Bosch: Encounters at a Privately Owned Success Story

发布时间 2014-04-12 阅读量 5339
“Finance and Valuation of Private Companies”

On 11th of April Professor Paul Bon delivered a morning session at the Bosch Headquarters in Shanghai in the Changning District. 


The audience were Bosch employees from different branches and departments from Engineering and Product Development /Innovation to Tax Planning and the General Counsel. A wide variety of different backgrounds gathered in one big training room.



Just before the start several students of Professor Bon’s MBA classes in prior years attended the session. A happy encounter of talented students now working for this German Multinational company.

Professor Bon being born in Europe memorized the numerous Bosch products that surrounded him during his childhood and adolescence from the “robust” Bosch refrigerators to the engine parts of his scooter, from the power tools and drills to the electronic components of his cars. Bosch seems to be everywhere. And in preparation of this session it seems that Bosch didn’t stop there it is now very much at the cutting edge of its markets worldwide.  No small achievement for an almost 130 years old Company! 



The session took off with a discussion about the purpose of a business and focused mainly on Bosch. Engineers claimed that Innovation was at the ultimate goal , Marketing to satisfy customers worldwide and yes sometimes if you become a specialist you may believe that Tax planning is in fact what makes the Company profitable.

Professor Bon brought all of this together in the statement that no matter what is at the heart; it is all about creating value. Creating value for customers normally is done by innovating attractive products and services and it really helps if some clever people can save the shareholders to pay “too much tax”.

This was the starting point to bring up some (publicly known) financials of the company. Bosch’s strategic Business units are Automotive, Industrial Technology, Consumer Goods and the most recent Energy and Building Technology.

Company sales in 2012 (the last available year on line) was about 53 Billion Euros of which about 5 Billion Euros was spent on Research and Development.


Bosch employs over 306,000 employees worldwide most of which (still) are in Germany (about 40%).  About 80% of the employees are working in Automotive or Industrial Technology. Almost 60% of Sales comes from Europe, however this % is declining. Almost 20% from the US but more than 20% from Asia (mainly China).


Operating Profit of Bosch in 2012 declined to 1.3 Billion Euros due to market circumstances in its now biggest markets in Europe.


Although the numbers had not been released on 9th of April, the general believe of the audience was that markets in Europe are strengthening and therefore profits must have been higher over 2013. 

After a brief discussion of the Balance Sheet and Cash Flow of Bosch and the admiration of it’s financial solidity with an AA- credit rating.




Bosch is at its age a prototype and example of German Entrepreneurship and Stewardship and shows enormous Liquidity and solidity.


Some comparison was made with other companies in the sector, for instance Siemens (Germany) also showing a slow down in 2012.

A large part of Bosch’s future lies in China and the audience is aware of it.


An enormous challenge but also a big responsibility.

One Marketing Manager responsible for the sector Power tools of Bosch in Asia Pacific was claiming the importance of market entry and pricing.

At the end of the lecture Professor Bon turned to him and asked him; “Did you ever meet the CEO of Bosch?”. The manager answered “No”.   Professor Bon the continued with: “So what is it that will make your name and existence unavoidable for this CEO?”. The marketing manager was thinking as his pupils were diluting.


Professor Bon then said: “ do something BIG, do just one thing extraordinary well for Bosch, lounge only one VERY successful power tool  in Asia Pacific for which the sales and profits of your sector will rocket”. “Somebody in Stuttgart (Headquarters of Bosch worldwide in Germany) will notice that and then you will get that phone call of somebody with a German accent, asking you to take the next plane to Stuttgart “.  

Time was too short for both the Professor and the audience for this very enjoyable learning experience but lunch was waiting. One could sense that by the end of the delivery more people had joined in leaving no chairs available for all participants. 




Leaving Bosch at such a moment feels like “we will surely meet again”.


Shanghai, April 2014


项目简介：
        上海财经大学-美国韦伯斯特大学合作举办工商管理专业（MBA）硕士学位项目创办于1996年，是国内最早开办的中外合作学位教育项目之一，已连续18年招生。该项目以培养具有全球视野和跨文化管理的复合型商业领袖为目标，严格按照国际标准进行课程设置和教学管理，同步全美中欧平台最新课程体系，授课师资中外籍教授占比达到50%以上，实行小班全英文授课，并通过建立与践行九周学期制、课程注册制、终身学习制三大制度保证教学质量。项目开展至今，已累计为国家经济发展培养了近1700名各类杰出人才，已然成长为国内最具社会影响力的国际MBA项目之一。

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