Read in English
Read in English
»
Germany’s most prominent opponent of the weapons industry.«
(Der Spiegel)
With the President of the World Bank
With
the Chairman of DaimlerChrysler
James Wolfensohn
Jürgen E. Schrempp
With the Winner of the
With Peace Activists at the
Nobel Peace Prize
Weapons Firm Heckler & Koch
José Ramos-Horta
Informations about JG
The Daimler Desaster.
From the Ideal Company to a Recovery Case?
Droemer-Verlag
München 2005,
304 Seiten und 8 Seiten Bildteil,
gebunden € 19,90 [D]
ISBN 3-426-27267-9, € 19,90
Intrigues, deal-making and power poker – nothing was impossible in the Daimler World. Jürgen Grässlin, »Daimler`s sharpest opponent« (Der Spiegel), discloses the responsibility of the top management for the downfall of the once ideal German company. A background story with all the ingredients of a business thriller – pure dynamics for Daimler!
The DaimlerChrysler boss leaves and the value of the stocks jumps - not especially flattering for the long-term president of the board Jürgen Schrempp. However, such a frequency of mishaps as Schrempp and president of the supervisory board Hilmar Kopper are responsible for is probably almost singular in the history of German companies: the expensive merger with Chrysler, the failed alliance with Mitsubishi, the billions deficit with Smart, the flaws in quality by Mercedes and so on and so forth.
DaimlerChrysler was to participate in everything: In the High-End Luxury Segment Mercedes Maybach took on Rolls-Royce and Bentley; on the market for small cars Smart was to teach the competitors the meaning of fear. Too bad, that others apparently could do better business. The real virtues were neglected criminally because of these adventurous expansion plans which were to make the concern a »world corporation« – the consequence being that the trademark Mercedes-Benz is badly damaged.
For the first time Jürgen Grässlin describes the background of the Daimler Desaster and asks very unpleasant questions:
What is the real situation at DaimlerChrysler?
- What role do the president
of the supervisory board Hilmar Kopper
and the president of the board of directors play in the Daimler desaster?
- Did the supervisory board fail?
- Have there been insider deals?
- Can the new board
president Dieter Zetsche beginn the job of reforming the company unencumbered?
In the meantime the prosecuting attorney is prceeding against DaimlerChrysler. »Grässlin
is the key figure in the proceedings which led to a widespread investigation«,
wrote the Stuttgarter Zeitung. The accusation: suspected insider deals. But that isn`t
nearly all of it. Jürgen Grässlin has uncovered systematically organised deals on the
gray market while researching, and there are indications that top managers are involved in
these deals.
The Daimler Desaster is a story about the arrogance of power, a didactic play about megalomania. Finally, Jürgen Grässlin tells how a management driven by uninhibited ambition and overestimation of itself wants everything and loses almost everything. The shareholders, the employees and the customers are the damaged ones.
Jürgen Grässlin, born in 1957, is well-known as the author of the only Schrempp biography and several books about the car and arms industry. Jürgen Grässlin is the speaker of the Critical Shareholders of DaimlerChrysler. He lives in Freiburg.
Translated from German by Virginia Edwards-Menz
The Daimler Disaster
Excerpt from the fourth chapter:
Das Ethik Disaster
Pages 126 – 129
The Unicef Disaster
Do good deeds and talk about them as loudly as possible. According to this motto the DaimlerChrysler Corporation disclosed to humanity at the end of 2004, that the company had donated one million euros for the victims of the tsunami as directed by its chairman of the board Jürgen Schrempp. The money went to German welfare organisations which were active in the suffering region and supplied first aid. The company also supplied material. DaimlerChrysler generously offered »simultaneous immediate and practical help« for all countries that were affected by the catastrophe. On the first day the car producer had participated »in rescue activities such as the placing to disposal of utility vehicles for rescue convoys« by the companies in the needy countries. Further help was organised by the DaimlerChrysler Regional Centre of Southeast Asia in Singapore.
There were also victims among the employees of the concern and their relatives. Schrempp had ordered that the employees affected and their families »should receive the full support of the company.«
And one other noble gesture touched people’s hearts: The concern announced that it wanted »to donate the income of the international football tournament DaimlerChrysler-Junior-Cup in Stuttgart to the victims of the earthquake in Southeast Asia«.
