Robert who was a pioneer a German industrialist, engineer and

inventor founded “Robert Bosch GmbH” in Stuttgart in 1886, this

was the birth of today’s globally operating company. Right from the
start, it was characterized by innovative strength and social
commitment. Robert Bosch GmbH, more popularly known as Bosch
is a multinational electronics and engineering company that is
based out of Germany. The headquarters of the company are in
Gerlingen, Stuttgart. In terms of revenue as of 2011, Bosch is the
largest supplier of automotive components in the world.

Most of Bosch’s locations are ISO 14001 (environmental protection) and

ISO 9001 certified (quality). Besides these two certifications, the
management of Bosch is also OHSAS 18001 compliant.
Operations

First office was outside Germany in 1898, in London

• United States in 1906; South Africa, South America and Australia in
1922
• 75% of its revenues generated outside Germany
• Products are sold in around 150 countries
• Leading multinational technology and services company

The products manufactured by Bosch are made available world over.

Bosch has well over 350 subsidiary companies. These subsidiary
companies account for 60% of Bosch’s revenues. Some of the products
the company offers include po and tools, automotive parts, home
appliances, hand tools, security systems and industrial machinery tools.
Most of the company’s manufacturing units are in Germany. However, the
subsidiary companies are in numerous companies including India, Czech
Republic, Switzerland, Belgium, South Africa and several others. Bosch
has over 112,000 employees.

Core products:
Automotive components : brakes, electrical drives, motors, etc.
Bosch presented the low voltage magneto gas motors in the year 1887. 2
decades later, Bosch presented the first magneto for automobiles.

Industrial products : drives, packaging technology, etc. By the year

1913 Bosch had begun producing headlights. Bosch was made into a
corporation by the year 1917. Over the next decade the company further
diversified and started producing injection pumps for diesel and
windscreen wipers.

Consumer goods and building products : household appliances,

etc. By the year 1932, Bosch had presented its first ever car radio and
had also created its first power drill. 5 years later in the year 1937, the
company was transformed into a limited liability company. Post-World War
2 Bosch went into a partnership with Denso, a Japanese company -Telenor
was acquired in the year 1987 by Bosch and was renamed to Bosch
Telecom GmbH. Bosch created extremely important inventions, included
electric hydraulic break, digital car radio with a disk drive, lithium ion
battery and several others.

Social Work
Since the time of the company’s inception, Bosch has been working
towards social improvement. Bosch has made a social commitment to its
employees as well as to the sections of society that are underprivileged.
Some of the social projects that Bosch is actively involved in include the
 Child Health Development Project and the Senior Citizen Health
Development Project.

Success in innovation and creativity

• More than 4 billion euros for research and development in 2011
• Over 4,800 patents applications worldwide in 2012
• International research and technology structure
• 1,300 employees pave the way for the technologies of tomorrow.

Verticalization
Top management had reviewed the process of “Verticalization” that was
being implemented in the Indian operations as the changes suggested
that relative to the past there would be a greater role for product
divisions. The top management was very keen that the new structure was
fully implemented and understood in India so that they could support the
company strategy in India. But it has challenges and opportunities.
Basically, the philosophy verticalization is to have product strategy for
the world. It has resulted in an international production network with all
plant within the family of product being connected each other. Is allows
best practices to be shared, ensures consistencies in manufacturing
processes, facilitates balancing of production capacities to deal with
surges in some regions and maintain quality standard across the world.

BEFORE AFTER
Greater visibility for smaller Some of the smallest divisions were These smaller divisions have now the
neglected attention of the top managers
divisions

New Career opportunities Limited carrer opportunities Employees can pursue careers in the
global divisions

New opprtunities to contribute The interaction betwee sectors Indian operations have now the
globaly was limited opportunity to participate
Development of a Global The opportunity to understand the Indian bases are now able to
Dynamics of global industry was unknown develop a global perspective
perpective

Challenges
a. The fragmentation of organization
Previously, Bosch Group in India is one. Now, we are multiple
organizations within the single organization and give several impacts
such as;
– Multiple reporting within India and outside leads to conflict and often
long delays in resolving simple issues;
– Loose identity of organization and identification of employees with the
organization
– Conflict between units that were supposed to work together
– Affecting employees mobility across divisions

b. Confusion and Conflict

In addition to fragmentation of organization, the changes led to multiple
reporting lines which were sources of confusion and conflict. When the
confusion and conflict could not be resolved easily, and despite very
good structure and well laid-out processes, it allowed for personality
clashes.

c. Voice of the region may be lost

Since the new norms explicitly stated that in case of the conflict across
the three types of reporting, the target responsibility would have the final
authority, it was normal for the global product division to overrule inputs
from Indians operations.

d. Resentment across different Bosch Companies in

India
The new reporting relationship treated all Bosch operations in India there
could be target, functional and administrative. It affected the target
responsibility in organizations that operated as independent firms.

Conclusion
Bosch is a trustworthy company that provides good and products of
excellent quality to its customers. Most appliances produced by Bosch
have a rating that is above 7/10. The working atmosphere of the
organization is also an extremely healthy one.