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INOFABU - Innovations in Family Business
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INOFABU - Innovations in Family Business
Volkswagen AG, known globally as the Volkswagen Group, is a German multinational automotive production corporation whose main offices are in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany, and incidentally majority held by the Austrian Porsche and Piech family. The company designs, produces, and distributes passenger and commercial vehicles, turbo machinery, engines, motorcycles and provides related services such as financing (both consumer and dealership financing), fleet management, banking and insurance activities, and leasing.
Volkswagen overtook Toyota as the world’s largest automaker in 2016 and managed to retain the title in the following three years by selling more than 10.9 million vehicles (Anand, 2020). Volkswagen has maintained the largest automotive market share in Europe for more than twenty years and was among the top ten world's largest companies in the 2018 Fortune Global 500 list. The company's brand portfolio includes both economy and luxury automobiles such as Volkswagen, Bentley, SEAT, Porsche, Audi, Volkswagen commercial vehicles, Ducati, Skoda, SEAT, Scania, and MAN.
While Volkswagen lacks an official mission statement, its objective is “to offer attractive, safe and environmentally sound vehicles which can compete in an increasingly tough market and set world standards in their respective class.” This goal embodies two critical components (producing cars of outstanding global quality as well as manufacturing automobiles that exceed expectations), which serve to advance its vision. Volkswagen vision statement is "to make this world a mobile, sustainable place with access to all citizens." This vision statement comprises two critical components (initiating mobility throughout the world and doing so in a sustainable manner) (Mission Statement Academy, 2019).
The Volkswagen Group was started on May 28, 1937, by the German Labour Front as Volkswagenwark, or "the People's Car Company." Austrian automotive engineer Ferdinand Porsche provided the design for the mass production of affordable and speedy automobiles. However, World War II halted production, but after the war ended, the Allies resolved on resuscitating the company and, by extension, Germany's auto industry. Although Volkswagen's sales were initially slower owing to the company's historical association with the Nazis, the iconic beetle gradually gained massive appeal and surpassed the production record set by the legendary Model T. Volkswagen would go ahead and design contemporary sportier models like the Golf, Passat, Polo, and the highly touted “New Beetle” (IDA, 2018). The company was denationalized in 1960 when 60 percent of its stock was sold to the public. As Volkswagen’s sales increased, the company opened plants throughout the world and acquired other automotive companies under its brand portfolio.
Ferdinand Porsche and Adolf Rosenberger essentially established Volkswagen, and the two families have built an automotive empire that extends throughout the world, much like Ford Motor, Fiat, and BMW. The company's critical leadership has been retained among family members, with Ferdinand Piech as the last chairman until his ouster by Winkerton, the current head. Nevertheless, through Porsche PE, the two families own significant shares in the company even if the company is public. Volkswagen group of companies include twelve brands from seven European nations: Volkswagen, SKODA, Lamborghini, Bugatti, Ducati, Porsche, Audi, SEAT, Bentley, Ducati, Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles, MAN, and Scania. Its organizational structure is complicated, as is evident in the chart below:
Volkswagen group employs more than 660,000 people globally, with about half of the workforce situated in Germany. The brand is known worldwide for its human resource practices, including its respect for diversity, equal opportunity, tolerance, and fairness. It applies these human relation practices as the foundation for innovation, strength, performance, and strength. It is also very active in promoting young talent and supporting about 5,000 vocational trainees. The training and development program has resulted in an effective and able human resource base capable of attaining corporate strategy. Training is divided into managerial and non-managerial training and is geared towards meeting individual professional needs. Overall, Volkswagen's human relations are driven by social responsibility and have established the automotive company as a reliable and good employer throughout the world. It provides its employees with a complete service package such as innovative employment models, performance-related pay, individual support, agile working, and attractive career prospects (Volkswagen, 2019). As a result, the company has managed to attract and retain the best talent in the automotive industry.
Volkswagen markets its vehicles in more than 150 countries worldwide and has more than 10,000 trading companies and service partners who help with sales promotion. The company's profitability and brand strength come from its equally extensive portfolio of well-established brands. Its partnership with numerous trading companies and service partners and its comprehensive brand portfolio has assisted in setting the company as the leading car company in Europe for two decades, and just recently, the whole world. However, most of its marketing success is founded on its ability to establish automobile-particular customer segmentation to steer leadership of its brands (Basin, 2017). Its portfolio includes both economy and luxury car brands, which possess a strong following among car buyers and are also competitively priced.
Volkswagen’s operations are divided into automotive and financial services divisions. The automotive division entails the commercial vehicles, passenger cars, and power engineering business areas. Most of the activities in this division are the design and development of engines and vehicles, over and above, the production and sale of light commercial vehicles, passenger cars, motorcycles, trucks, and buses along with turbomachinery, genuine parts special gear units, large-core diesel engines, propulsion components, and mobility solutions. On the other hand, the activities performed in the financial services division include vehicle leasing, customer and dealer financing, fleet management, direct banking, mobility offerings, and insurance activities. These two divisions have resulted in more than $264.47 billion in revenue and about $10.5 billion after-tax (Volkswagen AG, 2020).