Exciting automotive industry

“There was not a day in my business life that was ever boring. I’m someone who likes change in order to improve the current status. The next 20 years [in the automotive industry] will be even more fascinating.” We had the pleasure of welcoming our guest lecturer, Mr. Olaf Henning, Corporate Executive Vice President and General Manager Aftermarket at MAHLE GmbH, headquartered in Stuttgart. Mr. Henning has over 20 years of experience in the automotive aftermarket industry. He stated that the industry is driven by several megatrends, such as e-mobilty, connectivity and autonomous driving and the next 20 years will be even more exciting. After giving an overview of the MAHLE Group and Aftermarket, Mr. Henning presented about the future of car diagnostics in a connected world. With the industrial trend of digitalization and automation, he talked about dealing with “Big Data” and “disruptive business models,” and how business solutions were created through defining user cases and creating strategic rationale.

Enthusiastic MBA students curious about MAHLE

Before fielding questions from enthusiastic MBA students, he concluded with the story of how MAHLE started as a piston-producing company and it is now a technologically leading company that addresses future trends in a global mobility world. MBA students asked questions about thermal management, data access, pricing strategy, service repairs, distribution channels, bundling offers, and branding to reach a top of mind brand recognition. When asked about how his life was impacted by his experience at the Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon in Pennsylvania, USA, Mr. Henning shared how it helped him learn “how to manage intercultural teams”.