Cautious Porsche

Near-bankruptcy in the early 1990s has shaped Porsche's entire approach to risk management. The watchword is caution - a tactic the company believes has served it well

In the early 1990s, Porsche was on the brink of bankruptcy. The German company's lenders pulled in their credit lines as sales of the classic 911 slumped and customers showed little interest in the 928 - which Porsche had hoped would become the mainstay of its line-up. The company turned itself around following the appointment of current chief executive Wendelin Wiedeking in 1993, but Porsche's near-death experience produced an aversion to risk that 11 successive years of profit growth has done