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Volkswagen’s Strategy Case Study Analysis

University of the People

BUS 5112 Marketing Management

Instructor: Dr. Regina Martin

April 28, 2021

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Volkswagen’s Strategy Case Study Analysis

Due to Volkswagen’s unscrupulous behavior, intense pressure and attention has been

focused on their strategy for the future. Beyond Volkswagen’s immediate strategy for recovery

lies their long-term strategy. According to their Strategy 2018, originally announced in 2008,

Volkswagen’s strategy was to be the most thriving, attractive and viable automobile

manufacturer (Volkswagen Goals and Strategies, 2017).

Key elements of this strategy included innovation, increasing market share, increasing

productivity (as measured via return on sales), and becoming a top employer in order to build a

first-class team. (Magadia et al., 2019)

In December 2007, under the direction of then CEO Martin Winterkorn, the Volkswagen

group launched an incredibly ambitious growth strategy called “Strategy 2018.” This strategy

focused on the following four strategic goals intended to drive Volkswagen to the top of the

global automobile industry:

 Volkswagen intends to deploy intelligent innovations and technologies to become a

world leader in customer satisfaction and quality.

 The goal is to increase unit sales to more than 10 million vehicles a year; in particular,

Volkswagen intends to capture an above-average share of growth in the major growth

markets.

 Volkswagen’s aim is a sustainable return on sales before tax of at least 8% so as to ensure

that the Group’s solid financial position and ability to act are guaranteed even in difficult

market periods.
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 Volkswagen aims to become the top employer across all brands, in all companies

and regions. This is necessary in order to build a first-class team. (Blackwelder et al.,

2016)

Until recently, Volkswagen was well underway to achieving these goals, having achieved

over 10 million unit sales in 2014, more than half of which were attributed to the Volkswagen

Passenger Cars brand. However, the success was short-lived. On October 26, 2015, Toyota

officially released its sales numbers for the first three quarters of 2015; Volkswagen had fallen

behind (Blackwelder et al., 2016). As such Volkswagen did not meet its goal with the 2018

Strategy, and this birthed the TOGETHER- Strategy 2025.

The recommendations in the “A Real-Time Case Analysis” article are the right approach

to help Volkswagen meet its goals as it catered for culture changes, improving Brand Image &

Regaining, Consumer Trust., Product quality, and leveraging on technology.

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References

Barth, M., Bauer, A., Hughes, E., King, A., & Koerner, H. (2017). Volkswagen Public Relations

Plan Cases in Communication & Media Management Communication 480 The Titans.

http://www.uwgb.edu/clampitp/Phils%20Site/Internet_Broadcast/documents/Volkswagen-

Cases-Case.pdf ‌

Blackwelder, B., Coleman, K., Colunga-Santoyo, S., & Harrison, J. (2016). The Volkswagen

Scandal Written by. https://robins.richmond.edu/resources/events/Volkswagen.pdf ‌

Magadia, R., Maha Hanno, Anuja Kadoo, & Carlson, A. (2019, January 11). A Real-Time Case

Analysis. ResearchGate; unknown.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/330324062_A_Real-Time_Case_Analysis

Zhou, A. (2016). Analysis of the Volkswagen Scandal Possible Solutions for Recovery School of

Global Policy and Strategy, UC at San Diego Prepared for Professor Peter Gourevitch

Course on Corporate Social Responsibility Winter 2016.

https://gps.ucsd.edu/_files/faculty/gourevitch/gourevitch_cs_zhou.pdf