Harvard Business School - Porsche's Risky Roll

[DanJK]

http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/5466.html

I thought a few folks might enjoy this article from the Harvard Business School as well as the two case studies.

Interesting reading.

[Todd Simpson]

The line that got me was-"The controversial Cayenne has turned out to be Porsche's best-selling automobile ever."

I'm sure you can find a time period where the Cayenne outsold the Boxster or the 911 but that's still playing pretty loose with the facts.

Here's a link on the cancelled Cayenne. Porsche doesn't want to "confuse" people with a short run of 2007 Cayennes before the new "redesigned" Cayenne arrives at dealers in late 2007.

http://autoreview.belproject.com/item/233

[LakeCleElum]

I have a friend in Germany whose wife works in the front office of Porche. He told me that the Cayenne is assembled in Poland???

[cygtoad]

"The controversial Cayenne has turned out to be Porsche's best-selling automobile ever. "

Is this really true?   I can see that perhaps # of units sold may have outstripped more expensive models at one time or another, like upon introduction.   However that isn't really a success story if your expectation is to sell a boat load and get a much smaller margin of profit per unit.

[GrantG]

Originally posted by LakeCleElum
I have a friend in Germany whose wife works in the front office of Porche. He told me that the Cayenne is assembled in Poland???

It's built in Leipzig which is in the Eastern part of Germany (which may have been Poland a few decades ago - the borders have moved many times, but not in the last 60 years)...

[theclaw]

So much for the Harvard MBA.

[Nine9six]

About the author
Martha Lagace is senior editor of HBS Working Knowledge.

To print and publish such rubbish without confirmation on the accuracy of the facts, doesn't say much for Harvard, or its staff.

[Lorenfb]

So much for the "case study" approach to a biz school, i.e. limited merit versus
stressing the basics, e.g. marketing, accounting, ops mgmt, & STATISTICS.

[sig_a]

The future of the Porsche brand rests solely in management's potential to continue to design, engineer and manufacturer demonstrably superior vehicles. And if it makes competitive sense to locate outside Germany, management will make the investment. On the other hand, the more mainstream Porsche becomes, the weaker the brand will become. Porsche's historical success is based on tight focus. So long as the world economy continues to produce a higher living standard, more consumers will find a way to buy their uniquely designed sports cars. Seems to me, the article neglects this all-important backbone of Porsche.

[khamul02]

I'm a professor at a university & through various literature reviews & I found published peer reviewed articles like this all over the place. There is a huge problem with fact checking using original sources going on in academic research publications. Don’t believe everything you read. Take some time to check things out for yourself.

[Early_S_Man]

Typical liberal-media BS ... just like the New York Times recent scandal about sources and fabricated 'facts!'

Harvard MBA [and other 'Ivy League' schools] has lost all credibility and value over the past 35 years!!! For a detailed explanation of the decline in education's standards ... read Martin L. Cross' The End of Sanity: Social and Cultural Madness in America.

[gestalt1]

I thought the Cayanne was cheap for Porsche to develop because VW basically engineered and invested the tooling etc. while porsche really just made there version unique from the tourag. i think the cost savings of getting a new product in a new market for cheap is smart. i do agree that the articale had no numbers showing projections and production capcity vs. actual sales.

[hytem]

I have read that the principal problem for Porsche in the early 90s was the low value of the dollar, which hurt Porsche sales in America. In the mid to late 90s, the exchange rate improved significantly, and U.S. sales improved. Even though the dollar is low again, Porsche sales in the U.S. have remained strong--to date.

Does this thread belong in the marketplace section?