Micro Mobility Systems
| Micro Mobility Systems AG
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|---|---|
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| legal form | Corporation |
| founding | 1996 |
| Seat | Küsnacht , Switzerland |
| management | Wim Ouboter |
| Number of employees | 57 (2015) (September 2015) |
| sales | 60 million CHF ( FY 2014) |
| Branch | Sporting goods , toys |
| Website | www.micro.ms |
The Micro Mobility Systems AG is founded in 1996, Swiss company that scooter and kickboard designs and sells a wholesaler. The company is based in Küsnacht . The production is completely outsourced to the Far East . The scooters and kickboards typically have a folding mechanism and hard skate wheels and are made of aluminum .
In 2000, the company was involved in a hype for this type of scooter, which collapsed in the following year at the same time as the dot-com bubble burst . For Micro Mobility Systems, the sudden drop in demand was exacerbated by the massive incidence of copycat products and accidents. Micro Mobility Systems has become a business textbook example for the problems that small and medium-sized companies with strongly fluctuating demand have with outsourced production and insufficient trademark and patent protection. With stable financial structure and successful brand management , however (branding), sales could recover sharply after of 2002. Worldwide sales of Micro Mobility Systems products were thus confirmed or expanded over the long term.
history
Micro Mobility Systems was founded by Wim Ouboter, a bank employee with Dutch roots who was born in Switzerland around 1960 . The company, which was founded in 1974 by the Ouboter family, was originally called Ouboter Invest SA and until it was renamed in 1998, it also had another statutory purpose.
As the founding story, Ouboter rumored that in 1997 the way to his favorite snack bar on Zurich's Bellevue was too far to walk, but not far enough to get his bike or even his car out of the garage. Out of this “need” he developed a folding scooter that made his way easier and that was easy to stow away at the destination. Another early inspiration is said to have been his childhood, as his sister had a shortened leg and therefore always used scooters instead of bicycles.
The scooter is marketed in Europe under the brand name micro , in the USA also formerly as Razor .
The light scooters and kickboards, as they were also offered by Micro Mobility Systems, stood for the zeitgeist of the " new economy " and fell behind with adults just as quickly with the decline of the new economy hype. In 2003 Heike Bruch published a case study on Micro Mobility Systems at the University of St. Gallen , which she processed in a book by Harvard Business Press in 2004.
Products
The company develops its own products and holds numerous patents. In addition to different variants of the micro-scooter, the range also includes kickboards, balance bikes and accessories. In cooperation with Samsonite , a piece of luggage was developed that can be carried in hand luggage on the plane and can be turned into a scooter in two easy steps. Customers also include the Swiss Army, for which Micro Mobility Systems has developed small transport trolleys with which soldiers can more easily move the 45 kg luggage set on the way to and from duty.
Microlino
At the 86th Geneva Motor Show 2016, the company presented the electric car “Microlino” for the first time , a revival of the BMW Isetta , which was developed by the Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW) and development partner Tazzari . The Microlino was to be built by Artega in Delbrück from 2019, although there was no start of production due to disputes over technical and marketing issues as well as the presentation of a very similar model by Artega ("Karolino"). At the beginning of 2020, an agreement was reached in the dispute, according to which Artega is allowed to market its vehicle as "Karo". The Microlino, on the other hand, is to be produced with the Italian partner Cecomp after careful preparation from 2021; there are 16,000 reservations.
Web links
- Official website of the company
- Micro Mobility Systems D GmbH - Official distributor for Germany and Luxembourg
- Kickboard USA - Official distributor for North America
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Entry of “Micro Mobility Systems AG” in the commercial register of the Canton of Zurich ( Memento of the original from January 10, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ http://www.ey.com/CH/de/Newsroom/News-releases/EY-Medienmitteilung-Entrepreneur-Of-The-Year-2015-Finalisten
- ↑ http://www.sonntagszeitung.ch/read/sz_06_09_2015/wirtschaft/Die-Rueckkehr-der-Knutschkugel-42448
- ^ Matthias Schulz: Cult and Kamikaze . In: Der Spiegel . Vol. 54, No. 28 (July 10, 2000).
- ↑ a b Thomas Tuma: From the role . In: Der Spiegel . Vol. 55, No. 31 (July 30, 2001).
- ↑ No growth without change . In: Enterprise | CASH of April 20, 2006.
- ^ Haig Simonian: Scooter pioneer that survived to ride again . In: Financial Times of December 21, 2010. (Scan online ( Memento of the original from March 18, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove them Note .; PDF; 1.7 MB)
- ^ Dee O'Connell: Travel innovator: Wim Ouboter, inventor of the Micro scooter . In: The Guardian of March 31, 2002.
- ↑ Micro Mobility Systems - Realizing the Scooter Dream . Case study at the University of St.Gallen, 2003.
- ↑ Heike Bruch , Sumantra Ghoshal: A bias for action: how effective managers harness their willpower, achieve results, and stop wasting time . Harvard Business Press 2004, ISBN 978-1-59139-408-2 .
- ↑ Micro Mobility Systems - Assignee . Patent overview at IPEXPL.
- ↑ Micro Scooter, Micro Mobility Systems
- ↑ AS: Wim Ouboter: Army likes microscooters . In: Balance . July 2004.
- ↑ Electric dwarf with a range of up to 200 kilometers
- ↑ Retro-Isetta and City-Stromer Microlino debuts in Geneva (videos) . In: EcomentoTV . The electric car portal from February 25, 2016.
- ↑ Microlino managing director: Retro-Stromer is "the ideal city vehicle". In: elektroauto-news.net. December 14, 2018, accessed December 15, 2018 .
- ↑ Bernd Conrad, Gregor Hebermehl: Microlino brother has a new look . In: Auto Motor Sport, August 27, 2019
- ↑ Zurich's electric city car should go into series production in 2021 , NZZ, January 4, 2020
