The Volkswagen emissions-test-cheating scandal moved on a few miles/kilometres this week with developments that saw the VW group headquarters and some employees' homes raided by German prosecutors and criminal investigators, the CEO of the US subsidiary hauled in front of the US Congress to explain what happened (and where he admitted he knew about the cheating in 2014), finger-pointing gets underway, dire warnings emerge about potential restructuring and job losses, and a share price that has … [Read more...] about VW: Recalling a reputation
Investor Relations
The value of a valuable brand
Brand consultancy Interbrand has published its latest annual report and ranking on the world's top 100 global brands for 2015. The top 10 companies ranked by brand valuation, with the percentage difference in 2015 rank compared to Interbrand's rank of last year, are these: Apple - $170.3bn (+43%) Google - $120.3bn (+12%) Coca-Cola - $78.4bn (-4%) Microsoft - $67.7bn (+11%) IBM - $65.1bn (-10%) Toyota - $49.0bn (+16%) Samsung - $45.3bn (-7%) GE - $42.3bn (-6%) McDonald’s - … [Read more...] about The value of a valuable brand
Can a tarnished VW emerge successfully from #dieselgate?
The global #dieselgate crisis engulfing German car maker Volkswagen may well produce significant and disruptive change in the governance and regulation of the auto industry and publicly-listed companies in that industry (likelier in Germany than anywhere else, I'd say), although it's far from clear what the consequences and outcomes will actually be. What's extraordinary - except, maybe it isn't anymore - is, on the one hand, the speed with which the unravelling of VW's reputation is … [Read more...] about Can a tarnished VW emerge successfully from #dieselgate?
Dick Costolo: Twitter unfollows the leader as social milestones are missed
The news yesterday that Twitter CEO Dick Costolo is stepping down from that leadership role next month has attracted widespread commentary and opinion, not least on Twitter itself. There's credible opinions that Costolo is going because he hasn't evolved Twitter as many observers and critics expected or believe he should have. Indeed, the stock market greeted yesterday's announcement with a 10 percent rise in Twitter's share price at one point. An analysis in the Guardian today - you can … [Read more...] about Dick Costolo: Twitter unfollows the leader as social milestones are missed
Sprinklr raises $46m to build out an omnichannel offering: Experience Cloud
"Omnichannel" is a word to get used to as I expect we'll hear this buzzword more and more as the technical marketing term to describe something relatively simple: the seamless customer experience. More on that in a minute. It's a word used in much of the media reporting on two announcements from enterprise social media firm Sprinklr yesterday, the first being that it had raised $46 million in new investment funding to value the company at $1.17 billion. As Fortune magazine notes in its … [Read more...] about Sprinklr raises $46m to build out an omnichannel offering: Experience Cloud