Volkswagen of America’s decision to establish and cultivate its IT through the late 1990s came at a proper time. Not only were Volkswagen’s new products hitting the American market with promise to revive the company’s brands, but also consumers were coming to expect features like e-marketing and efficient product distribution.
Dr. Uwe Matulovic, the new Chief Information Officer (CIO) of Volkswagen of America (VWoA), had two primary concerns: defining governance and establishing development process directives. However, he finds himself in a challenging position. Matulovic faces inadequate funding, new business architecture, and growing pressure from his peers. Given VWoA’s history of viewing IT as a source of overhead expenditures, and the unpredictable United States market for its parent company (Volkswagen Audi Group), these circumstances did not come as a surprise.
Dr. Matulovic’s biggest hurdle to overcome is the capped funding determined by VWoA’s parent company. There were 10 business Units, and they had proposed more than 40 projects, which required a funding of $ 210 million as against the budget of $60 million that was capped amount by VWAG. Given the scope of VWoA’s initiatives, this amount is far short of what is needed.
New Vs. Old Process: Synopsis
Dr. Matulovic was faced with a severe challenge, but managed to get the organization back on track to serve the growing market. Coming from the tragic choice to effectively eliminate IT from the American side of Volkswagen in 1992, the new process for handling priorities is a drastic shift in the right direction. The process of handling projects according to importance was logical and thorough and best of all, comprehensive of departments. The process grants each ...
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... also has other group member to make the decision in the IT projects. Also, currently with the new systems put in place, we do see this as IT duopoly.
A combination of IT duopoly, and Federal system is what is essential in any Infrastructure related IT project where the management has better understanding of the technology, security and cost, They can be effective for decision making. In places, where there is a project which is to be created for any specific Business Unit or team, they have to work with IT together and BU will be customer for IT and they have to satisfy their needs, as they will be the end users who will handle the application of the IT project. Decision will be based on collective work, and BU will be a part of decision-making and review process, as they will work together with IT, instead of IT working in Silos and taking decisions on their own.
The IT department needs to collaborate with the business to better understand how organization changes impact applications and systems. Moreover, IT needs to strengthen the IT-business alignment to stay abreast of future changes. One methodology that may assist here is business architecture, a blueprint of the business that supports aligning strategic objectives and tactical demands. 7. There are limits to customer-centric responsiveness.
Back in May of 1998 GovWorks.com was founded and had 8 employees in it. The idea of such an internet service was inspired by the best friends and two co-founders: Kaleil Isaza Tuzman and Tom Herman. They have left their jobs to start work on the website. The company has started with a couple of computers, a comparatively tiny office and one car. With its very quick extension just in a few months the company grew to 30 employees, but it was the beginning. Their goal was just pompous: to transform the local payment system to the size of a federal and then to the global worldwide transaction system. Even the slogan of the company was nothing if not immodest: “All payments for all governments”. He tried to get the support of organizations that represent many different municipalities. For instance U.S. Conference of Mayors. They were so-called umbrella organizations. With the support of them GovWorks could quickly become a nationwide. Unfortunately it did not work out that way. Tuzman and Herman undervalued the trust little cities have to the endorsements of the umbrella organizations. GovWorks expected big contracts to come quicker than they actually came. As the result in the beginning of 2001, the company was not any more in business.
A recent scandal involving up 500,000 Volkswagen cars comprising of 24 different model vehicles has dropped Volkswagen from their position as number one auto maker. The emissions of these cars were 40 times higher than the limits stated in United States emotions laws. One critical engineer James Robert Liang, has agreed to cooperate and pleaded guilty for cheating emotions testing with special software. This blunder has cost Volkswagen $15 billion, the jobs of those employees involved, and their reputation. Executives deny connections to the scandal and say lower level employees alone are to blame. Although this begs the question; what would an ethical engineer do in such a situation? Refusing to cooperate with his superiors, risks compromising his loyalty to the company and losing his job. However, if the scandal remains hidden, James has not only lied, but he has directly increased harmful emotions which harm the environment. He now faces 5 years in prison followed by deportation.
Businesses are catering to a large number of stakeholders which include employees, customers, suppliers, community, etc
Strengths Weaknesses Brand Recognition and loyalty Decline in market share through the years Improvements in quality and manufacturing Consumer change changes daily Large sales in international market Government Bailout American made ideology Negative Reviews 2. How has Chevrolet strategically managed its brand and reputation over the last 100 years? Chevrolet branding strategy comprises the theory of American-made quality with brand recognition. Their popular taglines have made Chevrolet successful such as: “The Great American Value”, “That Chevy Feeling”, and “America’s Best Seller, America’s Best Buy”.
The IT PMB includes the Associate CIO for Capital Planning and Governance, officials from the Office of the Chief Engineer, the Enterprise Architecture Lead Representative, and staff from the Mission Directorates, Centers, and CLT. The group, chaired by the NASA Deputy CIO, serves as a forum for top-level oversight and evaluation of Agency IT programs and projects. Six Program Boards below the three high-level boards make operational decisions on a variety of issues including IT security and software applications. Historically, NASA has operated as a decentralized organization based on the philosophy that its Centers and project managers should be given as much freedom and autonomy as possible to accomplish
IBM is one of the most effective and popular computer in the industry. The reason the threat of entrant is low because the rate is enormously high for software services, products, and industrial R&D (Murdick, 2001). The threat of entrant in industry came out to be low for the above reasons that I explained. For example, IBM companies is very popular and expensive compared to other computer companies. Their prices are flexible and less than IBM prices. Thus, the way IBM is set up is very large firm and ranked the highest amongst all other computer industries. In general, the threat of entrant is low due to the co...
