Porsche Changes Tack

In July 2002, a corporate reform bill was passed into United States Federal law by the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives. This legislation introduced new and amended ethical standards regarding financial practice and corporate governance for all publicly traded U.S. companies, as well as for management and accounting organizations. U.S. Senator Paul Sarbanes and U.S. Representative Michael G. Oxley spearheaded the Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) Act (Pub. L. 107-204) (Sarbanes & Oxley, 2002). This was originally known as “Public Company Accounting Reform and Investor

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX), also known as the Public Company Accounting Reform and Investor Protection Act and the Auditing Accountability and Responsibility Act, was signed into law on July 30, 2002, by President George W. Bush as a direct response to the corporate financial scandals of Enron, WorldCom, and Tyco International (Arens & Elders, 2006; King & Case, 2014;Rezaee & Crumbley, 2007). Fraudulent financial activities and substantial audit failures like those of Arthur Andersen and Ernst and Young had destroyed public trust and investor confidence in the accounting profession. The debilitating consequences of these perpetrators and their crimes summoned a massive effort by the government and the accounting profession to fight all forms of corruption through regulatory, legal, auditing, and accounting changes.

SOX enactment is an act that was formulated as a result of corporate scandals from Enron, WorldCom, Adelphia, and Tyco. However, Congress succumbed to pressure from the public for the government to take action about the unethical behavior of company executives of publicly –traded companies. Thus, the Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) was to restore the integrity and public confidence in financial markets. During these scandals, there were flagrant disregard to Generally Accepted Accounting Practices (GAAP). For example, according to Washington Post (2005), WorldCom

The purpose of this memo is to provide you with information on the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX Act) and to describe the importance of its implementation, per your request. The SOX Act was first introduced in the house as the “Corporate and Auditing Accountability, Responsibility, and Transparency Act of 2002” by Michael Oxley on February 14, 2002. Paul Sarbanes, a Democrat U.S. Senator, collaborated with Mr. Oxley, a Republican US Senator, creating significant bipartisan support. The SOX Act was enacted by the end of July 2002 in response to recent corporate accounting scandals. The twin scandals that were impetus for the legislation involved the corporations of Enron and WorldCom.

In this report, I am going to evaluate the influence of different stakeholders exert at Mercedes Benz. The stakeholders I will be discussing is the owner of the business, customers who buy cars as they provide good quality of service, employees who help the business to perform well and making profits and the Government who support Mercedes Benz because they have been running successfully throughout the years so they want to invest money to further develop the business. On the other hand, I will make the following points in my report is by commenting on the level of influence that each stakeholder exerts on Mercedes Benz. I will also be referring to evidence from different sources for the comments that I make. I will state the strengths and the weaknesses on the influence of different stakeholders. Also, I will make recommendations on how Mercedes Benz can do to overcome the weaknesses which can affect their performance. At the end I will write a conclusion by summarising what I wrote in the report, which stakeholders have the most influence and which stakeholders have the least influence in Mercedes Benz.

Porsche is a tradition and a legacy all by itself. The competitive positioning of the Boxter is associated with the brand name. Porsche’s luxury and lifestyle brand are luxury personified in terms of the technically superior design. The long term success of the brand is only due to its designing and technical competence to deal with the super luxury definition.

The development of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) was a result of public company scandals. The Enron and Worldcom scandals, for example, helped investor confidence in entities traded on the public markets weaken during 2001 and 2002. Congress was quick to respond to the political crisis and "enacted the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, which was signed into law by President Bush on July 30" (Edward Jones, 1), to restore investor confidence. In reference to SOX, penalties would be issued to non-ethical or non-law-abiding public companies and their executives, directors, auditors, attorneys, and securities analysts (1). SOX significantly transformed the procedures in which public companies handle internal

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) was enacted in July 30, 2002, by Congress to protect shareholders and the general public from fraudulent corporate practices and accounting errors and to maintain auditor independence.   In protecting the shareholders and the general public the SOX Act is intended to improve the transparency of the financial reporting.   Financial reports are to be certified by the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) creating increased responsibility and independence with auditing by independent audit firms. In discussing the SOX Act, we will focus on how this act affects the CEOs; CFOs; outside independent audit firms; the advantages and a

Although Porsche is publicly traded, the company is controlled by only two stockholders, the Porsche and Piéch families. As the quotation by Holger Härter makes clear, the two families hold exclusive shareholder influence over management. An interesting point for class discussion is whether the families actually ever exercise these rights. It is not clear from the information or evidence presented that they influence or direct current management headed by Dr. Wendelin Wiedeking. They may simply agree with current leadership and therefore remain quietly

Dr. Heike Nolte University of Applied Sciences Emden-Leer Constantiaplatz 4 26723 Emden, Germany Tel: +49 4921 807 1007 Fax: +49 4821 807 1228 heike.nolte@hs-emden-leer.de Dr. Alva Wright Butcher School of Business and Leadership University of Puget Sound 1500 N. Warner St. #1032 Tacoma, WA 98416-1032 Tel: 253- 879-3349 Fax: 253-879-3156 butcher@pugetsound.edu Supported by a 2011 NIBEN Curriculum Development Grant September 2011

1) The buyer decision process of traditional Porsche customers relies on the motivations that determine these people to select this brand. Their purchasing decision process is based on the exclusivity of the brand that is connected with the car owner. In their opinion, by purchasing a Porsche, traditional customers purchase the exclusivity and luxury associated with the brand. These customers want to purchase a car that reflects their social status and their financial power. In addition to this, they are not interested in the utility of the car, but in the characteristics that differentiate it from utility cars. These traditional buyers are rather interested in their feeling while driving a Porsche in comparison with the size, price, or fuel economy of the car.

Volkswagen has lost its reputation due to the recent emissions scandal. Volkswagen needs to recover its brand reputation and rebuild the relationships within its value chain, while pursuing its strategic goals (improving fuel economy with lesser emissions), in order to remain competitive in the automotive industry. To prevent future scandals, effective corporate governance needs to be implemented at Volkswagen.

Porsche is one of the most well-known brands in the world. In customers' minds, Porsche stands for exclusivity, class, and high quality. The company's marketing strategy is oriented towards identifying the needs and preferences of a small group of customers and on developing car models that satisfy these needs. However, Porsche was forced to introduce several models on the market that were not in accordance with what typical customers of the company usually prefer. These models refer to lower-priced cars, but also to high class SUVs like Cayenne and Panamera.

Sarbanes Oxley (also known as SOX) is legislation passed by the United States Congress in 2002, in the wake of a number of major corporate accounting scandals. Enron, WorldCom, Tyco, and others cost investors billions when their stock prices collapsed. As a result of SOX, top management must separately certify the accuracy of financial Furthermore, consequences for fraudulent financial activity are much more severe. Also, SOX intensified the management role of boards of directors and the independence of the external auditors who review the accuracy of corporate financial statements. The primary changes caused the formation of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, the assessment of personal liability to auditors, executives and board members and creation of the Section 404, which recognized internal control events that had not existed before the legislation.

One potential threat for Volkswagen is that Toyota may respond strategically by also cutting its prices. However, given Toyota’s quality problems over the past year, they will not be able to lower prices, as this possibly would create the perception of lower quality.. First and foremost, Toyota needs to ensure it handles its quality problems to its customers’ satisfaction. The auto maker needs to ensure the public perception is that Toyota is being upfront, honest, and responsible in dealing with recalls and the