Dirk Rossmann

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Dirk Rossmann (2018)

Dirk Roßmann (born September 7, 1946 in Hanover ) is a German entrepreneur . He is the founder and managing director of the owner-run drugstore chain Rossmann ( Dirk Rossmann GmbH ) based in Burgwedel near Hanover. In 1972 he founded the first self-service business for drugstore goods in Germany and is therefore considered an inventor and "pioneer of the drugstore market".

In 2020 his company will be the second largest German drugstore chain with 2,196 branches and 33,400 employees in Germany; Rossmann is also represented in Eastern and Southeastern Europe (Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Albania, Turkey, the Republic of Kosovo). The company name "Rossmann" does not correspond to his family name "Roßmann", because the capitalization of the letter ß was previously only possible in a few fonts and the ß is usually not known in the foreign market.

biography

Roßmann's first self-service shop from 1972 near the Lister Meile in Hanover , with a memorial plaque until it closed in April 2010

Dirk Roßmann's parents, Bernhard Roßmann (1910–1958) and his wife Hilde, geb. Wilkens, run a small drugstore on the outskirts of Hanover in the second generation . His mother's parents owned a large fur shop in Hanover, and his grandfather ran his own drugstore. After Bernhard Roßmann's early death, his mother sold everything “to save our little drugstore. […] We were very poor, we lived in the smallest of circumstances. ”At the age of twelve he earned his first living selling and delivering drugstore items at full price, which he himself got 10% cheaper. By his own account he thus generated sales of several thousand German marks a month black ; When Roßmann was 16, this money was used to buy a condominium in Hanover. At this age he learned from his mother that his biological father was the neighbor Theodor Kayser (1899–1968), the son of a German manufacturer from Warsaw and the godfather of Roßmann's older brother Axel.

After completing secondary school , he completed vocational training as a druggist . He then worked in his parents' drugstore from 1962, while his brother, two years older, was able to study later.

On April 1, 1965, at the age of 18, he was drafted into the German Armed Forces , although he had complained against the draft notice and before a judgment could be pronounced. Roßmann demanded the legally possible exemption because of the support of needy people: "My father was dead, my mother was sick, my brother was studying, and I had to feed the family and grandparents on my own." Because he considers military service to be "perfectly fine" he didn't want to refuse military service either . The only way out, he saw, was the refusal of orders in the barracks. He was temporarily admitted to the Langenhagen mental hospital for four weeks and was finally released on September 7, 1965, despite curfew and disciplinary arrest. “This stubbornness and his unconditional will to succeed did not only help Rossmann out of the Bundeswehr, but also to one of the 200 richest Germans made ”, so the conclusion in the FAZ .

A few months before the announced lifting of fixed prices for drugstore goods in 1973, he opened the "drugstore goods market" in Hanover on March 17, 1972 at the age of 25. It existed until April 2010 in Jakobistraße, a side street off the Lister Meile right next to “Lister Platz”. On the opening day, there was “customer chaos”, because his idea of ​​a discount market for drugstore items met with great interest from customers. After the shop closed, Roßmann had around 20,000 DM in the till instead of the hoped-for 2,000 to 3,000 DM . The small shop with 200 m² sales area was the first drugstore self-service shop in Germany. Ten years after the business was founded, Roßmann already owned 100 drugstores in northern Germany .

Through Rossmann Beteiligungs GmbH , Dirk Roßmann holds almost 20 percent of the shares in the Hannover 96 football club and its restructuring company Hannover 96 Sales & Service GmbH & Co. KG , after the president of the Hannover 96 sports club and entrepreneur Martin Kind asked him to participate in 2012 . Until October 2016, Roßmann was also a member of the supervisory board of the operating company, Hannover 96 GmbH und Co. KGaA .

In January 2013 he sued the Bavarian Constitutional Court against the approval of the Bavarian State Parliament to the State Treaty on Broadcasting Contributions and in particular against the new broadcasting fee for the GEZ . Rossmann and Sixt led a. a. In support of this, an expert opinion by the consulting company of the Düsseldorf Institute for Competition Economics (DICE) states that not only 1.1 billion euros in additional income can be expected from broadcasting fees for the broadcasters, but rather at least 3.2 billion additional income. On May 15, 2014, the court dismissed the lawsuit.

Dirk Roßmann has been married to Alice Schardt-Roßmann for the second time since 1982 and has two sons from two marriages, Daniel (* 1976) and Raoul (* 1985). You both studied business administration and work together with your father in the company management.

