Prof. Götz W. Werner

Prof. Götz W. Werner, Member of the Supervisory Board of dm-drogerie markt GmbH + Co.spoke about strategies for developing the entrepreneurial skills of a company's employees at different hierarchical levels in his presentation "The entrepreneur as a real dreamer".

Prof. Götz W. Werner was born in Heidelberg in 1944. After completing his drugstore apprenticeship in Constance, he worked for five years in a drugstore company in Karlsruhe. In 1973, he opened the first dm-drogerie markt in Karlsruhe. The good start and continuous successful development brought the company to its current importance.

In May 2008, he handed over the chairmanship of the management of dm-drogerie markt to Erich Harsch.

Since October 2003, Prof. Götz W. Werner has headed the Interfaculty Institute for Entrepreneurship at the elite University of Karlsruhe (TH) and is the initiator of the web forum www.unternimm-die-zukunft.de. He has been President of the EHI Retail Institute e.V. since February 2006.

In his contribution to the 16th Munich Management ColloquiumThe Entrepreneur as Real Dreamer, Prof. Götz W. Werner will explain how the entrepreneurial potential of employees can be used for the company. He will discuss the different types of entrepreneurs in companies and the characteristics that entrepreneurial employees need to have. He will link this content with practical examples from the organizational structure of dm-drogerie markt GmbH + Co KG. He will illustrate the special features and requirements of the retail industry in the context of entrepreneurship. The balancing act between a centralized branch structure of the company and the goal of a uniform corporate strategy will also be discussed.

Status: Beginning of 2009