Challenges 2020 and their implications on leadership : an evaluation of leadership profiles at Continental Automotive Austria in regards to the changes in the automotive industry by 2020

Abstract

If anything, the above mentioned story about Microsoft reminds us of being aware of the fast-changing market and knowing how and when to act or react. This is simply to be translated to the automotive industry. Within the last 129 years there have been groundbreaking changes in the vehicle development. For most people the car became almost comparable to a second living room. This triggered the OEMs to put more effort in the design and development of the car, interior and exterior likewise in order to keep the car as status symbol with a comfortable interior and all the infrastructure imaginable. This meant an increased field of innovation even in the past, but nowadays since the content of the car is becoming more and more about software (data retrieval, data pulling, data transmission etc.) the evolvement and necessary disruptive changes are faster to come. In chapter 2 the major changes within the automotive industry as well as their impacts will be discussed in detail. This will be necessary to understand the author-s approach on evaluating the importance and influence of leadership profiles on successfully handling changes.