Volkswagen is a famous automaker with 78-year history in Germany. However, it is facing a scandal for cheating on emission tests recently. Hard to believe right? It has admitted cheating in diesel emissions tests in the United States and Europe, where Volkswagen sells about 40 per cent of its vehicles. Volkswagen wants to lower the engine costs in a “clean diesel” strategy that was popular in Europe by manipulating emissions results.

This scandal not only harmed the reputation of Volkswagen but also is an embarrassment for Germany, which held up Volkswagen as a model of its engineering prowess for years. Most importantly, consumers would not trust Volkswagen like they did before. Although Volkswagen decided to recall 11 million vehicles, its consumers still felt being betrayed. Don Pittis, who thought Volkswagen is a part of his life and even his first car is a VW Beetle, said “it makes me despair about corporate morality in general.” A company public has always thought of responsible and dependable appears to have intentionally cheated not only public environmental laws but all the other car companies that thought they were working from a common set of rules.

In my opinion, Volkswagen truly disappointed consumers and with no doubt the scandal will negatively impact Volkswagen’s reputation in the short term. Especially the scandal is related to environment which is important to the whole society and a significant factor for someone to choose a car. The problem for VW right now is to solve this problem by any cost and the quickest reaction.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/volkswagen-eu-martin-schulz-german-econo-1.3256024

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/volkswagen-emissions-1.3248230

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/vw-tdi-diesel-morality-1.3238590

Tiffany, is every girl’s dream and each girl deserves a Tiffany. To be one of the most famous and beloved luxury goods, I believe it must have earned a lot from its sky-high price. However, I saw the news that Tiffany’s earnings dropped sharply in third quarter in 2004. I couldn’t understand what lead Tiffany to this kind of situation. Due to its globally successful advertisement, the demand for Tiffany in China can be said enormous. With the high price combined with large demand, it will make huge profit.

The truth is, the company’s stock fell 5.7% because of the less than expected sales in Japan and higher costs for materials and diamonds. Yes, its net sales did increase by 7% but the higher metal and diamond costs lowered the total profits.

According to the SWOT analysis we learned in class, the strengths of Tiffany are its positive brand image, well-known raputation over the world and its well-designed website. The weaknesses are its high price and it focuses solely on Tiffany & co. Its opportunities can be widening product focus and the increasing number of working women may lead to rising demand. However, it may also face threats since fewer weddings may lead to less demand for wedding rings. Due to the increasing metal price, its profit may even lower if Tiffany couldn’t find a way out.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/12/business/businessspecial3/tiffany-earnings-dropped-sharply-in-third-quarter.html

http://www.tiffany.ca

Everybody may commit serious crimes or unethical behaviours at work if they do not notice the horrible Slippery-Slope effect. Does this sound terrified? Unfortunately, this is the truth proved by many facts and studies. Basically, this theory is about how people tend to rationalize and find excuses for their slight unethical behaviours and before they could notice, things just snowball into something huge. Good examples are Madoff and Jayson Blair. Both of them used to be successful but after crossed the guideline once, they couldn’t help themselves to do more cheating in order to achieve bigger goals.

Although these two are extreme examples, Slippery-Slope effect does happen in our daily life. For example, if a business does not have strong ethical guidelines, employees are more likely to perform unethical behaviours and the business won’t be well managed. Even I will hand in my assignment after the due date if the professor did not tell me the consequences of breaking the rules.

Fortunately, this effect can be prevented by setting clear and strong ethical outlines in companies. If people know exactly what they can do and what they should never try and what consequences they may face if they cross the line, people can be stop from making their first steps across the line.

NEVER MAKE THE FIRST STEP CROSS THE GUIDELINE!!!

http://www.bbc.com/capital/story/20140806-the-slippery-slope

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madoff_investment_scandal

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jayson_Blair

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