Volkswagen was found to have used software to cheat emissions tests, allowing diesel vehicles to emit up to 40 times the legal limit of nitrogen oxide. Over 11 million vehicles were affected worldwide. VW admitted wrongdoing and agreed to pay $22 billion in fines in the US. Its reputation for sustainability and trustworthiness was destroyed. Years of work will be needed to rebuild consumer and regulatory trust.
The presentation explains the Volkswagen Emission scandal of 2015 in detail.
It also gives us the details of the after effects and the steps taken by Volkswagen to overturn the huge loss
The EPA is investigating VW for installing software that enabled its vehicles to cheat emissions tests and later emit 40 times more pollution than allowed.
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The presentation explains the Volkswagen Emission scandal of 2015 in detail.
It also gives us the details of the after effects and the steps taken by Volkswagen to overturn the huge loss
The EPA is investigating VW for installing software that enabled its vehicles to cheat emissions tests and later emit 40 times more pollution than allowed.
Start your Uber Clone Business Immediately. USA, UK, India. Say Bye to Expensive Taxi App Development Company, Introducing low cost Uber Clone App. Launch your Uber Clone App in Just 48 hours with all Uber Features and Functionalities, be No: 1 to build a Delightful Uber Clone App. Contact us now to become next uber
This presentation show the importance of communication when a company is in a crisis. The importance of professional communication is explained with the help of the Infamous Volkswagen Dieselgate Scam and how VW communicate to bounce back.
This ppt is made by me and the ppt is based on the Ethical Issue. This ppt is contain four ethical issue (Virtue, Utilitarianism, Duty and rights). I'm Md. Tanzid Hossain Shawon, the student of Electrical & Electronic Engineering (EEE), at East West University, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Volkswagen PR Crisis 2015 2Determine your argument, prov.docxjessiehampson
Volkswagen PR Crisis 2015 2
Determine your argument, provide supporting facts
Volkswagen (VW) is one of the world's leading car manufacturers with an excellent reputation in the industry, but when facing challenges, how far is their leadership willing to go the protect their reputation from a public relation (pr) crisis. The slow unraveling of the 2015 scandal devastated the company, but VW was able to recover from good PR practices. Let us look deeper at the mistakes VW leadership made that unfolded the scandal and how they were able to recover.
In 2014 U.S. and German researchers conduct tests on diesel model Volkswagens to identify if the clean air technology was clean. The International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) had begun to investigate for several years if VW was violating the clean air act. According to The Volkswagen Scandal (2016) article, ICCT looking for alternative testing partnered with West Virginia University (WVU); while, California Air Resources Board (CARB) was conducting their tests. ICCT & WVU focused on road tests from real driving conditions, and the CARB performs lab test lab. The results from the vehicles on the road test claimed that Jetta had exceeded U.S. emissions by 15 to 35 times the upper limit, and Passat 5 to 20, however, the same vehicles CARB tested pass emissions (Blackwelder et al., 2016). VW immediately denied any wrongdoing on their part, and this had to be a mistake.
Following the series of research events in 2014, passing emission testing became a significant concern for the company. The CEO stated he was not involved or had knowledge that the company has done anything to manipulate testing. According to The Volkswagen Scandal (2016) article, the automaker stalled long enough and later admitting to the environmental protection agency (EPA) that they deliberately installed a defeat device to cheat the emission test. Their leadership openly admitting to this caused a public relations nightmare and made things worse for the corporation. Experts say, their leadership should have responded faster, and the slow reaction allowed the crisis to spiral out of control (Garcia, 2015). Customers started raising their concerns, questioning how long VW has been hiding this and is there anything else they are keeping from them. From 2009 to 2015 the company manufactured over 11 million automobiles across different brands with a defeat device to pass the emissions test. According to The Volkswagen Scandal (2016) article, in December 2014, the company attempted to cover up the scandal by issuing a voluntary recall for 500,000 vehicles in the United States, claiming there was a software glitch causing the emission test problem and they have a software patch to fix it.
VW leadership did not successfully prepare for a public relation response to the scandal. Based on Deloitte surveys, most corporations are not prepared to face a storm of this magnitude. The Deloitte survey interviewed 300 board and m ...
This presentation show the importance of communication when a company is in a crisis. The importance of professional communication is explained with the help of the Infamous Volkswagen Dieselgate Scam and how VW communicate to bounce back.
