After completing a degree in Physics
followed by an MBA at the Management-School Insead,
Fontainbleu/France, Randolf Rodenstock joined the company in
1976. He initially managed it together with his father. He
took over complete responsibility in 1990 and orientated
Rodenstock around the requirements of increasing
globalisation.
Due to increasing cost
pressure, Randolf Rodenstock moved major parts of production
abroad thereby ensuring competitiveness. He modernised the
company with patience and urging and focussed on
"glasses" as the core business.
In 2002, Randolf Rodenstock gave the
company a capital market compatible structure and opened it up
for non-family shareholders on the way to becoming ready for
an IPO. In 2003, he changed from being CEO to the Supervisory
Board and remained tied to the Rodenstock Group in that
capacity.
Today, Professor Randolf
Rodenstock is the Managing Partner of the family holding
company, Optische Werke G. Rodenstock GmbH & Co. KG
(OWGR). Furthermore, he is active in numerous honorary
offices. Following 15 years of being president of the
Association of the Bavarian Metal and Electrical Industry
(VBM) and the Association of the Bavarian Economy (vbw), he is
now the honorary president of vbw.
He is
vice-president of the Federation of German
Employers' Associations (BDA), a member of the
steering committee of the Federation of German Industry (BDI)
and Chairman of the Roman Herzog Institute.
Rolf Rodenstock, a graduate in business
management who completed his doctorate and became a qualified
lecturer, took over leadership from his father in 1953. He
shaped the restructuring and economic miracle of Rodenstock.
Rolf Rodenstock was considered to be one of the most
distinguished entrepreneurial personages in the young federal
republic.
Besides lenses, he focussed
mainly on manufacturing frames and thereby established the
rise of the Rodenstock brand. Under his leadership, modern
industrial planning and manufacturing methods were introduced
and subsidiary companies founded in many
countries.
In addition, Rolf Rodenstock
also took on social responsibility. For example, he was the
head of the Federation of German Industry (BDI) from
1978-1984. He served as president of the Institute of the
German Economy (IW) from 1966 to 1978. From 1971 - 1990, he
was at the helm of the Chamber of Industry and Commerce (IHK)
of Munich and Upper Bavaria.
Alexander Rodenstock joined the company
in 1905 at the age of 22. At the urging of his father, he
broke off his studies of physics and economics and took over
leadership of the family-run business in 1919.
At the time he joined, Rodenstock had
200 employees, and the workforce increased more than tenfold
by his death in 1953. His era was characterised by
perseverance and persistence. Growth phases such as before the
First World War and the 1930s were faced with catastrophic
developments such as two world wars and an economic
crisis.
Despite all the ups and downs,
Alexander consistently adhered to the private character of the
family business. He successfully withstood takeover attempts
and the enforced merger with a competitor during the National
Socialist period.
Alexander Rodenstock
took part in the Munich Soviet Revolution on the side of the
bourgeois counter-revolutionaries and was a Munich town
councillor for the Bavarian People’s Party from 1919 to 1925.
In addition, Alexander Rodenstock held a number of honorary
offices in industrial and socio-political institutes.
On 1 January 1878, Josef Rodenstock
(32), a peddler of self-designed measuring instruments and
glasses frames, started business operations together with his
brother Michael of the company "G.
Rodenstock", which had been founded in Würzburg in
1877.
The head office of the company was
moved to Munich in 1883 and is still located there
today.
The self-made man, who enjoyed
taking risks, was a blend of inventiveness, daring and
unusually high intellect. He was considered just, helpful and
humorous, but "terrible in his anger over errors or
inability". He built up the company from nothing with
energy and an iron will to work. Although he was soon very
wealthy, he remained modest in his own needs.
As a businessman, he never walked away
from an argument if he was convinced that it was important for
the development of his company. He combated
"unprofessional spectacles traders", took
legal proceedings against competitors and fought against
ophthalmologists who complained about Rodenstock’s educational publications.