Tag: Assignments Essay

  • Case Study of Volkswagen Scandal Diesel Assignments Essay

    Case Study of Volkswagen Scandal Diesel Assignments Essay

    Volkswagen Scandal Diesel Case Study Solution with Assignments Essay; In the dynamic of the year 2015, the scandal about diesel cheating damaged the image of the Volkswagen Company. The harmful and mortal effects of nitrogen oxide; which is a pollutant found in car exhaust have led the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to tighten emission run at the forefront of the attention paid to conservation and saving the green. The dealing out agreed to pursue quick-term needs forgetting the prospects of the company. Discuss the environmental implications of the scandal.

    Here are the articles to explain, Case Study Solution for Volkswagen Scandal Diesel with Assignments Essay!

    The leadership of the company made an unchangeable gamble bearing in mind the stakeholder’s trust and resources. The Diesel emissions scandal, The cheat was in origin taking into consideration the stringent measures initiated by the EPA. These stringent events are necessary after the nitrogen gas emitted is harmful to human health and results in diseases such as asthma, premature death, bronchitis, and respiratory and cardiovascular. The Volkswagen Company’s reputation existed deeply damaged by the scandal leading to low revenue and supplementary effects including ham it taking place suites. For more reference in the version to Volkswagen as a matter and how they are roomy, let a see at our Volkswagen SWOT Analysis. Conclude with a discussion of the future of Volkswagen.

    Introduction to the Volkswagen Scandal;

    Introduce the Volkswagen scandal and its effects. Over the last few decades, there has been great concern regarding the sustainability and conservation of the environment. Environmental pollution and globalization have become the concern of most environmental protection agencies. The harmful and mortal effects of nitrogen oxide; which stands as a pollutant found in car exhaust have led the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to tighten emission control considering the attention paid to conservation and saving the green. These concerns have made the EPA constantly announce restrictions for standard emissions for all types of vehicles the sports cars, heavy-duty trucks, automobiles, and other types of cars. These stringent measures are necessary considering that nitrogen gas emitted is harmful to human health and results in diseases such as asthma, premature death, bronchitis, and respiratory and cardiovascular.

    The scandal reflects corporate misbehavior on the part of Volkswagen. The automakers manufacturing fuel-efficient diesel cars in the United States faced hardships due to these new stringent emission regulations. Volkswagen is among the automobile makers in the United States market that were new stringent regulations. However, in the year 2015, the EPA announced that Volkswagen was a diesel dupe following its strategy to deceive the emission test. Volkswagen managed to deceive the test by showing less emission in its engines than what the engine emitted in the real sense. Therefore, this essay stands aimed at analyzing the extent to which this issue of diesel dupe has ruined its reputation of Volkswagen.

    Analysis;

    In light of the discovery of the diesel dupe Volkswagen in 2015; the mechanism aimed to alter the detection of nitrogen oxide gas in Volkswagen diesel engines. The test of the emission of nitrogen oxide in the lab was thirty-five times more on the road hence endangering the lives of the people. The leadership of Volkswagen decided to take a shortcut in the production of their internationally recognized brand. This rigging scandal has had a bad reputation for Volkswagen leading to a series of consequences for its direct and indirect stakeholders.

    The impact of the Volkswagen Scandal;

    In the previous year before the rigging scandal, Volkswagen was among the leading automobile producer in the automobile industry just second after Toyota Company. However, Volkswagen’s admission of guilt in the scandal had a series of effects on it and its operations and the company. The scandal severely damaged the company’s reputation in the automobile industry. Building a reputation in the business world takes time but destroying it is often fast; therefore, this has led to the Volkswagen Company bringing in three public relations company companies to help manage the crisis from Germany, Britain, and the United States. The implications of this deceit by Volkswagen leave the company in a bad condition considering; that it has to deal with different regulations since the company is an international brand.

    The Role of the Managers;

    Good leadership has three pillars that support it which are commitment, character, and competencies. Therefore, if any of these three values is not present; then there are bound to be problems for the stakeholders, the manager, and the entire organization. In any organization, corporate social responsibility and sustainability have proven too challenging. This follows as managers exist faced with the challenge of the tradeoff between the long and short-term decisions. This tradeoff often poses decisions between the survival of the business; and its annual compensation, between long-term environmental factors and quarterly profits, and between short-term and long-term goals.

