Faszinierend: In einer Computerzeitschrift war ein Artikel über einen indischen Anbieter von IT Fortbildungskursen. Wie man sich leicht vorstellen kann, sind die Vorteile die folgenden: viel billiger als in Deutschland (nur Hälfte bis Drittel der Kosten) bei fantastisch kompetenten Trainern. Deshalb verschiffen wir jetzt die ITler der Welt nach Indien, wo sie in mehrwöchigen Kursen die entsprechenden Zertifikate der großen IT-Konzerne erwerben. So weit, so gut.
Richtig interessant wird die Sache nämlich beim Naming des führenden Anbieters von solchen Kursen: Rohit Aggarwal. Halt, das ist gar nicht der Name des Anbieters, das ist der Gründer von, ja, jetzt wird’s spannend: Koenig Solutions.
Ein indisches Unternehmen, beheimatet in Delhi, mit einem deutschen Namen? Na klar, wir machen so etwas ja auch die ganze Zeit, also fremdsprachliche, insbesondere englische oder auch französische und italienische Namen für deutsche Unternehmen. Und wie so oft, fällt einem etwas besonders auf, wenn man selbst davon betroffen wird, also wie hier, wenn ein indisches Unternehmen einen deutschen Namen wählt. Warum machen die das? Die Gründe der deutschen Unternehmen sind oft der Wunsch nach Internationalität (was immer das genau sein mag) und globalem Appeal. Und was war die Motivation der Inder?
So haben wir uns mit ein paar Fragen an den Gründer gewandt, um seine Gründe für die Wahl des Unternehmensnamens herauszufinden. Hier unsere Fragen und seine Antworten:
1. What kinds of services does your company offer?
We offer training and certification for Microsoft, Cisco, Oracle, VMware and Red Hat technologies. 98% of our customers are from outside India and many are from Germany.
2. Who is the main target group of your company?
IT Professionals, aspiring IT professionals and companies who require to train and certify their IT staff.
3. Why did you choose the German name “Koenig Solutions”?
It is a funny story and dates back half a century. My father started a manufacturing business in India in the 1960’s for import substitute electromechanical components such as microswitches. German and Japanese goods were held in high esteem so he named his company Essen Deinki (Essen is a well known industrial town in Germany and Deinki is Japanese for electric company). His products were very good quality and the fact that they sounded German and Japanese also helped. He did quite well. In 1970s he branched out into electronic products and again looked for a German name. This time he chose Koenig, and Koenig Electronics was born. In 1990s after graduating from college I was looking for a name for my company and Koenig Solutions sounded just right. Initially we had marketed under the brand of Digital Equipment Corporation but DEC went out of business and we switched to the Koenig name. Koenig is difficult to pronounce and marketeers say it is not a good choice for a B2C brand. But it has proven lucky for us.
Und hier noch ein Screenshot mit der Kartenübersicht:
4. How do people in India react to your company name?
They find it difficult to pronounce and remember. Our sales staff spends a lot of time pronouncing and spelling out the name. And our accounts staff has to handle a lot of incorrectly addressed cheques (most common being “Koeing”). But we think the German connotation still reassures a lot of our clients about the quality.
5. How do your clients / inquiring parties from all over the world react (e.g. Americas, Europe, Asia)?
Everyone is curious why an Indian training company is named Koenig, but we think this is also one reason they look deeper to find more about us.
6. Is there any difference concerning the reactions of people from various regions all over the world?
Not really, except that some people have greater difficulty in pronouncing and remembering the name correctly. Of course, Europeans and Americans are more familiar with the name.
7. Are you happy with your name decision and would you do it again this way? Is there anything you would do differently if you had to choose a name again today?
Since we are a successful company and somewhat superstitious, we believe it has been a lucky name for us, and we will not want to change it. We believe that like accidental ideas (and “accidental billionaires”), accidental names are propitious – so we will again let a name pop up from nowhere.
I would like to express my gratitude to Ujala Bhatia of Koenig Solutions for providing all the information and images requested for use in this article!
Und natürlich auch vielen Dank an Ingrid Weidner, die mich überhaupt erst auf das Thema gebracht hat!