This ppt is made by me and the ppt is based on the Ethical Issue. This ppt is contain four ethical issue (Virtue, Utilitarianism, Duty and rights). I'm Md. Tanzid Hossain Shawon, the student of Electrical & Electronic Engineering (EEE), at East West University, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Volkswagen PR Crisis 2015 2Determine your argument, prov.docxjessiehampson
Volkswagen PR Crisis 2015 2
Determine your argument, provide supporting facts
Volkswagen (VW) is one of the world's leading car manufacturers with an excellent reputation in the industry, but when facing challenges, how far is their leadership willing to go the protect their reputation from a public relation (pr) crisis. The slow unraveling of the 2015 scandal devastated the company, but VW was able to recover from good PR practices. Let us look deeper at the mistakes VW leadership made that unfolded the scandal and how they were able to recover.
In 2014 U.S. and German researchers conduct tests on diesel model Volkswagens to identify if the clean air technology was clean. The International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) had begun to investigate for several years if VW was violating the clean air act. According to The Volkswagen Scandal (2016) article, ICCT looking for alternative testing partnered with West Virginia University (WVU); while, California Air Resources Board (CARB) was conducting their tests. ICCT & WVU focused on road tests from real driving conditions, and the CARB performs lab test lab. The results from the vehicles on the road test claimed that Jetta had exceeded U.S. emissions by 15 to 35 times the upper limit, and Passat 5 to 20, however, the same vehicles CARB tested pass emissions (Blackwelder et al., 2016). VW immediately denied any wrongdoing on their part, and this had to be a mistake.
Following the series of research events in 2014, passing emission testing became a significant concern for the company. The CEO stated he was not involved or had knowledge that the company has done anything to manipulate testing. According to The Volkswagen Scandal (2016) article, the automaker stalled long enough and later admitting to the environmental protection agency (EPA) that they deliberately installed a defeat device to cheat the emission test. Their leadership openly admitting to this caused a public relations nightmare and made things worse for the corporation. Experts say, their leadership should have responded faster, and the slow reaction allowed the crisis to spiral out of control (Garcia, 2015). Customers started raising their concerns, questioning how long VW has been hiding this and is there anything else they are keeping from them. From 2009 to 2015 the company manufactured over 11 million automobiles across different brands with a defeat device to pass the emissions test. According to The Volkswagen Scandal (2016) article, in December 2014, the company attempted to cover up the scandal by issuing a voluntary recall for 500,000 vehicles in the United States, claiming there was a software glitch causing the emission test problem and they have a software patch to fix it.
VW leadership did not successfully prepare for a public relation response to the scandal. Based on Deloitte surveys, most corporations are not prepared to face a storm of this magnitude. The Deloitte survey interviewed 300 board and m ...
Cases in MarketingFinal AssignmentFor the 20th of September 2020MaximaSheffield592
Cases in MarketingFinal Assignment
For the 20th of September 2020
#dieselgate
Professor Antonia Koumproglou
Table of Contents
Introduction to the company 3
The marketing problem 3
The research question and possible solution/s 4
Research 6
Outcome 10
Conclusion 11
References 12
Introduction to the company
Volkswagen is a car manufacturer based in the city of Wolfsburg, Germany. They are the biggest brand of the Volkswagen Group, and one of the biggest vehicle manufacturers of the whole world, with almost 11 million cars produced last year, and revenues of 253 billion euros. (statista, 2019)
In September 2015, a report was released on Volkswagen using illegal software’s and techniques to alter and cheat the emission control systems of the United States. The cars that were affected were the ones sold between the years 2009 and 2015. The fraud consisted of using defeat devices on their vehicles that were self-sufficient to cheat the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of the US, and would show fake readings on the emissions from the exhaust pipes of the VW vehicles. A report came up on September 2015, showing that the Volkswagen cars would actually emit forty times more Nitrogen Oxide to the air than the permitted in the United States by the EPA. (R. Hotten, 2015). This defeat device would only be implemented in the diesel models of the company, that were the ones recently integrated in the North American country. At the end of the scandal, it was calculated that the cars affected amounted to 11 million units, with losses of more than 28 billion euros for the company plus 9.2 billion euros for the shareholders affected by their actions. (J. Schwarz, 2018) After the several claims and discoveries of the effects on the natural environment by the actions of VW, Michael Horn, director of the American market for the company, admitted to literally “screwing” up, and admitted the breach of trust that happened between the company and its customers (R. Hotten, 2015).