    Business schools must learn a better way to teach students about these tradeoffs and ways of handling them not ignore them. Resilience is key to financial sustainability. Therefore, business is capable of surviving natural disasters or financial crisis. Moreover, the manager’s relationship with the employees, the environment, and the community result in resilience. Therefore, it is important that businesses not work against the institutions that enable their long-term success. However, the antithesis of sustainability is what the Volkswagen Company showed in 2015 through diesel dupe.

    Others role;

    It does not make any sense for the managers of Volkswagen to create; this shortcut and be comfortable thinking it would lead to long-term success. The deception played on the consumers and the regulators compromised the long-term needs and success of the company despite achieving the short-term needs. The decision the managers made regarding the tradeoff between short and long-term existed surely misguided. Volkswagen stands as a company surrounded by competent staff and the managers exist well educated and have vast experience in the industry. Therefore, tabling an argument that there was a shortage of expertise would be wrong and misguided. The strong desire of the managers to succeed at whatever cost is what brought this predicament to the company.

    They did everything with a sense of urgency and approached the challenges faced by the company with passion and vigor. The decisions these managers made, it is a case of failure in leadership. Research has concluded that drive, temperance, courage, humanity, collaboration, humility, integrity, accountability, justice, transcendence, and judgment are all qualities of a good leader and must all work together since using overusing one trait may result in liability. These traits are essential considering they enable a leader to think things through before making a decision. Moreover, the trait of justice helps in knowing the importance of giving back to the society; that ensures the success of the business and not harming them like in the case of Volkswagen.

    Threatening People’s Health;

    In case the scandal regarding the cheat device would not occur; sixty people would have died a premature death in the United States alone by the end of 2016 due to the additional pollution the Volkswagen cars produce. The 428,000 Volkswagen and Audi diesel cars manufactured produced more nitrogen oxide gas forty times more; than the standard allowed by the Clean Air Act in the period between 2008 and 2015. Researchers have concluded that every six years the cars Volkswagen and Audi produce an excess of about 36.7 million kg of nitrogen oxide; which is very bad for the environment and the health of human beings considering diseases like cardiovascular diseases; and other respiratory diseases that exist caused by this emission.

    Moreover, the research also stated that sixty people between the age of 10-20 exist endangered by these emissions. Additionally, the effects of these emissions would result in the United States spending about $450 million on people over six years in the period between 2008 and 2015. There would be 140 premature deaths in the event Volkswagen failed to recall vehicles manufactured from 2015 onwards. Moreover, the Volkswagen diesel cars would cost about $840 million in health costs. Finally, acid rains exist caused as a result of nitrogen oxide production in the atmosphere; which leads to the destruction of property, and natural resources and badly affects the health of humans.

    Drop-in Volkswagen Sale;

    Bad reputation ruins businesses beyond recovery. Just as expected, Volkswagen faced a severe decline in revenue since the Volkswagen scandal of diesel. The scandal resulted in customers switching to its competitors disabling the sales of Volkswagen vehicles. For the first time since the year 2002, Volkswagen sales plunged throughout the world due to a bad reputation. Furthermore, the scandal affected every aspect of the Volkswagen brand considering even the share values slumped. The slump in share value started declining immediately after the scandal stood revealed resulting in a one-third drop. The decline in revenue stood expected considering no one wants to associate with a company facing a scandal and no customers would buy products that cause health problems.

    Recommendations – Lessons learned from the Volkswagen Scandal;

    The culture and structure of an organization are key to its success. The business environment is very different from the practices in the past. Employees are the engines, which move an organization; hence, failure to treat them ethically could result in grave consequences. Increasing the morale of employees is vital to the achievement of tasks and productivity in an ethical manner. There is no hierarchy in value-based practices and employees work in small groups that enhance productivity. Moreover, democracy stands promoted considering the employees report issues and concerns to their superiors resulting in high productivity within the organization.

    From the actions of Volkswagen regarding the scandal of diesel; it is evident that the company resorted to shortcuts due to the stringent measures imposed by the EPA. Therefore, it is the role of the EPA to ensure the automobile industry does adequate research and finds alternative technology; which does not affect the environment; moreover, the EPA body has the mandate to ease its stringent measures.

