Sennheiser’s audio equipment has been frequently used in productions and performances at the Dubai Opera. Across the GCC, they find place inside gaming hubs and broadcasting networks. It’s no surprise that the German company considers the UAE an attractive market and wants to expand here.
“We are definitely here to invest,” Daniel Sennheiser, the company’s chairman who was in Dubai last week, told Khaleej Times in an interview.
Daniel, who represents the third generation of leadership at the 80-year-old company, spoke about their plans for the UAE, trends in the region and why they want to be reliable to every performer. This interview has been edited lightly for clarity.
Question:
What opportunity do you see in the UAE and the GCC region?
Answer:
There are lots of development projects happening. I’ve visited the Dubai Opera, who are also a great customer of ours. There’s lots of other venues that are being built here, but in the larger perspective, we operate as a hub here. Thus, we see great opportunity and great development.
Question:
Specific to the UAE, what are the investments that Sennheiser has lined up and how many jobs will it create?
Answer:
I can’t share any numbers, but we’re definitely here to invest. We have our team on the ground right now already, and our GM (general manager) provided me with his plans, which are very good, and which require investment. But I want to invest more; I want him to be more aggressive with his plan. I see a bigger opportunity.
Question:
The entertainment and gaming sectors are booming in this region…
Answer:
There are certain aspects of the gaming and e-sports industry that we cater to. For example, a lot of gaming developers use our microphones. And with our virtual reality microphones, we are able to create 3D soundscapes, and play it back (which aids game development). Our products are ubiquitous in the e-sports sector, including game-streaming on platforms such as Twitch.
Question:
You took over as chairman in January. What are your biggest challenges in the medium and long term?
Answer:
I think the first challenge is that we always have more ideas than resources. With our company being privately owned, we always need to choose where to invest, and how to foresee the future. With so many engineers and bright people, we have so many ideas and it’s very easy to get lost in the opportunities. So, I think the first thing is we need strategic clarity. We invest up front, and then we see the success in that area.
Question:
Over the decades, Sennheiser has acquired companies, while also divesting some of its units. Going forward, what would this strategy look like?
Answer:
We always look at what we need for the future. Our legacy is great, but we need strategic foresight. That’s why, for example, we acquired Neumann (the audio equipment maker Georg Neumann GmbH) in the ’90s… Those are technologies that we think are important for us. And on the other side, there are certain areas where, we believe, we are not the best owners, like the consumer business (consumer headphones). It was always distracting our development efforts, because the cycles are so fast, often 12-24 months. So we sold it.
Question:
Would Sennheiser ever become a listed company?
Answer:
I don’t see a reason for that, because we can make strategic innovations as we are privately owned. As a listed company, you cannot do a 12-year development (as in the case for Spectera, a wideband, bidirectional wireless ecosystem).
Question:
You’re the third generation of the family that’s running Sennheiser. How do you stack up against peers with faster development cycles?
Answer:
I think we need to cater to what the market wants. Our larger broadcast customers don’t want us to change too fast. And some of our products, such as the MD421 microphone, have been in production for over seven decades. We must develop continuously, but our ambition is to grow with or above the market. At the same time, we aim to be number one or become number one in all the markets that we play in.
Question:
How do you share the responsibilities of the company between your family members?
Answer:
We have a very clear governance structure, which we set up 20 years ago, when my brother (Andreas Sennheiser, the CEO), and I entered the company. We said we need to write down a family charter, how do we deal with investments. He’s been the CEO since January, but it doesn’t really matter. In the end, we’re responsible for the company. And everybody in the company’s responsible as well.
Question:
How do you think Sennheiser stands apart?
Answer:
Reliability. If you’re a singer on stage and you go out in front of 80,000 people, and the only thing that you have in your hand is the microphone, you want it to not fail. Second is innovation; we always want to create an environment that is intuitive for the operators and the best experience for sound engineers, and all the people supporting it. Third is (providing) a remarkable audio experience.
Source: Khaleej Times