Bosch Supervisory Board Chairman Stefan Asenkerschbaumer has used recent public platforms to defend the strategic decisions of the Baden-Württemberg company over the past years, despite the current economic crisis and the scale of the deepest restructuring program in Bosch’s history.
Speaking to the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Asenkerschbaumer maintained that the investments made in electromobility, software, and automated driving systems were correct. He addressed the unpredictability of future business cycles, stating, “Is it a mistake if a future doesn’t unfold as expected, even if 99 percent of market participants anticipated otherwise? Something like this happens repeatedly. Nobody can claim to have correctly set all future investments in the next 100 years”. He stressed that uncertainty is an inherent part of entrepreneurship, though he added that doing nothing and simply waiting was also unacceptable.
The company has announced plans to cut nearly 28,000 jobs, implementing severe measures particularly within its German automotive division. These drastic steps are necessitated by a combination of factors, including a stagnant auto market, the international decline of the diesel segment, and insufficient units sold in electromobility. Further challenges stem from the power tool division and the Bosch-Siemens-Home Appliances subsidiary. Over the last two years, these massive restructuring programs have cost Bosch €4.5 billion.
Asenkerschbaumer also defended the focus of cuts on German locations, arguing that every plant must be independently competitive regardless of its location. While acknowledging the current restructuring effort is focused on Germany, he warned that international sites face equal pressures. He cautioned that relying solely on foreign revenues to prop up the domestic business would be fatal, asserting that the group can only survive long-term if all its locations remain profitable.
Regarding criticism from labor unions and employee advocates that Bosch is neglecting its values or handling employee interests unfairly during the crisis, Asenkerschbaumer pushed back. He explained that the consistent center of Bosch’s values has always been the long-term survival of the company, for which Robert Bosch never shied away from making sacrifices. He defined the core principle as handling crises-while remaining fair and open-with unwavering resolve, concluding that the current challenging times have not compromised that core ethic.
More pessimistically, he commented on the Federal Government’s perceived difficulty in achieving and implementing structural consensus. He stated that even in Germany, reaching a common diagnosis is often difficult. However, he maintained that waiting or complaining about the situation is not an option; there is a binding obligation to secure the region’s competitiveness and, by extension, its prosperity. He concluded that the economy must continue the dialogue, stressing that if they feel they have stated the case a hundred times, they must state it for the hundred and first time if those who remain unconvinced are still there.
The chairman clarified that the companies are not conducting these actions out of corporate self-interest. He pointed out that every business must assess market prospects on its own. The challenge, he explained, lies in balancing the risk of missing development trends against the rising costs of investing too early. According to him, the skill resides in modeling the uncertain future through flexible concepts. Ultimately, companies bear their own responsibility, even if political bodies fail to create the necessary framework conditions, as seen in the electromobility sector.