DKSH’s new CEO Stefan Butz, talks to Switzerland’s leading newspaper, the NZZ, about strategic positioning and future plans.

1. Monday, July 10, 2017 17
TALKING BUSINESS
Determined and already at the core of business
Stefan Butz, DKSH CEO, on strategic positioning and future plans
BY WERNER ENZ
At DKSH’s headquarters in Zurich,
the management structures are al-
ready established, with 49-year-old
Stefan Butz having recently taken the
reins of the company. The tanned,
athletic-looking man who spends
much of his time on the road, is de-
termined, but also finds the patience
to delicately manage the journalist’s
first questions which take a some-
what tangled path. Was it difficult to
settle in Zurich? No, that was really
uncomplicated, he says. His work
permit, initially issued for six
months, was extended for five years
in May. The family will move from
Munich to the shores of Lake Zurich,
with space for his two children at the
international school already orga-
nized.
Even though he has spent more than
80 of the first 100 days as the DKSH
CEO abroad, Butz is a true Swiss en-
thusiast. He has been visiting Swit-
zerland for many, many years. He
grew up in Haan near Düsseldorf in
Germany, in an entrepreneurial fam-
ily. As a small kid, he learned to ski
in the Swiss ski resort Grindelwald -
a passion that he has been cherishing
and enjoying for more than four dec-
ades now. He decided very early on
to study business administration. Al-
ready fiercely determined at the age
of 15, he borrowed a copy of the
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung –
the German business newspaper ––
from his father, his son’s interest fill-
ing him with pride.
Conscious steps
When Butz had to decide at which
university to study, he chose a small
institution to be in close contact with
professors and students alike. Inter-
nationalism and practical relevance
were further reasons why he enrolled
at the University of Bayreuth in Ba-
varia. He graduated summa cum
laude with a degree in business ad-
ministration. For several years, he
worked as a strategy consultant at
Accenture. There, he decided to take
the career path of an entrepreneur.
Climbing the corporate ladder at Ac-
centure by taking the slow path
didn’t much appeal to him. Instead,
he chose to become one of the closest
employees of the CEO of TÜV Süd,
the German inspection and product
testing group. In 2002, he moved to
the United States for TÜV, where he
became responsible for the North
American business.
Butz looks back on those years as the
director of this medium-sized struc-
ture as a life school that provided him
the necessary tools for managing a
company. In 2008, he moved to In-
tertek, where he built up the interna-
tional industrials business, that even-
tually became the Group's strongest
division. At Intertek, he was also re-
sponsible for the Chinese business,
among other things, a fact that cer-
tainly played a role when he was cho-
sen as DKSH’s new CEO.
Intertek is a rival of SGS and Bureau
Veritas, employs 40,000 people and
is one of the main listed companies in
Great Britain.
Amazing parallels
Even more influential than his Asian
experience, his mindset on how to
sell services was a determining factor
in his becoming DKSH’s new CEO.
DKSH and Intertek’s business mod-
els have a lot in common — they both
need to convince large clients that
outsourcing of certain parts of their
own value chain is worth consider-
ing. In the case of Intertek, the focus
is on audits and quality controls; in
the case of DKSH, the focus is on
their deep knowledge in providing
marketing, sales and capillary distri-
bution services in many Asian mar-
kets. Butz is strongly convinced that
outsourcing is a strong trend. One of
the largest mineral oil companies in
the world once presented to Intertek
the vision to replace their existing
network of 290 audit firms with only
five. Intertek’s size was a determin-
ing factor, as it is the case with
DKSH.
What does Stefan Butz, 100 days af-
ter having become the CEO, think
about DKSH’s strategic positioning?
He believes the company is well-po-
sitioned and has committed to conti-
nuity. The strong drivers of the busi-
ness are the economic growth in
South East Asia, the lively inner-
Asian trade, the rise of millions of
middle class Asians, outsourcing and
consolidation.
Focus on client care
Thinking about the old times at Siber
Hegner, the question arises whether
successful DKSH clients sometimes
stepped back from contracts to do
marketing and sales themselves.
While this has happened, Butz sees it
as an incentive to continually im-
prove the processes and listen care-
fully to the concerns of the clients.
The added value of DKSH’s service
offering has always been to pass the
market test.
Butz leaves the impression that the
DKSH Group is well-positioned. His
journey with the company has just
begun, but given the many similari-
ties with Intertek and TÜV, his task
is likely to be a familiar one.