Spectacular was the interaction between Chancellor Helmut Kohl and SPD-Chairman and former Chancellor Willy Brandt on May 12, 1985 after elections in the state of Northrhine Westphalia.
It was a ZDF (Second German Television) discussion and debate about the results which then, however, turned into an argument between Kohl and Brandt about national topics, including German-American relations.
“You’re hurting the German people with these lies”, Brandt screamed while smacking the table with his hand. “I cannot accept this!”
Kohl, sitting right next to Brandt, remained calm: “You can yell and scream at your employees in the SPD, but not here with us in front of the German people.”
Germany. Election night 2005. Chancellor Schröder against the challenger Angela Merkel. German television. The heads of the major parties are present to discuss the results, including Schröder and Merkel.
The moderator addresses Schröder with Herr Bundeskanzler. Schröder grins and says with a touch of irony: “How nice it is for you to address me so.” The moderator is taken aback: “Have you already conceded defeat?” Schröder: “No, absolutely not.”
Gerhard Schröders behavior on that September 18, 2005 remains unique in German television history. It is 8:15 p.m. and Schröder’s SPD and Merkel’s CDU are neck and neck at 34% and 35% respectively.
Schröder acts, though, as if he has won handily. siegessicher, siegestrunken – sure of victory, triumphant – were the terms later used by the German media. Schröder went on the attack against Merkel on live television: “There is a clear loser, and that very clearly is Merkel.”
Six years later Schröder looked back on that evening and explained to the German people in an article in the Welt am Sonntag what his motives were. His thinking was “there is now no room for diplomacy. This is the moment of truth.”
But it is not true, Schröder continued, that on that evening he thought the election results could swing in favor of his SPD. The Chancellor admitted that “a little humility would have been better.”
Hart aber fair – Hard but Fair – is a very popular weekly 75-minute talkshow in Germany about political topics. The moderator, Frank Plasberg, and his guests take on especially current and controversial issues.
As the name of the show suggests the discussions are open, lively and controversial. The show is well prepared and well structured. Ideological speech-making is blocked. Facts and logical argumentation are critical.
Between five and six guests are invited representing politics, academia, non-governmental organizations as well as “the man or woman off the street.”
The guests are carefully selected to represent the specific sides of the argument. The show’s research staff provides background information during certain segments.
Effizient. Latin efficiens, efficient; a large effect based on little effort; to achieve much with less; economic, economical.
Wirkung. Effect, output, results; a change realized by energy, effort, input; infuence; a sustained, positive effect.
Wirtschaftlich. Economical; concerning the economy; monetary, financial; to work intelligently; to be frugal, to save money; to achieve the maximum based on available resources.
Weniger ist mehr. Less is more. To focus on the essence, on the core. Functionality trumps design, thus saving time, resources, money. Often heard in the fields of design and architecture.
Effizient, nicht effektiv arbeiten. Work efficiently, not just effectively. A figure of speech often heard in the German workplace, meaning to do more than reach your goals by doing it efficiently.
Kleine Ursache, große Wirkung. Literally small cause, large effect. A figure of speech pointing out how small things – good and bad – can lead to very significant outcomes. In the German context it is a warning to pay close attention to the details of one‘s work.
Was nicht in die Masse dringt, ist unwirksam. What doesn‘t reach the masses, is ineffective. A quote attributed to Karl Jaspers, one of Germany‘s most influential philosophers of the post-War era. It is often used in discussions about the effectiveness of advertisement.
Many of the most popular brands of children’s toys in the U.S. are wooden toys manufactured by fairly small companies. Compared to mass-produced plastic toys from China, they are inefficient to produce and more expensive to ship. Quality and design is the focus, not speed or quantity.
American-made tools: The websites of popular American toolmakers such as Snap On and Craftsman include many statements about non-negotiable product quality and safety but make no mention of efficiency. Production of American products often maximizes quality and safety while giving much less attention to efficiency of production.
U.S. health care: The delivery of health care in the United States is perhaps the best example of disregard for efficiency in exchange for safe, high-quality output. According to a report from the Institute of Medicine, „about 30 percent of health spending in 2009 – roughly $750 billion – was wasted on unnecessary services, excessive administrative costs, fraud, and other problems.“
The reasons for this waste are complex, but the underlying logic is that in the health care sector (and in most other industries), Americans view a safe, comfortable, and positive output as the primary goal of their activities; therefore, efficiency is often ignored.
