1. Introduction & History
In 1986, the 26 year old Oliver Becker founded the German company, which is nowadays called "Becker Onlineshop Ltd.". At these times, the company had the purpose of a classical craft business of heating and sanitary products. As Oliver had not studied, his first wife Rose, who had studied business administration, supported Oliver by leading the accountancy. Since Oliver was a very disciplined and hard working businessman, working till midnight almost every day, the company grew fast and became profitable from the beginning, and Oliver and Rose got two children, Laura and Luise.
In Germany, craftsmen generally receive payments after having fulfilled their service - which is the reason why Oliver's success changed dramatically in 2003. Oliver and Rose were betrayed by a big customer -a hotel proprietor-, who disappeared instead of paying them, after Oliver had installed more than 900 expensive sanitary products in his hotel. Losing a huge amount of money, Oliver almost became insolvent, which caused lots of stress and worries. Although he could change tack and save the business by working day and night, these efforts caused that private/family life suffered, and Rose and Oliver got divorced.
From this time on, Oliver decided to change the whole business concept in order to never get into such a situation again. In 2004, the purpose of his business changed from a craft business to a pure online shop. Consequently, products were no longer installed, but could only be viewed in an exposition and bought online - by payment in advance.
This decision was probably the best decision Oliver had ever made. The business grew much more than ever expected before, as a huge demand for buying premium bathroom products online existed, and five years later, the turnaround increased to more than 100 million euros per year. Within these few years, Oliver had to work even harder than ever before, as he had to quickly cope with this immense growth, and to raise all departments simultaneously. Also, he had to figure out how to professionally run and manage a trading company that employs more than 300 workers - without ever having studied management.
Nowadays, Becker Onlineshop Ltd. is one of the biggest online retailers for bathroom furniture in Europe. Of course, Oliver is very proud of himself for having founded and raised such a successful company, but being in such a good market position is hard in another way. In Germany, the sanitary market has always been ruled by a couple of huge, old-established wholesalers that have a very strong bargaining power. These wholesalers are not pleased with this new online trader that purchases the products in great quantities from the manufacturers, and sells them directly to end consumers. Within this value chain, wholesalers do not have any right to exist, which makes them taking lots of illegal measures, for example pressuring manufacturers to not deliver their producs to Becker Onlineshop Ltd..
In 1986, the 26 year old Oliver Becker founded the German company, which is nowadays called "Becker Onlineshop Ltd.". At these times, the company had the purpose of a classical craft business of heating and sanitary products. As Oliver had not studied, his first wife Rose, who had studied business administration, supported Oliver by leading the accountancy. Since Oliver was a very disciplined and hard working businessman, working till midnight almost every day, the company grew fast and became profitable from the beginning, and Oliver and Rose got two children, Laura and Luise.
In Germany, craftsmen generally receive payments after having fulfilled their service - which is the reason why Oliver's success changed dramatically in 2003. Oliver and Rose were betrayed by a big customer -a hotel proprietor-, who disappeared instead of paying them, after Oliver had installed more than 900 expensive sanitary products in his hotel. Losing a huge amount of money, Oliver almost became insolvent, which caused lots of stress and worries. Although he could change tack and save the business by working day and night, these efforts caused that private/family life suffered, and Rose and Oliver got divorced.
From this time on, Oliver decided to change the whole business concept in order to never get into such a situation again. In 2004, the purpose of his business changed from a craft business to a pure online shop. Consequently, products were no longer installed, but could only be viewed in an exposition and bought online - by payment in advance.
This decision was probably the best decision Oliver had ever made. The business grew much more than ever expected before, as a huge demand for buying premium bathroom products online existed, and five years later, the turnaround increased to more than 100 million euros per year. Within these few years, Oliver had to work even harder than ever before, as he had to quickly cope with this immense growth, and to raise all departments simultaneously. Also, he had to figure out how to professionally run and manage a trading company that employs more than 300 workers - without ever having studied management.
Nowadays, Becker Onlineshop Ltd. is one of the biggest online retailers for bathroom furniture in Europe. Of course, Oliver is very proud of himself for having founded and raised such a successful company, but being in such a good market position is hard in another way. In Germany, the sanitary market has always been ruled by a couple of huge, old-established wholesalers that have a very strong bargaining power. These wholesalers are not pleased with this new online trader that purchases the products in great quantities from the manufacturers, and sells them directly to end consumers. Within this value chain, wholesalers do not have any right to exist, which makes them taking lots of illegal measures, for example pressuring manufacturers to not deliver their producs to Becker Onlineshop Ltd..
For the 55 year old Oliver, it gets more and more exhausting to fight against those practices
in forms of court proceedings.
As he had to cope with many challenges during his life, he now feels to get too weak to continue those fights for the next 15 years, which makes him think about succession planning. He would prefer his two daughters to take over the business some day, but in order to secure a successful continuation of the business, he wants them to enter the business asap because he needs enough time to train and teach them about the company and the industry.
2. Key players
Oliver:
As already mentioned, Oliver is a very disciplined and ambitious person, who loves working.
As he does not rely on bankers, his company has not only been profitable from the beginning, but it is also 100% equity-financed. He is a very responsible-minded human, also towards his employees, which is one reason why he does not want to sell the business. He wants to be sure that his employees keep their jobs after he retires.
After he and Rose got divorced, Rose moved out and started a job in another company. Ten years later, Oliver married another woman, Susan.
Susan:
Susan had trained as a sales assistant in a butchery. After she and Oliver became a couple,
she started working in Oliver's exposition for bathroom accessories. A few years later, her niece Frieda finished her undergraduate in logistics, and as she could not find a job immediately, Susan put in a good word for her with Oliver, who then offered her a job in the purchasing department of Oliver's business.
