From the executive desk: Culture of Trust
The character of medium-sized companies is strongly influenced by the entrepreneurs who run them. In the case of MATERNA there are two of them: Dr. Winfried Materna and Helmut an de Meulen. Not least because of their different personalities, and together with their staff, they have led the company to success through all the ups and downs.
When you get to the executive suite at MATERNA you enter the nerve centre of a medium-sized company. A calm atmosphere and respectable manner 
prevail – a bit different from many other high-tech companies. Not lacking in comfort, but definitely down to earth. In 1980 nobody could foresee how the newly founded company would develop. “We worked on our first orders at the kitchen table at home,” remembers Dr. Materna, who is mainly responsible for the Information Business Division of the company. “There were no PCs, no internet, no mobile phones,” continues Mr an de Meulen, responsible for the Communications Business Division. “We had so-called mini-computers – weighing in at 20 kilos, but already equipped with an 8080 microprocessor from Intel. The monitor made your eyes hurt. But this forerunner of the PC was actually portable – to a certain extent. Just imagine! The storage capacity of a USB stick would have filled a whole building in those days.”
Taking the step to leave the university – the founders had met each other while taking part in a research project at the University of Dortmund (now known as the Technical University of Dortmund) – and becoming self-employed was not necessarily expedient at that time. Leaving the protected community of research and teaching to embark on this adventure without any venture capital, seed financing or business angels was quite a challenge. “Our first order came from Nixdorf, an independent company at that time, and it was basically a continuation of our academic work,” Dr. Materna tells us. Then followed an order from Siemens to set up a network – with very rudimentary means, as was normal in those days – and to develop a clinical laboratory system. “It was a broad spectrum of tasks, but we were sure we could do it well,” Dr. Materna puts it succinctly. “And we did do a good job of it. After that they always called for us when the sector heavy-weights were at a loss. To put it bluntly, we were the fire brigade.”
From entrepreneur to employer
An important turning point came four years later when they recruited their first full-time employees and moved from the kitchen table to proper offices. For an de Meulen this was also when the foundations were laid for an important part of the young company. “For Siemens and Nixdorf we had, above all, been connecting small computers and then PCs to large computers. In 1984 we started doing the same for airlines too. And we still benefit from that today. We are the market leader in Germany for automated passenger handling covering check-in, luggage check-in and access control. “The latest baby is an access control system at the departure gates which was introduced in South Africa for the World Cup. This ensures that passengers only have access to this area if they have a boarding card and only during a predetermined time window as well. It is not possible to enter with the same boarding pass more than once.”
“In general we have always made the most of technological developments,” an de Meulen remembers. “If technology had not developed so rapidly – internet, mobile telecommunications or Web 2.0 – we would not be where we are today.” One of the important milestones for both of the managing partners was when they entered the public sector market. This started with an application development for the customs authorities on behalf of the Federal Fiscal Authority. “We completely rewrote the application. It is one of our most 
successful projects ever and we have been looking after this solution for 18 years now,” Dr. Materna explains. “We have the best customs know-how in Germany or even in Europe.”
Dr. Materna and an de Meulen have achieved such long lasting client relations by basing their business affairs on trust. “Trust is our main business principle – internally and externally,“ explains Dr. Materna. Both managing partners see themselves as the “first among equals” who delegate tasks and can also handle criticism. Dr. Materna reflects on this: “Something I have learnt over the last 30 years is to gather staff around me whom I can trust.” However, both the entrepreneurs still get involved when business is risky or new. “We are interested in shaping things together with the staff,” an de Meulen explains. This is also clearly visible in the company's future-oriented policy, which the managing partners are both committed to. A high proportion of trainees in the company, partnerships with the Dortmund University of Applied Sciences as part of a dual education model for bachelor students as well as internal courses for continuing education ensure there is always new talent to choose from and maintain the high quality of the staff.
Mistakes can happen
Of course it is clear that being creative in this context does not always work out perfectly. Dr. Materna and an de Meulen are confident enough to admit that there have been some flops as well. Because not all decisions are strategic ones in an owner-managed company, it is often important to have a good nose for new business. It can all work out well – such as in the case of SMS: “We had a huge boom between 1998 and 2000,” Dr. Materna tells us. An de Meulen continues: “In the middle of the 90s we had set up services for mobile phone network operators to be able to transfer short messages from one network to another. We achieved absolutely incredible turnovers with this as the network operators had totally underestimated just how much the medium of SMS would take off.” This was not a strategic decision, as an de Meulen admits. But it meant they had found a way into the world of mobile communications. Hitting the bullseye with SMS was also down to being in the right place at the right time.
