What does the new government have to do now so that the country can operate successfully? Herbert Diess, CEO of the Volkswagen Group, is someone who can probably answer that well. He cultivates the open word. The continent’s largest industrial conglomerate is still quite successful, but is facing challenges that will change everything. Kind of like that across the country. “We won’t recognize the automotive industry in 15 years,” says Diess. A few very large corporations would then dominate the business: Tesla is already there, Apple will “in all likelihood” be added, and so will Chinese providers. These are the first sentences of a manager at the SZ economic summit – the keynote has been laid for this very first panel.
Because how different he sounds compared to his predecessor as CEO, Martin Winterkorn, who appeared at the economic summit years ago with a swollen chest. Anyone who pondered publicly about weaknesses at the time was immediately sent to the doctor. Diess already thinks some things are good at VW in 2021 – but he is not entirely convinced that VW will be one of the winners after the global reorganization.
Compared to the new competition, VW is too bureaucratic, too immobile. Diess finds that it is dangerous to say that he is always causing controversy in his own company because of his ongoing radical criticism and impatient pushing. Even now at the economic summit he speaks as clearly as very few other business leaders: “I think the group will not survive if Wolfsburg does not adapt to the new era.” To change that is his mission. And it is not much different with the whole country: “The economy will win,” he says, “which drives everything forward, the economy that lags behind will lose!”
There is no lack of technology in Europe, says Marianne Janik, the Germany boss of the software company Microsoft. “What is missing: the will to work across industrial boundaries.”
(Photo: Friedrich Bungert)
The way to go is very clear: it is about mastering software and hardware. And in fact, Germany is not yet completely left behind. Infineon from Munich is one of the ten largest manufacturers of computer chips in the world, which, by the way, is also built by Volkswagen – although the cooperation is not completely free of tension: some industries are “very cost-oriented”, says CEO Reinhard Ploss in the direction of Diess. One can read into it that the auto industry sometimes depresses prices excessively. In a crisis a good decade ago, that almost led to financial difficulties. The key to regaining strength since then? “Always think about what might come next rather than what has already been done well,” says Ploss. And think more in terms of the product, the solution, than the technical part alone.
Marianne Janik doesn’t see it any differently. The Germany boss of the US software company Microsoft appears calm. But appearances are deceptive, she says to the audience: “It’s seething inside!” Yes, she was worried. Not so much because of your own employer – he now has a stock market valuation of two trillion dollars, so it is highly stable.
No, she worries about the in this country so little developed ability to work together as partners, to think in systems, that is, the big picture, both in the company, but also beyond: “There is a lack of will to work across industrial boundaries.” Because actually, many skills are gathered in European companies, with the help of which “a lot” can be made up for in the digital world.
But instead, the very large German companies in particular are staying in their traditional courts, as can be seen in the discussion about the role of the digital corporations Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon. “I experience in Germany that people look at the GAFAs with envy,” says Janik. At the same time, everyone wanted to somehow participate in their success. With this defensive stance based on the principle of “wash me, but don’t get me wet”, you won’t get any further.
The way to success for Infineon boss Reinhard Ploss? “Always think about what might come next rather than what has already been done well.”
(Photo: Johannes Simon)
So a strange proximity-distance relationship between Germans and digital corporations, which perhaps has something to do with uncertainty? If technologies were introduced that change life and business, you have to be able to trust them, understand them, says Janik. So understandable. But she is not entirely convinced whether the negotiators of the Ampel coalition are really aware of all the essential circumstances of the IT and digital industry. How good insofar as there is VW where all signs point to cooperation and IT. “Mr. Diess, you bring the necessary unrest in our boardrooms,” says the Microsoft boss in any case.
He seems reasonably satisfied with the current political circumstances, at least with regard to the laws on mobility. The rules for autonomous driving are among the most progressive in the world, he says, and the funding program for electromobility is also helpful. Although a higher CO2 price will soon have to be added in order to steer society even more clearly towards climate protection – and then to earn money with the resulting products in the rest of the world.
The “big challenge”, however, is digitization. The key question for the VW boss: Will Germany and Europe manage to set the standards for autonomous driving? The last great digital ecosystem where the cards have not yet been laid, unlike smartphones or social media? It’s not too late yet, says Diess. Even the veteran Infineon boss gets downright emotional when it comes to the subject: Ploss says, putting something down that the others haven’t yet had, that would be it! Could work. As long as everyone is fast enough.