Erich Sixt

Mr. Erich Sixt, Chairman of the Managing Board of SIXT AG, presents the success story of a German family entrepreneur in his lecture "Organization and management of a global family business".

Sixt AG, based in Pullach near Munich, is an international provider of high-quality mobility services. Together with licensees and partners, the company, which was founded in 1912, is represented in over 85 countries with 3,500 service points. The company is the market leader in Germany and Austria and one of the largest manufacturer-independent full-service leasing providers. The Sixt Group generates revenues of EUR 1.6 billion (2007) and employs more than 2,300 people worldwide (2007, excluding licensees).

Mr. Erich Sixt took over the management of his parents' company Auto Sixt in 1968. In 1986 he took the company public under the name "Sixt AG". Since then, Erich Sixt has led the company as Chairman of the Managing Board. He is known for the provocative advertising of his car rental chain, in which politicians such as Angela Merkel or Oskar Lafontaine have been used as advertising motifs on several occasions without being asked. Erich Sixt has turned a family business with a modest 200 rental cars into one of the biggest German brands in the car rental and leasing business. He is a courageous and unconventional entrepreneur in the best sense of the word.

In his presentation, the "Strategist of the Year 2008", awarded by the Financial Times Deutschland (FTD), explains the challenges that a global family business has to face in today's world and how important the organizational and management style is for success on the market.

Status: Beginning of 2009