A project is a temporary endeavour undertaken to create a unique product or service. They are goal oriented, have a definite start and finish time, must be done within cost, schedule and quality parameters. Projects involve the coordinated undertaking of interrelated activities (Project Management: Achieving Competitive Advantage). According to Tom Peters, “Projects, rather than repetitive tasks, are now the basis for most value-added in business”. Based on this, it is clear that projects are of utmost importance to businesses in both the service and the manufacturing industries.
Ford’s production plants rely on very high-tech computers and automated assembly. It takes a significant financial investment and time to reconfigure a production plant after a vehicle model is setup for assembly. Ford has made this mistake in the past and surprisingly hasn’t learned the valuable lesson as evidence from the hybrid revolution their missing out on today. Between 1927 and 1928, Ford set in motion their “1928 Plan” of establishing worldwide operations. Unfortunately, the strategic plan didn’t account for economic factors in Europe driving the demand for smaller vehicles. Henry Ford established plants in Europe for the larger North American model A. Their market share in 1929 was 5.7% in England and 7.2% in France (Dassbach, 1988). Economic changes can wreak havoc on a corporation’s bottom line and profitability as well as their brand.
Since the beginning of 2000, FAW-Volkswagen has grown rapidly in the face of international competition. Before 2004, the company used the traditional value-chain model, which is based on sales’ production (Mazen, 2010). This is a risky model for a company to follow in a volatile market. Use of the forecasting model provides, no analytical evidence to support different options. Both marketing people and financial management people are under great pressure to balance costs and profits. As a Chinese automaker, FAW-Volkswagen didn’t want to have a passive and disadvantaged position in the industry, so the R& D department began to analyze the build-to-order model of foreign auto manufacturers, and adopted a new value-chain model on this
Audi is majorly owned subsidiary of the Volkswagen (VW) Group and is headquartered in Germany and operation in more than 100 countries. With the commitment the implement progressive technology and its technological ingenuity, by late 1990’s Audi became globally respected brand among luxury automakers. After its entry in luxury sector in early 1990’s, Audi leveraged its ingenuity and gained the competitive edge over the industry parameters of innovative design, safety and performance. Today, Audi remains focused on satisfying on customer needs by building a brand that exemplifies individuality, exclusivity and excellence.
However, during the 1990s, Philips and Matsushita both faced major challenges to sustain their position in the market. Changing profile of the industry and globalization forces made Philips and Matsushita’s organizational models and competitive advantages obsolete, and brought up the need for drastic actions. At the brink of a new century, the battle of two giants unraveled with CEOs from both sides implementing another round of strategic initiatives and restructurings. The pressure put on new CEOs was enormous – wrong st...
The global company Mercedes-Benz is considered one of the most successful and well-known automotive companies worldwide. Since 1886, the company’s founders Gottlieb Daimler and Carl Benz made history with the invention of the automobile, including the Daimler Group, which is one the biggest producers of premium cars and the world’s biggest manufacturer of commercial vehicles globally (Daimler, 2013). Their main focus is innovation, safety, technology, style, brand image, expansion, and superior automobiles by offering the best of the best to consumers worldwide. The brand’s philosophy is to continuously create radically new products to advance the cause of human mobility. It is also the number one luxury brand in the United States and Germany while continuously expanding in China and Russia as well (Interbrand, 2013). Mercedes-Benz has a great selection on divisions such as cars, trucks, vans, buses, and financial services offered to any consumer or business. Their global reach has increased tremendously by including production facilities in 17 countries on five continents and having 93 locations worldwide. As a pioneer of automotive engineering, their strategy is to continue the same pioneer role with the ongoing development of mobility, especially in the areas of safety and sustainability (Daimler, 2013). It is very essential for the company to focus on consumers’ needs and their highly well known brand in a competitive global economy. That is why the company Mercedes-Benz releases a brand new model every year to stay on top of its competitors by improving previous models. Some strategies practiced are global marketing, global product development, global product pricing, global advertising, global distribution, an...
Market Segmentation, Positioning and targeting for BMW 1.1 Introduction This report aims to examine the market segmentation, positioning and targeting of BMW (automobile company). BMW will be examined giving information about the company and where it is now and any recommendations that we feel are appropriate. 1.2 BMW Company Profile BMW was formed in 1917, from the merger of two small aero engine makers. Their famous blue and white symbol stems from the colours of the Bavarian Luftwaffe and is said to resemble the view of the one of their plane through a propeller. BMW is renowned for its sporty, sophisticated & luxury image which has been built up since the 1970's with many motor sport victories ranging from Touring Car to Formula 1.
One main apprehension that they have against Information System is the high investment cost. In addition to this there is the high maintenance and upgrade costs associated with the deployment of new IT systems. In fact they prefer to outsource the heavy IT department expenditures to other companies having IT as their core activities. In return they expected to receive a full solution pack to meet their requirements and they are ready to pay these IT services as an operating cost. At the same time the risks associated with IS are being shifted to the other