Free Essay Sample on Car Wars at Wolfsburg

The case study exposes the rivalry in Volkswagen Group. It is apparent from the case study that Volkswagen had previously acquired six fiefdoms to guard the brands of the company. Volkswagen group did not allow the sharing of knowledge with other companies. The comments from some of the board supervisors reveal that there were internal conflicts within the company that made management complex. Additionally, there are external competitors for Volkswagen Company that aimed at ruining its business. For example, the CEO of Porsche is negative to the progress of Volkswagen, yet they rely on each other for success. It is apparent from the case study that Porsche AG depend on VW in the process of business transactions yet Wiedeking, the CEO of the company talk ill about VW. Porsche AG management is aware of the conflicts within Volkswagen and thus the CEO of Porsche AG intends to take advantage of the internal conflict for their success. The case exposes the intentions of the Porsche CEO of utilizing the business tactics of Volkswagen Group to progress and using its weakness to ruin its success. However, Porsche AG has improved over time and thus the company is the most profitable and prestigious of the all the automotive companies. The habit of Wiedeking of telling off Volkswagen Company was an obstacle to the business of VW. The intentions of the Porsche CEO were to ruin the reputations of Volkswagen Company to gain the competitive advantage as the best automotive sellers in the region. However, the plan did backfire because of huge debts and bankruptcy.

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Question 2

The case study reveals rivalry between Volkswagen and Porsche executives, which emanates the competition for market dominance. It is apparent that Porsche depends on Volkswagen for some its products. Apparently, the two companies haves some relationship where Piech, the chairperson of Volkswagen was in once the CEO of Porsche. Ideally, Porsche executive did not like the success of Volkswagen, and that is why they talk of the company. The negative image that Porsche executives created on the public was a threat to the business of the company. Other issues causing rivalry is the success of Porsche in the industry (Slaikeu & Hasson 2012). It is apparent from the case study that Porsche has turning to be competitive and the most profitable company in the industry. As a result, its competitor Volkswagen group was the only company that would threaten the success of the Porsche. For this reason, Porsche executive would talk off Volkswagen group with intentions of ruining its business practices for its competitive advantage. Additionally, the Porsche executives were aware of internal conflicts in Volkswagen Company and thus intended to take advantage to weaken the business practices of the company. Wiedeking wanted Volkswagen to pull out from the manufacturing of Bugatti and Phaetons. The idea did not have a soft landing in the years of Piech because the two brands that were experiencing double-digit growth.

Another source of conflict is that which is termed as a conflict of interest. In this case, Piech has a relative who are executives in the Porsche Company and was a one-time worker in the company. Deductively, the natural conflict between relatives is accountable in the rivalry between the executives of the two companies. It is apparent that the executives of Porsche Company as represented by Wiedeking are jealous of the success of Volkswagen Company. The jealousy is evident from the comment of Wiedeking regarding the sales of Bugatti and Phaetons. According to Wiedeking, the sales of the two brands of vehicles in Volkswagen were an obstacle to its success (Slaikeu & Hasson 2012. However, according to the records of Volkswagen Company, the sales of Bugatti and Phaetons was experiencing double digit. Analytically, Wiedeking intended to paralyze the success of Volkswagen through the provision of wrong advice. Another source of conflict between the executives of the two companies is the termination of joined partnership. Initially, Porsche had an investment in Volkswagen courtesy of Piech. Notably, after the friendly investment was terminated because of collisions, the war broke between the executives.

Question 3

Initially, Porsche executives did not show any signal to resolve conflict with the Volkswagen executives. In this case, each company stood their ground while they engage in a war of words. It is mentioned in the case study that the CEO of Porsche did wish to see Volkswagen company succeed. For example, he talks off the company and discourages the company from selling Bugatti and phaetons brands of vehicle. The two brands were rising in popularity according to Piech. In this case, the executives seem to stand their ground as a way of resolving their conflicts.

Another style of resolving the conflict that is evident in the case study is avoidance (Shirey, 2013). At the end of the case study it clear that Porsche did surrender the controlling interest in the Volkswagen. Apparently, the controlling interest was one of the causes of conflict between the two companies. Notably, the decisions made by Porsche to sell the business to the Volkswagen were one of the ways of avoiding the source of rivalry. The Volkswagen full acquisition of Porsche marked the end of the competition between the two companies.