    Other things;

    The EPA body must ensure it offers adequate support to the automobile makers and introduces a more feasible standard to the automobile makers to avoid companies from taking such actions as Volkswagen. The value-based approach is vital in the management of employees hence it should embrace by organizations. The EPA also must provide programs, which support the endeavors of the automobile makers. Volkswagen Company can regain its reputation back but that will not be easy. The first thing the company must do is do overhaul its leadership and bring in new faces.

    Moreover, there needs to be a fresh start therefore, the person must also be new. After clearing the personnel and the leadership, there should be constant apologies to its customers. Afterward, the company needs to spend more money buying back the cars and fixing the problems to meet the standards of the EPA. The process of recovery will take time fixing the court cases and getting back in the good graces of people. However, spending time and money and ensuring no more mistakes is the only way the company will recover from this hit.

    Conclusion;

    In light of the Volkswagen scandal diesel discovery, it is clear it was an act of pure conmanship. The company decided to make profits at the cost of its customers and the environment. This scandal created a complicated situation for the stakeholders of the company. The actions of Volkswagen’s management were unethical to the business world leaving a bad name for the company. The management decided to pursue short-term needs forgetting the prospects of the company. The scandal left the company in a series of cases including a violation of the Clean Air Act and a series of international laws.

    The leadership of the company made a complete gamble with the stakeholder’s trust and resources. The company had already established itself worldwide hence such a scandal cost it a huge price considering; that it would take a long time for it to get back to its glory days. The leadership of an organization is vital as it plays a significant role within the organization; and, its decisions may make or break the organization, therefore, in this case, Volkswagen’s leadership made a grave mistake.

    Reference; It stands Retrieved from https://www.ukessays.com/assignments/volkswagen-case-study-2021.php?vref=1

    Case Study of Volkswagen Scandal Diesel Assignments Essay Image
    Case Study of Volkswagen Scandal Diesel Assignments Essay; Image by andreas160578 from Pixabay.
  • Supply Chain Models Comparison Theories Assignments Essay

    Supply Chain Models Comparison Theories Assignments Essay

    Comparison of Supply Chain Models and Theories in Assignments Essay; Introduction – The notion of “supply chain management” was first used by consultants in the 1980s; however, other scholars would argue that supply chain management arose from the logistical processes, costing methods, transportation, and physical distribution. The term supply chain management is a relatively new phenomenon but has become one of the most crucial components for a business’s success.

    Here is the article to explain, What is the Comparison of Supply Chain Models and Theories Assignments Essay?

    Author Croom et al, 2000, categorized the subject area of supply chain management into six categories; Strategic Management, Relationships and Partnerships, Logistics, Best practices, Marketing, and Organisational Behaviour. Argued that scholars have approached supply chain management from a restrictive functional view; and operationally integrated linkages (between buyers and suppliers) to end-to-end management of; for example, information and material flow, quality, and design.

    Supply chain management has been referring to using terms such as “distribution channels”, “network sourcing”, “supply pipeline management”, “value chain management”, and “value stream management”. Many scholars even today would dispute over just; what supply chain management is and with various conceptual models with many different supply chain frameworks; often this poses the question as to which is the most optimal one for a company.

    Supply chain models and theories came into full force when the Japanese car company Toyota revealed their “lean manufacturing”, processes to the world. As a result of their lean concept which focuses on the reduction of waste within the manufacturing environment, automotive companies around the world have aimed to perfect; their manufacturing processes, and many companies, like Nissan, aim to maximize the efficiency and effectiveness of their processes.

    As with many industries, the automotive industry, especially in the modern era, relies heavily on suppliers in their manufacturing processes, long gone the days of Henry Ford’s mass production days where most cars were made in-house. As a result of economies of scale, labor costs, production costs, technical know-how, and globalization, many car companies now consider outsourcing for many components of their manufacturing process; thus making supply chain management a vital component of their business. For this paper, one can argue the “efficient” supply chain model is the driving model behind the Nissan – Renault- Mitsubishi alliance and manufacturing of the Qashqai car.

