A Talk With Alexander van Meeuwen--Capturing Critical Mass

Within the past 12 to 18 months, Agfa restructured its internal synergies, van Meeuwen reports, with a focus on internal training, increasing customer awareness and elevating the duties of top marketing managers to new heights.

Today, Agfa's marketing and sales managers are 100-percent responsible for all areas of their specified businesses, including profitability. All figures are turned over to van Meeuwen, naturally, for evaluation. This, he swears, is a winning corporate strategy: empowering employees to empower the customers.