Case Assignment

This Case Assignment focuses on Volkswagen’s emissions scandal and related brand management and business ethics issues.

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).

Carey, N., & Shepardson, D. (2017). Volkswagen pleads guilty in U.S. court in diesel emissions scandal. Retrieved from http://www.reuters.com/article/us-volkswagen-emiss…

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-emiss…

Danny, Hakim, Kessler, A. M., & Ewing, J. (2015, Sep 27). As VW pushed to be no. 1, ambitions fueled a scandal. New York Times.

Ewing, J. (2015, Sep 23). Diesel scandal at VW spreads to core market. New York Times.

Farrell, S. (2015, Oct. 26). Volkswagen loses sales top spot to Toyota after emissions scandal. Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/oct/26/volkswagen-top-spot-toyota-vw-emissions-scandal.

Fung, B. (2015). Volkswagen's U.S. CEO apologizes for emissions cheating scandal. Washington: WP Company LLC d/b/a The Washington Post.

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-… .

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/volksw…

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.

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. Looking at required articles on Volkswagen’s emissions scandal, as well as additional research you have done on Volkswagen’s emissions scandal, address the following issues:

1. Briefly describe Volkswagen’s emissions scandal and provide background on the company and automobile industry.
2. 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 is impacted.
3. How should Volkswagen have handled the emissions scandal in an ethical way? Discuss the related ethical issues from both consumer and brand manager perspectives.
4. What can you learn from this case? What suggestions could you offer to the top management at Volkswagen and other car makers?

Assignment Expectations

Write clearly, simply, and logically. Your paper should be 750-1,500 words, excluding title pages and references, but quality of writing is more important than length. Use double-spaced, black Verdana or Times Roman font in 12 pt. type size.

Back up your positions or opinions with references to the required reading found in the Background and Ongoing Useful Resources. In using those references, demonstrate your understanding of the concepts presented. Rather than grading on how much information you find, emphasis will be on the defense of the positions you take on the issues. Also remember that:

• The "why" is more important than the "what."
• The defense of your positions on the issues is more important than the positions you take.

Paraphrase the facts using your own words and ideas, employing quotes sparingly. Quotes, if absolutely necessary, should not be more than a few words. When writing an academically oriented paper, you will uncover many facts about the product. If you paraphrase the facts, cite the sources in your text and link those citations to references at the end of the paper.

Here are some guidelines on how to conduct an information search and build critical-thinking skills.

Emerald Group Publishing. (n.d.). Searching for Information. Retrieved from http://www.emeraldinsight.com/learning/study_skill…

Emerald Group Publishing. (n.d.). Developing Critical Thinking. Retrieved from http://www.emeraldinsight.com/learning/study_skill…

Guidelines for handling quoted and paraphrased material are found at:

Purdue Online Writing Lab. (n.d.). Academic Writing. Retrieved from https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/section/1/2/

Purdue Online Writing Lab. (n.d.). Quoting, Paraphrasing, and Summarizing. Retrieved from https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/563/1/

Purdue Online Writing Lab. (n.d.). Avoiding Plagiarism. Retrieved from http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/589/1/

Your paper consists of arguments in favor of your opinions or positions on the issues addressed by the guidelines; therefore, avoid the logical fallacies described in the resource below:

Purdue Online Writing Lab. (n.d.). Logic in Argumentative Writing. Retrieved from
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/659/03/

Product Management and SWOT Analysis

Aisner, J. E. (1999). More than a name: The role of brands in people’s lives. Working Knowledge for Business Leaders Series. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School. Retrieved from http://hbswk.hbs.edu/archive/2598.html

Barwise, P., & Meehan, S. (2010). The one thing you must get right when building a brand. Harvard Business Review, 88 (12), 80-84.

Beyersdorfer, D., et al. (2011 January/February). Preserve the luxury or extend the brand? Harvard Business Review. 89:1/2(January/February):173-7.

Edelman, D. C. (2010). Branding in the digital age. Harvard Business Review. 88:12(December):62-69.

Fournier, S. (1998). Consumers and their brands: Developing relationship theory in consumer research. Journal of Consumer Research, 24(4), 343-372.

Hult, D. (2016). Branding in the age of social media. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2016/03/branding-in-the-age-of-soc…

Kumar, V., & Shah, D. (2009). Expanding the role of marketing: From customer equity to market capitalization. Journal of Marketing, 73(6), 119-136.

Lipiäinen, H.,Sisko Maarit, & Karjaluoto, H. (2015). Industrial branding in the digital age. The Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, 30(6), 733-741.

O’Connell, A. (2010). Reading The public mind. Harvard Business Review; 88:10(October):27-34.

Schneider, J., & Hall, J. (2011). Why most product launches fail. Harvard Business Review, 89 (6), 21-23.