‘Either-and’:
Diversity fuels KWS’s success!
Opposites attract. KWS draws a very special strength from having people on board who, in their diversity, contribute to developing KWS further as an innovative plant breeding company that stands for future-oriented farming.
Closeness
At KWS, our common bonds evolve through human closeness. And this is based on personal appreciation. Both motivate and inspire. In this way, we create our very own team spirit, a spirit we also reflect outside our company and share with our farmers – honestly and at eye level.
Foresight
To conserve future resources and ensure global food security, our employees develop innovative solutions for many different cultivation conditions. High and secure yields for farmers are always our objective, and optimized plant breeding
Independence
Managed independently for generations, KWS relies on the same standards as farmers and takes action autonomously, prudently and freely in making choices. Our employees think and act with entrepreneurial conviction, driven by an enthusiasm for agriculture.
Reliability
As a company with a tradition of family ownership, our decisions and actions are transparent, reliable and immediately comprehensible. We are pragmatic and authentic, fast and straightforward. This applies to inside the company as well as outside.
Respect
We are close to reality and involve others on an equal footing. Therefore we look closely at the individual and are attentive to real needs. Only after we have listened carefully, we will highlight solutions that truly embody the spirit. This develops closeness and we strengthen trust.
Prosper
Entrepreneurial foresight is the basis for reaching our ambitious goals. Independent since 1856, we grow together with the equally independent farmer. Reasoning over generations and prudent use of resources ensure rising yields in the long term.
Support
We only highlight solutions that include others even-handedly, are sustainable and will work in the future as well. We understand potential and help to realize it. With scientific reliability and sustainable behavior we meet challenges impartially, long-term and pragmatically.
Make yourself grow.
Our brand essence is "Make yourself grow". It summarizes our brand values in a single sentence. Our essence is not a claim. In fact it provides an internal orientation that is reflected in all our actions, in our external appearance and in our communication. A good brand essence answers the following question: What makes our brand unique and differentiates us from the competition?
Build a career or maintain a work-life balance? Have an active role in an international group or work for a family-oriented company? Advance forward-looking technologies or rely on traditional processes? Is the basis for deciding on the right job really just either-or?
This question was raised as part of an employer branding campaign for KWS’s diverse, internationally positioned location in Berlin. The answer to the question is clear – and it reflects the essence of KWS’s holistic corporate philosophy: It’s not either-or that counts, but rather either-and. KWS’s working environments are marked by diversity and cultural plurality as well as flexible methods of working. Supposed opposites are not perceived as contradictory, but rather as opportunities – opportunities to connect the diversity of ideas into a larger whole and achieve the best result. And more than 5,000 employees worldwide apply their fundamentally different skills and mindsets to ensuring this. They all make KWS what it is: An agriculturally oriented company, down-to-earth and with a tradition of family ownership, while simultaneously being internationally interconnected, driven by the motivation to make a meaningful contribution to the global food supply through innovative research and digital foresight. All that goes into shaping the either-and principle at KWS.
People at KWS
KWS Berlin facts
The goal of the Global Business Excellence (GLOBE) project, launched in 2018, has been to align the KWS administrative structure to more effectively meet the future. As part of the project, KWS opened an additional Berlin location in mid-2018 to complement its corporate headquarters in Einbeck. The departments Finance & Procurement and Human Resources as well as the Global Transaction Center are based there and serve all KWS companies worldwide. Around 400 employees from more than 50 countries work in the office complex in the center of the German capital. Together, they provide global support for our subsidiaries in almost 40 different native languages.