Also, the style of resolving the conflict that is evident in the case study is giving in. Notably, Porsche and Volkswagen were dealing a common product. Additionally, the two companies had one thing in common, Piech, who was an engineer and has shares in the company. After Piech, transiting to Volkswagen did not please the executives of the previous company (Shirey, 2013).On realizing the source of the disagreement; Piech supported the partnership with Porsche. Notably, the intentions of Piech were to reduce the level of rivalry between the companies. Notably, the source of conflicts between the two companies was many, and this made the process of resolving the conflict complicated and multiple.

Question 4

The conflict between Porsche and Volkswagen executive ended in different instances. For example, at some point, Porsche Company became bankrupt and got into large debts. As a result, the company executives resolve to sell the business to Volkswagen and the government of Qatar. Also, the end of the conflict between the companies is when the plans of the rival CEO backfire. Initially, the Porsche CEO did not want to give up the struggles for the control of interest in Volkswagen (Shirey, 2013). However, upon the surrender the conflict came ended. Another factor that contributed to the end of rivalry between the companies is the financial crisis of the world. The world financial crisis reduced the sales from Porsche Company thus inhibiting the ability of the bank to pay for the loans. As a result, the company resolved to dissolve the operation through the sale of the business to its competitors hence the end of the conflict.

Transact Insurance Corporation

The case study is about Transact Insurance Corporation, which in the process of improving customers service and competitiveness. The strategy that the board of management of the company applied achieves the objective is hiring of a new CEO and appointment of new vice presidents. It is evident from the case study that the most active vice president is Jim, who is in charge of claims. Notably, Leon Jim applied different approaches in the attempts of bringing the needed change. One of the strategies that Jim employed involved meeting all the claims managers and directors and visiting all the employees in the 50 claims centers. In the visits, Jim realized that the authoritative nature of governance was applicable in all the divisions that thus affected the efficient operation of the claims centers (Moore 2014). Jim also came to realize that there were poor personal relations between the management and the employees and that the employees had a low level of moral. For this reason, Jim resorts to the application of new strategies which involved improving the morale of the workers and the application of supervisory leadership in claims divisions. Another conspicuous change that Jim attempted to initiate was the formulation of philosophies that would quid the managers and regulated their activities. The ten philosophies were to act as the grading rubrics during the annual survey that he initiated. The first survey that was conducted did not give positive feedback but instead created harsh feelings between the employees and the management.

Question 2

In the case study, there are different forces pushing for change and those that opposes the change. Initially, the board was after a change in the organization in the aspect of customer services and the competitiveness of the organization. To attain the change the expected desirable change, they endorse a new CEO to the company. As a result, the new CEO appointed new vices presidents to help bring change in the company (Moore 2014). In this case, it is the force exerted by the board of directors that is advocating for a change in the organization. Also, Jim, the new vice president of the claims division is one source of force in the organization advocating for change. The strategies that Jim uses to bring about change in his division is improving the morale of the employees and introducing supervisory leadership in the organization. Additionally, Jim introduced the use of ten principles a guide to the management. According to him, there would be an annual survey to check the effectiveness of the new principles. In this case, Jim becomes one of the sources of force pushing for a change in the company.

On the other hand, the employees and managers are not supportive of the new ideology. For instance, according to the outcomes of the survey, it appeared that the managers in different divisions did not take the change positively Certo, 2015). The comments from the survey revealed that out of the ten philosophies none was employed by the management. In this case, it appears that the idea did not please the managers in the divisions and thus did not work to uphold the change. Employees in different centers did not support the change as Jim expected. Perhaps, the employees have given up with the change in the organization concerning the nature of treatment they have received from the management over the time. In one way, it appears that Jim did not intent to bring about the change in the entire organization. Jim concentrated in the claims division, and that is why the change that he was dreaming of did not yield positive results.

Jim Leon was not successful in bringing about the change. As such, Jim applied all the available strategies in attempting the change in the organization.

Question 3

Notably, Jim was systematic in his struggles to initiate change in the organization. For example, the start of reforms was to identify the problem in the in the organization. According to the board, there was a need for the improvement in the customer service and to make the organization competitive. However, it is clear that Jim did not involve the entire organization in bringing the change. The organization comprises of the CEO and the vice president and the managers in different divisions. However, Jim did concentrate on the managers in his divisions, and thus the change did not become effective. Notably, it is not clear for the case study whether Jim involves other stakeholders in the formulation of the policies to follow in each center (Certo, 2015). Ideally, the results of the survey reveal much regarding the least involvement of the managers in the formulations of the policy. Perhaps the managers in the claims division did not like the change because Jim did not involve them in the first place in bringing about...