Dear reader,
Welcome to SIMT's January email newsletter. On January 17, 2005 the Board of Governors and the SIMT Management hosted the conference "Competing for the best minds and talents - What can business expect in 10 years?" in Stuttgart. More than 100 guests - among them 80 executive board members, managing directors and human resource managers of major companies of the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg - participated in the high-ranking event.
Our newsletter provides you with information on recent developments at SIMT, new programs, events and all other related news. Thank you for subscribing to our free bimonthly newsletter service.
Best regards,
SIMT PR/Marketing Department
*************************************************************
SIMT Newsletter | January 2005
*************************************************************
Contents:
Competing for the Best Minds and Talents ? The economical and educational location of Baden-Wuerttemberg in the year 2015
*************************************************************
Continuous structural changes are visible on the international markets. Challenges for companies require new concepts. The question is: What does the economy expect in 10 years time? Answers to this question concern our society as a whole: Affecting employees and the management as well as first-year university students, graduates and young professionals. Orientation, knowledge and confidence are management values for better communication. The symposium "Competition for the best heads and talents" deals with current developments and shows the commitment of responsible companies.
Internationalization of education and the economy
With regard to the debate on elite universities in Germany and the training of highly qualified graduates, Professor Menno Harms, chairman of the SIMT Board of Governors, pinpoints the following interim results:
1. There will be a shortage of highly qualified professionals.
2. The demand for highly qualified professionals will increase.
3. Companies must react immediately - with a main focus on technology management, leadership culture and professional training strategies.
According to Harms the demographic development in Germany and Europe is one of the reasons for this development. "Since we are aware of the fact that there will be a shortage of international first-rate talents, we must not stop recruiting qualified young graduates from all over the world for the economy of Baden-Wuerttemberg.", Harms explained at the conference " Competition for the best heads and talents - What does the economy expect in 10 years time" on January 17, 2015 in Stuttgart. More than 100 guests - among them 80 executive board members, managing directors and human resource managers of major companies of the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg - participated in the high-ranking event organized by the SIMT Board of Governors, whose presidency Harms took over in the spring of 2004.
Harms and Professor Dr.-Ing. Dieter Fritsch, chairman of the SIMT Board of Trustees, and SIMT's Managing Director Dr. Bernhard Seitz highlight the fact that the economy of the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg - among all countries of the Federal Republic - has the best chances to maintain its top position. As outstanding exam-ples Harms refers to the mechanical engineering and automobile industry as well as the information and communication sector. In these sectors Baden-Wuerttemberg takes up a leading position in the world. Furthermore - compared to other regions - the southwest takes up a prominent position in most important efficiency indicators such as the economic output per employee, innovation strength or the attractiveness of the industry location. Fritsch refers to the top position of the state universities, which is continuously reconfirmed in rankings of the media ("Handelsblatt"/"Junge Karriere", "Wirtschaftswoche", "Capital", "Spiegel"), in the sponsor ranking of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (German research council (DFG)) as well as in the recent federal states comparison study conducted by the "Centrum für Hochschulentwicklung" (centre for university development (CHE) .
In addition to that, SIMT has improved its position constantly and is now ranked at position 20 among the best Business Schools in Europe according to the "International Recruiters Survey 2004" carried out by the MBA Career Guide London (QS Research).
"The companies in Baden-Wuerttemberg rank among the best ones in their sectors", Harms summarizes the current economic situation. "They are successfully operating all over the world", Harms adds. "In order to ensure that this will still be the case in 2015, they are strengthening their competitive position by internationalizing the management and investing in part-time professional development training for their employees."
Perspectives and setting the course for the future
Harms demands a perfectly clear communication amongst companies, particularly among the medium-sized companies, in order to demonstrate the challenges of the worldwide economic change processes to the population. The necessary adjustment of business location conditions is only possible if knowledge, trust and acceptance amongst the population are given. The loss of jobs on the German labour market can only be balanced through adding significant value. An inseparable part of this is the investment into the education system.
