Stp, product management & situation analysis assignment overview this
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:
- Briefly describe Volkswagen’s emissions scandal and provide background on the company and automobile industry.
- 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.
- H,ow should Volkswagen handle the emissions scandal in an ethical way? Discuss the related ethical issues from both consumer and brand manager perspectives.
- What can you learn from this case? What suggestions could you offer to executives of other car manufacturers?