The scandal redirected the question to other carmakers such as MB or BMW, which after other studies was discovered that they were also implicated on cheating emission tests with their own defeat devices on their vehicles. This made the customers of all around the world to question themselves about the honesty of the carmakers and the emissions that those products really emit to the atmosphere (Mitroff, 2016). The marketing problem
After one of the most serious scandals in the world, VW stock lost a 40% of its value, and lost the trust and brand loyalty of many customers towards them. This didn’t make the company have a dump of the revenues, while they were still growing years after, but made those customers doubt more of which car to choose after the scandal. Attention towards the company was deflected then and had a bad impact on individual consumers by believing that they were tricked.
It must be noted that the company actually soared pretty well in revenues and sales years aft ...
The January edition of the Ethical Corporation magazine has recently been published. As always the magazine pulls together the latest reports, announcements, news and trends and are distilled an easy to digest format. We do all of the reading and analysing so our Subscribers don't have to.
Key topics covered in the January issue include:
CSR trends for 2016 - Using our cross-industry contacts we outline how 2016 will be a year of significant change, particularly on the investment, technology, energy and transparency front
NGO partnership case study - Partnerships are a key component of the SDGs. This case study looks at how Target, Walmart and Forum for the Future have teamed up to change the personal care and beauty products industry
COP21: What it means for companies - Now the dust has settled on the Paris Climate talks we analyse how the announcements and targets will impact companies
A critique of Hess and Diageo's sustainability reports
Our monthly CR cheatsheet, EthicsWatch, NGOWatch, PolicyWatch and BrandWatch - finding, digesting and reporting on all the latest announcements and news in small snippets.
The full issue can be accessed via our Subscriber-only magazine library here
Below are some extract pages from January magazine as a little thank you from us for reading our blog...
How Volkswagen Mocked Corporate Social Responsibility: “Diesel Gate” Outs Sus...Sage HR
How Volkswagen Mocked Corporate Social Responsibility:
“DieselGate” Outs Sustainable Business Sham
In September 2015, the automotive industry played witness to the largest scandal among its ranks in recent history, as Volkswagen was caught cheating with its pants down. The German car manufacturer had recently overtaken Toyota in sales, in the first half of 2015, to establish itself as the leader of the global car market. Though, this shouldn't have been a surprise to anyone, since VW was largely leading the automotive industry in terms of revenues, profits, and assets even in 2013.
The world was left with jaws agape in early September, as the German giant admitted to placing “cheat” software in roughly 11 million of its diesel-engined cars worldwide. Carried out since 2009 onwards, this subterfuge was perpetrated in an effort to deceive pollutant emissions testing in developed markets like US and EU. As investigations into the fraud continue, the primary reason seems to be that Volkswagen did not wish to install a Urea-based exhaust system marketed as AdBlue – roughly $336 per unit – into the “clean diesel” engines which they'd spent years developing for their 2009 models. In-house testing into the engines revealed that they emitted roughly 35 to 40 times the amount of nitrogen oxide, linked to smog, acid rain, asthma, and other illnesses, above the limits allowed by clean air legislation in developed nations.
Suddenly, the car manufacturer was faced with two options – go back to the drawing board and miss out on the 2009 car season, or spend exorbitant amounts of money to fix the problem by retro-fitting their engines with AdBlue. They chose option three – cheat through a “defeat device” software. Ironically, the test which ultimately uncovered the deception was carried out by independent American researchers – working for an NGO, rather than the EPA or other bigwig agencies – to show their European counterparts that diesel engines can be used with cleaner emissions. Despite their published efforts coming to light in 2014, however, the EPA was unable to make Volkswagen admit to the cheat till September 2015 – after threatening to withhold approval for VW's and Audi's 2016 diesel models.
Now, after having lost its CEO in the wake of the scandal alongwith almost a fifth of its share value, Volkswagen is looking at criminal investigations from the US and Chinese governments, a legal penalty for $18 billion for the roughly 482,000 cars it sold in US, and class-action lawsuits from owners of post-2009 VW Jetta, Golf, Beetle, and Passat, as well as similar Audi diesel models. Even though the firm has set aside roughly $7.3 billion to deal with this scandal, early projections show that this amount may be grossly insufficient.
By now, we're sure that you have a flood of unanswered questions – What are these “defeat devices”? How do they affect the car's performance?
