The German automobile company known as Volkswagen was founded in 1937 by the German Labor Front. Volkswagen was known as “The People’s Car Company”, the company’s goal was to mass produce an affordable yet speedy automobile that could be marketed for less than 1,000 Reich marks, which would’ve been roughly $140 at the time. Since then Volkswagen has become the vastest automobile conglomerate in the world.
Many global firms strive to achieve success within their area of expertise. In order to do so there are multiple steps that a company must follow. Using a strategic marketing plan in order to persuade their targeted audience to purchase their product instead of a competitors and maintaining reasonable market prices on their product to maximize their market share. When running a business, one must keep in mind that there are multiple groups with varying interests that must be kept in line to maintain progress. Shareholders, owners, employees, consumers, suppliers, managers, etc.
A business that runs based on ethics commits to societal norms over profits or revenues. The VW Group is by no means one of these ethics based corporations. They report quarterly profits and executives are compensated based on these results.
In September 2016, Volkswagen admitted to the world that 11 million of their automobiles were equipped with software that was used to cheat on emissions tests.
Though installing these devices was both ethically dubious and intentionally deceitful, Volkswagen prioritized revenues and wanted to avoid the additional development costs of redesigning a more fuel efficient diesel. They have since been forced to pay vast fines of up to $14.7 billion and are suffering public backlash as a result of these actions.
This scandal and the ensuing consequences shows that even a global giant with billions in annual profits is susceptible to public perception and the laws that 
govern production. This begs the question: is it worth sacrificing ethical standards to attain marginally higher profits? Based off of my assessment of this article, I disagree firmly.
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References
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/volkswagen-is-founded