    The Efficient Supply Chain Model;

    The “efficient” supply chain model one could argue is the driving model behind the Renault-Nissan and Mitsubishi alliance. The efficient supply chain model outlines how managers should focus on maximizing end-to-end efficiency including high rates of asset utilization in a bid to lower costs. As to how effective this model is and how closely these companies follow; this model is under scrutiny by academics and will be critically evaluated in this paper.

    Reflection to the Case Study;

    The logic behind the conclusion that this case study is an example of an efficient, although failed, supply chain model will outline in this report. One of the main factors of this case study that can lead one to draw this conclusion is the agreement; which all three automotive companies aim to meet that is: “each company acts in the financial interest of the other; while maintaining an individual brand, identities, and independent corporate cultures”.

    Example;

    Unlike Toyota which adopted a Lean manufacturing process, this case study had a completely different aim and set of parameters. This case involved three leading car companies working together to develop a new car, the Qashqai. The Toyota Model works well and lean generally is a lot easier to manage; where it is one OEM and the suppliers of the OEM are all focused on that OEM. Toyota installed Lean thinking in its company culture, heritage, and suppliers; which all work together and prove to be very effective.

    Toyota’s lean concept focuses on eliminating waste throughout the organization and supply network.  The elimination of waste design to reduce costs and save time. Cost and Time are crucial elements. In this case study, cost-sharing is the crucial element not cost elimination; this is the major difference between the two conceptional models. One model eliminates waste and reduces cost, the other aims to utilize assets throughout the end-to-end supply chain; and share costs in a way to reduce the cost for each company.

    Details;

    According to the  Industrial Marketing and Purchasing (IMP) Group; “organizational efficiency defines as an internal standard of performance”. Supply chain efficiency is related to whether a company’s processes are harnessing resources in the best way possible; whether those resources are financial, human, technological, or physical. However, the definition of efficiency does not include customer satisfaction. There may be a very efficient supply chain that minimizes costs for materials and packaging; but as in the case of the Qashqai car model, faulty components existed installed into the car; which means that more than 25,000 cars existed recalled due to a brake fault problem.

    Objective;

    The objective of the alliance was to create a product that meant; that customers would pay less for fuel as this car would use “cutting edge technology” to be fuel-efficient. By using lighter and more innovative components, the car should “reduce fuel consumption by 20%”. Coming back to the point made in the previous paragraph; whilst aiming to achieve this objective, the development lead time from 20.75 months was to reduce to just 10.50 months; and reducing costs from 10 billion euros to 4 billion euros.

    Achieve;

    To achieve this at the time of “launching the Qashqai, they relied on the adoption and adaptation of other organizations’ best practices. This is another reason why one could conclude that the supply chain conceptional model used by the alliance was the “efficient supply chain model”. The companies aimed to utilize the assets of each company, i.e. best practices, to develop this cutting-edge technology.

    In addition, it can conclude from the actions and strategies from the alliance that efficiency in terms of the supply chain model; does not always mean it is effective as stated previously the reduction in development time and the cost was an internal strategy using internal standards; which didn’t benefit the end-user as the car was faulty.

    The Customer-Driven Supply Chain Model;

    A customer-driven supply chain is a concept that aims to enhance the efficiency of operations in business by synchronizing activities; such as planning, production, and deliveries to appropriately react to customer requirements. The objective outlined in the case study which is what the alliance was aiming to achieve was reducing fuel consumption, increasing comfort and drivability, and increasing the degree of smoothness when traveling to and from destinations. This is very similar to the lean process model used by Toyota such as synchronization of activities; however, this model doesn’t place a strong emphasis on waste elimination where lean does; this model places the customer requirements as higher regard and in the case study.

    This is apparent where the use of company best practices and innovative new designs are being utilized to react to customer requirements for the need to fuel reduction and improve the driving experience. This conceptional model also differs from the efficient model which places a stronger emphasis on internal processes; and, in this case, study: “reducing lead time and costs” not necessarily paying as much attention to creating a product that meets requirements and safety checks.

    Reflection to the Case Study;

    The customer-driven supply chain model relies on the company’s ability to identify the customer needs and how to deal with these needs effectively. For the automotive industry, there are many requirements to meet. The reliability of manufacturer, design, function, and cost are purchasing decisions that a customer will use to decide on which car/ product to buy. A customer is more likely to put cost and function as their core concern.

