Klaus Agthe
Encyclopedia
Klaus Erich Agthe is a German-born businessman
and author
.
in the province of Thuringia
, Germany, went to school in Weimar
and studied business administration at the Humboldt University in Berlin
under Professor Konrad Mellerowicz. Agthe had not been admitted to the University but travelled to Berlin anyway and, without an appointment, introduced himself to Mellerowicz, who organized his matriculation, though he had never met Agthe before. In the course of his studies, he eventually followed Mellerowicz to the Technical University of Berlin
where he received his doctorate in 1958 with the work "Die Abweichungen in der Plankostenrechnung." He was sponsored by Professor Mellerowicz.
In the interim, Agthe had spent a year studying at Indiana University
in Bloomington
, Indiana
). The experiences and perceptions he gained during this time would shape his life significantly.
, where he was mentored and significantly influenced by Harold Geneen
, who was at that time the CEO of SEL’s parent company, ITT Corporation
, In 1966 he moved to Braunschweig
(Brunswick), Germany, to take up a position with the Schmalbach-Lubeca company, where he ascended to the Executive Board of the company.
In 1976, following the acquisition of Schmalbach-Lubeca by the American Continental Can Company
, Agthe moved to the United States to take become a Vice President of Continental Can, with responsibility for operations in the Middle East
, Africa
and Asia
.
In 1983 Agthe left CCC (which had been renamed to Continental Group) and moved to the U.S. subsidiary of Brown, Boveri & Cie. to become its Chief Executive Officer
, a post he retained after Brown Boveri’s merger with ASEA, from which Asea Brown Boveri
emerged. After ABB merged with Combustion Engineering
Agthe considered retirement, but, subsequent to German reunification
, he was asked to represent ABB in its transactions with the Treuhand
anstalt, the trust which had been set up by the German government to facilitate the reprivatization of the numerous enterprises formerly owned by East Germany. Agthe moved to Berlin and spent the next two years acquiring several former state owned companies
.
In 1992, back in the United States, Agthe finished out his career as an independent Consultant
and a member of various Boards
. He was elected to the Board of Directors of Yellow Freight
and VIAG
North America, among others Since 2005, Agthe lives in retirement. He has been a citizen of the United States since 1984.
In November 2008, Agthe published an autobiography entitled "Shadows of War - A German Life in the Century of Extremes"
in the United States.
, Bloomington, Indiana, USA
Entrepreneur
An entrepreneur is an owner or manager of a business enterprise who makes money through risk and initiative.The term was originally a loanword from French and was first defined by the Irish-French economist Richard Cantillon. Entrepreneur in English is a term applied to a person who is willing to...
and author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
.
Childhood and Education
Klaus Agthe grew up in ApoldaApolda
Apolda is a town in central Thuringia, Germany, the capital of the Weimarer Land district. It is situated in the center of the triangle Weimar - Jena - Naumburg near the river Ilm, c. 15 km east by north from Weimar, on the main line of railway from Berlin via Halle, to...
in the province of Thuringia
Thuringia
The Free State of Thuringia is a state of Germany, located in the central part of the country.It has an area of and 2.29 million inhabitants, making it the sixth smallest by area and the fifth smallest by population of Germany's sixteen states....
, Germany, went to school in Weimar
Weimar
Weimar is a city in Germany famous for its cultural heritage. It is located in the federal state of Thuringia , north of the Thüringer Wald, east of Erfurt, and southwest of Halle and Leipzig. Its current population is approximately 65,000. The oldest record of the city dates from the year 899...
and studied business administration at the Humboldt University in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
under Professor Konrad Mellerowicz. Agthe had not been admitted to the University but travelled to Berlin anyway and, without an appointment, introduced himself to Mellerowicz, who organized his matriculation, though he had never met Agthe before. In the course of his studies, he eventually followed Mellerowicz to the Technical University of Berlin
Technical University of Berlin
The Technische Universität Berlin is a research university located in Berlin, Germany. Translating the name into English is discouraged by the university, however paraphrasing as Berlin Institute of Technology is recommended by the university if necessary .The TU Berlin was founded...
where he received his doctorate in 1958 with the work "Die Abweichungen in der Plankostenrechnung." He was sponsored by Professor Mellerowicz.
In the interim, Agthe had spent a year studying at Indiana University
Indiana University
Indiana University is a multi-campus public university system in the state of Indiana, United States. Indiana University has a combined student body of more than 100,000 students, including approximately 42,000 students enrolled at the Indiana University Bloomington campus and approximately 37,000...
in Bloomington
Bloomington, Indiana
Bloomington is a city in and the county seat of Monroe County in the southern region of the U.S. state of Indiana. The population was 80,405 at the 2010 census....
, Indiana
Indiana
Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...
). The experiences and perceptions he gained during this time would shape his life significantly.
Career
After finishing his studies, Agthe initially worked at Standard Elektrik Lorenz in StuttgartStuttgart
Stuttgart is the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The sixth-largest city in Germany, Stuttgart has a population of 600,038 while the metropolitan area has a population of 5.3 million ....
, where he was mentored and significantly influenced by Harold Geneen
Harold Geneen
Harold "Hal" Sydney Geneen , was an American businessman most famous for serving as president of the ITT Corporation.-Biography:...
, who was at that time the CEO of SEL’s parent company, ITT Corporation
ITT Corporation
ITT Corporation is a global diversified manufacturing company based in the United States. ITT participates in global markets including water and fluids management, defense and security, and motion and flow control...
