Skoda

Individual Assignment

Executive Summary Skoda was established in Czechoslovakia in the year 1925. Overcoming the years of economic depression, war and political change Skoda is known today as one of the leading automobile manufacturers. Skoda is the largest car manufacturer in Europe selling approximately 5 million cars every year with a 12% world car market share.
Key weakness that Skoda was able to identify Before 1999 Skoda was seen as low-budget and low-quality car, but after, under the ownership of Volkswagen AG, Skoda’s image changed. The quality and status of the car changed positively. Hence the brand image was not poor anymore, but was neither strong. For a brand to be successful
Through these surveys Skoda tried to understand the perception that the customers had about the brand. Hence after conducting customer surveys and based on other research Skoda found out that the customers are satisfied with the brand. Skoda won many awards and stood at the top in customer satisfaction. As mentioned in the case, from JD Power, a customer satisfaction survey, Skoda has been one of the top 5 manufacturers in the last 13 years. Also 56000 viewers gave their opinion about 150 Skoda car models as the ‘number 1 car maker’. Clearly Skoda’s strength was that its customers were very happy owning the car, majority of which would recommend the same to their friends. The results from the customer satisfaction survey have been helpful for Skoda in developing new strategies to overcome its weakness of Brand revitalization. Skoda knows that the customers are happy with the quality of the car. It was found that most of Skoda car owners would recommend the car to their friends and family. This is a big achievement for a company, word of mouth. Skoda used its customer satisfaction in a strategy which focuses on ‘human touch’, a driving experience for the owners of the car. Hence Skoda wanted to focus on making the customers happy and not on sales. The company wanted to be market orientated rather than being sales oriented as their competitors. This strategy differed as it does not deal with sales maximization but focuses on giving the