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Volkswagen CompanyCase Study on Volkswagen Com.docxjessiehampson
Volkswagen Company
Case Study on Volkswagen Company
Name:
Institutional Affiliation:
Table of contents
Contents
Abstract 2
Background 3
Engineering failure 4
Ethical analysis 5
Controversy 5
Key players in the scandal 5
Volkswagen Company Limited 5
Environmental Protection Agency 6
Utilitarianism 6
Virtue theory 6
Recommendations 7
Conclusion 8
References 10
Abstract
In September of 2015, the world woke up to shocking news by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that a group of employees at the Volkswagen Company had embedded a device in the German made vehicles to give a false report on the emission tests. This heinous act was suspected to have been conducted by a section of software engineers but the exact number of those involved had not been established. The impacts of this mayhem were so fatal in that from the year 2008 to 2015, more than 428000 Volkswagen and Audi diesel cars had emitted Nitrogen oxide which was forty times more that it was allowed by the Clean Air Act.
The reason for the scandal was prompted by a technological shortcoming which forced the company to cheat in the emission test. There had been very tough regulations on emission standards imposed by the EPA (Klier & Linn, 2016).
To prevent such a scandal in the future environmental regulatory authorities should initiate supportive programs to ensure that the emissions are kept below the maximum standards set.Background
In the past few decades, environmental conservation had become one of the few significant emerging issues across the globe. A number of environmental protection agencies and the United Nations were involved. One of these environmental protection agencies that were at the forefront in the war against environmental pollution across Europe and America was the Environmental Protection Agency based in the United States of America. Since 1970, EPA has imposed so many restrictions against emissions of all classes of automobiles (Board, 2016).
These new standards created very immense hardships to automobile manufacturing companies and one of them being the Volkswagen Company. It was at this juncture that some of the software engineers at the company decided to go ‘’ultra vires’’ and created fake devices that were installed in the company’s vehicles to change on vehicle performance and produce the required results as par the standards of the EPA. This was aimed at creating a false pretence that Volkswagen vehicles adhered to the emission standards set by the EPA and this would improve customer confidence and boost the sales of the automobile vehicles in American and European markets. Within six years since the program was initiated, devices were intentionally defaulted to convey false results, the ‘’German machines’’ had produced 36.7 million kilograms of nitrogen oxide to the environment. This emissions endangered human lives and increased the risk of contracting respiratory diseases. Engineering failure
Accordi ...
Case 14The Volkswagen Diesel Emissions Scandal An Expensive CorTawnaDelatorrejs
Case 14
The Volkswagen Diesel Emissions Scandal: An Expensive Corporate Ethics Debacle
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Frank L. Winfrey, PhD is the Clark N. and Mary Perkins Barton Professor of Management at Lyon College in Batesville, Arkansas. Dr. Winfrey earned his PhD at the College of Business Administration at the University of South Carolina, his MBA from the University of Alabama in Birmingham, and his BA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His research interests include corporate governance, competitive advantage, and executive compensation.
Overview
This case examines the Volkswagen (VW) nitrogen oxide emissions scandal and its aftermath for the company and key members of its executive management. In the spring of 2017, the scandal was on track to be the most expensive corporate ethics debacle in history, with a cost to the corporation in excess of $25 billion in the United States alone. In an attempt to market the next big thing—“clean diesel”—VW and its engineering partners crossed over the line between legal and illegal emissions testing.
A “VERY, VERY, VERY SERIOUS” CASE
On Friday, March 11, 2017, Volkswagen General Counsel Manfred Döss entered an unprecedented corporate guilty plea in the criminal case involving the firm’s conspiracy to defraud the United States. The Volkswagen Group had been charged with three criminal counts: committing wire fraud and violating the Clean Air Act, obstruction of justice, and import violations. U.S. District Court Judge Sean Cox declared this to be a “very, very, very serious” case.1 On April 21, 2017, Judge Cox announced a $2.8 billion federal fine and $1.45 billion penalty, bringing the total in fines, penalties, and other legal settlements to over $25 billion.2
With the guilty plea and federal fine, Volkswagen began to bring formal closure to an emissions-cheating scandal dating back to 19993 and later discovered under the auspices of a not-for-profit research organization, and to legally respond to U.S. government charges initially filed in September 2015.4
The scandal first broke in March 2014 when the Washington, D.C.–based International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) received the results of a study it had commissioned in 2012 to prove that diesel cars in the American market were much less polluting than those in Europe.5 John German, an ICCT senior fellow and former U.S. Environmental Protection Agency official, suspected that the answer was simply compliance to stricter regulations because the U.S. standards on nitrogen oxide emissions (NOX) for diesel vehicles were far tougher than the European standards. Specifically, the U.S. standard was 31 milligrams per kilometer versus the European Union (EU) standard of 80 milligrams per kilometer.6
p.459
The $50,000 ICCT study grant assigned researchers at the Center for Alternative Fuels, Engines and Emission (CAFEE) at West Virginia University to measure gaseous emissions from diesel vehicles certified to US-EPA Tier2-Bin5 and CARB ...
