Internal Management System and Key Performance Indicators

The Volkswagen Group’s performance and success can be measured using both financial and nonfinancial key performance indicators. In the following, we first describe the internal management process and then explain the Volkswagen Group’s core performance indicators.

INTERNAL MANAGEMENT PROCESS IN THE VOLKSWAGEN GROUP

The starting point for the Volkswagen Group’s internal management process is the medium-term planning aligned with the corporate strategy that is conducted once a year and generally covers a period of five years. This forms the core of our operational planning and is used to formulate and check the requirements for realizing strategic projects designed to meet Group targets in both technical and economic terms – and particularly in relation to earnings and liquidity effects. In addition, it is used to coordinate all business areas with respect to the strategic action areas concerned: functions/ processes, products and markets.

When planning the Company’s future, the individual planning components are determined on the basis of the timescale involved:

• the long-term unit sales plan, which sets out market and segment growth and then derives the Volkswagen Group’s delivery volumes from them;
• the product program as the strategic, long-term factor determining corporate policy;
• capacity and utilization planning for the individual locations.

The coordinated results of the upstream planning processes are used as the basis for the medium-term financial planning: the Group’s financial planning, including the brands and business fields, comprises the income statement, cash flow and balance sheet planning, profitability and liquidity, as well as the upfront investments needed for alternative products and the implementation of strategic options. The first year of the medium-term planning period is fixed and a budget drawn up for the individual months. This is planned in detail down to the level of the operating cost centers.

The budget is reviewed each month throughout the year to establish the degree to which the targets have been met. Key internal management instruments comprise target/actual comparisons, prior-year comparisons, variance analyses and, where necessary, action plans to ensure targets are met. For the current fiscal year, detailed revolving monthly forecasts are prepared for the coming three months and the full year, taking into account the current risks and opportunities. The focus of intrayear internal management is therefore on adapting ongoing operations. At the same time, the current forecast serves as a potential, ongoing corrective to the medium-term and budget planning that follows on from it.

CORE PERFORMANCE INDICATORS IN THE VOLKSWAGEN GROUP

The Volkswagen Group’s internal management system is based on nine core performance indicators, which are derived from our strategic goals. Two of these indicators will be added in 2017 under the future program TOGETHER – Strategy 2025:

• Deliveries to customers
• Sales revenue
• Operating result
• Operating return on sales
• Research and development ratio (R&D ratio) in the Automotive Division (from 2017)
• Capex/sales revenue in the Automotive Division
• Net cash flow in the Automotive Division
• Net liquidity in the Automotive Division (from 2017)
• Return on investment (ROI) in the Automotive Division

Deliveries to customers are defined as handovers of new vehicles to the end customer. This figure shows the popularity of our products and is the measure we use to determine our competitive position in the markets. Deliveries are closely related to our targets of exciting customers, being a role model in terms of the environment, safety and integrity, and being an excellent employer. One of the most important prerequisites for the Company’s long-term success is a strong brand portfolio that – on the basis of outstanding quality – offers tailor-made mobility solutions with safe, resource-efficient vehicles, thus meeting the diverse needs of customers. Demand for our products guarantees not only unit sales and production, but also full utilization of our locations and the jobs of our employees. The goals we are striving for cannot be achieved without a skilled, dedicated workforce and a consensus on shared values.

Sales revenue, which does not include the figures for our equity-accounted Chinese joint ventures, reflects our market success in financial terms. Following adjustment for our use of resources, the operating result reflects the Company’s actual business activity and documents the economic success of our core business. The operating return on sales is the ratio of the operating result to sales revenue.

The research and development ratio (R & D ratio) in the Automotive Division shows total research and development costs in relation to sales revenue. Research and development costs comprise a range of expenses, from futurology through to the development of marketable products. Particular emphasis is placed on the environmentally friendly orientation of our product portfolio. The R&D ratio underscores the efforts made to ensure the Company’s future viability: the goal of competitive profitability geared to sustainable growth.

The ratio of capex (investments in property, plant and equipment, investment property and intangible assets, excluding capitalized development costs) to sales revenue in the Automotive Division reflects both our innovative power and our future competitiveness. It shows our capital expenditure – largely for modernizing and expanding our product range and for environmentally friendly drivetrains, as well as for adjusting the production capacity and improving production processes – in relation to the Automotive Division’s sales revenue.

Net cash flow in the Automotive Division represents the excess funds from operating activities available for dividend payments, for example. It is calculated as cash flows from operating activities less cash flows from investing activities attributable to operating activities.

Net liquidity in the Automotive Division is the total of cash, cash equivalents, securities, loans and time deposits not financed by third-party borrowings. To safeguard our business activities, we have formulated the strategic target that net liquidity in the Automotive Division should amount to approximately 10% of the consolidated sales revenue.

We use the return on investment (ROI) to calculate the return on invested capital for a particular period in the Automotive Division, including the Chinese joint ventures on a proportionate basis, by calculating the ratio of the operating result after tax to average invested capital. If the return on investment (ROI) exceeds the market cost of capital, the value of the Company has increased. This is how we measure the financial success of our brands, locations and vehicle projects.

You can find information and explanations of the sales figures and the Volkswagen Group’s financial key performance indicators in chapter "Deliveries" and in chapter "Results of Operations".

Detailed descriptions of our activities and additional nonfinancial key performance indicators in the areas of sustainability, research and development, procurement, production, sales and marketing, quality assurance, employees, information technology and the environment can be found in the chapter entitled “Sustainable Value Enhancement”.