stand in outside market,
companies have to adapt core competencies and focus on creating and exploiting
opportunities. Out of the three commonly known international strategies, transnational
strategy is most likely to represent our case target VW.
6.1 Transnational Strategy for VW
Observing the relationship of VW and other countries where it either operates or have
production at, the company is seeking to achieve a competitive advantage in each country by
acquiring local flexibility and responsiveness. It is therefore accepted that company is
operating using transnational strategy with a combination of both utilizing multi-domestic
strategy and creating global efficiency. Taking VWs entry into India, a country which has
high poverty rate and highest fatal accident rates, safety and cost effective vehicles would
thus most suit the majority of population there. As compared to Australia market, company is
wholly owned and hence has maximum control and higher potential return. At the same time,
population in Australia would demand for longer engine life and environmentally friendly
vehicles due to higher combustion rates and higher petrol prices. Therefore the need to
differentiate by providing customized needs and different offerings to competitors would be
essential.
On top of local flexibility, the need for global integration to achieve economies of scale
would also be important for international expansion. The availability of resources, cheaper
labor expenses, location advantages for production and delivery purposes are all factors
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attracting VW to expand outside of Germany. For example, VW entered China despite
having to set up joint venture so as to gain lower labor input and gain access to critical
supplies and customers, so as to achieves optimal economies of scale and exploits core
competencies. At the same time, they are also able to expand their market size and increase
return of investment.
Nevertheless, similar to other companies expanding internationally, VW would incur a higher
risk and startup costs when they choose to shift their market share globally. The company has
to understand differences in culture, political statues, economic, currencies and environment
in each country they are investing. Therefore the strategy is usually required time
commitment and large capital due to its complexity and difficulties to coordinate. Once
started, international strategies are expected to be long term and ongoing process.

7. Strategy Implementation
7.1 Financial performances
According to statistics done by Motor Finance (2011), performance of Volkswagen has
outshined most of its competitors. In year 2009, when most of the German automakers were
affected by the GFC with negative profit growth, VW managed to sustain positive profit of
billion pounds. Moreover, the rapid increase in 2010 suggested that the company sales profit
had exceed even its strongest competitors such as General Motor and Toyota. International
Business Time (2011) has also claimed VWs 2012 operating profit would match last years
$14.8 billion and exceeding that level in 2013 because of further growth in US and emerging
markets.
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The successes and performance of VW can be underpinned by three key elements. Firstly,
would be VWs growing success in extracting economies of scales from its extensive and
broad brand portfolio. The efficiency benefits of higher production volumes are being
combined with cost reductions as VW increases component commonality through internal
processes and application. The improvement of scales economies help VW achieve higher
profit margin.
Secondly, the growth of Audi is also essential to company success with setting of set personal
records for deliveries, revenues and profits in 2011. Deliveries were up 19.2% to over 1.3
million vehicles, revenue was up 24.4% and profits were up by over 60% (Annual Report
2011). The brand itself now stands full comparison with BMW and Mercedes-Benz as a
major player in the world's premium sector. Audi is the dominant division in VW, having for
many years made the biggest contribution to the Group profit.
The third key factor would be both international and business strategies combined and
implemented to expand in China and India. The rapid increase of demand for European cars
in these two countries has lifted most of the sales in the entire industry. VW outweighed other
competitors through its strong presence in both the mass market and premium sectors.
According to (International Business Time, 2011), Audi is the best-selling brand in China. In
2010, the Group's sales of 1.9 million units in China represented 26.7% of its worldwide sales
and it rise at a rapid speed of 27.4% from the previous year sales in China.
7.2 Conclusion for strategy implementation
The company has done exceptionally well for the past two years in business as projected in
the financial statements and the reports and news on expansion projects. The business and
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international level strategies implemented for the company have proven to be successful and
further improvised in the planning for next few years.