Where Were the Auditors and Attorneys during the Sustainabilit.docxtroutmanboris
Where Were the Auditors and Attorneys during the Sustainability Charade?
IN BRIEF
The effects of corporate scandals can reverberate for years. Volkswagen, whose conspiracy to hide the emissions of
its diesel engine vehicles was first uncovered in 2015, is still trying to repair its reputation. The damage will be felt
for some time to come. The authors raise a question that has not been asked throughout this case: Did the company’s
auditors and attorneys miss opportunities to prevent the scandal?
By Daniel Jacobs and Lawrence P. Kalbers
InFocus
The Volkswagen Diesel
Emissions Scandal
and Accountability
Another high mileage mark is now in the Guinness World
Records book … an impressive 81.17 mpg. Starting out from
VW’s American headquarters in Herndon, Virginia on June
22 and returning July 7 … the record-setting 2015 Golf
TDI covered 8,233.5 miles in traversing the 48 contiguous
states while burning 101.43 gallons of Shell diesel that
costs a total of $294.98.
—Bob Nagy, “VW Golf TDI Sets Fuel
Economy Record,” Kelley Blue Book website,
Jul. 8, 2015, http://bit.ly/2I6KD6k
W
hile the Volkswagen Golf
TDI diesel was traversing the
country in the summer of 2015,
so were Volkswagen engineers, to meet
with Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) and California Air Resources Board (CARB) officials.
The regulators wanted to know why real-time emissions
monitoring conducted on Volkswagen diesel vehicles on
the open road had revealed up to 35 times the amount of
pollution recorded when the same cars were monitored in
a government testing facility.
On September 18, 2015, the EPA issued a Notice of
Violation to Volkswagen after determining that the com-
pany had
manufac -
tured and installed software (known as “defeat devices”)
that substantially reduced the effectiveness of the emissions
control system of the diesel vehicles when on the open
road. The violations spanned the course of six consecutive
model years (2009–15). Signed by Phillip Brooks, director
of the EPA’s Air Enforcement Division, the letter was
addressed to various Volkswagen and Audi corporate enti-
ties and copied to Volkswagen’s outside counsel.
16 JULY 2019 / THE CPA JOURNAL
01-07-0109Infocus-Kalbers.qxp_Layout 1 7/9/19 5:17 PM Page 16
Volkswagen should have seen it com-
ing days, months, or even years before.
The day before the Notice of Violation,
EPA and Volkswagen officials
exchanged emails scheduling a high-level
conference call the next morning at 9:00
a.m. The previous evening, Brooks, a
veteran of the Justice Department’s
Environmental Enforcement Section, sent
Volkswagen an ominous follow-up to
ensure its general counsel would be on
the call: “Please note that this is a call
that Mr. [David] Geanacopolus would
probably want to make a priority.”
During the call, the general counsel
learned of the Notice of Violation.
This was just the first in an extraordi-
nary series of events that ultimately
would lead to costly litigation and
criminal charges against Volks.
FTC Charges Volkswagen Deceived Consumers with Its “Clean Diesel” CampaignAutoblog.it
In a complaint filed in federal court, the FTC alleges that during this seven-year period Volkswagen deceived consumers by selling or leasing more than 550,000 diesel cars based on false claims that the cars were low-emission, environmentally friendly, met emissions standards and would maintain a high resale value. The cars sold for an average price of approximately $28,000.
Similar to Case 1. the volkswagen scandal an admission to emission fraud i (19)
How to Add Chatter in the odoo 17 ERP ModuleCeline George
In Odoo, the chatter is like a chat tool that helps you work together on records. You can leave notes and track things, making it easier to talk with your team and partners. Inside chatter, all communication history, activity, and changes will be displayed.
Thinking of getting a dog? Be aware that breeds like Pit Bulls, Rottweilers, and German Shepherds can be loyal and dangerous. Proper training and socialization are crucial to preventing aggressive behaviors. Ensure safety by understanding their needs and always supervising interactions. Stay safe, and enjoy your furry friends!
