A hundred-year balance Annual Report 2010 - Uzin Utz AG

Striving for success and stability
»»
Dr. Utz, you can look back today, as the third generation,
on a century of company history. You yourself
have worked for the company since 1978. Is there
anything such as a key memory in your personal
company biography?
»»
Well, there have been of course many such moments
in which decisive events have occurred. When I joined
the company fresh from university, I quickly began to
concern myself seriously with the difficult subject of the
environment and the world of business. My dissertation
was entitled “Environmental change and company policy”.
I was already very aware of this subject, and had to
admit that at that time, immediately after the growth
phase of the 1970’s, UZIN had not yet tackled this problem.
I therefore soon devoted myself intensively to these
issues, together with the optimisation of sales and marketing,
which up to that time had no outstanding priority
in the company.
»»
What in your opinion are the advantages of a family-run
company in today’s times?
»»
A family-run company, even of our order of size, has
many advantages, at least as long as the family is in agreement
with regard to the company objectives and management.
In our case, that was never in question. The
main advantages for me lie in the possibility of long-term
strategic planning and orientation, with the accent on
continuity. This also has a consequent effect with regard
to the stability of a qualified personnel base, because the
sustainability aspect is also determined by the degree
of loyalty and motivation of a company’s employees.
Here one can of course fulfil something like a role-model
function, when one has been running the company
for 20 years and longer. This is not usually the case with
purely management-run companies.”
»»
On the subject of role-models: Who has influenced
your decisions in life particularly strongly,
and what advice would you give to somebody founding
a company today?
»»
For me there have been many people who have impressed
me in a particular way, and whose performance
I have attempted to emulate, whether at university or
somewhere else, although not in the sense that there
was any particular great role-model for me. This is probably
also due to the fact that I always wanted to maintain
my intellectual independence, and was fortunately
able to do so. This is also the advice that I would give to
company founders: To believe in oneself and one’s mission,
to pursue it long-term and consistently, even in the
face of all possible resistance, and not give it up. Success
then comes almost automatically.
1921
1922
1923
1924
1925
Albert Einstein receives the Nobel
Prize in physics.
Georg Utz acquires the property
Fischergasse 6, Ulm as
a production site.
Peak of inflation in Germany
(U.S. $ 1 = 4 trillion marks).
First international football
match Germany – Italy (0 : 1).
First public TV shows in Germany,
England and the USA.
10 Interview