Porsche Exposed
It was January and Porsche-the legendary manufacturer of performance sports cars-wished to reevaluate rate strategy. Porsche's management had always been unconcerned about opinions of the equity market, buts its currency hedging strategy was becoming something of a lighting rod for criticism. Although the currency hedging results had been positive, many experts believed that Porsche had simply been "more lucky than good." There was a growing nervousness among analysts that the company was actually speculating on currency movements, and that was not in the best interests of shareholders. Analysts were estimating that more than 40% of earnings were to come from currency hedging. Porsche's President and CEO, Dr. Wendelin Wiedeking, now wished to revisit the company's exposure management strategy.