Skip to main navigation menu Skip to main content Skip to site footer

Vol. 3 No. 1 (2017)
March 2017: Challenges for International Business in Central and Eastern Europe

Articles

Knowledge management and leadership: the carbon emissions scandal in the automobile industry

https://doi.org/10.15678/PM.2017.0301.13

Published 2017-02-10

  • Eduardo Tomé

Eduardo Tomé
Universidade Europeia

Abstract

This paper analyses the Volkswagen scandal from a KM point of view. We use a KM framework of analysis basing ourselves in the concept of Knowledge failures. We describe the VW case of management and then analyse it from the point of view of KM. We conclude that in the VW case on carbon emissions a massive operation of KM existed, that some consider to be a success, despite the consequences, and others see as a failure. We discuss the conditions that allowed it to happen and how to prevent it in the future. We also discuss the implications of the scandal to the societies it involves and in particularly to the Economies of Central Europe.

Keywords

Knowledge failures, carbon emission scandals, Volkswagen, Central Europe

PDF

References

  1. Angelidou, M. (2015) Smart cities: A conjuncture of four forces. Cities, 47, 95-106.
  2. Aoshima, Y. (2002). Transfer of System Knowledge Across Generations in New Product Development: Empirical Observations from Japanese Automobile Development. Industrial Relations, 41(4), 605-629.
  3. Atiyeh, C. (2016). Everything You Need to Know about the VW Diesel-Emissions Scandal, http://blog.caranddriver.com/everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-vw-diesel-emissions-scandal/ Acessed on November 18, 2016.
  4. Bird, M. (2016). Understanding Deutsche Bank’s $47 Trillion Derivatives Book. Wall Street Journal, 5 October 2016.
  5. Bounfour, A. Edvinsson, L. (Ed.) (2005). Intellectual capital for communities, Nations, Regions and Cities. Burlington, MA: Elsevier Butterworth-Heinemann.
  6. Bratianu, C. (2015) Nasa as a Learning Organization in Organizational Knowledge Dynamics: Managing Knowledge Creation, Acquisition, Sharing, and Transformation. IGI Press.
  7. Cabrita, M.R., Cabrita, C. (2010) The Role of Creative Industries in Stimulating Intellectual Capital in Cities and Regions. Proceedings of the European Conference on Intellectual Capital, 171-179.
  8. Cecez-Kecmanovic, D., Kautz, K., Abrahall, R. (2014). Reframing success and failure of information systems: a performance perspective. MIS Quarterly. 38(2), 561-588.
  9. Cegarra Navarro, J.G., Rodrigo Moya, B. (2005). Business performance management and unlearning process. Knowledge Process and Management, 12(3), 161-170.
  10. Chang, C., Chen, Y. (2012). The determinants of green intellectual capital. Management, 50(1), 74-94.
  11. Collinson, S., Wilson, D. (2006) Inertia in Japanese Organizations: Knowledge Management Routines and Failure to Innovate. Organization Studies 27(9), 1359-3187.
  12. Darvish, H., Mohammadi, M., Afsharpour, P. (2012) Studying the Knowledge Management - Effect of Promoting the Four Balanced Scorecard Perspectives: a Case Study at SAIPA Automobile Manufacturing. Economic Insights - Trends & Challenges, 64(1), 9-23.
  13. Edvinsson, L., Malone, M. (1997). Intellectual Capital: Realizing your Company’s True Value by Finding Its Hidden Roots. New York: Harper Business.
  14. Edwards, J. (2010). A process view of knowledge management: it ain’t what you do, it’s the way that you do it. Electronic Journal of Knowledge Management, 9(4), 297-306.
  15. Filieri, R., Alguezaui, S. (2015). Knowledge sourcing and knowledge reuse in the virtual product prototyping: an exploratory study in a large automotive supplier of R&D. Expert Systems, 32(6), 637-651.
  16. Gentile-Lüdecke, S., Giroud, A. (2012). Knowledge Transfer from TNCs and Upgrading of Domestic Firms: The Polish Automotive Sector. World Development. 40(4), 796-807.