Exploiting Artificial Intelligence for Empowering Researchers and Faculty, In...Dr. Vinod Kumar Kanvaria
Exploiting Artificial Intelligence for Empowering Researchers and Faculty,
International FDP on Fundamentals of Research in Social Sciences
at Integral University, Lucknow, 06.06.2024
By Dr. Vinod Kumar Kanvaria
Introduction to AI for Nonprofits with Tapp NetworkTechSoup
Dive into the world of AI! Experts Jon Hill and Tareq Monaur will guide you through AI's role in enhancing nonprofit websites and basic marketing strategies, making it easy to understand and apply.
it describes the bony anatomy including the femoral head , acetabulum, labrum . also discusses the capsule , ligaments . muscle that act on the hip joint and the range of motion are outlined. factors affecting hip joint stability and weight transmission through the joint are summarized.
A workshop hosted by the South African Journal of Science aimed at postgraduate students and early career researchers with little or no experience in writing and publishing journal articles.
A Strategic Approach: GenAI in EducationPeter Windle
Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies such as Generative AI, Image Generators and Large Language Models have had a dramatic impact on teaching, learning and assessment over the past 18 months. The most immediate threat AI posed was to Academic Integrity with Higher Education Institutes (HEIs) focusing their efforts on combating the use of GenAI in assessment. Guidelines were developed for staff and students, policies put in place too. Innovative educators have forged paths in the use of Generative AI for teaching, learning and assessments leading to pockets of transformation springing up across HEIs, often with little or no top-down guidance, support or direction.
This Gasta posits a strategic approach to integrating AI into HEIs to prepare staff, students and the curriculum for an evolving world and workplace. We will highlight the advantages of working with these technologies beyond the realm of teaching, learning and assessment by considering prompt engineering skills, industry impact, curriculum changes, and the need for staff upskilling. In contrast, not engaging strategically with Generative AI poses risks, including falling behind peers, missed opportunities and failing to ensure our graduates remain employable. The rapid evolution of AI technologies necessitates a proactive and strategic approach if we are to remain relevant.
Acetabularia Information For Class 9 .docxvaibhavrinwa19
Acetabularia acetabulum is a single-celled green alga that in its vegetative state is morphologically differentiated into a basal rhizoid and an axially elongated stalk, which bears whorls of branching hairs. The single diploid nucleus resides in the rhizoid.
This slide is special for master students (MIBS & MIFB) in UUM. Also useful for readers who are interested in the topic of contemporary Islamic banking.
2024.06.01 Introducing a competency framework for languag learning materials ...Sandy Millin
http://sandymillin.wordpress.com/iateflwebinar2024
Published classroom materials form the basis of syllabuses, drive teacher professional development, and have a potentially huge influence on learners, teachers and education systems. All teachers also create their own materials, whether a few sentences on a blackboard, a highly-structured fully-realised online course, or anything in between. Despite this, the knowledge and skills needed to create effective language learning materials are rarely part of teacher training, and are mostly learnt by trial and error.
Knowledge and skills frameworks, generally called competency frameworks, for ELT teachers, trainers and managers have existed for a few years now. However, until I created one for my MA dissertation, there wasn’t one drawing together what we need to know and do to be able to effectively produce language learning materials.
This webinar will introduce you to my framework, highlighting the key competencies I identified from my research. It will also show how anybody involved in language teaching (any language, not just English!), teacher training, managing schools or developing language learning materials can benefit from using the framework.
Advantages and Disadvantages of CMS from an SEO Perspective
Case 1. the volkswagen scandal an admission to emission fraud i
1. Case 1. The Volkswagen Scandal: An Admission to Emission
Fraud
Introduction
In 2016 Volkswagen (VW) became the world’s largest
automaker in car production, surpassing Toyota to take its title.
However, this title can quickly change in a short amount of
time. Not only is the car industry highly competitive, but all is
not well at Volkswagen. In early 2017 the automaker pled guilty
to three criminal felony charges that included defrauding the
U.S. government, violating environmental regulations,
obstructing justice, engaging in wire fraud, and violating import
regulations. It agreed to pay $2.8 billion in criminal charges,
only a small portion of the total costs it will have to pay to
resolve this scheme. Worse still, VW’s reputation has been dealt
such a blow that it will likely take years to recover. As a global
firm, VW has lost the trust of regulators, which will be a major
obstacle in future global relationships.
