Lecturers: Prof. Fred Ludolph

First Day:

The webinar started at 10:00 AM Tehran time with the introduction of the lecturer and the contents by Ms. Alavash, Director of Education and International Department of AGQ Institute.

At the beginning of the lecture, Prof. Ludolph introduced his activities as a university professor as well as the owner and CEO of Goldex Company. Activities of Goldex include investing in industrial, mining and agricultural projects in Germany as well as in the CIS region.

It was stated by Prof. Ludolph: “10 key steps are involved in the success of companies in business”:

1) The beginning of changes in companies

2) The need for a new strategy

3) Creating new innovations

4) The power of motivation

5) Use of business plan

6) Development of smart marketing

7) Reducing costs in companies

8) 12-month rotational liquidity plan in companies

9) Development of competitive intelligence

10) Change in business plan and model

Moreover, he added that: “In the corona crisis, the world and businesses faced the following steps”:

– Health shocks

– Resources shocks – Banking – Demand – Price changes and market inflation

Based on researches, in Germany, service delivery companies and food companies have been very successful since attention to customer needs is a priority.

The current economic situation in the world was not only damaged by the corona, but the problems of sanctions in previous years started the global recession. This world is full of volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity.

In this situation, Ludolph believed: “We either have to apply the changes in the process of activity or we have to eliminate them”.

Then, Professor Ludolph defined the “difference between Complex and Complicated” and provided examples of the type of corporate activity: “According to Frederick W. Taylor, companies should be divided into different departments, each with a specific plan to control the complexity of the company”

He added that: “The biggest mistake of a manager is to look down on his team”.

Successful characteristics of a leader:

1) Visionary thinking

2) High emotional intelligence

3) Purposeful, endurance and perseverance

4) Creative, flexible, with Scenario thinking

5) Good mood at work (fight for success)

6) High judgment, decision-making power

7) Tendency to take risks

8) Competence in communication

9) Willingness to learn

10) Work independence

As stated by Winston Churchill: “The pessimist sees problems at every opportunity, and the optimist sees opportunity at every problem”.

• What approach is important in corporate strategy?

Corporate strategy is a prescribed process whose purpose is defined in advance and its main elements are formulated before the start of the strategy. A company for each activity must have its own scenario and any plan cannot be predicted.

• 5 areas of emotional intelligence as claimed by Daniel Goldman:

1) Know your feelings and emotions

2) Be able to manage your emotions and keep them under your control.

3) Be able to motivate yourself. (The first 3 are about the managers themselves)

4) Empathy with others – be able to understand the feelings of others.

5) Be able to manage relationships with others.

At the end of the first day, a complete explanation was given about preparing the business model table.

Second Day:

 “In any crisis, there are opportunities that managers’ intelligence can save them from getting hurt in times of crisis”, Prof. Ludolph said.

In the field of smart marketing development, the following should be considered:

• Human resources: resources and executives must be combined.
• Purchase: Consider resources, price, service and time.
• Finance: Consider income and profits.
• Company sales: Consider customer satisfaction and happiness.

Following the webinar, Prof. Ludolph referred to the theory of “the Blue and Red Oceans” and how to maintain a competitive market.

In the Blue Ocean, the advantage can be as follows:

1) Reduce costs compared to competitors

Or

2) Create superior value over competitors

• The key point is liquidity – keep the company’s liquidity high and keep the 12 month rotation.
• SWOT analysis of the company will study the strengths and weaknesses of the company.
• VRIO analysis stands for Valuable- Rare- Imitability- Organized
• In these analysis, expose the company to answers to four questions:

1) Does the company have value over competitors?

2) does the company use a rare product or service?

3) Can the company’s product or service be changed?

4) Has the company found structures and can work with its customer?

If the answer to 4 questions is yes, it means that the company will have a good stability in the market.

At the end of the webinar, Ms. Alavash mentioned some important points about the 2-day webinar:

– The importance of preparing a business model in a short maximum of 3 or 4 pages   (so that it can be negotiated)

– The importance of preparing a detailed business plan

– Increasing the negotiation power to convince international markets about the company’s business

– Thanks for attending the participants in webinar

– Thanks to the esteemed group of AGQ Institute for supporting webinar programs

– Special thanks to the translator of the webinar