In contrast, the way hardware developed at the beginning of the 90s was completely different. MATERNA wanted to enter into competition with IBM – a bold venture – and they designed application specific integrated circuits (ASICs). This attempt to compete with one of the giants in this sector was an expensive lesson for the entrepreneurs. The idea of supplying mobile network consumers was not a success either, at least not in the medium term. “Of course one makes mistakes sometimes,” Dr. Materna admits openly. “This is something that has repeated itself throughout our company history.”
Keeping things in balance
This pragmatic attitude is typical for the company founders. In spite of the high workload which goes with running a company with 
1,300 staff, an de Meulen and Dr. Materna both manage to take time out for leisure and for social commitments. “As a rule I can rely on the fact that the things my staff arrange for me are well-prepared. If you don’t trust your staff you suffer constantly from stress,” Dr. Materna puts it in a nutshell. In spite of the great responsibility, this still makes it possible to get to know new people and points of view. Dr. Materna, whose honorary posts included eight years as president of Dortmund’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry, sees social commitment as a duty: “I try to give some of the success we have had back to the community. And it is fun to broaden one’s horizons too.” An de Meulen, among other things on the board of the Friends of the University of Applied Sciences Dortmund, sees it in exactly the same way: “My own studies were supported by the Stiftung des Deutschen Volkes foundation. One ought to give something back by supporting courses and high potential students.”
You need quite a bit of self-discipline and good time management if you want to keep everything under control. You also need to be willing to do several things at once. “I like going out on my racing bike, cycling long distances of up to 200 kilometres and I sometimes deal with business calls while I am cycling. You end up not riding quite so fast or concentrating so much, but it does mean you can combine sport and work to a certain extent,” an de Meulen explains. Dr. Materna goes on: “But not everything is hard work. A lot of the honorary work we do is combined with leisure and hobbies and it certainly broadens our minds. I would not like to define all that as work. We must not forget that these offices go hand in hand with various privileges which are some compensation for the time we invest. My interest in technical matters and new media helps me to find a good work-life-balance, combining a hobby with my profession.” Regular sport counts for a lot too. Both managing partners prefer sports which get you out into the fresh air such as tennis or golf. Dr. Materna’s motto: “I do not see the responsibility I bear as a burden. You have to manage your time and have a balanced mixture of work, commitment to society in the broadest sense and private interests.” “And then there isn’t much time for less important things,” an de Meulen continues. “Instead of watching TV into the early hours, you go through some documents or work on emails.”
Growing under our own steam
MATERNA’s success story is inextricably linked to the two founders. And they still have a few plans up their sleeves. Dr. Materna and an de Meulen see clear potential for the future. “It is difficult to grow in the mobile technology markets,” says an de Meulen. “We would therefore like to extend our know-how in the field of e-commerce, for example.” Business in this segment started with the sale of digital products. Among other things, MATERNA runs a platform for music downloads for Sony. “CDs are not particularly significant any more. And in ten years most books will be sold as e-books,” an de Meulen explains. “We are really strong in digital goods because we know how to market them.” MATERNA covers most of the value adding chain from payment and creditworthiness checks through to delivery. Together with a partner, the company is now turning their hand to physical goods in the fashion industry. But an de Meulen states clearly: “We will not be doing the logistics, you won’t see any MATERNA trucks on the autobahn.” But they have high expectations of the growing fashion market.
Processes are also one of Dr. Materna’s aims. “In future we will have to look more and more intensively into business processes – analysing and automating them. The tools are already pretty much standardised. In addition to product innovations, in future innovating processes will play a key role in increasing added value for companies and public administrations.” Flexible processes enable companies to react more quickly to changing market demands.
They both share the goal of maintaining the independence of the company for the next 30 years. “We have no plans to go public.” Dr. Materna and an de Meulen exclaim in unison. The GmbH (limited company) should continue to grow on the basis of its own strengths, Dr. Materna states. “I think it is important that the core of the company remains intact and continues to grow profitably. I expect the world will get more and more complex, which is good for us – otherwise nobody would need us. As long as we can offer our customers added value in this complex world, we will be in demand and will be able to exist in this market.”
- Read the special issue of the MATERNA Monitor '30 years MATERNA' online
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