History
Volkswagen was founded in 1937 in Nazi Germany as a “pet
project” of dictator Adolf Hitler, who desired to develop what
he termed the “people’s car” (Volkswagen translates into “the
people’s car” in English). Headquartered in Wolfsburg,
Germany, the automaker’s continued existence was precarious
after Germany lost the war. However, a British major opted to
keep Volkswagen open, and the firm continued to grow.
Sales of Volkswagen were slower in the United States than in
other areas because of its questionable founding, but the
introduction of the Volkswagen Beetle caused U.S. sales to
skyrocket. Soon the Beetle had become the best-selling car
import in the United States. When sales began to decline in the
1970s, VW began introducing new generations of cars. It also
started making a series of acquisitions, most notably acquiring
the Bentley and Lamborghini brands in 1998 and the Porsche
brand in 2012.
2. In the decades since its founding, Volkswagen became a
formidable competitor to global car makers such as Toyota,
Ford, and General Motors. Its cars have been widely successful,
winning a number of global awards. In 1999 the Volkswagen
Beetle was selected the fourth runner-up as the Car of the
Century, after the Model T, the Mini, and the Citroen DS. In
2015 VW was elected to 43rd place among Fortune magazine’s
World’s Most Admired Companies. Earlier that year,
the VW Golf had been named the North American Car of the
Year.
Until recently, VW was highly valued for its sustainability
goals. It became the first car manufacturer to adopt ISO 14001
principles, international environmental principles that act as
standards for global firms. It adopted a number of sustainability
goals in 2002 at a time before sustainability became a hot
topic. VW began investing in vehicles that would reduce carbon
emissions early, including electric and diesel vehicles. In
2014 VW introduced the VW XL1, which it claimed to be the
most fuel-efficient car in the world at the time. Its reputation
for sustainability was so great that it won an international
sustainability award. VW’s reputation for sustainability
worsened the blow to its reputation when it all came crashing
down years later.
The Scandal
VW’s downfall stemmed from the same thing that enabled it to
commit such wide-scale misconduct in the first place:
technology. Although the impact of technology has created
benefits for businesses and consumers alike, it has also
provided a greater opportunity to cheat ethical and legal
requirements. Volkswagen, once lauded for its green reputation,
saw its reputation crumble after it was discovered the company
had purposefully fooled regulators and consumers with its
emissions claims. Volkswagen used a “defeat device” in its
software that changed the vehicle’s performance depending
upon the environment. For instance, the software was able to
3. detect when vehicles were undergoing emissions testing. During
this testing, the software made the vehicles run below
performance, which released fewer emissions and met
requirements. However, on the road the cars ran at maximum
performance and gave off up to 40 times the allowable limit for
emissions in the United States.
Volkswagen estimates that 11 million vehicles in the United
States and Europe were affected by this defeat device. Until the
scandal broke, VW had promoted itself as an eco-friendly
company. Its commercials featured Volkswagen rally driver and
host on Top Gear USA Tanner Foust driving elderly women
around town in a TDI Volkswagen to dispel the myth that diesel
is slow. As a result of its marketing, Volkswagen made large in-
roads in gaining acceptance for its clean diesel vehicles, even
though many car buyers had a negative view of diesel
previously. This green image was highly beneficial for
Volkswagen as consumer values are changing to value greener
products.
While technology allowed VW to cheat the system, it also
played a large part in its downfall. Discovery began when
European testers noticed that VW vehicles did not perform as
well on emissions testing on the road as they did in the lab.
They commissioned a team in West Virginia to conduct research
on VW vehicles made for Americans because the United States
has some of the toughest emissions standards in the world. The
team in West Virginia used a portable emission system
measurement to measure emissions on the road. They found that
the measurements did not nearly match up with what was shown
in lab tests. The results were reported to the Environmental
Protection Agency, which confronted Volkswagen with the
evidence. Volkswagen eventually admitted it had designed and
installed a defeat device that could detect when the vehicle was
being tested and modify its performance levels so that it would
meet emissions requirements. A whistle-blower later filed a
4. lawsuit against VW claiming that it began destroying documents
that could implicate the firm and fired him when he refused to
get rid of documents. Volkswagen denies that the employee’s
departure had anything to do with the emissions scandal.