Dirk Roßmann's net worth was estimated at around $ 2.7 billion by Forbes Magazine in 2016 . It currently ranks 595th on the Forbes list worldwide and 50th in Germany. However, he renounces the status symbols customary in the class and maintains a reserved, “middle” lifestyle with his family. For years he has been calling for the tax on the wealthy to be increased .

Companies

Dirk Rossmann, 2006

In the 1980s, Dirk Roßmann sold 40 percent of his company to Hannover Finanz , their stake went to the drugstore chain of the Dutch Kruidvat Group (former owners: the De Rijcke family), which in turn was transferred in August 2004 to the AS Watson Group of the Hong Kong conglomerate Hutchison Whampoa was taken over. Today (2020) the Rossmann company is number 2 on the German market after dm with 2,196 branches throughout Germany . After the fall of the “ Iron Curtain ” in the early 1990s, Dirk Roßmann's company expanded into the Eastern European market, where he has operated over 1,000 branches since 2009. There are 4,088 branches across Europe and 2,196 branches across Germany (as of 2020). It now employs 33,400 people in Germany and around 56,200 internationally. In Germany, Rossmann recently achieved sales of 7 billion euros (+ 5.1 percent). Group-wide sales rose to 10 billion euros in 2019.

On May 15, 2012, the daily business newspaper Handelsblatt reported that Rossmann hired subcontractors to fill the shelves in the Rossmann branches, to take inventories and to work at the cash register. The hourly wages paid were 33% below the verdi collective agreement. The store Solution Services GmbH (ISS) can in every other branch of the shelves of the drugstore chain fill d. H. in over 800 markets. At the ISS was Rossmann Beteiligungs GmbH participated in summer 2011 with 49 percent. The temporary employment agency Instore Solutions Personell GmbH (ISP) employs employees at the tills of the Rossmann branches. Rossmann Beteiligungs GmbH holds 22.5 percent of ISP . According to Dirk Roßmann, Rossmann has been paying the statutory minimum wage of € 8.50 for all temporary workers since 2015, which makes up just six percent of all employees.

The company is family run. Alice Schardt-Roßmann works together with her husband and two other managing directors in the management of the company. The older son Daniel is responsible for expansion issues and heads the real estate department. The younger son Raoul became head of purchasing in October 2014.

In a conversation with Bavarian TV in 2014, Roßmann pointed out that it was his wife Alice who had given him the idea of introducing the Rossmann world of ideas towards the end of the 1990s , "in which it [like Tchibo products] you could buy what you hadn't expected in a drugstore. ”Only then could the company have achieved greater profits and free itself from the dependency of the banks. Another successful business idea was the introduction of own brands in the product range.

He is very friendly with his employees, his office is “rather simple” and there is no tie in his company. He characterized himself as: “Very friendly as a person, unpleasant as a competitor.” Roßmann is trained in topic-centered interaction (TCI) and uses autogenic training every day to relax .

Among other things, Roßmann invites deserving employees to the Dessau-Wörlitz Garden Realm - to tennis, hikes and gondola rides. Since the 1980s, in- house training and further education courses have been offered to employees at the Waldhof in the Lüneburg Heath . In addition, he offers individual support programs and cultural trips, such as a boat trip to Oslo, which he took with his 20 most important executives. Rossmann gives his workforce an employee discount as well as shopping vouchers and distributes goods packages for the employees several times a year.

social commitment

  • In 1991 he founded the German Foundation for World Population (DSW) together with Erhard Schreiber, a befriended mechanical engineering entrepreneur from Hanover . The internationally active development organization wants to give everyone access to information and family planning and combines this with effective poverty reduction. The education and family planning projects are primarily used in East Africa .
  • In the Rossmann branches, around 400,000 euros are donated annually to the German Children's Fund (DKHW) in donation boxes . On the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the DKHW in 2012, Roßmann doubled the donation amount. With the initiative , more courage for I projects DKHW be financed, the strengthening of self-esteem s girls devote.
  • He financially supports Mentor - Die Leselernhelfer Hannover eV for children with a migration background. The initiative was launched in 2003 by the Hanoverian bookseller Otto Stender .
  • Roßmann has been supporting the Class! Initiative since 2009 . We sing "against the extinction of singing in our society" and to cultivate joy in singing among students. Students in grades 1 to 7 study a selected repertoire of songs with their teachers over a period of six weeks and then sing it together with thousands of others. Rossmann also produces song books, CDs and T-shirts at low prices.
  • In 2013, together with Henkel , Dirk Roßmann launched the "Naturkinder" initiative. The project is being supported with a total of 50,000 euros.

