HISTORY

A SHORT VIEW BACK

The Origin ...

... CentMa’s management workshop initiatives date back to first courses that were established in 1982 by Prof. Carl Gotsch of the Food Research Institute at Stanford University in the US. The groups included high level international project managers and international executive government officials who were interested in utilizing the most modern concepts in management and the use of the emerging computer technology in project management improvements.

The Move ...

... Shortly after, Prof. Gotsch (Stanford) and Prof. Schiefer (Kiel) decided to move the concept to Europe and establish the ‘International Kiel-Stanford Workshops’ for international management support that were jointly to be held by Prof. Gotsch and Prof. Schiefer in Kiel, Germany and with support of the University of Kiel. The workshops proved to be highly successful attracting not only leading project managers from all over the world but also high level officials up to members of governments. The background of participants involved enterprise management as well as regional, national and international project management activities.

Subsequently the workshops developed advanced management programs integrating new technologies with advanced discussions of the emerging concepts in quality and strategy management in enterprises and value chains aimed at experienced management personnel.

In later years, the activities incorporated the organization of international conferences and journals with a focus on an interchange between science and management groups working in the field. A further field of activity involves European training initiatives and European interdisciplinary research projects.

To better serve the emerging international activities, the initiatives were incorporated into a non-profit, tax exempt research and training enterprise (ICID) which, in 1990, moved its activities to the city of Bonn and was later renamed into CentMa Research.