When it comes to the German automotive industry, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Volkswagen and other automotive brands are almost all women and children. Compared with the above-mentioned car brands, the Bosch Group's brand awareness is not enough, but the former embraces loyal fans every time. At the time, it was inseparable from the background support of the Bosch Group's "Invisible Champion."
The Bosch Group is a special company and is subordinated to the four major segments of the auto parts, industrial, energy and construction business. Among them, the auto parts business has ranked first in the world for the second consecutive year, and the second place is far behind its sales. . In summing up the management of the Bosch Group, Chen Yudong, president of the Bosch Group in China, told reporters: “The key reason for staying ahead is that the Bosch Group insists on not going public and maintains independence in finance and decision making. Under this governance structure, the company’s The top level focuses on investing in research and development in the long run and continues to innovate.â€
Harvard Business School professor Gary Hamel reminded hundreds of years of business that some century-old companies are intoxicated with their century-long glory history and missed new development opportunities, ignoring their customers and losing their leading position in the industry. Even disappeared. “This is a warning to us... Do not indulge in your past glory.†Rui Shike, president of the Bosch Group in Asia Pacific, emphasized at the Bosch Asia-Pacific senior management meeting.
Unique management architecture
From the Bosch Group founder, Robert Bosch, who founded Bosch in 1886, there are altogether 7 Bosch Group chairmen. In addition to the founder's longer working time, the other chairman of the company has been on the job for over 9 years. In order to maintain the continuation of past policies, the next position of the last chairman is the chairman of the Bosch Group's supervisory board, and the chairman of the board of directors shall report to the chairman of the board of supervisors on the business in the strategic direction.
In June last year, the Bosch Group announced that Volkmar Dunnell is the new Chairman of the Bosch Group. The former chairman Franz Ferenbach will replace 76-year-old Hermann Sauer as Bosch Group. Chairman of the board of supervisors, the above two appointments took effect on July 1 this year.
The stability of the executives ensures that the company's formulated strategic policies can be implemented over the long term. The highest level of executives is not just a commander, but more of a mission for the company's long-term development. In these few presidents, there are no members of the Bosch family except the founders. Members of the Bosch family must not interfere with the actual operation of the company.
However, the framework for this heir of many years was not the original choice of the founder. The founder initially wanted to hand over the business to his eldest son, and taught it in the hands, but the eldest son died of his illness because of his death. This gave the founder Heavy blow. When the founder died in 1942, his youngest son was eight years old.
“It said to his youngest son in his will that he should respect the wishes of his younger son when he grows up. If he has the will to inherit, he can return to the company and he can also develop his own business. When he grew up, he started his career at the Bosch Group Board of Directors. Later, he left the board of directors and became a psychologist,†said Kuhlgatz Dietrich, deputy director of the Bosch Group’s History Communication Department.
“Sustainable and meaningful development†is a problem that the founder has been considering for the rest of his life. The founder does not want the company to simply maintain and occupy market share, but to have the ability to shape the future of sustainable development.
After the founder's death, most of the Bosch Group's shares were still owned by the Bosch family. However, considering the better development of the Bosch Group, the Bosch family gradually gave the shares to the Robert Bosch Foundation, which was established in 1921.
Today, the Bosch Foundation holds 92% of the shares of the Bosch Group. The Bosch family owns 7% of the Bosch Group, and the other 1% is owned by the Bosch Group. Kuhlgatz Dietrich told reporters that this arrangement represents the founder’s ultimate wish. In the founder’s widow, he gave the heir to the company two main tasks: the company must maintain the everlasting foundation and ensure the freedom of the enterprise, that is, the enterprise can decide the future development path of the enterprise on its own, and at the same time ensure financial independence without relying on Bank or financial market.
High R&D investment
The ownership structure and management structure of the Bosch Group have determined that it can invest large amounts of money in research and development, and can maintain long-term investment in a project on the premise of not being profitable for many years.
"If we are convinced that a technology will succeed in the future, we will do it, even if it takes ten or fifteen years. But if a listed company does this, shareholders will immediately dismiss the CEO because once I tell the shareholders The company has suffered losses for two consecutive quarters and he will say goodbye to me. Therefore, we can maintain the momentum of long-term development of the company. We will not change the current corporate structure," Franz Ferenbach told reporters.
Here is a more interesting case. The Bosch Group introduced anti-lock braking systems in the automotive market in 1978 and has been losing money for the next 10 years. The Bosch Group continued to think of ways to reduce costs, reduce prices, and finally began making money after ten years. Now, although 8 or so global multinational auto parts companies have entered the industry of producing anti-lock braking systems, the Bosch Group's anti-lock brake system has taken a competitive advantage in the market segments, and the Bosch Group continues to increase R&D investment. To improve this technology and maintain its leading position. At present, the anti-lock braking system produced by the Bosch Group has been improved to the 9th generation.
There are many such cases, which highlights the importance Bosch Group places on R&D investment in new projects. The Bosch Group's annual investment in research and development accounts for 8% of the company's total sales. Last year, the Bosch Group spent 4 billion euros to invest in research and development of new technologies. According to international practice, 2% is already a sign of the “innovation drive†of the company. Even if Fortune 500 companies whose R&D investment is generally higher than the social average, their R&D investment is mostly between 3% and 5%.
The high investment strategy for R&D has not changed in 2008 and 2009 even in the financial crisis. “R&D investment is the basis of the success of the Bosch Group. If you want to become a cutting-edge innovation company, you must have an investment, and let your team of engineers have the right ideas for innovation.†Franz Ferenbach believes.
After more than 120 years of precipitation, the Bosch Group has 77,000 patents, patent registrations, and utility model storages. On average, it generates 16 patents per working day.
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