Sunday 1 November 2015

VOLKSWAGEN SCANDAL SPREADS ! LEGISLATION IS REQUIRED !


While the Volkswagen (VW) scandal continues, slowly other Groups and Companies in the Automobile Industry are being tarred with the same brush. 

It seems Customers have been fed false information concerning the performance of vehicules (Speed, Fuel consumption...) which can only be justified in exceptional testing conditions.  

Once again, all companies know what is going on.  Senior Managers, Executives and top level Directors could never honestly plead that they "did not know what was going on under their noses" !

In the case of VW, the sudden revelation was catastrophic.  The Group had to make hefty financial provisions to cover expected losses and shareholders saw their investments in VW shares nosedive on Stock Markets. 

Have senior Managers and Directors been sacked for ruining their Company and their Shareholders ?  Have they had to forfeit their "Golden Goodbye Bonus" or their "Top Hat Retirement Pensions" and all other similar "top-ups" ? 

This kind of information is rarely communicated, but it reveals a weakness in top level employment.  Inducements to ordinary employees, to encourage them to improve their performance at work, is normal. 

"Inducements" to top Directors to improve profitability, is different.   When Directors do initiate changes, the  real effect is rarely visible immediately.   Sometimes changes can later also prove to have been a real disaster !   Was the VW scandal not like a hidden time bomb ?

Should Legislators not oblige "already well paid" directors to wait for the payment of their "exceptional" bonuses ?   Five years later, it would be quite clear whether the "performance" of directors really merited a "bonus" !

The VW scandal is not the first such scandal and there will be others in the coming years !   That is certain !

                                         .

             

No comments:

Post a Comment