Handmade. Instead of rapid growth, the Munich entrepreneurial family Rambold and their chocolate manufacturer Elly Seidl focus on careful expansion and uncompromisingly high quality (picture above: Helmut Rambold (left) and Maximilian Rambold).
Expansion strategy. In 18 years, Wolfgang Trier, now 55, has turned the bankruptcy candidate Softing into a serious supplier of communication solutions for industry. "And the best," Trier is convinced, "is yet to come.
entrepreneurship. Alexander Fackelmann has been managing the fortunes of the family business for 30 years. During this time, turnover has increased tenfold to almost 400 million euros. Now the 64-year-old is handing over operational responsibility to a non-family CEO. Together with the fourth generation, he is to lead the way towards digitalization and sustainability.
Branding. From the small Allgäu village of Meckatz, the Weiß family has been delighting beer connoisseurs from the region and far beyond for almost 160 years. Owner Michael Weiß explains how he has succeeded in doing so despite competition from over-powerful large breweries.
Innovation. The Baden-Württemberg start-up company carbonauten has developed a plastic whose production uses raw materials that would otherwise produce harmful greenhouse gases. In ten years, the founders Torsten Becker (l.) and Christian Hiemer hope to generate more than one billion euros in sales with this super material.
Medical technology. People with donor organs must be on guard against infectious diseases throughout their lives. To prevent the organ from being rejected, their immune system must be suppressed. An infection could be a death sentence. Biotechnology companies are now working to preserve the capabilities of these patients' immune systems.
Start-up. The expansion of large wind turbines has almost come to a standstill in Germany. As a result, a niche is opening up for small, cost-effective and modularly expandable turbines. Two Berlin-based founders want to bring them to series production readiness.
Succession. The lighting designer Ingo Maurer from Munich has left to posterity not only his art but also his business. As disorganized as might have been expected from this type of artist. Daughter Claude Maurer needs a new management strategy to keep the company alive.
Technology. Ulrich Weitz transforms simple materials into high-tech materials. And thus turned a small, formerly state-owned company into a globally successful supplier to industry. The products of his company IBU-tec are particularly well received in the future market of battery technology.
Exclusivity. When the premier league of international museums and artists is looking for historical colours, it travels to the Swabian province. There, the family-owned company Kremer makes millions in sales with unique color pigments.
Tourism. The Argentinean Fernando de las Carreras, 53, has made his company Nervous Waters one of the best addresses for fly fishermen worldwide. And built an exclusive travel empire around it. One of the reasons why the business is flourishing is because the wives of the anglers also feel at home in the exclusive lodges - and therefore enjoy travelling with them or even fishing themselves.
Family business. The first generation founds the company. The second one makes it big. And the third? "My task is to strengthen our position as the world market leader in an increasingly complex world and to ensure that Stihl remains a true family business at the same time," explains Nikolas Stihl. How the chairman of the advisory board as chief strategist sets the course for this.
Innovation. Jens Reindl develops textile sliding mats in his Mr. Snow GmbH, which make it possible to practice skiing without snow and also in summer. In times of climate change, the future could belong to the business model from Chemnitz.
Future technology. Sven Bauer, CEO and founder of the BMZ Group, has turned the company from Karlstein am Main in Lower Franconia into a global player in the energy storage sector. Now he wants to set up his own battery cell production in Germany in order to become independent of Asian suppliers. The problem of climate change will only be tackled if we stop using fossil fuels for the foreseeable future - no oil, no gas, no coal," says Sven Bauer. Then he corrects himself. To speak of a…
Hidden champion. When you dive, you need air - clean and safe. The compressor manufacturer Bauer from Munich is regarded as the market leader and industry ace. A third generation woman guides him through an increasingly hostile environment.
Innovation. When it comes to high-tech textiles, most people think of intelligent clothing with woven-in sensors or batteries. Technical textiles are in the process of revolutionizing a wide variety of industries. They open up completely new market opportunities for entrepreneurs.
Entrepreneurship. Everything is different with Ulrich Kubak. And again and again. The majority shareholder of Klassik Radio AG from Augsburg broke all rules and turned a loss-making niche station into a European market leader. Portrait of a free thinker, creative doer - and a company with plenty of potential.
Sustainable growth. A manufacturer of fresh natural cosmetics and dietary supplements from the Austrian province is conquering the bathrooms and kitchens of Europe. Ulla Wannenmacher and Andreas Wilfinger have fulfilled their dream of independence with Ringana - now their company is on a steep expansion path.
Network. "The hope of a neo-liberal renewal of the Brazilian economy is linked to the new President Jair Bolsonaro," says Christian Hirmer, President of LIDE Germany: "The challenges are great and the implementation of the necessary reforms will be decisive for the country's future. The big question now is: Kann Bolsonaro also supply?"