, In 1966 he moved to Braunschweig
Braunschweig
Braunschweig , is a city of 247,400 people, located in the federal-state of Lower Saxony, Germany. It is located north of the Harz mountains at the farthest navigable point of the Oker river, which connects to the North Sea via the rivers Aller and Weser....
(Brunswick), Germany, to take up a position with the Schmalbach-Lubeca company, where he ascended to the Executive Board of the company.
In 1976, following the acquisition of Schmalbach-Lubeca by the American Continental Can Company
Continental Can Company
Continental Can Company was an American producer of metal containers and packaging company.The Continental Can Company was founded by Edwin Norton T.G. Cranwell in 1904, three years after the formation of its greatest rival, American Can Company...
, Agthe moved to the United States to take become a Vice President of Continental Can, with responsibility for operations in the Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
, Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
and Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
.
In 1983 Agthe left CCC (which had been renamed to Continental Group) and moved to the U.S. subsidiary of Brown, Boveri & Cie. to become its Chief Executive Officer
Chief executive officer
A chief executive officer , managing director , Executive Director for non-profit organizations, or chief executive is the highest-ranking corporate officer or administrator in charge of total management of an organization...
, a post he retained after Brown Boveri’s merger with ASEA, from which Asea Brown Boveri
Asea Brown Boveri
ABB is a Swiss-Swedish multinational corporation headquartered in Zürich, Switzerland, and best known for its robotics. ABB operates mainly in the power and automation technology areas. It ranked 143rd in Forbes Ranking ....
emerged. After ABB merged with Combustion Engineering
Combustion Engineering
Combustion Engineering was an American engineering firm and leading firm in the development of power systems in the United States with approximately 30,000 employees in about a dozen states at its peak. Headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut, C-E owned over two dozen other companies including...
Agthe considered retirement, but, subsequent to German reunification
German reunification
German reunification was the process in 1990 in which the German Democratic Republic joined the Federal Republic of Germany , and when Berlin reunited into a single city, as provided by its then Grundgesetz constitution Article 23. The start of this process is commonly referred by Germans as die...
, he was asked to represent ABB in its transactions with the Treuhand
Treuhand
The Treuhandanstalt was the agency that privatized the East German enterprises, Volkseigener Betrieb , owned as public property. Created by the Volkskammer on June 17, 1990, it oversaw the restructuring and selling of about 8,500 firms with initially over 4 million employees...
anstalt, the trust which had been set up by the German government to facilitate the reprivatization of the numerous enterprises formerly owned by East Germany. Agthe moved to Berlin and spent the next two years acquiring several former state owned companies
Volkseigener Betrieb
The Volkseigener Betrieb was the legal form of industrial enterprise in East Germany...
.
In 1992, back in the United States, Agthe finished out his career as an independent Consultant
Consultant
A consultant is a professional who provides professional or expert advice in a particular area such as management, accountancy, the environment, entertainment, technology, law , human resources, marketing, emergency management, food production, medicine, finance, life management, economics, public...
and a member of various Boards
Board of directors
A board of directors is a body of elected or appointed members who jointly oversee the activities of a company or organization. Other names include board of governors, board of managers, board of regents, board of trustees, and board of visitors...
. He was elected to the Board of Directors of Yellow Freight
YRC Worldwide
YRC Worldwide Inc. is the holding company for a portfolio of brands including YRC, YRC Reimer, New Penn, USF Holland and USF Reddaway. YRC Worldwide has a comprehensive network in North America with local, regional, national and international capabilities...
and VIAG
VIAG
VIAG can refer to:* The ICAO airport code for Agra Airport in India* VIAG, a German energy corporation that merged with VEBA in 2000 to form E.ON...
North America, among others Since 2005, Agthe lives in retirement. He has been a citizen of the United States since 1984.
Activity as an Author
Agthe is the author and co-author of various books and articles about cost planning and business administration. One of his articles, published in the German Zeitung für Betriebswirtschaft in 1959, is considered groundbreaking in business circles.In November 2008, Agthe published an autobiography entitled "Shadows of War - A German Life in the Century of Extremes"
in the United States.
Works
- Die Abweichungen in der Plankostenrechnung : Ihre Ermittlung, Analyse u. Verrechnung. Haufe, Freiburg i. Br., 1958
- Stufenweise Fixkostendeckung im System des Direct Costing, Zeitschrift für Betriebswirtschaft, 29. Jg., 1959
- Kostenplanung und Kostenkontrolle im Industriebetrieb, Verlag für Unternehmensführung Gehlen, Baden Baden, 1963
- Konjunkturgerechte Unternehmenspolitik, Verlag für Unternehmensführung Gehlen, Baden Baden, 1969
- Strategie und Wachstum der Unternehmung : Praxis d. langfristigen Planung. Verlag für Unternehmensführung Gehlen, Baden-Baden, Bad Homburg (vor der Höhe), 1972
- From Communism to Capitalism - A Businessman's Diary of the Changes in East Germany, Indiana University International Business Forum, Bloomington, Indiana 1992, ASIN: B0006OYYW0
- Shadows of War, a German Life in the Century of Extremes. Booksurge Publishing, 2008, ISBN I-4196-9235-6, ISBN 978-1-419-69235-2
Awards
1978: election to the "Academy of Alumni Fellows" of the Kelley School of Business, Indiana UniversityIndiana University
Indiana University is a multi-campus public university system in the state of Indiana, United States. Indiana University has a combined student body of more than 100,000 students, including approximately 42,000 students enrolled at the Indiana University Bloomington campus and approximately 37,000...
, Bloomington, Indiana, USA
External links
- Biography at ZoomInfo.com
- Scientific Commons – List of Publication
- http://www.shadowsofwar.com