U.S. military: The U.S. military spends vast sums of money to achieve the strategic goals of the nation. For example, it costs the U.S. an estimated $1 million dollars to outfit a single soldier in Afghanistan for a year. The U.S. has spent more than $1 trillion dollars fighting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2001. The key focus of military operation is achieving the strategic objective (or output); efficiency and costs are rarely discussed. If they are discussed, they are always secondary to achieving the mission.
Federal hiring process: President Obama signed a memorandum in February 2010 ordering the Office of Personnel Management to streamline the federal hiring process. Although implementing this order will vary across different agencies, the act symbolizes a concerted effort to add efficiency to what was previously an incredibly slow and ineffective process.
Hotel chains: Many companies cannot focus exclusively on output while neglecting efficiency. Hotel chains have started to encourage customers to conserve water (thereby increasing efficiency) by re-using towels and not changing linens every day. These campaigns are often marketed as „eco-friendly.“ They are aimed at lowering costs and increasing the company’s efficiency. The output must be of good and uniform quality, but if the company does not operate efficiently, then it will not be profitable.
Assembly line: With the assembly line Henry Ford revolutioned the automotive industry and the way products are produced in almost every industry. This new manufacturing process made building cars more efficient. Because of the increase in efficiency, the cost to produce a car went down and when production costs were lowered, so was the retail price of the cars. Today, almost all products – from faucets to airplanes – are produced in some form of assembly line.
Because Germany has few natural resources, its economy has had to produce high quality, high technology products and services.
In politics, economics and the media the Germans stress time and again the importance of maintaining a knowledge society, of education as its key resource. Germany‘s high standard of living, its high level of social welfare services, can only be financed if it can continue to develop and market high margin goods and services. The Germans stress, therefore, the need to produce generations of scientists and engineers.
There is consensus across the country on this point. Every chancellor, state governor, head of a major German company stresses time and again how critical it is to stay on the cutting edge of science, engineering, technology. Germany sees itself as the land of ideas, recognizes that its future depends on it producing breakthrough ideas.
Gardena is located in Ulm, Germany. With approximately 420 million Euros in yearly revenues it is Europe’s leading maker of gardening tools. Owned by the Swedish Husqvarna-Group, Gardena was founded in 1961 by Eberhard Kastner und Werner Kress.
One of Gardena’s products is the Micro-Drip-System. The Gardena website says: “Water your yard the intelligent way!” Watering manually is hard work and it leads to “uneven results.”
The Micro-Drip-System is a great relief, “because you only need to turn on the water (faucet, spigot) or to give the command into the system’s on-board computer.”
“The system does the rest of the work itself.” Instead of watering too much or too little, the grass and plants get just the amount they need as determined by sensors which measure humidity and rainfall.
Gardena tools are so intelligent that they can decide themselves how much water is necessary for even and uniform growth. This also saves water.
Of course, the question remains if the proud homeowner would not prefer to demonstrate his or her gardening expertise by using the good old watering can.
Two-year warranty: Set by law in Germany allowing customers to return a defective product. The seller is obligated to either repair or replace the product.
Garantie. Guaranty. The promise, security that something is correct, right, works; a promise by the maker of a product that it functions as advertized; a contractual promise.
Worst Case Scenario. An English phrase used in Germany. The German consumer expects a product to always work as advertised, last long, meet fully their expectations.
German consumers often confuse warranty and guaranty, believing that they can return the product for repair or replacement during the two-year period regardless of the cause of the defect. The law, however, requires the maker/seller of the product to repair or replace a product based only on defects at the time of purchase. Misuse of the product or normal wear and tear are not covered.
If for example a television does not work perfectly after a year, the German consumer typically will return it to the store and demand repair, replacement or their money back. The retailer, however, is permitted to repair the product as often as he chooses without obligation to return the purchase price. Nor is the retailer obligated to supply a replacement product during the time of repair.
The mere returning of a product angers the German consumer. They expect near 100% reliability. Good customer service – friendly, fast, uncomplicated – can help things, but is seldom seen by the German consumer as an excuse for a technical defect. If the problems reoccur, the German consumer will quickly switch to a competitive product. Good technical service is best when it‘s not needed.
Markenprodukte. Brand name products: Products which are immediately recognized as excellent based on the name of its producer; often products which are of average quality but remain in the minds of consumers due to constant advertising.
German companies have been exporting high quality products consistently since the end of the Second World War. Their products have gained an international reputation for being very good, often better than their competitors. The Germans view reliability as one of the key characteristics of a well-known brand.
Qualität ist, wenn der Kunde wiederkommt, nicht das Produkt. Quality is when the customer returns, not the product. This well-known saying indicates the importance quality plays in the German product philosophy. A product which does not function perfectly and therefore needs to be returned is an embarrassment to the producer.