8. Issues of Strategy Implementation
8.1 Environmental issues
Despite the companys success in the financial and business sectors, the strategy to be
sustainable in social and environmental aspects have not been carried out to satisfy public
stakeholders. Greenpeace published a 24-page report in 2011 and claimed the Group is
deliberately trying to slow the introduction of new vehicle emissions reduction regulations.
The company is also accused to resist 30 per cent emissions reductions from 1990 levels by
2020 while other internationally recognized enterprises have accepted the policy, such as
BMW, Google, and Ikea. The environmental stakeholders believe that the company is not
doing enough to improve the efficiency of its cars or encourage people to purchase more
environmentally friendly vehicles. According to statistics in the Greenpeace report,
Volkswagens average new vehicle CO2 emissions decreased by just 7.8 per cent between
2006 and 2009, while Toyota and BMW achieved reductions of 14 per cent and 18 per cent
respectively (Appendix 7 ).
The negative claims have brought controversies towards company brand and portfolio as
VW has always established itself to be the industry leader in innovation and in the
environmental performance of the company and its products (Volkswagen, 2012). Yet all the
company did was to divert attention from its poor overall environmental performance by
developing super-efficient prototype car designs which never come to mass production. The
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flip side of reviews and negative campaigns thus suggest that VW have yet to achieve
company objectives to satisfy all stakeholders as well as taking care of the environment.


8.2 Customer satisfaction issues
The company currently has more than 100 dealers in 84 cities which it operates in, therefore
customer satisfaction would be essential but difficult to manage as the base is spread global
wide. This has been a problem in India as sales have been impacted since the beginning of
year 2012. According to Appendix 8, customers reflected just above average satisfaction rate
for VW vehicles in 2012 UK survey. As a result, VW has decided to raise customer
satisfaction overall, especially in India. Even though company is not able to meet 100 per
cent customer satisfaction, at least qualitative sales should be made. Moreover, the company
sales did very well in 2011 with sales volume more than 8million, which project the potential
need for customer after care services would be in demand for the next few years time. These
issues are further projected whereby Australia experience stock shortage due to rapid demand
expansion for VW vehicles. The lack of sufficient knowledge and professional staff to supply
to all demand would also cause customer services to be lagged. The ability to maintain the
performances before and after sales is all important for VW to expand further on.
8.3 Conclusion for issues of implementation
The overall performance of VW has been remarkable and the strong brand portfolio left
impression in publics eyes. However, the issues the company faced are insufficiently
covered by the management within the strategy, resulting in lack of effort in implementation.
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Therefore it is up to the management to enhance the weaker aspects of the strategy.
Simultaneously, recommendations have been provided in the later part of report for reference.



9. Strategy Evaluation
Strategy Evaluation is a significant process which carries the same weightage as strategy
formulation because it identifies the efficiency and effectiveness of the comprehensive plans
in achieving the desired results. At the same time, strategy evaluation operates by co-
ordinating the task performed by managers, groups, departments etc., through control of
performance. The two common methods applicable are the balance scorecard and the triple
bottom line reporting. For this report, we are focusing on the triple bottom line reporting to
assess the appropriateness of the current strategy in current dynamic world with socio-
economic, political and financial or economic.
With reference to VWs sustainability report (2011), socio-economically the company is
working to improve environmental compatibility of products and production. VWs
management understand that as time goes by, people are more environmentally conscientious
and therefore the development of fuel effective vehicles are essential as the competitors
would be creating environmentally friendly vehicle in parallel. Moreover, with the
implementation of carbon tax and increase stringent on carbon dioxide emissions, VW is
putting more effort on environment management. Environmental balance sheet on emissions
are done and used to calculate emission rates on various plants to stretch out environment
effort not only externally but also internally within the firm itself. Next, the conservation of
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resources is also important during production to prevent wastage of raw material hence aid in
sustaining the nature.
As for other stakeholders, VW recognize the significance of their more than 500,000
employees all around the world. Vocational trainings are provided to improve experience and
expertise of employees, to equip them with better skills and create better efficiencies in
workplace. According to the Sustainability report (2011), management is also concerned of
employees health and emotion at work, thus attempt to create a family-friend working
environment to keep employees happy and content working with VW. Stretching out to
external aspects, the company is also active in their global industrial relations maintained
with the suppliers and government regulators.
As for financial elements, the financial reports are reported each fiscal year by the auditors to
evaluate VWs financial performances and examine its financial position within the market.
Since sales and revenue have been relatively well last year, VW is aiming to sustain the sales
and profit for year 2012.
Other strategic evaluation involves other factors such as developing inputs for new strategic
planning, feedback, appraisal and reward, development of the strategic management process,
judging the validity of strategic choice etc., are also practiced by VW management, to get a
comprehensive and accurate reflection of the strategies.