Commitment to climate protection

Rossmann campaigns intensively in public for the fight against the climate crisis . He once said: “We have a huge problem and we can't fix it with cosmetics, but only through action.” After reading the book We are the climate! From Jonathan Safran Foer he decided to intensify his commitment: "After reading this book, it was clear to me that I had to do something". In autumn 2019, Rossmann initially gave away 2,000 copies of the book to all members of the Bundestag and board members of all German DAX companies, and 25,000 copies could be requested free of charge via his company's website.

Awards

  • 1998: On February 11th, Dirk Roßmann was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit as "Cross of Merit on Ribbon" for his commitment to the German Foundation for World Population .
  • 2000: Award "Entrepreneur of the year 1999 in the Hanover region ". It was awarded by the “ Working Group of Self-Employed Entrepreneurs ” (ASU), the “ Federal Association of Young Entrepreneurs ” (BJU) and the Sparkasse Hannover . The selection criteria were turnover , profitability , marketing ideas, innovations , contemporary staff management and corporate principles. The jury unanimously voted for Dirk Roßmann from among eight people available for selection. In the press there was talk of honoring his life's work. The award was not only for his entrepreneurial success, but also for his social and societal commitment.
  • 2006: Choice of the most popular Lower Saxony by the readers of the Hannoversche Allgemeine 
  • 2008: Anti-Mobbing Award on the occasion of the 5th Anti- Mobbing Day in Bremen on December 2nd, 2008 
  • 2009: Golden Sugar Loaf from the foundation of the same name, an initiative from trade, industry and the German food newspaper 
  • 2009: Goldene pea from the Märchenland e. V. German Center for Fairy Tale Culture as part of the Berlin Fairy Tale Days 
  • 2010: Entrepreneur of the year from the management consulting firm Ernst & Young 
  • 2013: Germany's growth champion from the daily newspaper Die Welt   and the management consultancy Accenture 
  • 2014: German CSR Prize 
  • 2014: Honorary award of the business and innovation award Querdenker Award in the Lifetime Achievement category “for his authentic way of running his family business, his ability to learn from mistakes and to achieve sustainable success from them without taking the wishes of his customers out of sight to lose".
  • 2017: The “Steiger Award” in the Charity category for his commitment as a founder of the German Foundation for World Population
  • 2018: Lower Saxony State Medal

Publications

  • Dirk Roßmann with Peter Käfferlein and Olaf Köhne: "... then I climbed the tree!": Of advancement, courage and change. Ariston, Munich 2018, ISBN 978-3-424-20192-5 .

literature

  • Rita Schoeneberg: Dirk Roßmann , in: dies., 13 out of 500,000 people from Hanover , Urban-Verlag, Hamburg 1999, ISBN 3-924562-04-0 , pp. 79-84.
  • Tigo Zeyen: Dirk Rossmann , in: ders., Anne Weber-Ploemacher (ed.), Joachim Giesel (photos), 100 Hanoverian Heads , CW Niemeyer, Hameln 2006, ISBN 978-3-8271-9251-6 , p. 164f .
  • »That's so precious« or How the Lower Saxony drugstore chain entrepreneur Dirk Roßmann distributed the mirror at a Monday demo in Leipzig in January 1990 , in: Simone Schmollack and Katrin Weber-Klüver: Back then in the GDR - stories of farewell and departure , construction , Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-351-02722-3 , pp. 81-85.
  • Inga Michler: The fighter - Dirk Roßmann (drugstores) , in: dies., Economic miracle 2010. Germany's family entrepreneurs conquer the world markets. Campus Verlag , Frankfurt am Main 2010, ISBN 978-3-593-39005-5 , pp. 102–111, excerpt from Google books .
  • Dirk Rossmann, Peter Käfferlein and Olaf Köhne: ... then I climbed the tree !: From ascent, courage and change , Ariston Verlag, Munich 2018, ISBN 978-3424201925

Movies

  • alpha forum: Dirk Roßmann. Entrepreneur. Talk, Germany, 2014, 44:16 min., Moderation: Hans-Jürgen Mende , production: ARD-alpha , series: alpha-Forum , first broadcast: January 15, 2015 on BR-alpha , table of contents with a text from ARD-alpha, online video from ARD .
  • The Schlecker story - career, cosmetics and bankruptcy. Documentary, Germany, 2014, 29:57 min., Written and directed: Gesine Müller and Ron Boese, production: Spiegel TV , ZDF , series: ZDFzoom . First broadcast: October 13, 2014 on ZDF, synopsis by ARD , online video. Among other things with Roßmann as a contemporary witness and friend of the Schlecker family.
  • The story in the first: right at the top. The discreet world of billionaires. Documentary, Germany, 2019, 43:50 min., Editor: Florian Opitz , production: rbb for Das Erste , series: Die Story im Erste, first broadcast: February 12, 2019 in Erste, synopsis by ARD, online video . Among other things with Roßmann as a billionaire in conversation about money, justice and the origin of his wealth.

