On October 7, 2022, the Corporate Transformation Day took place as an online event.
In today’s world, entrepreneurs are exposed to numerous changes. During the coronavirus years, the German Association of Mergers and Acquisitions devoted several workshops to the various topics of transformation. For the first German Corporate Transformation Day, those challenges were selected that are currently considered to be the most dramatic and the most difficult to deal with. Taken together, these present a medium-sized company with a great deal of pressure to act. Coping with them requires companies to invest so many resources (financial, personnel, etc.) and creates a level of risk that many companies find themselves in great distress and on the brink of insolvency.
The first section of the Corporate Transformation Day was held under the motto “Winning as an entrepreneur under the pressure of transformation”. The introductory speeches were given by Dr. Hans-Paul Bürkner, Global Chair Emeritus of the Boston Consulting Group and Prof. Dr. Peter Parycek from the Fraunhofer Focus Institute and the Federal Government’s Digital Advisory Board.
In his speech, Dr. Bürkner addressed the upcoming transformations primarily as major strategic challenges. Overcoming these challenges will determine the future of companies. Digitization takes on a cross-sectional function, so to speak, which makes the comprehensive change possible in today’s world. This also enables the necessary cost savings and flexibilization of the respective company to be achieved.
Professor Parycek added to this in his presentation, referring to the competitive dynamics as described by Michael Porter back in the 1990s. Parycek also focused his presentation on the bridge between technical innovations and entrepreneurial restructuring.
This was followed by two specialist presentations with discussions moderated by Peter Gewalt, editor-in-chief of TIAM Fundresearch .
Dr. Giulia Mennillo, Head of the Economic and Social Policy and Sustainability Department at the Academy for Political Education in Tutzing, gave us a “Taking stock: where do we stand in German civil society? Framework for the industry “. In it, she emphasized the government’s responsibility for implementing digitalization. Industry has a leading role to play in this. The administration is lagging behind and must catch up as quickly as possible. Germany is in an international competition to catch up, the success of which will determine the preservation of our prosperity.
Complementing this more economic perspective, Dr. Bernhard Frey, Head of Human Resources at Bilfinger Industrie Services, gave us an understanding of the entrepreneurial perspective. The title of his presentation was “The industrial practice of digital transformation“. People, in this case employees in industry, are the critical resource par excellence. Those working in the economy generate the financial value contributions for industrial society. As regions with few raw materials, Germany and Europe are characterized above all by the intellectual, social and manual contributions of people. In view of the fact that we have a shortage of around 5 million workers, there is a battle for “human resources” in the economy today. The prerequisite for Germany’s success is our education system. Its permeability and flexible adaptability to market requirements are crucial.
The contents of the other thematic blocks are summarized in separate articles.
You can watch the recording of the first part of the event and all other topics here on the BM&A YouTube channel.
