The SME perspective

The autumn fog began to lift as the first guests arrived at Olma Hall 9 in St.Gallen. After a few detours, the premises of the various workshops, offered and conducted by the main sponsors, were found and the conference could begin. ORGANISATOR, one of the main media partners of the event for years, also held its own workshop. In it, management consultant Beatrice Erb showed the change of perspective in the world of work: Demographic change as well as the shortage of skilled workers are forcing companies to pay special attention to the 50+ generation. Because they have more in common with the Rolling Stones than a view of the rollator...

Between self-perception and perception by others

As usual, Prof. Dr. Urs Fueglistaller, Director of KMU-HSG, opened the presentations. He referred to the latest figures from the Swiss Federal Statistical Office, which already showed that many things are a question of perspective: the vast majority of SMEs, i.e. 92.4 percent, are micro-enterprises with 0 to 9 employees. Or in absolute figures: The total of 1273 large companies is compared to 576,848 SMEs, i.e. a ratio of 1:453. Urs Fueglistaller went on to explain some of the results of the SME Day study, which was also carried out this year. This showed that SMEs are very good at oscillating between self-perception and external perception - as well as the constant interplay between strategic thinking and operational action.

Economic and entrepreneurial perspectives

The economist's perspective was then taken by Prof. Dr. Martin Kolmar from the University of St.Gallen. He explained that SMEs are confronted with various challenges, economic, political, ecological and social. Digitalization is just one of them, but one that will permanently change labor markets and the organization of companies. In this context, he coined the unwieldy term "serviceization" - for example, when a car is no longer just offered as a product, but as a service. A core element of perspective changes is empathy, as Kolmar went on to explain. He appealed to the ethical behavior of companies, which makes them more profitable in the long term.

The entrepreneurial perspective was presented by Thomas Binggeli, founder and CEO of Thömus Veloshop. He is one of those people who have the entrepreneurial gene in their blood, as he sold the sheep on his parents' farm at the age of 17 in order to raise the start-up capital for his own bicycle business. Persistent and convinced of his ideas, he accepted various setbacks to finally turn his idea of an electric bike "that works like an iPhone" into reality. The latest generation of the "Stromer," as his brand is called, is a thoroughly digitalized bicycle with tracking options, sharing models and other functionalities. As he explained in the subsequent discussion - led by moderator Christa Rigozzi - the direct feedback and needs of customers are particularly important to him when developing his products. "Most new business models are created during shared bike rides in the great outdoors," said Thomas Binggeli, describing one of his recipes for success.

See and be seen

In his presentation, philosopher Wilhelm Schmidt made direct reference to cycling and vividly demonstrated the importance of changing perspectives: Car drivers get annoyed with cyclists, but when they themselves want to complete a few training laps on their bikes after work, they in turn get annoyed with the car drivers - or with pedestrians, who in turn get annoyed with the cyclists and car drivers. From these everyday examples, he moved on to four reasons why we see some things but not others: either because things escape our gaze, or because they are hidden behind a corner, do not correspond to our ideas, or simply do not correspond to our interests. The converse conclusion must therefore be: "We have no perspective, we are perspective."

The subsequent presentation by Bea Knecht, founder of Zattoo, Europe's largest live web TV provider, was also about watching. Even during her computer science studies in Berkeley, California, she recognized the future prospects of television: As HDTV evolves, the TV becomes the computer - but also: the computer becomes the TV. Based on a few anecdotes from the genesis of Zattoo - a transcribed Japanese word for "crowd," by the way - she also gave the audience a few practical tips for their own business development: Don't spend too long looking for new brands, and deliberately set only one priority per year.

Perceiving people and oneself

Luciano Marinello also had an exciting company story to tell. His grandfather actually wanted to emigrate from northern Italy to America, but "stranded" in Zurich, where he met his wife, with whom he then built up a well-known vegetable trading company. Luciano Marinello then took over the business in 2002 after his own years of apprenticeship and travel. As a patron, people were particularly important to him; as an entrepreneur, he was decisive on his own, but always in the midst of the employees. At the same time, however, taking on the role of the perfect family father also brought him to his limits time and again. Finally, Luciano Marinello had to make a momentous decision and sold his business to a major distributor - but with the condition that no employees lose their jobs. He clearly pointed out that even today, all entrepreneurs have a social responsibility.

Anitra Eggler then brought the presentations to a close. The self-proclaimed "digital therapist" showed the excesses of constant accessibility thanks to smartphones and the pitfalls of the Internet that await us every day at work. A person with a life expectancy of 75 years will have spent 12 years of his life on the Internet, 8 years on his cell phone - but will only have kissed for 14 weeks - that is Anitra Eggler's not unrealistic assessment. She advises people to consciously switch off, to limit themselves when emptying their mailboxes, and generally to have the courage to be slower. Perhaps one or two SME entrepreneurs have been prompted to make a long-overdue change of perspective in this regard.

Text: Thomas Berner

More information: www.kmu-tag.ch

Further impressions of the SME Day: ORGANISATOR workshop, speakers Luciano Marinello, Anitra Eggler. (Pictures: Rolf Gubelmann, Thomas Berner)