The American economic historian Prof. Harold James recently said in a lecture, that in his opinion the winners of globalization are the small countries.

And I have noticed that what applies to these countries also applies in the same way in particular to companies. Germany is often viewed as “World Champion” of exports. If you take a closer look you can see that behind this world champion performance are not businesses which like to call themselves “global corporations”, but medium sized businesses, which consider themselves to be “master of their craft” whose strategic goal it is to be best and not to be biggest.

Globalization brings the whole world to the doorstep of each and every one of us, thanks to the possibilities of communication accompanying globalization, which conquer all distances. Even any location off the beaten path is in principle for anyone nowadays just around the corner. I haven pointed out in different editions of BriefLetter that globalization offers true future perspectives to small and medium sized businesses. However, they really need to be the best. And this assessment proves true while at the same time problems which are tied to the size of a company can no longer be suppressed or denied.

Size is increasingly becoming a problem that is tough to deal with, because size develops its own legitimacy of restrictions, which paradoxically escapes any transparency and control and at the end backwards motion or self-destruction happens.

In my opinion it is only a question of time until the perception prevails overall that size is no longer to be considered the deciding criteria for success in a globally operating economy. In the German automotive industry, one of the first industries to set out and conquer the world via the factor size, it is beginning to show that those in charge are trying to regain control over the business through retrogression. After the pullback from BMW at Rover, and after the considerations of DaimlerChrysler to end the dream of Jürgen Schrempp of a global corporation through separation of Daimler and Chrysler, the industrialist Ferdinand von Piech is thinking about disassembling the Volkswagen corporation. He is going to try to take over Volkswagen via Porsche and subsequently relinquish Audi into autonomy, in other words, to sell it in order to create a controllable business.

In order to be best one has to get one thing straight, namely which values are required. For me these are values such as the intuition for a fair pact between capital and labor, a corporate culture which spawns the breeding ground for extraordinary performances, a discipline according to the guidelines of creation and an unconditional pact with truthfulness.

The best controllers do not learn their trade from lumberjacks, but from a gardener who watches his fruit trees all year round carefully and prudently cuts off wild saplings here and there.
Franz M. Schmid-Preissler