Since Susan's father passed away a few years ago, Susan and her family have a serious inheritance dispute, which caused that Frieda thought she had to support her father Eric. Thus -instead of staying out of these disputes- Frieda took Eric's side, which made Susan feel betrayed by her. As a consequence, Susan persuaded Oliver to sign Frieda off.
Laura:
Oliver and Rose's first daughter, Laura, studied business studies and started working in her
father's company immediately after graduating, as this was his wish. She first planned to start working for a consultancy in order to gain experience and to learn how other companies are managed, but taking Oliver's arguments into account, she did him the favour and started working with him, with the option to leave the company a few years later in case she will not be satisfied.
As he had to cope with many challenges during his life, he now feels to get too weak to continue those fights for the next 15 years, which makes him think about succession planning. He would prefer his two daughters to take over the business some day, but in order to secure a successful continuation of the business, he wants them to enter the business asap because he needs enough time to train and teach them about the company and the industry.
2. Key players
Oliver:
As already mentioned, Oliver is a very disciplined and ambitious person, who loves working.
As he does not rely on bankers, his company has not only been profitable from the beginning, but it is also 100% equity-financed. He is a very responsible-minded human, also towards his employees, which is one reason why he does not want to sell the business. He wants to be sure that his employees keep their jobs after he retires.
After he and Rose got divorced, Rose moved out and started a job in another company. Ten years later, Oliver married another woman, Susan.
Susan:
Susan had trained as a sales assistant in a butchery. After she and Oliver became a couple,
she started working in Oliver's exposition for bathroom accessories. A few years later, her niece Frieda finished her undergraduate in logistics, and as she could not find a job immediately, Susan put in a good word for her with Oliver, who then offered her a job in the purchasing department of Oliver's business.
Since Susan's father passed away a few years ago, Susan and her family have a serious inheritance dispute, which caused that Frieda thought she had to support her father Eric. Thus -instead of staying out of these disputes- Frieda took Eric's side, which made Susan feel betrayed by her. As a consequence, Susan persuaded Oliver to sign Frieda off.
Laura:
Oliver and Rose's first daughter, Laura, studied business studies and started working in her
father's company immediately after graduating, as this was his wish. She first planned to start working for a consultancy in order to gain experience and to learn how other companies are managed, but taking Oliver's arguments into account, she did him the favour and started working with him, with the option to leave the company a few years later in case she will not be satisfied.
Luisa:
Luisa studies business studies in her second year. She is sure she wants to enter her
father's business after finishing her undergraduate studies.
Robert:
After Oliver's decision to start e-commerce, his business grew very fast, which made him
decide to look for a business partner who could support him with mercantile decisions. He found that person in Robert, who had been his previous contact person and field worker of a supplier. In Oliver's eyes, Robert was a very good salesman.
Roberts wife (Maja) and Susan became friends, and Maja decided to enter the business as well, so started working as a sales assistant in the exposition, too.
After a few years, Oliver recognized that Robert could not really support him, as Robert often felt overburdened and stressed out. Oliver still had to make all the important decisions on his own, and he even realised to manage this very well. Robert also wanted to spend more time with his family, and came to the decision to retire and to get paid off; and Maja retired then, too. Oliver became the only shareholder again.
However, Robert is still interested in what happens to the company, if Oliver retires some day.
One year after Robert had retired, his oldest son, Paul, entered Oliver's company and took
over responsibility for the whole purchasing department.
Paul:
Paul, Robert's oldest son, had studied business studies, and started working for a huge multinational concern afterwards. After a few years, he was not happy with this job anymore, as communication and decision processes always took a very long time, which demotivated him.
As the relationship between Oliver and Robert was still good, Oliver became aware of Paul's dissatisfaction, and offered him to work for him.
He has even more responsibility and managing power now, which made him come to fulfilment in Oliver's company, but nevertheless, he is neither interested in becoming a shareholder, nor in taking over the business some day. The reason for this is that he wants to maintain work-life balance and the possibility to spend enough time for his family.
In order to better view the family relations, turn to the Family Genogram in Appendix A.
Luisa studies business studies in her second year. She is sure she wants to enter her
father's business after finishing her undergraduate studies.
Robert:
After Oliver's decision to start e-commerce, his business grew very fast, which made him
decide to look for a business partner who could support him with mercantile decisions. He found that person in Robert, who had been his previous contact person and field worker of a supplier. In Oliver's eyes, Robert was a very good salesman.
Roberts wife (Maja) and Susan became friends, and Maja decided to enter the business as well, so started working as a sales assistant in the exposition, too.
After a few years, Oliver recognized that Robert could not really support him, as Robert often felt overburdened and stressed out. Oliver still had to make all the important decisions on his own, and he even realised to manage this very well. Robert also wanted to spend more time with his family, and came to the decision to retire and to get paid off; and Maja retired then, too. Oliver became the only shareholder again.
However, Robert is still interested in what happens to the company, if Oliver retires some day.
One year after Robert had retired, his oldest son, Paul, entered Oliver's company and took
over responsibility for the whole purchasing department.
Paul:
Paul, Robert's oldest son, had studied business studies, and started working for a huge multinational concern afterwards. After a few years, he was not happy with this job anymore, as communication and decision processes always took a very long time, which demotivated him.
As the relationship between Oliver and Robert was still good, Oliver became aware of Paul's dissatisfaction, and offered him to work for him.
He has even more responsibility and managing power now, which made him come to fulfilment in Oliver's company, but nevertheless, he is neither interested in becoming a shareholder, nor in taking over the business some day. The reason for this is that he wants to maintain work-life balance and the possibility to spend enough time for his family.
In order to better view the family relations, turn to the Family Genogram in Appendix A.
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