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Technology Stocks : SAP A.G. -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: albert123 who wrote (836)	5/4/1998 4:22:00 PM
From: Ibexx	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 3424

Abraham and thread, Another glowing article on SAP's business strategy: SAP seen as prototype as key change nears By Neal Boudette FRANKFURT, May 4 (Reuters) - Software group SAP AG SAPG.F is about to change the face of its executive office, and with it Germany's best example of high-tech entrepreneurship. At its annual meeting on Thursday, co-founder and co-chief executive Dietmar Hopp will step down from the post he has held since he and three others founded the company 26 years ago. He leaves with SAP standing tall as the world's dominant player in so-called enterprise software, and as the prototype for the kind of innovative, job-creating companies more likely to spring up in Silicon Valley than in the Rhine Valley. "What Dietmar Hopp did was a wake-up call that said, 'Hey, this is possible in Germany.'" said Joachim Rissmann, Intel Corp INTC.O central Europe chief in Munich. "In his wake there have been a lot of smaller fast-growing software companies. He helped them see that they can start in Germany. He influenced a lot of people," Rissmann said. Indeed, ask just about any of Germany's small but growing number of high-tech start-ups, and more than likely they will point to SAP as a source of inspiration. "SAP is among the most important software companies world wide, and it was done in Germany," said Stephan Schambach, president of Intershop Communications Inc., a software company started in east Germany and set to go public in June. "It tells me and other managers in Germany that software is not necessarily a U.S. product." SAP is likely to continue to exert that kind of influence even after Hopp steps down from day-to-day management and takes over as chairman of the company's supervisory board, which is responsible for long-range planning. With six billion marks in 1997 sales, SAP is larger than the next four largest enterprise software vendors combined -- a market position few non-U.S. companies can claim in software or in hardware. Last year sales grew by 62 percent, profit by 63 percent, and its share price soared from 207 marks to 572 marks. So far this year SAP preference shares are up another 63 percent at 931 marks, and it is set to list its shares on the New York Stock Exchange later this year. Yet, as Hopp leaves -- he said he wanted to ensure a smooth transition in leadership -- SAP still faces challenges in reordering its internal structure to maintain growth and in adding thousands of new employees. Henning Kagermann, 51, who is due to move up to replace Hopp, told a German newspaper on Monday that quickly creating 15 or more teams to focus on software solutions for specific industries is the firm's primary challenge this year. "Our dynamic must be maintained," he told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. At the same time, SAP plans to add some 5,000 new employees to its worldwide payroll of 13,000 -- a plan that would have SAP bringing about 20 new employees on board every workday. In Germany, where unemployment hovers at record levels near about 12 percent, SAP will add some 2,000 employees, which has made its headquarters in Walldorf near Heidelberg a favourite backdrop for German politicians. Kagermann, who joined SAP in 1982 and became a member of the management board in 1991, will be charged with controlling costs of this expansion as head of finance. He will share the top office with join Hasso Plattner who also helped found SAP and who joined Hopp in the top post last year. The ascent of Kagermann is unlikely to change SAP's industry strategy started under Hopp. SAP aims to continue its high-growth pace by developing complete sets of programmes tailored for industries such as automobiles, retail and aerospace. Kagermann said this approach would help SAP tap the banking, financial, insurance and public sectors that are still largely untapped and lie beyond the manufacturing industries where their R/3 programme has nearly become the standard. Moreover, Hopp, from his post on the supervisory board, will be available "as a coach," Kagermann said. "We welcome this," he said. "The assignments are clearly distributed. We will get advice but not orders." REUTERS Rtr 13:45 05-04-98 ____ Ibexx