From Vision and Drive to Enterprise

BUSINESS From Vision and Drive to Enterprise Miloslav Cváček Ph.D, a self-made man, is the founder and owner of the ISMM engineering group. He started his professional career at the marketing department of an engineering company, and his desire to learn more brought him to international trade. Step by step, he acquired small businesses in his region and incorporated them into a pro-export group. He has a great sense of social responsibility, supports small sports clubs, and is an active member of the Czech Marketing Society (Česká marketingová společnost). As the owner of a hotel in Štramberk, he is also interested in tourism in our region. He is active in the community, and interested in the development of the Moravian-Silesian Region. Mr Cváček, you are a model entrepreneur who has developed his business from the ground up. What is your recipe for how to run a good business? Yes, you are right. I developed the ISMM group from the very beginning. It started as my desire to do enterprise in 1997, and after quite a successful career in management, my last position being in ROMO a.s., as CEO of the Marketing Department, I wanted to start providing marketing service as a professional with my own advisory company. That is how ISMM (Implementation System Marketing Management) was established. The company had five employees, and I was the guarantor of marketing expertise and competence. Then I directed the development of the company with the demands on the market, and from export marketing shifted towards the coordination of purchases at B2B markets for German engineering companies. I made the best use of my German-language skills, technical insight, ability to respond to the demand of the market, and last but not least, my trading skills. I had gone to many negotiations and visited hundreds of engineering businesses all around Western Europe when I decided to also start our very own engineering production in 2007. I bought the ruins of a plant in Jistebník, which was to become our first production facility, a cooperative production of the western kind, in accordance with my ideas and plans. The recipe definitely is in the initial original phases of what one wants to achieve and how. Add that to my experience, without much money, capital, privatization, or connections to officers of the government. What also counts is the drive, endurance, and foresight in searching for opportunities and managerial motivation of the people in the environment. How important is knowledge and understanding of marketing when developing an engineering group such as ISMM? ISMM, with about 350 employees, is a considerable supplier of top agricultural technologies to leading European and even global producers. We serve five of the top ten companies as well as a range of leading automotive and manipulation technology producers. It is a great achievement because becoming their certified supplier is a long-term task. On the other hand, once we started the collaboration, there was great potential for an increase in revenues because these businesses work with turnover in the billions. That is what makes marketing a crucial ingredient as it allows us to promptly and proactively respond to what the customers demand, and to solve these needs, which is reflected in our daily operations. This means we need to be good listeners able to identify the needs of our clients and offer tailored solutions while maintaining economy and quality. That is what marketing on B2B cooperation markets is about. 48 ǀ POSITIV 2/2020 Moreover, there is a large current and potential competition aiming at the same target. ISMM is not a purely engineering enterprise; its businesses include ISMM & EGAS s.r.o., a traditional producer of rail vehicle components for České dráhy (Czech Railways) and others; ISMM & TESO s.r.o., making products from artificial stone (teraco) such as stairs and wall panels in the central stairway of the OC Forum Nová Karolina shopping mall; and the famous Hotel Gong in Štramberk, acquired by ISMM in 2015. Your engineering company has a significant pro-export focus. Have you been affected by the current COVID crisis, and what do you expect to be the best ways out of the crisis? Yes, ISMM, especially its engineering division, is nearly a 100% exporter to about a dozen countries of the EU with about five thousand final machinery configurations. We operate a full, closed technological chain from primary production to the final powder coating and assembly. The current crisis has, of course, had a serious impact in our field even though