Skip to footer

The road ahead for VW after its emissions deception

Now that the world knows of Volkswagen’s deception about the emissions of its diesel cars, it should follow the model of reform of another German engineering giant, Siemens, after it was caught in a corruption scandal.

|
Reuters
Volkswagen's logo is seen on a diesel engine of a car in Zurich, Switzerland, Sept. 22. Volkswagen shares plunged after news that the German carmaker had rigged U.S. emissions tests.
  • By the Monitor's Editorial Board

In the long history of corporate corruption, the Volkswagen scandal exposed last week by the US Environmental Protection Agency is hard to beat for the scale. The German giant deceived both customers and governments about the emissions and fuel-efficiency of 11 million diesel cars worldwide. Penalties could run into the billions because of VW’s secret software that tricked regulators. A drop in sales could now end the company’s goal to become the world’s top automaker.

That’s the bad news. What makes this scandal worth watching is to recall what happened to another German engineering giant that suffered a similar massive corruption scandal nearly a decade ago. Siemens, which specializes in big energy equipment, was found to have given bribes totaling $1.4 billion to government officials on four continents to win contracts from 2001 to 2007. A German judge called it “organized irresponsibility.” The company has since seen the light and tried to create a culture of integrity among its more than 300,000 employees.

Siemens, in fact, is now closely watched as a model for running a large-scale system for compliance with regulations and laws. Hotlines are available for whistle-blowers. A compliance chief has direct access to the company board. Incentives and ethics training help employees avoid the temptation to take shortcuts. And to lessen the commercial pressure to bribe, the company works with competitors and an independent mediator to set guidelines for fair bidding on projects.

Even with that, Siemens still finds it difficult to keep on top of every country’s rules and codes of behavior. It must deal with hundreds of internal complaints about potential illegal activity. Instilling the values of honesty and accountability takes constant effort, even a culture of self-reflection on the moral principles necessary to serve customers and society and not only stockholders. A workplace of integrity can help drive long-term financial value, as Siemens has had to learn.

Martin Winterkorn, VW’s chief executive, admitted that the company has “broken the trust of our customers and the public.” Once investigators get to the bottom of this scandal, VW can follow Siemens out of a dark tunnel and see the light of operating as an honest business. VW drivers might even once again wave to each other.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.
editor@csmonitor.com
Subscribe
Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

QR Code to The road ahead for VW after its emissions deception
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/the-monitors-view/2015/0922/The-road-ahead-for-VW-after-its-emissions-deception
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe