Audi 2006 Annual Report Download - page 126

“I believe competition to be of the utmost
importance in life. Because I need competitors
in order to generate progress.” Gerd-R. Lang
Common ground:
visual appeal
and precision.
Chronoswiss – Swiss
watches from Munich
Chron oswiss Uhren GmbH (Munich) was
established by Gerd-R. Lang in
1982, at a time when everyone
assumed the traditional wrist
watch would become ob-
solete. In manufacturing
exclusively mechanical
watches, Chronoswiss has
heralded in a Renaissance of
the “fascinati
on for mechanical
precision”.
FINANCE: A RACE AGAINST THE COMPETITION
124 AUDI 2006 ANNUAL REPORT
It was important to do that, in order to
increase the overall market of that prod-
uct. But I have always done things differ-
ently. I have established a Swiss watch-
maker in Germany. I have made watches
with glass bases, and I have even listed
our suppliers in our catalogue.
STADLER: I think the answer simply has
to be that competition stimulates busi-
ness! Without competition you are in a
monopoly situation, and that encour-
ages negligence. For me, competition
always defines what the bare minimum
is, thus helping you to discern how
much better you need to be. Specifically
at our company, we take our competi-
tors very seriously. Not just the competi-
tors we have long been familiar with,
but above all new competitors who are
in a position to bring about paradigm
shifts with their business models.
When I look at the ideals of both your
companies, I can see striking similari-
ties in a broader sense. Vorsprung
durch Technik – and a fascination for
mechanical precision. Is that purely
coincidental?
LANG: That’s an easy one to answer. Our
customers have to enjoy the product,
whether it’s a Chronoswiss watch or an
Audi, and be captivated by its emotional
appeal.
STADLER: Vorsprung durch Technik has
something to do with pushing back the
frontiers and repeatedly probing them,
I think, in order to keep redefining and
overcoming them.
What are the biggest challenges that lie
ahead for your companies?
LANG: Our future must basically be
about how we can improve our prod-
ucts and do interesting things. And not
about how we can keep pushing the
price down. I’m always the first to object
to that, because I make watches the way
I want them to be. Only when I am satis-
fied with them do they go on sale. In
specific, I am currently preoccupied
with my new watchmaking factory that
will represent a different way of doing
things. It will be hosting training
courses open to watchmakers from all
over the world. There will be a perma-
nent museum, where we will also be
staging events. It’s all designed to pro-
mote the thing that we are proud of:
watchmaking.
STADLER: Increasing globalisation will
bring us into greater contact with other
cultures in future. Our company will
have to adjust to internationalism. We
at Audi have a mid-corporate structure
in terms of decision-making paths. I’m
pleased at that, because it makes our
decision-making processes much faster
and our communication processes
much more efficient. But we are going
to have to deal with partners in China
and customers in Australia and Russia –
on every continent, in fact – in such a
way that they understand us as a brand.
Understand how we “tick”, what our
values are and what drives us on. It’s a
question of continuity, and also respon-
sibility. If we can succeed at that, we can
be sure of long-term success.