Industries, companies, stories, groups and people are inherently diverse. Each challenge, each further development requires different steps and procedures. Below you will find three examples of how I approach issues. What exactly is necessary for your specific task, is something we are going to find out together.
The logistics of large shipments are usually more efficient than smaller ones and yield corresponding cost benefits. At the same time, bigger beverage distributors typically demand additional bulk discounts from manufacturers. These large distributors profit twice and leverage their competitive advantage over small distributors. In the long run, this leads to larger shipments made by only a few big distributors, who are then able to exert their market power over manufacturers. That is why we, at Premium-Cola, deliberately decided against bulk discounts. Additionally, we introduced an anti-bulk discount in 2007 that mostly offsets the higher logistics costs carried by smaller distributors. Full equalization would not make sense for environmental reasons. Both measures work against the concentration of distributors and thus stabilize supply structures and turnovers.
The digitization of the workplace is continually advancing at an ever-increasing pace. Especially for major corporations, this poses a variety of challenges, but also new opportunities. The biggest German railway company, “Deutsche Bahn”, confronted these issues with two large-scale projects: Arbeitswelten 4.0 in 2014 and Zukunft der Arbeit in 2016. Within the scope of the first project, I contributed to the prototype “Führungskraft der Zukunft” (Executive of the Future) in the working group “Führung und Organisationsmodelle” (Leadership and Organizational Models), adding two roles that I consider essential: the executive as mediating moderator and a crisis manager. The resulting model was greenlit and is scheduled to be tested in the field – based on my recommendation only in departments that opt-in voluntarily. For the second project, I am supporting the working group “Verantwortungsübernahme” (Assuming Responsibility). This project is on-going.
Providing meals for senior citizens in nursing homes is an important task. There are a lot of aspects that need to be considered: health, quality of life, a structured daily routine, the special
needs of residents with diseases – but also day-to-day feasibility, environmental impact and expenses. In a large care facility with multiple auxiliary buildings, I facilitated a better exchange
between the main canteen, the individual in-house kitchens, co-workers, and the residents. The result: 450 fewer meals that were previously being thrown away are ordered per facility each month.
Needless to say, all guests are still being fully cared for, as confirmed by regular surveys.