Norbert Reithofer joined BMW in 1987 as head of maintenance. He became board member for production in 2000 and chief executive in 2006. Harald Krüger joined BMW in 1992 as a trainee in technical planning and production. He became board member for production in 2013 and chief executive in 2015. Oliver Zipse joined in 1991 as a trainee. He followed Krüger as board member for production in 2015 and as chief executive in 2019. Milan Nedeljković began at BMW as a trainee in 1993, ran the plants in Leipzig and Munich, and became board member for production in 2019. On 14 May 2026, he became chief executive.
business
The Chief Executive Is a Pilot
Carsten Spohr studied industrial engineering in Karlsruhe and trained as a pilot at the Lufthansa flight school in Bremen. On 1 May 2014, he became chief executive of Deutsche Lufthansa. He still holds an airline transport pilot license.
Too Many Meetings
In February 2025, the market research firm bilendi surveyed 1,040 employees in Germany for the HR software company HR Works. On average, they had 4.4 meetings a week and considered 2.9 of them unnecessary. They spent 4.7 hours a week in meetings and considered 3.2 of those hours wasted. 48 percent said that meetings take too long. 31 percent said that such meetings produce no concrete decisions.
Eight Days for 414 Objections
In the approval procedure for Tesla’s factory in Grünheide, near Berlin, 414 people and associations filed objections. The public hearing on them began on 23 September 2020 in the civic hall of Erkner. On the first day it did not get beyond questions of procedure. Three days had been planned. The hearing went on for eight days. Even so, critics said that it was ended too early, under pressure from the state environment ministry, and that not everyone had been heard.
Who Does What by When
German guides to meetings distinguish two kinds of minutes. The Verlaufsprotokoll records the course of the discussion. The Ergebnisprotokoll records only the results. For items about who handles which task, the Haufe Academy’s glossary puts it in four words: Wer macht was bis wann? Who does what by when? Its model table has columns for the person responsible, the deadline and the status. The office consultancy Büro-Kaizen adds a rule. Deshalb ist der erste Tagesordnungspunkt bei jeder Besprechung stets das Ergebnisprotokoll der letzten Sitzung. The first agenda item of every meeting is therefore always the results minutes of the last one.
No Record, No Resolution
Every resolution of the shareholders’ meeting of a German stock corporation must be recorded in minutes taken by a notary. Unlisted companies may instead use minutes signed by the chair of the supervisory board, unless a resolution needs a majority of three quarters or more. The minutes give the place and the date, the type and result of each vote, and the chair’s finding that the resolution passed. A resolution that is not recorded in this way is void. The vote took place, but in law it has no effect.
The supervisory board must also keep minutes of every meeting, with the agenda items, the essential content of the discussion and the resolutions. Here the law is milder. A breach macht einen Beschluß nicht unwirksam, does not make a resolution invalid.
Every Participant Writes a Card
The Metaplan method structures discussions on pinboards. It comes from the firm that the brothers Eberhard and Wolfgang Schnelle founded in 1959. In 1961 the firm moved to Quickborn, near Hamburg. A teaching paper of the University of Cologne names its aims. Es werden Arbeitsformen verwendet, in denen sich alle Teilnehmenden äußern. It uses forms of work in which all participants speak up. It aims to limit the dominance of those who talk a lot, and card queries can be anonymous if wanted. A handout on the card query from the Bavarian state institute for school quality puts it simply: Wichtig: die Beiträge von allen Teilnehmenden werden gebraucht! Alle Beiträge finden Beachtung! Important: the contributions of all participants are needed. All contributions receive attention.
The Counter-Motion
A shareholder of a German stock corporation who disagrees with a proposal of the management can send a Gegenantrag, a counter-motion, with reasons. If it arrives at least 14 days before the annual general meeting, the company must make it available to the shareholders, with the shareholder’s name and the reasons. An umbrella association of critical shareholders was founded in 1986 by groups that criticize large companies. Its members attend general meetings, put counter-motions and speak to the shareholders.
Outvoted Is No Excuse
From late autumn 1980, customers of a leather spray reported health damage. On 12 May 1981, the managing directors of the manufacturer met in a special session. The only item on the agenda was the damage reports. They decided unanimously not to order a full recall. In 1990 the Federal Court of Justice ruled on their responsibility. When several managing directors must decide on a recall together, each one is obliged alles ihm Mögliche und Zumutbare zu tun, um diese Entscheidung herbeizuführen, to do everything possible and reasonable to bring that decision about. A director who did not push for the recall is criminally liable. This holds even if the others would have outvoted him.
Thirty Days and the Draft Resolutions
The annual general meeting of a German stock corporation must be called at least thirty days in advance. With the notice, the management board and the supervisory board must publish their proposals for the items to be voted on. For some items, such as elections, only the supervisory board makes the proposal. Shareholders therefore receive the agenda and the draft decisions a month ahead. The law then closes the door on surprises. Über Gegenstände der Tagesordnung, die nicht ordnungsgemäß bekanntgemacht sind, dürfen keine Beschlüsse gefaßt werden. No resolutions may be passed on agenda items that were not properly announced.