Expansion. The Swabian family business Schweizer Electronic has an exciting past behind it. And an even more exciting future ahead. "Over the next ten years, we will enter a completely different dimension," says CEO Nicolas Schweizer, making it clear: "The construction of a new factory in China will enable us to almost quadruple sales to 500 million dollars in this period.
Entrepreneurship. Six years ago, private wealth had told the fascinating story of Roland Arnold, a passionate family entrepreneur. His motivation was to restore mobility and independence to people with disabilities. Now Arnold has sold his technology. In exchange for an even greater vision.
Innovation. Over the past 30 years, NorCom has had to overcome many difficult situations. But every time, founder Viggo Nordbakk succeeded in reinventing his company. Now he wants to shake up the automobile market with Big Data software.
Revolution. Within a few years, two Italians turned an idea into a company worth billions. And could thus solve one of the most urgent problems of the present.
Future risks. The dissatisfaction of considerable sections of the population gave a boost to populist currents in the Western world. The Lerbach Round discusses what consequences this could have for the long-term growth path of the economy, the European Union and ultimately also for the capital markets. And is considering how wealthy private investors should adjust their investment strategy.
Record player. Jochen Räke sells a product that should no longer exist in the digital world. But because his record players are among the best and most beautiful in the world - and serve the growing desire for concentration and deceleration - his company Transrotor is growing. It also offers the son Dirk a brilliant perspective. On 8 March 1979, Philips, the electronics giant, presented its Compact Disc prototype to selected trade journalists. Only three years earlier Jochen Räke had introduced…
Bicycles. Canyon Bicycles GmbH from Koblenz is the most successful direct seller of high-quality bicycles - not only in Germany, but throughout Europe. Now company founder Roman Arnold wants to conquer the US market with his special business model. No matter what the future holds: Roman Arnold will probably remember the years 2015 and 2016 even when he retires. At first, things didn't run smoothly in the new production hall, which cost 20 million euros. The bikes arrived at the customers too…
Boat builder. Constructing a boat is a big entrepreneurial risk for a small company. Development work consumes a lot of time and capital. And success is uncertain. For master boat builder Markus Glas it has already been worth it once. Now he's trying again. "In principle, every boat we have developed has always had something to do with the period of my life," says Markus Glas: "Actually, I build boats from the target group for the target group".
Hidden champion. Being economically successful is not always easy, even for a globally operating electrical engineering supplier. In a family business, the difficult task of reconciling the representatives of the various family tribes and generations comes under one roof. Daniel Hager, CEO of the Hager Group, has found solutions to both challenges. Daniel Hager laughs briefly when confronted with the well-known statement that the family is the greatest advantage of a family business, but also…
Real estate development. In the east of Munich, a city grows within a city. The plant district comprises 38 hectares, 600,000 square meters of floor space, 1,000 apartments and 300,000 square meters of new construction. Three and a half years ago Werner Eckart (right), initiator and visionary head of the construction project, presented his plans in private wealth (04/13). Now the head of the Pfanni dynasty has landed a special coup.
Succession. Magdalena Messner, 29, has been the administrator and majority shareholder of the Messner Mountain Museums since the beginning of the year. She wants to be perceived not only as the daughter of the famous mountaineer, but also as an entrepreneur with her own ideas.
Innovation. Almost a third of the annual harvests on our planet fall victim to plant diseases and pests. The consequences are fatal: famine, impoverished farmers on the one hand, expansion of cultivated areas and increased use of pesticides on the other. Simone and Robert Strey want to change that.
Management buy-out. When Georg Emprechtinger joined the Austrian furniture manufacturer Team 7 in 1999, the company had a regional brand but also a sales problem. Today Emprechtinger sells its solid wood furniture worldwide. Turnover increased from 30 to 90 million euros. A success story that stood on knife edge several times.
Family business. The company name - Schwan-Stabilo - is familiar to everyone who has used a highlighter before. However, the majority of the company's turnover is generated with products under a foreign name. Sebastian Schwanhäußer does things a little differently - and not only has to convince the market, but also 42 partners.
Expansion strategy. In the early 1990s, the sauna and steam bath manufacturer Klafs went bankrupt. Then came Stefan Schöllhammer and turned the case into a hidden champion with a turnover of 100 million euros. Now an even greater entrepreneurial challenge awaits the co-owner and managing director. The core market - sauna - is declining in Germany. How can a company grow in shrinking markets? Stefan Schöllhammer's paradise lies in China. 1.4 billion Chinese, a huge market. "Even small target…
Hidden champion. How does it actually work to form a world market leader out of nothing? How does an entrepreneur organize growth from twelve to 750 employees? And how can this social structure then be handed over in a good way and completely into the hands of its successor? Helmut F. Schreiner has found his answers. Flooded with sunlight and completely in white, the large attic studio of the single-family house is in Munich's bourgeois residential area. It serves as a conference room for the…
<font color="#ffff00">-=Alternative Energien=- sync:ßÇÈâÈâ Michael Köhler and his wife Heike (top right) are passionate sailors. But they were tired of being dependent on a diesel engine during calm periods. Their solution: an electric motor driven by solar cells. Today her company Solarwave is the most important supplier of solar yachts. Whenever their time permitted, the Carinthian lawyer Michael Köhler and his wife Heike were on the move on the nearby Adriatic. They covered about 30000…
Start-up. Horses have been shoed with horseshoes for more than 1000 years - in the age of high technology this alone is a little anachronistic. In fact, it even damages the health of the horses. A team of young founders - all of them no riders themselves - has now developed an alternative.
