Where is Volkswagen headed now?

As 2015 draws to an end, the largest corporate scandal of the year will drag well into 2016 as fines and class action court battles ramp up. Wolfsburg is the Volkswagen built town put on the map in 1938 by the Nazis in 1938 pursuing their dream of building the people’s car. Wolfsburg rode Volkswagen's post-war boom to financial prosperity and the two are intertwined.

Wolfsburg's population of 120,000 people draws commuters from the surrounding areas with some 70,000 working for Volkswagen - Wolfsburg is as dependent on the auto sector as Detroit was in its heyday.

Many arguments may be made that the requirements were too stringent and no engine is able to meet these standards. Regardless, the defeat device software was able to detect when the engine was being tested downgrading performance and emissions. Once out of test mode, the software ramps up performance with tailpipe emissions more than 40 times specified amounts.

When found out, Volkswagen owned up to the fact pretty quick, there wasn't a round of denials further tarnishing their reputation. It has been widely reported that the EPA has the ability to fine the company a maximum of $37,500 per vehicle that breached standards. With approximately 11 million vehicles worldwide not meeting standards, fines of up to $18 billion are being bandied around that is a simple equation of vehicle versus maximum fine. 

Regardless, shareholders are feeling pretty nervous as the financial hit to the company has the ability to be extraordinary. I am guessing inhabitants of Wolfsburg are also understandably concerned, they had no part in the decision making process yet are the ones to bear the brunt of these poorly conceived decisions.

The demise of journalism in Australia

The 24/7 news cycle forces competing news agencies to out scoop each other, all jousting for relevance in a cluttered marketplace. Tabloid style reporting, the rise of the celebrity culture and voyeurism are all contributing to the decline of investigative journalism in Australia.

This is a terrible shame, journalism using traditional mediums is in decline; newspapers, once the domain of media moguls still exert influence but are numbered due to the revenue loss through classified advertising affecting the financial viability.

Contracted journalists sitting in the Canberra press gallery reported political issues to the masses, this still happens to a certain degree. But instead of being employed directly by the media company, the journalist is now an independent contractor working freelance with blogs providing content for electronic distribution of media companies.

Traditional newsprint in the form of spreadsheet newspapers are my favoured news medium but is considered too static in the digital age. News radio, television and internet reporting are the preferred distribution in an interconnected world offering breaking news to the masses.

The News of the World scandal in the United Kingdom highlighted the depths to that journalism (for want of a better word) can sink. Tapping people's mobile phones surely is fueled by the public creating demand for such reporting.

The celebrity culture and news cycle generating such content can only be broken when consumer demand dries up - we the public created this problem.

Do we really need to teach the controlled emergency swimming ascent anymore?

During entry-level diver training, the controlled emergency swimming ascent (CESA) must be taught. Experienced instructors hate teaching this skill for a number of reasons, first and foremost, the skill is outdated with modern equipment.

Secondly, when teaching big classes on a daily basis, multiple fast ascents is bad for you and thirdly, if a new diver can't remember to check their cylinder pressure, what is their chances of remembering the CESA procedure?
 

Then you have the logistics, a full class, no certified assistant and time pressures of a charter boat. You have to take each diver down individually while the other divers remain in view in a vertical column of water holding onto the ascent line as you can't leave uncertified divers in the water.

However, you have to leave uncertified divers on the surface unattended as you take each diver down the line but that is allowed - I would hate to have to defend that action in court.

Submarine escape training required specialised facilities, not only are specialist stand-by divers present, medical staff and safety equipment, a recompression chamber is usually on site for any diving maladies. Submarine escape training is required for all submariners and can also double for military divers.

The skill is a throwback to the days of military diver training, the equipment requirements today require the use of submersible pressure gauges (SPG) measuring the contents of the cylinder. No longer is the J-valve used, as such, divers no longer need to switch to the reserve to ascent to the surface.

For those who are unfamiliar with the J-valve, there was no SPG available to measure cylinder pressure and hence cylinder volume and as the cylinder emptied, it became more difficult to breathe from the tank informing the diver the cylinder was close to empty, the valve was moved allowing unhindered breathing for the ascent.

The SPG measures the exact contents of the cylinder, during confined water training sessions, that is an exercise that must be taught so that newly certified divers take responsibility for their own gas usage. 

Correct training techniques include the diver monitoring their own cylinders and not the instructor checking the contents of their cylinder. With modern equipment and training techniques, there is no longer a requirement for teaching the CESA and the skill should now be relegated to diving folklore.

