Inter­na­tional “desk exchange” shows valu­able compe­ten­cies

Live in the world, and be at home in Germany. With 17 produc­tion sites and 57 sales offices in 50 coun­tries, ebm-papst oper­ates a diverse sales network with branches in many corners of the globe. But the company’s roots are deeply embedded in its South German native soil — in Mulfingen, St. Georgen and Land­shut.

As a global citizen orig­i­nating from Germany, ebm-papst wants to become expert in the multi­fac­eted aspects of global markets and also embed this global thinking in its parent company. The formula for this is called “Global Domestic”: ebm-papst is present in every country as a national company with primarily national employees. Customers will there­fore always receive advice from familiar contact persons who, in turn, are closely networked to the employees in the German head­quar­ters.

Thomas Borst, Group Sales Managing Director, sees this as being the key to world­wide markets: “Busi­ness trans­ac­tions are always based upon the personal inter­change between people”. And this applies equally for the commu­ni­ca­tion and under­standing between colleagues. For instance, Andreas Gerlinger the project engi­neer from Mulfingen and Alessandro Masotto the tech­nical manager of the Italian subsidiary in Mozzate (Lombardy) exchanged their desks in the summer of 2007 so that they could famil­iarise them­selves better with the work and envi­ron­ment of their colleague for ten months. This German-Italian switch-over was initi­ated by Thomas Borst who gives his emphatic support to job rota­tion beyond national bound­aries: “The prover­bial look beyond one’s nose, under­standing of foreign markets and customs is extremely helpful, in partic­ular for our colleagues in sales.” In addi­tion to cogni­tive compe­ten­cies such as prac­tical expe­ri­ence and back­ground knowl­edge, Borst also places value upon inter­cul­tural manage­ment compe­ten­cies such as commu­ni­ca­tion skills, sensi­tivity and toler­ance when dealing with foreign cultures. Options for foreign visits or a visit to the German head­quar­ters are flex­ible and oriented upon indi­vidual situ­a­tions. A stay in a foreign country for several months is not always neces­sary, some employees need only a four-week “intro­duc­tory stay” to extend their personal horizon.

“There is less moaning in Italy”

Andreas Gerlinger, 33, is the project engi­neer for Europe sales and has been with the company since January 2000

Alessandro Masotto, 38, is the tech­nical manager of the Italian subsidiary and has been working at ebm-papst since 1996

Where did you have your greatest diffi­cul­ties at adjusting in the begin­ning?

Andreas Gerlinger: Every­thing went without prob­lems, the Italian colleagues gave me their help and advice throughout the entire stay. I only actu­ally had prob­lems after work, with the traffic for instance…

Alessandro Masotto: I realised how impor­tant the language is. My profi­ciency in German was unfor­tu­nately not good enough at the begin­ning to do my job in the way I actu­ally wanted to do it. But it improved every day.

What was your greatest impres­sion during your stay in a foreign country? What were your best expe­ri­ences?

Gerlinger: I was impressed by the great flex­i­bility and the colleagues’ atti­tude in the subsidiary, and that every type of customer problem is taken seri­ously. The customer is king in Mozzate, and customers also appre­ciate this.

Masotto: My contact to the colleagues in the Devel­op­ment Depart­ment was extremely inter­esting, I learnt a lot about the tech­nology and the philos­ophy of our prod­ucts. And the look at Produc­tion and how prob­lems are dealt with there was also very instruc­tive.

What do you consider to be the major differ­ence between the work in Germany and in Italy?

Gerlinger: There is less moaning in Italy. The Ital­ians are also very flex­ible and, contrary to a frequent prej­u­dice, they are some­times also consid­er­ably faster.

Masotto: There is less moaning in Italy. The Ital­ians are also very flex­ible and, contrary to a frequent prej­u­dice, they are some­times also consid­er­ably faster.

How did your way of working change during your stay in a foreign country?

Gerlinger: As I know the colleagues and work oper­a­tions in the subsidiary, I can under­stand much better and do not have to ask further ques­tions about small things. Also, I now tend to lift up the phone rather than send an e-mail. This is faster and there­fore prevents many a misun­der­standing.

Masotto: I have learnt very much about how ebm-papst thinks and acts, and I have a more detailed view upon the work oper­a­tions and require­ments in the German head­quar­ters. This reduces fric­tion when working together, and it is a great aid to me in providing even better service to my customers.