MGT 321 SEU Establishment of Volkswagen Car Manufacturing in Russia Questions

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Ebgnan

Business Finance

MGT 321

Saudi electronic university

MGT

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The Assignment must be submitted on Blackboard (WORD format only) via allocated folder.

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  • Assignment Question(s): \
    1. What factors underlay the decision by Volkswagen to invest directly in automobile production in Russia? Why was FDI preferable to exporting from existing factories in Germany?
    2. Which theory (or theories) of FDI best explain Volkswagen’s FDI in Russia?
    3. How do you think FDI by foreign automobile companies might benefit the Russian economy? Is there any potential downside to Russia from this inflow of FDI?
    4. Russia is largely dependent on oil exports to drive its economy forward. Given the sharp fall in global oil prices that occurred in 2014 and 2015, what impact do you think this will have on FDI into Russia?
    Volkswagen has signaled that it is going to stay the course in Russia, despite current political and economic headwinds. Why do you think it made this decision? What are the pros and cons of this decision? In your opinion, is it the correct decision?

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618 Part 7 Cases Case Discussion Questions 1. Who benefits from subsidies to U.S. sugar producers? Who loses? 2. Do the benefits of U.S. government support to the U.S. sugar industry outweigh the losses? 3. What do you think would happen if the U.S. government removed all support for U.S. sugar producers? 4. Government support programs for sugar producers were introduced in the 1930s, yet they are still in place today, long after the original rationale disappeared. What does this tell you about political decisions relating to international trade? 5. If you had the power to make changes here, what would you do and why? Volkswagen in Russia In the mid-2000s, Volkswagen announced that it would invest directly in automobile production in Russia. The decision to invest was driven by a number of factors. Russia’s economy was growing rapidly at the time and living standards were rising, while the level of car ownership per capita was still low by European standards. This suggested that demand for cars would grow rapidly going forward. Indeed, forecasts predicted that by 2020, Russia would surpass Germany to become the largest car market in Europe. Moreover, Volkswagen’s global rivals, including most notably Toyota, General Motors, and Ford, were also investing in production facilities in Russia, so Volkswagen felt that it had to make direct investments in order to avoid being preempted by its rivals. The Russian government also created incentives for carmakers to invest directly in Russian production facilities, allowing them to avoid import tariffs and a punitive tax on imports of parts if they produced at least 25,000 cars in the country. In 2011, the government announced that it would keep tariffs on imported components at 0.3 percent if a foreign automaker built at least 300,000 in the country by 2020 and produced 60 percent of the value of the car locally. Spurred on by such incentives, in 2007 Volkswagen opened a plant in Kaluga, 160 miles southwest of Moscow, to build some of its VW and Skoda car brands. The plant was projected to have a peak capacity of 150,000 units a year and employ 3,000 people. Initially, all vehicles at the plant were assembled from semi-knocked-down kits imported from Germany. In October 2009, however, the plant launched full-scale production, including welding and painting of vehicles. In October 2011, Volkswagen announced that, together with a local partner, GAZ Group, it would open a second plant near St. Petersburg as it strove to reach the 300,000 units of local production by 2020. In 2013, Volkswagen made an additional investment in Kaluga when it pledged €300 million to build an engine plant near to its assembly operation. The engine plant opened in September 2015. All told, by this point Volkswagen had invested more than $1 billion in production in Russia. General Motors and Toyota had also announced investments of more than $1 billion to boost Russian production up to 300,000 units by 2020, and Fiat had indicated that it would make investments to bring its Russian production up to 300,000 as well. In total, foreign carmakers had invested more than $5 billion in Russian assembly operations by 2014. Meanwhile, analysts continued to predict that the Russian car market would grow at a healthy pace and exceed that of Germany by 2020. In 2014, however, the market took a sharp turn for the worse. Russia is a major oil producer. Since the mid-2000s, much of the country’s economic growth had been powered by high oil prices. In the second half of 2014, however, global oil prices started to fall rapidly as increased production in America and weak demand in China conspired to create a global glut of oil. By 2016, oil prices had fallen 80 percent from their peak. To make matters worse, following hard on the heals of its hostile takeover of the Crimea region from Ukraine, Russia had become embroiled in a smoldering civil war in eastern Ukraine. Western nations responded to what they perceived as Russian aggression by imposing sanctions on Russia. Hit by these twin blows, the Russian economy weakened significantly in 2014 and 2015, and the ruble declined precipitously, losing 50 percent of its value against the U.S. dollar. Suddenly the bright hopes that foreign automakers had for the Russian