Lectures and lively discussions at SIMT (from left): Prof. Dr.-Ing. Engelbert Westkämper (Universität Stuttgart), Prof. J. Menno Harms (Chairman SIMT Board of Governors), Dr. Michael Zeiß (Editor in Chief, Südwestrundfunk Stuttgart), Prof. Dr. Rolf J. Langhammer (Kiel Institute of World Economics), Dr. Peter Speck (Festo AG & Co. KG, Esslingen), and Dr. Bernhard Rohleder (Managing Director BITKOM, Berlin).
The key points to manage this change are:
1. Concentration on Germany´s strong points in science, economy, education, infrastructure and culture. Strengthening of the competitiveness through powerful adjustment of the business location and the companies therein.
2. Promotion and acknowledgement of the talented elite. The German economy needs highly qualified young people for white-collar work as well as manual work. Compared to other countries, the number of German first-year students and graduates in the field of natural science and engineering is considered too low. Are we actually running out of engineers?
3. Promotion of companies in new industry sectors (energy, software, telecommunication, biotechnology, nanotechnology etc.); cross-company as well as scientific networking. Supporting the founding of new companies - mainly through new technology and services. In order to improve the general conditions, it is necessary to ease tax and bureaucracy matters and to have a much higher risk capital available. Without risk there is no innovation and without innovation there won´t be growth.
4. Promotion of the job-integrated education for managers. Short technology cycles and nowadays the growing complexity of working processes has made a "lifelong learning" inevitable. This also counts for the international education. Therefore the success of "pioneer institutions" such as the Stuttgart Institute of Management and Technology (SIMT) must be highly appreciated. Additionally SIMT offers an MBA program to international BA-graduates with work experience. Already during their MBA studys, students are in contact with their prospective employers in Baden-Wuerttemberg. These MBA-students represent important future leadership potential for further employment in their home countries.
5. Promotion of an up-to-date leadership culture. Leadership quality is strongly based on good communication skills. The economoy as well as the universities support all beneficial measures necessary for the integration of foreign employees and citizens. It goes without saying that in the course of the Bachelor- and Master program a study abroad semester is an essential part of the education.
Companies are committed to SIMT
Companies from the internationally and technologically focused economy of Baden-Wuerttemberg agree on the importance of the above mentioned points. Currently the following companies are represented in the Board of Governors as well as in various professional development training programs at SIMT.
- Agilent Technologies Deutschland GmbH, Böblingen
- Alcatel SEL AG, Stuttgart
- Alfred Kärcher GmbH & Co. KG, Winnenden
- Behr GmbH & Co. KG, Stuttgart
- Dr. Maier + Partner GmbH, Stuttgart
- Dürr AG, Stuttgart
- E. Breuninger GmbH & Co., Stuttgart
- Ernst & Young AG Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft, Stuttgart
- Festo AG & Co. KG, Esslingen
- fischerwerke Artur Fischer GmbH & Co. KG, Waldachtal
- Freudenberg Dichtungs- und Schwingungstechnik KG, Weinheim
- Hewlett-Packard GmbH, Böblingen
- Horváth AG, Stuttgart
- Hugo Kern und Liebers GmbH & Co. KG, Schramberg
- Landesbank Baden-Württemberg, Stuttgart, Karlsruhe und Mannheim
- Leitz GmbH & Co. KG, Oberkochen
- LGI Logistics Group International GmbH, Böblingen
- MAHLE GmbH, Stuttgart
- Putzmeister AG, Aichtal
- Schuler AG, Göppingen
- TRUMPF GmbH + Co. KG, Ditzingen
- VDMA Landesverband Baden-Württemberg, Stuttgart
- Voith AG, Heidenheim
- VS Vereinigte Spezialmöbelfabriken GmbH & Co., Tauberbischofsheim
These companies are involved at SIMT partly in the form of a cross-company cooperation, for example using High Potential programs within the context of their professional development training for managers. In addition to the international management programs offered by SIMT, in which young professionals are trained for the economy of the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg, the job-integrated Management Education Network and the new seminar series represent an important cornerstone for systematic personnel development measures of these companies. A documentation of the symposium will be available soon.
|
