Volkswagen is a case study in what’s wrong with many of our biggest industrial companies

If you want to understand why so many of our industrial giants are in trouble, you could do worse than study what is happening right now in Wolfsburg, Germany. Per The Wall Street Journal, Volkswagen’s leadership is reportedly weighing the most drastic restructuring in the company’s 89-year history: eliminating up to 100,000 jobs (roughly one in six global employees), winding down production at four German plants, and slashing investment by 15%. The unions have promised to fight it “with all…