How many employees are there altogether in Singapore and Malaysia, and what values play the most important role in your company?
Glenn Riemer: In Singapore and Malaysia we currently employ a staff of about 80. As far as corporate values are concerned, partnership is doubtless one of the concepts most often mentioned. To my mind, good partnership can be measured simply by the length of time cooperation continues. We are proud to say that nearly all our marketing partners, raw material suppliers and contract manufacturers in Asia have been cooperating with us for over a decade. In this connection I would like to quote the owner of our firm, Volkmar Wywiol: “Business is building friendship”. I have experienced the truth of that saying myself, in my years of work in Asia. Most of our business partners are more than just customers or suppliers: they are friends of our enterprise!
Of course our day-to-day business consists mainly of producing and selling. But ultimately it is a case of winning our customers’ trust – in the form of product reliability and safety, quality, advice on applications, supply capability, prices, knowledge of the market or the ability to solve problems. To my mind it’s trust that forms the basis of long-term partnership and friendship.