FRANKFURT: Austrian Hans Dieter Poetsch, Volkswagen AG's finance chief, faces a massive task in his future role as chairman - to maintain the support of the often divided stakeholders who have chosen to back him while improving the carmaker's profitability.
Although Volkswagen Group has grown to become the world's largest carmaker it has proven to be one of the most difficult companies to manage as radical reforms can be blocked by labour representatives, who hold half the seats on the supervisory board, and its home state of Lower Saxony, which controls a 20 percent stake in the company.