Exciting talks about best practice at the Petersberger Industriedialog – Antje Eckel on exporting to Asia
This year’s Petersberger Industriedialog, held in the neo-baroque former Federal Guest House perched high above the Rhine overlooking Bonn, was dedicated to globalisation strategies. How has the German Mittelstand industry developed? Does it still make sense to produce abroad, or is there a trend towards returning production to Germany? How can an international sales network be established? How can companies ensure that they keep pace with cutting-edge research? In which cases can competences be pooled?
These are but a few of the exciting issues speakers and participants raised at the congress. In addition to debates with the Ministers of Economic Affairs of North Rhine–Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate—Prof. Andreas Pinkwart and Dr Volker Wissing respectively—the event centred on a number of interesting talks by business owners about their experiences of doing business in Asia.
In her talk ‘How we learned to love Asia’, Dr Antje Eckel spoke about why Dr. Eckel Animal Nutrition decided to expand into Asia 13 years ago, and how it managed to develop its previously solely domestic business into an export business too. She also described the company’s experience of working in Asia, the strategies that have proven to be appropriate for the Asian market and what makes this market so special—and this to a rapt audience.
This year marked the 15th edition of the Petersberger Industriedialog. The event, which specifically aims to promote interaction and the lively exchange of ideas and experiences between Mittelstand companies, is jointly organised by the Chambers of Industry and Commerce of North Rhine–Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate, and the Stiftung Industrieforschung.