Web links

Commons : Dirk Roßmann  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Interviews

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b N.N. : Inventor of the drugstore. Dirk Roßmann opened a new type of shop in Hanover in 1972. In: WamS . April 15, 2012.
  2. ↑ (wd) n: Logistics for performance peaks . ( Memento from January 20, 2015 in the Internet Archive ). In: industrie-forum.net , November 1, 2003.
  3. ↑ ROSSMANN celebrates the Veganuary. Retrieved January 6, 2020 .
  4. ↑ Expansion: Rossmann starts in the Republic of Kosovo. Retrieved November 21, 2019 .
  5. ↑ a b Dirk Roßmann: My father: "The lie of my childhood". In: Focus , August 4, 2014, No. 32, p. 108.
  6. ↑ a b c Dirk Roßmann: My first money (223). In the beginning there was illegal work. In: Der Tagesspiegel . June 4th, 2012, recorded by Jahel Mielke.
  7. ↑ Thiemo Heeg: Druggist Rossmann: "I prefer to be a hunter". In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung . August 28, 2005, No. 34, p. 33, interview with Dirk Roßmann.
  8. ↑ a b c Jens Tönnesmann: “Incredible that everything was fine again.” In: Die Zeit . March 30, 2017, interview.
  9. ↑ a b Dirk Rossmann. Origin and family. ( Memento from April 6, 2014 in the Internet Archive ). In: WirtschaftsWoche .
  10. ↑ Meite Thiede: Rossmann drugstores. The master of small prices. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung . May 19, 2006.
  11. ↑ a b c d Lars Ruzic: Dirk Roßmann remembers: “I just wanted to finally have enough money”. In: HAZ . 3rd September 2016.
  12. ↑ statement from Rossman in the NDR - Talkshow Herman & Tietjen on 21 April 2006, movie data in fernsehserien.de .
  13. ↑ NN : Dirk Roßmann 65 years. In: FAZ . September 5, 2011, beginning of article.
  14. ↑ NN: Dirk Roßmann 65 years. In: FAZ , September 5, 2011, quotation .
  15. ↑ Germany's first drugstore closes. As of the end of the week, two shops on Jakobistraße on Lister Platz will be empty. In: Hannoversche Allgemeine . April 15, 2010.
  16. ↑ a b c d Corinne Ulrich: The friendly squire. In: The time . September 3, 2007.
  17. ↑ Stefan Merx: Dirk Roßmann: “We don't dream of selling”. In: Wall Street Journal / jp4sport.biz , April 26, 2013, interview about Roßmann's involvement in Hannover 96, beginning of the original article .
  18. ↑ aev / Dpa : Hannover 96 former Chancellor Schröder appointed to the Supervisory Board. In: SpOn . November 1, 2016.
  19. ↑ jre / dpa : Trouble with new GEZ. Rossmann sues against radio license fee - chaos with direct debits. In: WirtschaftsWoche . January 10, 2013.
  20. ↑ Press release: At least 3.2 billion additional income from license fees: Rossmann and Sixt with their own report. In: rossmann.de , March 12, 2014.
  21. ↑ a b c d e Gregory Lipinski: Attackers from the province. Dirk Roßmann wants to chase away the competitors Schlecker and DM with new drugstores. In: Handelsblatt . April 6, 2006.
  22. ↑ Hagen Seidel: Dirk Roßmann's sons have no plan B. In: WamS . April 14, 2012, interview with the Roßmanns.
  23. ^ The World's Billionaires - Germany. In: Forbes Magazine . accessed on January 4, 2017.
  24. ^ NN : Rossmann. The pride of number two. ( Memento from January 20, 2015 in the web archive archive.today ). In: Ökotest . November 8, 2013, p. 1; see. Total article.
  25. ↑ Bob Geisler: "I like to pay tax on the rich". In: Hamburger Abendblatt . December 24, 2005.
  26. ↑ Wolfgang Jaschensky: The conglomerate HWL from Hong Kong takes over 40 percent of the drugstore chain Rossmann: “Don't be afraid of the Chinese.” In: Berliner Zeitung . August 26, 2004.
  27. ↑ ROSSMANN celebrates the Veganuary. Retrieved January 6, 2020 .
  28. ↑ Massimo Bognanni: "Wage Usury". The hidden side of the Rossmann empire. In: Handelsblatt . May 15, 2012.