    It can say that the NMUK alliance tried to respond to this by manufacturing a car that met both the cost and functional aspects. By manufacturing a car that would reduce fuel consumption by 20% by using lightweight materials; and by manufacturing a car that felt and drove much more comfortably for even greater distances. This is the general theme that was picked up and used as a focal point when establishing the alliance. Customers are more likely to place cost and functionality as primal categories in their decision-making process.

    Achieve;

    To achieve this NMUK’s corporate suite strategy was to; “systematically reduce development lead time from 20.75 months to 10.50 months, reducing costs from 10 billion euros to 4 billion euros”. By setting this strategy NMUK was aiming to reduce the costs drastically; which potentially could pass on to the end customers. Therefore, achieving one of the major purchasing decisions that customers base their decisions on, cost. Secondly, the other strategy NMUK used to meet the customer’s second decision-making aspect functionality, NMUK designed the Qashqai using “cutting edge and innovative lightweight components and materials”.

    These two objectives can argue to act as the primary focus which all other decisions were based around. The idea of reducing cost while increasing functionality. NMUK adapted and adopted the best practices of its partner companies whilst on one hand from; the previous post this was considered an efficient conceptional framework. On the other hand, one can argue this was based around the customer-driven supply chain model. NMUK sourced tier-one suppliers that could achieve further cost savings of 10%, thus reducing the overall cost even more. It can be argued that NMUK’s procurement decisions were based around; this concept of delivering better materials which had the positive effect of cost minimization.

    Decision;

    Another decision NMUK made which could interpret as a customer-driven supply chain models and theories concept was the use of offshoring and outsourcing. Offshoring and Outsourcing are inevitable, some scholars would argue. In this case study, NMUK outsourced the materials and even the technology in a bid to increase and maximize its functionality and reduce cost. However, this created a drastic consequence for NMUK; which will discuss later in the report where a detailed analysis of the supply chain decisions will evaluate.

    To conclude the point, these strategies although driven by customer decisions of cost reduction and improved functionality; led to what many scholars argue as a tremendous hindrance for the effectiveness of this supply chain and overall performance. UK’s decision to outsource as much as “45% of complicated modular components” led to lower production control, lower quality checks, and increased risk and delays.

    Conclusion;

    In conclusion, as discussed in the previous post two supply chain models and theories could draw from; this case study one is the efficient supply chain model, the other is the customer-driven supply chain model. Possibly, others could argue that this is an example of a learning supply chain models and theories; however, evidence from the case study suggests that the alliance group, although targeted to reduce lead time from 20.75 months to 10.50 months; and reduce costs from 10 billion euros to 4 billion euros; they did not adopt a kaizen or waste management strategy when transforming their process.

    Kaizen “refers to continuous accumulations of small betterment activities rather; than innovative improvement” and will refer to in the supply chain operational process post. Therefore, in this paper, this supply chain model is disregarded as evidence shows from Toyota’s manufacturing process; this incident wouldn’t have happened. In a lean process system, all possibilities of waste would target and eliminate. The continuous improvement would occur, whereas Nissan decided to innovate rapidly and outsource unproven technology.

    Suggestion;

    Furthermore, as suggested in the previous theories this case study demonstrates two supply chain models; and one could argue that these models intertwine with one another, meaning there is no one such sole model on which Nissan was based. On one hand, Nissan and the alliance were attempting to meet customer demands for innovative products at a lower cost and enhance functional ability. On the other hand, they attempted to achieve this through an efficient supply chain model; where they attempted to utilize assets from each company and adopt a cost-sharing platform to reduce costs for each company.

    This could say to be an example of an efficient supply chain model. Therefore, an analysis of this case study suggests that; this supply chain model was a combination of a customer-driven and efficient supply chain model. As proven in the case study, this may not be the most effective model; as it is often difficult to meet one criterion whilst achieving another.

    Supply Chain Models Comparison Theories Assignments Essay Image
    Supply Chain Models Comparison Theories Assignments Essay; Image by Mohamed Hassan from Pixabay.

    References; Comparison of Supply Chain Models. Retrieved from https://www.ukessays.com/assignments/comparison-of-supply-chain-models-2021.php?vref=1