Recent orders

Team Case Study (Company Analysis)

l. Company background. Briefly outline the history and development of your chosen company
over time. What are the company’s mission, goals, and values? (2 pages; l0 marks)
 2. Exlernal analysis. Analyze the company’s industry environment using a Porter’s 5 forces
nhril ywanalysis. In addition to factors in the industry environment, what ur” *up. factors in the
company’s macro-environment? Describe and discuss the opportunities and threats presented by
its industry and macro-environment. (2 pages; 10 marks)
3. Internal analysis. Describe and evaluate the specific value chain activities you think
contribute to the company’s competitiveness. Relatedly, what are the company’s major resources
and capabilities, and how do they contribute to its strategy? Overall, in doing an internal analysis
on the company, what are its strengths and wealcnesses? (2 pages; l0 marks)
4. Business-level and corporate-level strategy. Would you describe the company’s strategy to be
differentiation or cost leadership? Please explain why. Differentiation, while increasing
value, tends to increase costs. Cost leadership, while reducing costs, tends to decrease value. In
other words, a particular activity oriented toward one type of business-level strategy often has
trade-offs. Discuss any trade-offs that may be generated from these activities. (2 pages; 10
marks).
5. Recommendations. If you were acting as a consultant advising the company’s top
management team, what would you propose in terms of business strategy? (2 pages; l0 marks).
. Please include an update of critical events since the case was written-emphasizing material
from 2015. Moreover, please provide recommendations. . In evaluating your recommendations, you will be evaluated on the practicality and logic of
your ideas, and potentially originality and brilliance. Please be sure to indicate the sources of
information (i.e., citation & references).

Volkswagen Ethics Case

On September 18th, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) found that Volkswagen, a formally reputable manufacturer of diesel vehicles, had been cheating regulated emission tests by incorporating a “defeat device” into their software controls [1].

The software code recognizes when the vehicle is being run under emission testing conditions versus regular driver operation.

  • If the software detects testing conditions, exhaust passes through emission control systems that reduce air pollutants such as particulates and nitrous oxides (NOx).
  • If the software detects normal operation (e.g. a human driving the vehicle), engine exhaust bypasses the emissions controls and any unabated NOx and particulates escape to the atmosphere.
  • When engine exhaust bypasses emission controls, the vehicle’s overall fuel economy improves (greater MPG), which in turn lowers carbon dioxide emissions.

Using recently published literature (news articles, industry websites, etc.), uncover the underlying details of the above VW scandal. A number of articles are referenced to get you started [2-5]. You should look at newer research and articles. After thinking about what you read, answer the fundamental ethical questions surrounding the scandal. Be sure to cite as you write and include a list of references in IEEE format at the end of this assignment.

Fundamental Ethical Questions

(1) Identify the underlying ethical issues.

(2) Stakeholders

Who are the various stakeholders in the case? What are their interests?

Who/what are negatively and/or positively impacted by the case?

(3) Ignorance

As an engineer deciding what to do next in this case, are there any relevant facts that are either unclear or unstated? What are they? Why are they relevant? Who needs to know them? Who could discover them and how?

(4) Codes and Cannons

As an engineer deciding what to do next in this case, what are the relevant professional codes? What do these codes suggest should be done next? Are there any important conflicts in what they suggest?

(5) Ethics and Legality

Are there any moral considerations or constraints raised by this case that are not fully addressed by the professional codes and cannons? Are there any remaining legal considerations or constraints?

(6) Possible Actions

What are three reasonable courses of action that could have been done differently at Volkswagen?

As an engineer deciding what to do next, what are three reasonable courses of action that could be taken next?

(7) Evaluating Actions

With respect to these three possible courses of action (from 6), which one is the most justified all things considered? Explain why this one is the most justified, all things considered. What are the positive and negative consequences of this course of action?

Human Resources Talent Management

Address the following aspects in the context of human resources talent management (3.000 words):

  • Who Moved My Cheese
  • Working with Emotional Intelligence
  • Lombardi Rules