  29. ↑ a b c entrepreneur. Rossmann, Dirk. In: Bayerischer Rundfunk . January 8, 2015 and Dirk Roßmann in conversation with Hans-Jürgen Mende (2015) (PDF, 17 p., 140 kB).
  30. ↑ dpa : founder makes son head of purchasing. Raoul will buy from Rossmann in the future. In: Handelsblatt . October 13, 2014.
  31. ^ NN : Rossmann. The pride of number two. ( Memento from January 20, 2015 in the web archive archive.today ). In: Ökotest . November 8, 2013, p. 3.
  32. ^ NN : Rossmann. The pride of number two. ( Memento from January 20, 2015 in the web archive archive.today ) In: Ökotest . November 8, 2013, p. 2.
  33. ^ Mark C. Schneider: How Dirk Roßmann leads employees. In: Handelsblatt. February 18, 2010.
  34. ↑ Anniversary brochure - 25 years of the German Foundation for World Population (DSW) In: German Foundation for World Population . (PDF, 15 pp., 5.2 MB).
  35. ↑ Uwe Kamp: Big success of the donation box campaign "You donate - we double up" - Dirk Rossmann GmbH donates 250,000 euros to the German Children's Fund. In: DKHW . January 13, 2013.
  36. ↑ For strong girls! More courage to be myself 2017. In: German Children's Fund . accessed on February 3, 2018.
  37. ↑ Mentor Leselernhilfe eV In: rossmann.de , accessed on January 20, 2015 and awakening the desire to read : A social task. Special print in the customer magazine Centaur , July / August 2014, (PDF, 8 pages, 690 kB).
  38. ↑ Brochure The Company 2017 : Page 5, Social commitment: Company projects. In: rossmann.de , 2017, as PDF; 1.5 MB , accessed February 3, 2018.
  39. ↑ Press release: Business development 2015. Chapter: Social responsibility: Long-term commitment to children. In: rossmann.de , April 6, 2016.
  40. ↑ Initiative Naturkinder donates 50,000 euros. Retrieved November 25, 2019 .
  41. ↑ a b c https://www.boersenblatt.net/2019-11-07-artikel-dirk_rossmann_verschenkt_foer_-_25.000_mal-klimawandel.1756200.html .
  42. ↑ Dirk Rossmann "Entrepreneur of the Year 1999" in the region. Stadtsparkasse Hannover honors the self-employed. In: Deutsche Sparkasse newspaper . February 25, 2000.
  43. ↑ Lars Ruzic: Rossmann: " Take rich people more to account ". In: Hannoversche Allgemeine . June 11, 2010, interview.
  44. ^ Anti-Mobbing-Award 2008. In: mobbing-web.de , November 27, 2008.
  45. ^ Jan Mende: Goldener Zuckerhut 2009. Lateral thinker with a formula for success. ( Memento of November 16, 2013 in the Internet Archive ). In: Lebensmittel Zeitung . November 6, 2009.
  46. ↑ Golden pea. Prize winners 2009. In: Märchenland - German Center for Fairy Tale Culture , accessed on February 3, 2018.
  47. ↑ Entrepreneur of the Year 2010. Well orchestrated companies. In: manager magazin . November 15, 2010.
  48. ↑ mig .: The price for persistent climbers. In: The world . 22nd of November 2013.
  49. ↑ Press release: Rossmann. Business development in 2013 and outlook for 2014. Chap. 1. Strong growth. In: rossmann.de , April 2, 2014.
  50. ↑ German CSR Prize 2014 awarded. In: stiftung-sponsoring.de , May 8, 2014.
      Press release: CSR award for Dirk Roßmann. "Role models with mind and heart". In: rossmann.de , May 14, 2014.
  51. ↑ Querdenker Prize for Dirk Roßmann. In: rossmann.de , November 25, 2014 and 2014 Honorary Prize Winner ( Memento from July 8, 2014 in the Internet Archive ). In: querdenker.de .
  52. ↑ German Foundation for World Population: Dirk Roßmann receives the Steiger Award. In: DSW. April 21, 2017, accessed on November 26, 2019 (German).
  53. ↑ State medal for Professor Dr. Eva-Maria Neher, Professor Gudrun Schröfel, Martin Kind and Dirk Roßmann - Prime Minister Stephan Weil honors four outstanding personalities of the state , press release of the Lower Saxony Ministry for Science and Culture from August 28, 2018.
personal data
SURNAME Rossmann, Dirk
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German entrepreneur, chemist
DATE OF BIRTH September 7, 1946
PLACE OF BIRTH Hanover