Skip to main content

Schaeffler

Overall leadership of a trading and industrial company based in Eastern Switzerland, reorientation and integration within one of the world’s leading automotive and industrial supply groups.
Schaeffler Overall leadership of a trading and industrial company based in Eastern Switzerland, reorientation and integration within one of the world’s leading automotive and industrial supply groups.
Images: Schaeffler
Experiences, developments:

  • Trust‐oriented management style with more autonomy for managers and more local decision‐making powers.
  • Finding and asserting a new role for the globally active company in a group.
  • Loyalty is directed both up and down the ‘chain of command’.
Group headquarters Schaeffler Group, Herzogenaurach (D), image: Schaeffler

Spherical roller bearings
Spherical roller bearings
Rolling bearings for industrial and automotive applications, image: Schaeffler
Mechanical engineering at the Romanshorn site, image: Schaeffler

Feinstanz AG

Acquisition, turnaround and sale of a company which develops and produces for the automotive and mechanical engineering industry.
Feinstanz AGAcquisition, turnaround and sale of a company which develops and produces for the automotive and mechanical engineering industry.
Image: Feinstanz AG
Experience, developments:

  • Management and entrepreneurship.
  • Turnaround management.
  • Creating a management team and empowering it to achieve success.
  • Financial and economic crisis 2008/09: Ripple effects on the real Swiss economy.
  • It is part of an entrepreneur’s responsibility to adapt its company rigorously in response to changes in its operating environment and ensure it remains competitive.
  • Responsible management also includes responsibility for the community.
  • Managers should account for their actions, especially in crises.
  • Valuable experience is what you get when you don’t get what you want.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION... (German)

Manufacture of high‐precision metal parts for the automotive industry

Refurbishing an apartment building

Acquisition of a rented apartment building, complete refurbishment of the empty unit and re‐letting of the apartments.
Refurbishing an apartment buildingAcquisition of a rented apartment building, complete refurbishment of the empty unit and re‐letting of the apartments.
Experience, developments:
  • In an interest‐free environment, you have to create your own interest‐bearing investments, by, for example, redevelopment and fit‐out of real estate.
  • No objections (through informing/involving neighbouring owners).
  • No tenant asked for an extension – the fruits of providing prompt, straightforward information.
  • The property is let and in very good condition. I want to keep it long‐term.
Before refurbishment
Installation of new kitchens
Installation of new baths

Refurbishment of a farmhouse

Acquisition of a farmhouse with a listed main façade, generation of ideas and concept development for renovation and new construction, implementation and letting.
Refurbishment of a farmhouseAcquisition of a farmhouse with a listed main façade, generation of ideas and concept development for renovation and new construction, implementation and letting.
Experience, developments:

  • Reconciling requirements that look contradictory at first sight, such as preserving the historic building and generating a profit.
  • The aim ‐ housing that will generate a return – was achieved.
  • I wish to keep the property long‐term.
  • Alterations are more expensive than everybody thinks and tells you in advance.
  • Holistic thinking and actions
Entrance before refurbishment
New entrance
Installation of a new combined kitchen/living room
New seat
Main façade

Financial markets

Urs Spielmann follows and analyses economic trends and financial markets. He invests in listed companies’ shares in pursuit of a clear strategy and credible management principles.
Financial marketsUrs Spielmann follows and analyses economic trends and financial markets. He invests in listed companies’ shares in pursuit of a clear strategy and credible management principles.
Image: copyright (c) 2012 Princeton University Press in HistoricShots, LLC
Experience, developments:

  • The financial crisis in 2009 provided the starting point for my work on financial markets. Interest in its causes and background led me to financial markets.
  • Driven by expansionary monetary policy worldwide, the global economy’s indebtedness is even more substantial today than before the financial crisis. This situation is increasingly inhibiting global growth and will demand a sustainable solution sooner or later. The illusion that total debt is sustainable long‐term cannot be maintained indefinitely by raising new debt all the time.
  • Self‐discipline (“stick to your principles”)
  • contrarian thinking
  • returns decrease as motion increases.
  • Growth in the global economy and global financial markets is not linear but occurs in cycles and is consequently subject to crises.
  • If everybody thinks the same, possibly nobody thinks deeply enough any more.
The wise man does in the beginning, what the fool does in the end.
(Warren Buffett)
You can’t take the same actions as everyone else and expect to outperform.
(Howard Marks)
The individual investor should act consistently as an investor and not as a speculator.
(Benjamin Graham)

Construction of an apartment building

Construction of an apartment building with apartments and separate offices, Niederteufen (AR).
Construction of an apartment buildingConstruction of an apartment building with apartments and separate offices, Niederteufen (AR).
Experience, developments:

  • It is worthwhile investing sufficient time in project development.
  • The modern building with a bush‐hammered concrete façade elegantly incorporates stylistic features of traditional Appenzell design (such as a cross‐beam, gabled roof and pilaster strips).
  • Responsibility for the social environment: Without exception, companies are selected from the region.
  • No time‐wasting objections: Also the fruit of open, straightforward information
  • Even a new building is more expensive than everybody thinks and tells you in advance…
Vital pipework underground
The excavators drive up
Discussion on site...

Book

How the financial and economic crisis of 2008/2009 unfolded in a Swiss industrial company.
BookHow the financial and economic crisis of 2008/2009 unfolded in a Swiss industrial company.
Experiences:

  • Managers should account for their actions, especially in crises.
  • Central banks, politicians and businesses want ‐ as was the case with previous recessions ‐ to return as rapidly as possible to the previous state of play before the crisis. I doubt whether this will be possible because total indebtedness has increased massively since then.
  • The economic and political elites squandered a lot of trust in the financial crisis. The liberal economic order is suffering primarily from this, because the people’s trust is its most important capital.
Additional publications

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION... (German)

Blurb:

Book entitled “Survival is Not Enough” Urs Spielmann is a critical analyst of current economic and political events. He has written the book entitled “Survival is Not Enough”. In this book, he analyses the financial and economic crisis of 2008/2009 from the perspective of a directly affected Swiss SME in the export sector. In reading his fascinating account of his experiences, you will join Urs Spielmann in looking for escape routes and share his failures, struggles and hopes.

New projects

Investing in values: New projects reflect our values.
New projectsInvesting in values: New projects reflect our values.
Focus on performance
Profit ensures sustainability.

Holistic thinking and actions
We also think for others and for the whole.

Openness and straightforwardness
We try to be honest with ourselves and others.

Reliability
We keep to this.

Discipline
We live up to our values.
Urs Spielmann is happy to meet you for a no‐obligation discussion