Impact
As a result of the scandal, Volkswagen’s CEO resigned and
governments are demanding answers. Such a fraud does not only
violate ethical standards but also laws and regulation in Europe
and the United States. The company agreed to pay up to $17.5
billion to compensate consumers affected by its defeat devices,
which included retrofitting and buying back impacted vehicles.
Those who knew about or were responsible for the defeat
device’s installation could face jail time. Six executives and
employees have been indicted for knowing about the
conspiracy. One of the executives arrested was VW’s emissions
compliance manager. Germany has also launched a probe into
whether former CEO Martin Winterkorn had knowledge about
the misconduct beforehand. Winterkorn claims he did not
become aware of the misconduct until the scandal erupted.
Perhaps the worst impact the scandal has caused is to VW’s
reputation. Many VW customers claim they purchased the cars
because they believed them to be better for the environment and
felt utterly betrayed by the company. Consumer rights were
violated because consumers did not have accurate information,
meaning they were not able to make informed purchasing
decisions. Its reputation for sustainability has been shattered,
and two awards it had been given for “Green Car of the Year”
were pulled.
VW is not the only company implicated in the conspiracy. U.S.
lawyers accuse German parts supplier Robert Bosch GmbH of
5. designing the defeat devices and knowing that they were being
installed in VW vehicles to cheat emissions standards. A 2008
email was used as evidence in which Robert Bosch allegedly
demanded that VW indemnify the firm for any future legal
repercussions, suggesting that the company knew full well that
it was violating laws. Robert Bosch did not admit to
wrongdoing but agreed to pay $327.5 million to settle the civil
claims.
VW agreed to plead guilty and pay a criminal fine of $2.8
billion in the United States, as well as an additional $1.5 billion
for breaking civil, environmental, customs, and financial
regulations. The penalty could have been as high as $34 billion
under U.S. laws but was reduced because of VW’s cooperation
with the investigation. In total, criminal and civil fines and
settlements are estimated to cost VW $22 billion in the United
States. This included a settlement with the Federal Trade
Commission to settle allegations that it had engaged in false
advertising by marketing its automobiles as “clean vehicles.”
Even after pleading guilty to U.S. charges, VW’s troubles are
far from over. Europe is conducting its own criminal
investigation, and a class-action lawsuit has been filed
against VW in the United Kingdom. The problem could be even
more serious than in the United States because VW vehicles are
more common in Europe.
Volkswagen has begun to take steps to restore consumer trust.
For instance, it recalled vehicles and offered a $1,000 goodw ill
package to its American car owners. It agreed to curb executive
compensation as a result of the scandal. Yet even with
incentives, Volkswagen will have to face this loss of goodwill
for years to come. VW is also taking a different tactic in
Europe. Because of less consumer-friendly laws, VW has not
been as willing to compensate European drivers for damages.
One major reason is that if it is forced to pay out to the same
extent in Europe as it had in the United States, the company
may very well go bankrupt. VW is also claiming that under
European definitions, its software does not qualify as illegal
6. defeat devices. This approach seems to be working for VW. In
Germany, where consumer-protection laws are lower than in
some other countries, VW has won more than 75 percent of
lawsuits filed against it by German consumers. How other
countries in Europe will approach VW in terms of fines depends
largely on the countries’ laws as well as how many consumers
file lawsuits against the firm.
Conclusion
VW hopes its settlement with U.S. regulators will be the first
step toward putting the scandal behind it. As part of its
plea, VW agreed to a three-year probation, a ban on selling
diesel vehicles in the United States, and an independent
compliance monitor who will oversee VW’s operations over the
next three years. However, truly restoring its reputation will
require VW to incorporate ethics and appropriate practices into
the organization from the inside-out, something that was
severely lacking in the firm’s corporate culture prior to the
scandal.
Because it is one of the world’s largest carmakers operating in
an oligopoly, other global car companies may benefit from the
scandal and gain market share from Volkswagen. At the same
time, while they might benefit from a competitive
standpoint, VW’s conduct has caused problems for the industry
as a whole. Consumers are now questioning the environmental
claims of other car brands, and automakers will have to work
harder to prove that their claims are accurate. Consumer trust is
easily lost and is not restored overnight.
Questions for Discussion
1. Explain how the culture of Volkswagen created this ethical
scandal.
2. While Volkswagen claimed to support ethics and
sustainability, how can they recover from this ethical disaster?
3. Do you believe this scandal will lead to tougher scrutiny of
companies’ environmental claims in the future? Why or why