Christmas down under

We all know Australian quarantine and customs is ultra strict, they don't let much pass through them. Ok, that little twerp Johnny Depp managed to smuggle a couple over-sized rats disguised as small dogs named Pistol and Boo in to the country on his private jet; the threat of 10 years jail and/or $102,000 in fines might be a deterrent after all to him and his wife after creating a bio-security threat. 

So, what are their chances of letting a bunch of reindeer through border control after trampling around central and South-East Asia? Yeah, unlikely with concerns of foot and mouth, rabies or a whole bunch of other diseases foreign to Australia - forget it.

So at Darwin, the reindeer are unhitched and placed in quarantine and six white boomers; that is large male kangaroos, are hitched up to the sled for the great southern continent delivery run. Let's face it, reindeer don't much like the hot summer nights, they are much more suited to the snowy fjords of the northern hemisphere winter. 

This is summer, this is the southern hemisphere and all the Christmas stories of snow and a white Christmas are totally irrelevant to us southerners. We have our own traditions and identity; Christmas is summer, let's be under no misconceptions here. When the weather is starting to heat up, we know Christmas is coming.  

The social media landscape

Social media is exploding, it is difficult to a) choose the platform that best suits you and b) the platform your friends are using. There is little point in building a fantastic profile on a particular platform only to be shunned by all your friends socialising on another social media service.

Of course, the overuse of social media tends to limit social interactions, a certain irony exists in such a domain. The advantage for me is, I have made many friends overseas from travelling, this is a great opportunity for me to keep in touch and communicate with my overseas friends.

Social media is evolving, new platforms are popping up weekly, the take-up of new media is driven by the young upwardly mobile crowd. I am wondering what will evole next, the hardware to run such applications, the social media platforms or limitations of the telecommunications networks?

Marketing management

Well, I am progressing through the coursework and marketing management is all done, I am now waiting on results. I did learn a fair bit, while I already knew marketing was more than just advertising, I was surprised to learn what marketing really entailed. Marketing is the study of markets with an emphasis on the mechanics of exchange.

The course started with an overview of marketing and ethics before moving onto strategic planning for a competitive advantage, consumer marketing, market segmentation and targeting markets, marketing research, product concepts, distribution channels and supply chains, retailing, pricing and the future of marketing.

Our final assignment was a group marketing plan, that isn't bad and my fellow team members were pretty good to work with, I have engaged in remote tam assignments before and it was a little more than frustrating. that being said, the new method of work is remote cross functional teams so it prepares us for future employment situations - that's pretty good. 

The unit is pretty broad, we didn't get into as much detail as I expected in regards to supply chains and marketing channels nor did we really spend a great deal of time getting into pricing models. This is a pretty broad course and the emphasis is on self-learning and I am guessing this is an introduction to the concepts with further engagement necessary to really master the material - a broad overview mostly. 

It would be good to be able to move on from a broad degree to more specialised areas with majors in management, human resource management, finance, marketing, operations, economics, entrepreneurial & start-ups, international business or strategic management after all the basic units are covered. 

What I do know is the MBA degree has grown from a broad based education to somewhat of a specialised area now and I wouldn't feel confident moving straight into accounting, finance or marketing straight after completing the course. I need a little time to really embed the learned concepts into a sustainable knowledge base without constantly reaching for my textbook.

Yutz Place - an expensive Bali steakhouse

I was talked into going to Yutz Place, this is a Balinese steakhouse in Legian that I must admit that I wasn't much interested in. I was forced to head in because of online recommendations and my protests went unanswered.

There are many good quality restaurants in Bali that are very reasonably priced, why go to an expensive over-rated restaurant? From now on, maybe I should be insisting the person pushing to go to such an establishment should be picking up the bill.

You have to very careful what you order, the bill will escalate very quickly. Whatever you do, don't get caught out on happy hour, it only applies to beer despite what they actually tell you - they will charge you extra for the mixer too, it is not inclusive. 

The next round of drinks you order, when you inquire, they then tell you happy hour is over for spirits, beer only. Not a lot of goodwill either when you question the bill, no discussion at all - not a great strategy to build customer goodwill.

The steak is great, I asked for rare and that is what I got. Naturally, you pay for it, be ready for a dent in the plastic. The service was only so so; despite obvious failings, even if you have communication issues, a compromise goes a long way in the eyes of the consumer. There are no issues with the food or the quality of presentation.

The advantage of blogs is you are able to air your grievance in public, no longer do you just have to just take it and silently vow to never return. The onus is on the vendor, within reason to keep the customer happy; after all, the customer does pay the bill. 

If the plan is churn and burn as opposed to generating repeat customers, then the strategy worked. When your query is for less than 10% of the bill total, it at least warrants a discussion instead of being left feeling that you have just been done over.