Dr. Wendelin Wiedeking (born August 28, 1952 in Ahlen, Germany) is the former President and Chief Executive Officer of the German car manufacturer, Porsche AG, a post he held from 1993 through July 23, 2009. He is also speaker of the company's executive committee and a member of the supervisory board of Volkswagen AG.
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Wiedeking grew up in Beckum, Germany and attended RWTH in Aachen. After graduation in 1978, he remained at RWTH for graduate school, in order to attain a doctorate in engineering. He earned his doctorate in 1983.
His professional career began in 1983 as Director's Assistant in the Production and Materials Management area of Porsche AG in Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen.[1]
A mechanical engineer by training, he joined Porsche in 1983, aged 31. After a stint at Wiesbaden based Glyco AG[2], a subsidiary of auto-parts maker Federal-Mogul, he returned to Porsche as head of production in 1991[2], taking over two years later as Chairman (CEO) when Porsche was close to bankruptcy. On account of Porsche's large shareholding in Volkswagen, Wiedeking also found himself on the supervisory board of that company. Some industry analysts believed that Porsche could not survive on its own, but Wiedeking, who says he made his first million by the age of 30 with real estate investments, took on the challenge. [3]
Wiedeking, then 40 years old, who with his spectacles and moustache looked like "a clerk at a venetian blinds manufacturer", according to Der Spiegel magazine, soon imposed his gung-ho management style on the workforce. Within two years he managed a surprise turnaround by trimming the product line-up, modernising the production system based on Toyota's lean manufacturing system, and negotiating new work rules with the unions.
"'No risk, no fun' is my motto," he has said.
Wiedeking asserted in a 2006 interview that "every product must earn money. Otherwise you are simply pursuing a hobby which is no task for an auto-business"[2]. By then he had dropped the unprofitable 928 and 968 models, overhauled the iconic 911 and developed two new models, the Boxster convertible and the Cayenne SUV.
Taking big risks helped Wiedeking become the best paid executive in Germany in 2008, reaping an estimated 80 million euros in salary after profits exceeded revenue thanks to windfall gains from financial instruments linked to VW shares.
After years of guidance by Wiedeking, Porsche has become one of the most productive companies in the automobile industry (in terms of revenue per unit and overall profitability, both worldwide). Wiedeking again and again is a candidate for the guidance of larger automakers (such as Ferdinand Piëch’s successor at Volkswagen). Wiedeking has received numerous honors for his work at Porsche. Among other things Wiedeking, in 2003, was awarded a medal for “humor in the office”.
Wendelin Wiedeking can be considered an example of a successful manager, when he develops his own management style suitable to the product. Wiedeking has apperared several times in an annually recurring article of the American automobile magazine Motor Trend titled "The Power List" (05/06/07/08/09). The article ranks the most influential people in the automotive world; in the 2005 article he was ranked as #6, in 2006 he was ranked #3, while in the 2007 article he was ranked as #4. Wiedeking dropped to #7 in 2008, but reached a personal high #2 in 2009.
Wiedeking criticizes the tendency in Germany to notice only negatives and to "almost look for it."
The German business publication manager magazin lists him as the best paid executive in Europe, citing his annual salary in 2007 as having been 72,600,000 €[4].
   | 2006 - The Auto Industry 2006 Power List - Consumer Feature - Motor Trend |
| | ''Business Week'' Interview with Wiedeking (June 28, 2004) - BW Online | June 28, 2004 | Online Extra: Q&A with Porsche's Wendelin Wiedeking |
| | 2005 - The Power List - Motor Trend Magazine |
| | 2007 - 2007 Power List - Consumer Feature - Motor Trend |
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