Innovationskultur in einem Familienunternehmen

Im Rahmen des CODE_n new.New Festival 2018 in Stuttgart sprach ich als Head of Innovation & Technology Management bei Kärcher über Innovationskultur, Design Thinking und den Aufbau von Intrapreneurship-Programmen in einem globalen Familienunternehmen. Hier die zentralen Aussagen aus dem Interview.

Innovation als DNA

„Innovation is at the heart of the Kärcher business. Our company was founded in 1935 by Alfred Kärcher and right from the start, it's been characterized by innovative thinking and an entrepreneurial spirit. Most of the time, we have so many ideas that we have to filter them and pick out the opportunities that will best benefit our customers."

Design Thinking als Fundament

„Design thinking is certainly one of the most important systematic moves towards fostering innovation. Design thinking methods have been at the heart of Kärcher's product development for more than fifteen years and they're now used throughout the whole organization. We always focus on customer pain points and needs, and we have some 50 to 60 new projects every year."

Innovation Challenges & Intrapreneurship

„We benefit from having a clear and systematic approach when it comes to building new business models. We regularly organize innovation challenges within the company to tap into our employees' creativity all around the world."

„We have two incubators for digital solutions at Kärcher. One is based in Berlin and the other one is very close to our Winnenden headquarters in Schwaikheim. We call this our creativity space. We form teams of three people there and always try to choose team members we think will work together well."

„After no more than 6 months, the shortlisted teams pitch their ideas in front of the management board and they decide whether the business model should be transferred back to the core company or we should set up a completely new company."

Vertrauen als Wettbewerbsvorteil

„I think trust gives you a powerful advantage and it makes a family-owned business different because we take a long-term outlook and set goals that make clear, strategic thinking easier. On the other hand, Kärcher is synonymous with inventiveness and experimenting with new products, so simply resting on our laurels or relying only on what already proved successful in the past isn't in our DNA."

„We have a long tradition in encouraging our employees to bring their ideas to the table all the time. We've created an environment where they can shift aside and work on their own things and come up with new products."