10. Recommendation for VW
Even though VW has outweighed performance as compared to other automakers in the
industry due to increasing popularity of European cars and success implementation of the
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companys strategies, there are still room of improvement that could be made by management
to take VW and its portfolio to greater heights.
First of all, understanding of the SWOT analysis would be essential (Porter, 1980). The
frequent assessment of company in different countries would be required to examine VW as
financial statements alone would not be sufficient. Next, knowledge and information on
customer are required so as to avoid unpopular car models in different countries. The process
also involves a certain amount of customisation depending on geographical area, culture,
political, social classes and other factors. Basically, the foundation would set on increase
safety of vehicle, which is the most important critical for majority customers.
As for the internal operations, VW should work on to cost reduction as manufacturing and
assembly plants place a majority cost of the company expense. Cost reduce enhance
economic of scales for VW, and thus increase possible profit margin. Last but not least, VW
should actively abide to policies and legal requirement in different countries on social and
environmental sustainability issues. At the same time, stay transparent on the of operation
pollution and emission level. As mentioned by Greenpeace, VW have the capacity to perform
better for environment as there are certain areas VW is not cooperating sufficiently.
Therefore it would be important for the management to rebuild on strategies and implement
accordingly so as to maintain brand image and fulfil company objectives.
11. Conclusion
Overall, VW is doing respectively well for the past two years despite the impact after GFC
and under the shadow of the economic crisis. Sustainability report suggests that VW has high
potential to surpass other large auto manufacturers worldwide in the next few years.
Nevertheless, other than financial elements, VW should place higher focuses on other
stakeholders to ensure higher satisfaction achieved, hence fulfilling companys objectives.
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Government and environmental unions are more conscientious about going green and
environmental issues that would require company to gear towards achieving a balance
between profit maximisation and corporate social responsibility. Despite VWs remarkable
performances in the fiscal year, challenges for automakers would be more stringent and
complicated as years go by. Therefore it is up to the management of VW to make
improvement on the ongoing business strategies so as to keep up with the ever changing
world climate.
11. References
1. Annual Report, 2009, Volkswagen Group
2. Annual Report 2010, Volkswagen Group
3. Annual Report 2011, Volkswagen Group
4. Blackmore and Blackwell (2006) 'Strategic leadership in academic development'.
Studies in Higher Education, 31(3), 373-387.
5. Cremer, A., 2012, VW to step up expansion in west China, Klingler says, Reuters,
http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/04/22/uk-volkswagen-china-
idUKBRE83L0AU20120422, accessed on 5 July 2012
6. Choudhury, S., 2012, Volkswagen Considers Expansion in India,The Wall Street
Journal, http://blogs.wsj.com/drivers-seat/2012/01/07/volkswagen-considers-
expansion-in-india/ , Assessed on 7 July 2012
7. DeWitt B. & Meyer R .,2010, Strategy: Process, Content and Context, 4th ed
8. Environmental Transport Association, 2011, Volkswagen going green?
http://www.eta.co.uk/2012/03/08/volkswagen-going-green, accessed on 7 July 2012
9. Greenpeace, The Dark Side of Volkswagen, published June 2011
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10. Krystian, M., 2012, Volkswagen Presents Record Earnings for 2011, Promises More
Success, International Business Time, http://tv.ibtimes.com/volkswagen-presents-
record-earnings-for-2011-promises-more-success/4032.html , Accessed on 8July 2012
11. Moore, Mark H., Creating Public Value: Strategic Management in Government,
Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1995.
12. Porter, M.E. (1979) How Competitive Forces Shape Strategy, Harvard Business
Review, March/April 1979.
13. Porter, M.E. (1980) Competitive Strategy, Free Press, New York, 1980.
14. Porter, M.E. (2008) The Five Competitive Forces That Shape Strategy, Harvard
business Review, January 2008.
15. Robbins, S.P., Bergman, R and Stagg, I. (1997), Management, (1st edn), Prentice Hall,
Australia
16. Statement by Martin Winterkorn, CEO, October 2010,
http://timesnewsworld.com/072119/volkswagen-car-maker-plans-to-be-number-one-
in-the-worldby-2018, accessed on 9 July 2012
17. Sustainability Report, 2011, Volkswagen
18. The independent, 2011, Volkswagen, Greenpeace in bitter feud over environment,
http://www.caradvice.com.au/125040/volkswagen-greenpeace-in-bitter-feud-over-
environment/
19. Viljoen, J. & Dann, S. J. (2003). Strategic Management (4th ed.). Frenchs Forest,
N.S.W.: Prentice Hall.



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13. Appendix