At the beginning of January 2005 the employees of the DaimlerChrysler Corporation were able to participate in a minute of silence declared by the President of the Advisory Council of the European Union. A few days later it became known that DaimlerChrysler would participate in concrete rescue activities such as the placing at disposal of rescue convoys for transporting 100 000 litres of fresh water. Schrempp declared, that »a catastrophe of this size demands all our attention and solidarity.« Daimler should »secure the survival of the people and give them a new perspective. We at DaimlerChrysler want to do our part.« The DaimlerChrysler Corporation Fund in the United States did its best to organize large amounts of money for the victims of the flood in Southeast Asia: 300 000 US dollars were donated, 100 000 of which went to Unicef and two other welfare organisations. Besides, the fund wanted to put 200 000 dollars at disposal to double the donations of retired people, employees, sales partners and business friends.
On January 13, 2005 the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS) in Amsterdam presented its newest balance. »First estimates show that the concern has surpassed its set goals for the fifth year in a row« cheered the two chief executive officers of EADS Rainer Hertrich and Philippe Camus. The estimated turnover growth could be attributed to »a strong contribution by the defence profits« of an expected eight billion euros. In the previous year they had been only 7,1 billion euros, which shows that EADS had developed more and more into a defence giant.
Hertrich and Camus hoped for further growth in the so-called defence business to reach the turnover goal of 10 billion euros. The basis of this extremely optimistic prognosis was the »very solid number of orders on hand in the defence business« consisting of almost 50 billion euros. »This reflects the excellent competitiveness of EADS products such as A400M, Eurofighter, NH90, Tiger, MRTT, Skynet 5, Aster and others«, the armorer announced proudly. The airplane producer Airbus, the largest producer of helicopters in the world Eurocopter, and the joint-venture MBDA, the world-wide second largest concern for the production of guided missiles which are designated by their high destruction capacity, all belonged to EADS.
At the same time EADS was the greatest partner in the Eurofighter consortium, the major recipient of orders for the carrier system Ariane and the developer of the military transport airplane A400M. The »very solid liquidity« provides for the necessary flexibility for valuable investments and makes it possible for the armaments giant »to let its shareholders participate in the success« EADS continued in its declaration.
If one would compare the contributions of the giant concern DaimlerChrysler for the victims of the tsunami catastrophe, a sum of a few million euros, with the profits of Daimler/EADS then one would know how to estimate the social commitment of the DaimlerChrysler Corporation correctly: In 2004 EADS booked a company result of 1,03 billion euros – five times as much as two years ago. The ebit, or the profit before interest and taxes was as high as 2,44 billion euros in the business year 2004. In the face of the billion fold profits, Daimler supervisory board chief Hilmar Kopper could not speak of »peanuts«, which was once his designation for a sum of about 50 million German marks. And while DaimlerChrysler tried on the one hand to polish up its ruined image with charitable donations and agreeable press releases, the largest German concern profited from millions that were made by arms production and weapons exports. The corporation prefers to throw a cloak of silence over the fact that these weapons have cost innumerable people their lives in decades of wars and civil wars. ...
Translated from German by Virginia Edwards-Menz
Informations about the Book »Jürgen
Schrempp
and the Making of an Auto Dynasty«
To the Book »Jürgen Schrempp and the Making of an Auto Dynasty«
10.-16. August 1998:
Article »A world champion of advertising himself.
Jürgen E Schrempp by Jürgen Grässlin«
in The European
Informations about the activities
of the Critical Shareholders of the Daimler AG
August 17th 2008:
Internet report »GEORGIA. Georgians Illegally Armed With German Weapons,
Report Says« in DEUTSCHE WELLE WORLD
May 18th, 2005:
Deutsche Bank’s Chief Queried on Profit Growth, Jobs (Update3)
Bloomberg
April 6th, 2005:
Counter-Motions of the
Shareholders EG and JG
for the 7th Annual Meeting of DaimlerChrysler AG in Berlin
Armaments Information Office (RüstungsInformationsBüro e.V.)
Heckler & Koch USA and Fort Benning
English texts of the brochure »Im Visier: Heckler & Koch«
Heckler & Koch Weapons – In the Hands of Terrorists, Terrorist Hunters and Child
Soldiers
The Company History of Heckler & Koch
Overall View of the License Distribution of H&K Weapons
Overview of English Texts on www.rib-ev.de
The German Action Network against Small Arms
(Deutsches Aktionsnetz Kleinwaffen Stoppen, DAKS)
Platform of The German Action Network to Stop Small Arms (DAKS)