  17. Hotten, R. (2015). Volkswagen – The scandal explained, http://www.bbc.com/news/business-34324772 Acessed on November 18, 2016.
  18. Huerta, E., Salter, S., Lewis, P., Yeow, P. (2012). Motivating Employees to Share Their Failures in Knowledge Management Systems: Anonymity and Culture. Journal of Information Systems, 26(2), p93-117.
  19. Karami, M., Alvani, S., Zare, H., Kheirandish, M. (2015). Determination of Critical Success Factors for Knowledge Management Implementation (Case study: Bahman Automobile Industry). Iranian Journal of Management Studies, 8(2), 181-201.
  20. Kianto, A. (2008). Assessing Knowledge Renewal Capabilities. International Journal of Innovation and Regional Development, 1(2), 115-129.
  21. Lakshman, C., Parente, R.C. (2008). Supplier-Focused Knowledge Management in the Automobile Industry and Its Implications for Product Performance. Journal of Management Studies, 45(2), 317-342.
  22. Lauraux, M. (2016). C’est official Volkswagen quitte wrc fin 2016. http://www.tf1.fr/tf1/auto-moto/news/officiel-volkswagen-quitte-wrc-fin-2016-7702689.html. Assessed November 18, 2016.
  23. Leal-Millán, A., Roldán, J., Leal-Rodríguez, A.., Ortega-Gutiérrez, J. (2016). IT and relationship learning in networks as drivers of green innovation and customer capital: evidence from the automobile sector. Journal of Knowledge Management, 20(3), 444-464.
  24. Luo, S., Lee, G. (2014). Applying failure mode and effects analysis for successful knowledge management. Total Quality Management & Business Excellence, 26(1/2), 62-75.
  25. Macneill, S., Jeannerat, H. (2016). Beyond Production and Standards: Toward a Status Market Approach to Territorial Innovation and Knowledge Policy. Regional Studies, 50(2), 245-259.
  26. Mitchell, B. (2015). Germany’s serial breaches of Eurozone rules http://bilbo.economicoutlook.net/blog/?p=30887 As assessed on November, 18, 2016.
  27. Moore, F. (2012). Identity, knowledge and strategy in the UK subsidiary of an Anglo-German automobile manufacturer. International Business Review, 21(2), 281-292.
  28. Muehlfeld, K., Rao Sahib, P., van Witteloostuijn, A. (2012). A contextual theory of organizational learning from failures and successes: A study of acquisition completion in the global newspaper industry, 1981-2008. Strategic Management Journal, 33(8), 938-964.
  29. Nonaka, I., Takeuchi, H. (1995). The Knowledge-Creating Company. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  30. Paltrinieri, N., Dechy, N., Salzano, E. Wardman, M., Cozzani, V. (2012). Lessons Learned from Toulouse and Buncefield Disasters: From Risk Analysis Failures to the Identification of Atypical Scenarios Through a Better Knowledge Management. Risk Analysis: An International Journal, 32(8), 1404-1419.
  31. Patra, B. (2016). The Deliberate Deception: Case Study on Volkswagen Emission Scandal. The XIMB Journal of Management, 13(1), 139-148.
  32. Pillania, R. (2008). Creation and categorization of knowledge in automotive components SMEs in India. Management Decision, 46(10), 1452-1464.
  33. Polanyi, M. (1966). The Tacit Dimension. Doubleday & Co.
  34. Preuss, L., Córdoba-Pachon, J. (2009). Knowledge management perspective of corporate social responsibility. Corporate Governance: The International Journal of Effective Board Performance, 9(4), 517-527.
  35. Rajadhyaksha, U. (2005). Managerial Competence: Do Technical Capabilities Matter?. Vikalpa: The Journal for Decision Makers, 30(2), 47-56.
  36. Rhodes, C. (2016). Democratic Business Ethics: Volkswagen’s Emissions Scandal and the Disruption of Corporate Sovereignty. Organization Studies, 37(10), 1501-1518.
  37. Riley, C. (2016). Volkswagen to cut 30,000 jobs, CNN Money, http://money.cnn.com/2016/11/18/news/volkswagen-job-cuts/. Assessed on November, 18, 2016.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Similar Articles

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 > >> 

You may also start an advanced similarity search for this article.