Executive review

Dr. Jens Biermann, Peter Greppmair, Marco Lindgens, Isabel Rincón

2002

Our lead story "The path to successful external growth" examines the experience companies have gained from mergers and acquisitions. "Off-the-peg machines", a background study, discusses how standardized products can make a difference in the engineered products industry. On the same subject, Dr. Frank Ruhl, CEO of KHS AG, answers questions about a standardization project implemented at the company he runs. "It's the (purchasing) strategy that matters" explains why e-procurement stands to reap greater savings from high-grade producer goods than from optimized process costs. Another extremely topical issue - the disposal of real estate via joint-venture companies - is the focus of the background report "Bricks on the balance sheet".

How Deutsche Bahn goes about marketing its real estate is the focus of an interview with Dieter Ullsperger, Managing Director of DB subsidiary Aurelis Real Estate Management GmbH. The article entitled "One very safe pair of hands" examines the problems caused by short product lifecycles in the semiconductor industry. How improvements in sales can have a positive impact on both costs and customers is described in "Sales Efficiency - a key challenge for sales organizations". Finally, "Bringing light into the darkness of corporate purchasing" looks at what corporate groups can do to improve their purchasing operations across the board.