Staying on Course

Jürgen Großmann, 55, is the CEO of RWE, one of Germany's largest energy companies. He talked to DW-RADIO on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, which started Wednesday, Jan. 23.

Deutsche Welle: The financial and stock market crisis is the dominating topic in Davos. What could German businesses and publicly traded companies do to prevent a stock value massacre like the one we've seen at the beginning of the week?

Jürgen Großmann: Central banks and governments will surely come up with macroeconomic measures. The lowering of interest rates by the US Federal Reserve is a first step. In terms of microeconomics, companies have to tell themselves again and again: The donkey gets daring when he feels too comfortable. We have to keep our cost structures and our competitiveness under control for stock market success to return. It's right and important to correct things sometimes. Let's see that we get our ships back in order; that we stick to the course. Don't panic. That's the worst thing that could happen. Instead, we should analyze the current situation with a clear head. If we do that, we'll emerge from this stronger, I believe.

How much is Germany affected by the financial crisis?

The global economy naturally is connected via financial markets, insurances and banks. If wealth is destroyed in one place, that clearly has an effect on the behavior of consumers and investors. We're all affected. No one should think that he's not simply because he doesn't own any stock. That's completely wrong.

Many people would love to be in the position that Germany's been fighting for hard for decades. They're also working on becoming world champions. Everyone participates in globalization and there are only marginal groups that don't. Here in Davos, we've seen many studies over the past couple of years that have all reached the same conclusion: When all is said and done, the global economy, and also the poorest countries, have benefited from globalization.

The example of cell phone maker Nokia, who is about to close a plan in Bochum in western Germany, shows that even jobs in booming sectors aren't safe any more in Germany. Will protectionism return? Will industrialized countries have to isolate their markets to a greater extent in order to secure jobs?

The EU's never dropped protectionism in certain sectors, such as agriculture. The bitter thing about Nokia is that the competitor's not in Southeast Asia, but in the EU and that the shift of jobs might even be financed with EU money. But we're still profiting big time from globalization and we have to think about how we can respond to such challenges.

Running after investors with subsidies clearly isn't the way to do it. We need to recollect ourselves and think about our own strengths and develop our own business concepts. We need German entrepreneurs that say: Okay, if Nokia leaves, we'll step in. We need good new ideas backed by innovation and we can develop them -- it's possible in Germany.