Luca de Meo at Volkswagen Group

Linda A. Hill; Dana M.  Teppert

Case | HBS Case Collection | April 2013

Luca de Meo at Volkswagen Group

by Linda A. Hill and Dana M. Teppert

Abstract

Luca de Meo, chief marketing officer of Volkswagen Group, reflects on his time leading the marketing department at Volkswagen Passenger Cars brand. In particular, he thinks about the environmental sustainability initiative launched by marketing called "Think Blue" and its success throughout the company. During his time at Volkswagen, de Meo focused on transforming the marketing department into an engine of innovation. De Meo and his team in marketing worked together to build a strong global brand.

Keywords: marketing; leadership; sustainability; auto industry; change management; branding; Leadership; Change Management; Environmental Sustainability; Auto Industry; Germany;

Language: English

Format: Print

28 pages

Educators

Citation:

Hill, Linda A., and Dana M. Teppert. "Luca de Meo at Volkswagen Group." Harvard Business School Case 413-124, April 2013.

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Case | HBS Case Collection | July 2020

Kathy Fish at Procter & Gamble: Navigating Industry Disruption by Disrupting from Within

Emily Truelove, Linda A. Hill and Emily Tedards

When Kathy Fish, Procter & Gamble’s Chief Research, Development & Innovation Officer, and a 40-year company veteran, stepped into her role in 2014, she was concerned that the world’s leading consumer packaged goods company had lost its capability to produce a steady stream of disruptive innovations. This, coupled with intensifying competition from more agile, digitally-savvy direct-to-consumer companies, convinced Fish that P&G needed to renew its value proposition. She believed it was essential that all 100,000 employees see innovation as their job, and that all aspects of the consumer experience—not only the product itself—be “irresistibly superior.” But making this change would require wholesale transformation, which was challenging because P&G’s business units had decision-making rights for their businesses. Thus, when she launched GrowthWorks, an initiative to bring lean innovation to scale at P&G, Fish designed it to be business unit-led and corporately-supported.
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Keywords: female protagonist; Organizational change; organizational behavior; culture change; digital; digital transformation; innovation; lean startup; experimentation; metrics; consumer packaged goods (CPG); Leadership; Leading Change; Change Management; Organizational Culture; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Disruption; Innovation and Invention;