market seemed to be tarnished. Faced with falling demand, Volkswagen cut production at its Kaluga plant to 120,000 vehicles from a planned 150,000. With the new engine plant scheduled to come on line and no resolution to Russia’s economic crisis insight, Volkswagen’s excess capacity problem may get worse. Looking forward, Volkswagen has to decide whether to keep investing in Russia in order to hit the magic 300,000 local output figure by 2020 or to pull back from a market whose future suddenly looks highly uncertain. At this point, it looks as if Volkswagen is staying the course. In late 2015, a Volkswagen board member noted that “We need to continue to strengthen our partnership (in Russia) despite the current situation.” Sources Sarah Sloat, “Volkswagen to Halt Production at Russian Plant for 10 Days,” The Wall Street Journal, September 7, 2014; Clare Nuttall, “Foreign Car Firms Invest Heavily in Russia,” The Telegraph, April 28, 2011; “Volkswagen Russia Shows the Way,” Automotive Supply Chain, July 2, 2013; “Volkswagen Slashes Car Production at Russian Plant,” Reuters, September 7, 2014. Exceeds Expectation Content and Analysis 1 Point Explanation of Includes all of the required issues components, as specified in the assignment. Evidence Analysis Conclusions and related outcomes Meets Expectation Below Expectation 0.75 Point Includes most of the required components, as specified in the assignment. 0.5 Points Includes some of the required components, as specified in the assignment. 0.5-0 Points Includes few of the required components, as specified in the assignment. 1 Point Information is taken from source(s) with enough interpretation/ evaluation to develop a comprehensive analysis or synthesis. 0.75 Point Information is taken from source(s) with enough interpretation/ evaluation to develop a coherent analysis or synthesis. 0.5-0 Points Information is taken from source(s) without any interpretation/ evaluation. 1.5 Points Thoroughly (systematically and methodically) analyzes own and others' assumptions and carefully evaluates the relevance of contexts when presenting a position. 1 Point Identifies own and others' assumptions and several relevant contexts when presenting a position. 0.5 Points Information is taken from source(s) with some interpretation/ evaluation, but not enough to develop a coherent analysis or synthesis. 0.75 Points Questions some assumptions. Identifies several relevant contexts when presenting a position. May be more aware of others' assumptions than one's own (or vice versa). 0.5 Points Conclusions and related outcomes (consequences and implications) are logical and reflect student’s informed evaluation and ability to place evidence and perspectives discussed in priority order. 0.25 Points Conclusion is logically tied to a range of information, including opposing viewpoints; related outcomes (consequences and implications) are identified clearly. 0.25 Points Conclusion is logically tied to information (because information is chosen to fit the desired conclusion); some related outcomes (consequences and implications) are identified clearly. Limited Evidence 0.75-0 Points Shows an emerging awareness of present assumptions (sometimes labels assertions as assumptions). Begins to identify some contexts when presenting a position. 0 Points Conclusion is inconsistently tied to some of the information discussed; related outcomes (consequences and implications) are oversimplified. Writing 1 Point Demonstrates college-level proficiency in organization, grammar and style. Work is clearly organized, well written, and in proper format as outlined in the assignment. Strong sentence and paragraph structure, contains no errors in grammar, spelling, APA style, or APA citations and references. Total points possible = 05 0.75 Points Work is fairly well organized and written and is in proper format as outlined in the assignment. Reasonably good sentence and paragraph structure, may include a few minor errors in grammar, spelling, APA style, or APA citations and references. 0.25 Points Work is poorly organized and written and may not follow proper format as outlined in the assignment. Inconsistent to inadequate sentence and paragraph 0 Points Work is not organized or well written and is not in proper format as outlined in the assignment. Poor quality work; unacceptable in terms of grammar, spelling, APA style,
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Running Head: VOLKSWAGEN IN RUSSIA CASE DISCUSSION

Answers to Volkswagen in Russia Case Discussion
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VOLKSWAGEN IN RUSSIA CASE DISCUSSION

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Answers to Volkswagen in Russia Case Discussion questions
Question 1
Several factors made Volkswagen decide to invest directly in the Russian automobile
production sector in 2000. One of the significant factors was attributed to the research that was
done by the European standard, which stated that the economy of Russia was expanding and
developing rapidly. The people's living standards were improving. The finding did not stop there
as it had discovered that people who owned a car in the country were small. These outcomes
showed that the country's demand for vehicles was looming, and hence there was a need to
prepare to capture the moment (Bule, Galofé & Garriga, 2013).
Another factor contributing to the establishment of Volkswagen car manufacturing in
Russia was rivalry amongst the automobile makers in the world at that time. European standard
had predicted that the Russian automobile demand w...


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