Electric vehicles. The automotive industry is facing the greatest upheaval in its history. The Swabian automotive supplier ElringKlinger is right in the middle of this. Ten years ago, Stefan Wolf (right), Chairman of the Board of Management, and Walter Lechler, Chairman of the Supervisory Board, outlined in private wealth why the company was particularly benefiting from the optimization of the combustion engine.
Reestablishment. What does a family entrepreneur do when she has sold her father's company and has to realize that her influence as a manager is also dwindling? Susanne Puello (above) pulls the rip cord, looks for a strategic partner at mit Stefan Pierer and founds a new company in the traditional area. With Pexco GmbH she wants to shuffle up the world of e-bikes once again.
Innovation. Climate summits are passionately discussing how mankind can reduce carbon dioxide emissions to limit global warming. Wouldn't it be better to think about how existing CO2 could be filtered out of the atmosphere? The Swiss start-up Climeworks has found a way.
Start-up. About one and a half years ago Felix Eichler, Kajetan Uhlig and Hartmut Hahn (top, from left) founded the company Userlane in Munich. Her idea: a navigation system that guides users through any software. Since then they have been overwhelmed by their own success. Their greatest challenge today is to maintain the rapid pace of growth.
Biotech. Every year in Germany alone, more than 200,000 people suffer a heart attack. Fortunately, fewer and fewer die of it. However, many survivors then develop heart failure, which is often fatal. The biotech company Cardior wants to put an end to this complication - with an elegant process that impressively demonstrates how much potential biotechnology has.
Innovation. 3-D audio formats will revolutionize the world of hearing. This is a great opportunity for the family company Sennheiser, which specialises in the manufacture of microphones, headphones and conference solutions. And a challenge. "Andreas (left) and Daniel Sennheiser, "We have to maintain our innovation leadership." The two representatives of the third generation have long since set the course for this.
Network. In June 2018, M&T Expo Brazil, the largest construction machinery exhibition on the Latin American continent, will take place for the first time with the participation of Messe München. "This is an important step for us - we want to help shape the leading trade fairs at diesem Kontinent," says Stefan Rummel, Managing Director of Messe München. The LIDE business network can help here.
Old and new economy. A traditional furniture store, a website and investments in innovative start-ups - Robert A. Kabs is very successful in three different worlds. The Hamburg entrepreneur is driven above all by one thing: the search for new horizons.
Technology. Johann Hammerschmid (left in the picture) developed an extraordinary electric motorcycle - and won many admirers. Nevertheless, the Upper Austrian did not want to build more than 50 pieces. Cause actually, he was just practicing. He plans the big litter in three to five years. Then the time is ripe for a real electric revolution in motorcycles. And Hammerschmid wants to lead them.
Management. The speed of change, they say, will never be as slow as it is today. Companies would have to increase the pace and allow more flexibility. The way there is described by management consultants with the magic word agility - self-organized cooperation. How the method works, what it really can do and in which areas it does not provide added value.
Family business. Two families, a global corporation with sales of almost four billion euros and the solution to an ecological and social problem: Mann+Hummel develops filters that are used in cars and buildings, in water treatment and in the food industry. "Thomas Fischer, shareholder and Chairman of the Supervisory Board, is optimistic that "our possibilities are limitless."
Perpetuum mobile. It sounds like a fairy tale. Giulio Bonazzi and his company Aquafil transform waste into high-quality yarn. And the best thing about it: This process can be repeated as often as you like - without any loss of quality. Aquafil is still at the beginning. But the market is huge. And the technology is unique.
Succession. The market for high-quality office furniture is volatile and highly competitive. Those who assert themselves there have to achieve something very special. As is Jochen Hahne (above), who is the third generation to run the Wilkhahn family business.
Entrepreneurship. Klaus Haas (right) and Peter Räuber found their sports label Maloja in 2004 with extraordinary ideas. They resist rapid growth. They think pure profit thinking is outdated. And write a unique success story with it.
Innovation. Three young people from Austin, Texas, want to fundamentally change housing construction. Your company Icon uses 3D printing to build houses. The printed accommodation should be personalisable, but above all unbeatably cheap.