Question: Should Volkswagen Deploy More (or Less) Resources Outside of Europe?
Purpose: As indicated in the opening chapter boxed insert, Volkswagen (VW) receives more revenue from outside its home base of Europe than from inside Europe. This exercise gives you practice analyzing domestic versus global revenue base so that more effective strategies can be formulated and implemented.
Instructions:
Step 1 Go to the VW's website and review the company's most recent Annual Report. Be careful to note the financial, management, and marketing information available for each geographic region. Let all regions outside Europe, for purposes of this exercise, be referred to as Global, and Europe be referred to as domestic for VW.
Step 2 Go to www.finance.yahoo.com and review the last 45 days of Headlines for VW. Take note of public information related to VW as well as to General Motors (GM), Ford, Honda, and Toyota.
Step 3 Prepare a three-page executive summary to reveal whether you feel VW should be placing more or less emphasis on operations outside of Europe. Provide supporting tables, #'s, ratios, and narrative.