35 Years of the KUBOUŠEK Group: An Interview with Ivan Kuboušek

Could you describe a key moment that convinced you that KUBOUŠEK had a chance for long-term success?

Ever since my industrial vocational school days, I enjoyed going to trade fairs and exploring new products, especially technological ones. At the turn of the nineties, already working as a service technician for the Japanese brand Mitutoyo, I knew that these were precisely the high-quality products I wanted to sell. So, establishing a partnership where I became the very first authorized dealer in what was then Czechoslovakia was a logical choice. When you believe in a product, it’s the foundation for success. A key moment of success was our first leaflet with product offers, sent by regular mail to larger companies. We offered the possibility of importing Mitutoyo brand instruments, and the offer was a great success. Tatra Kopřivnice and Sellier & Bellot were among our first customers. We quickly met the annual targets set for us by Mitutoyo in less than three weeks. And then I bought my first computer and fax machine, and a real company was born. In the beginning, only my wife helped me, but already in 1991, I rented large office spaces and hired the first two employees to help me manage the workload.

As the owner and founder, at a certain stage you had to hand over management and responsibilities to your managers. How difficult was it to entrust your “child” to them?

I’m still working on that. I partially mentioned it in the previous answer. It’s not so difficult to delegate responsibility, but it’s hard to find employees who want to fully take it on. Initially, I tried to pass on management to family members, but I wasn’t successful, and that was also the moment that perhaps slowed down our development the most. That’s why I had to change my approach and look for professional managers to run the KUBOUŠEK Group. We nurtured many of them within the company, while some came from outside. A company is not only a tireless process of finding new products and services but also a process of internal improvement.

Your company is approaching its 35th anniversary. How would you evaluate the journey you’ve taken? How do you perceive the role of colleagues who have been and are close to you?

It seems incredibly short to me; one can hardly imagine that we’ve been on the market for 35 years and are still striving to grow and expand. The positive thing is that we’ve managed to retain a core group of employees, and we’re building our company on them. They are the bearers of our know-how and customer approach. At a certain point, I decided to take risks, and they helped me create the group. The crucial thing was that the employees developed a relationship with our company as if it were their own, and that’s the foundation of success and also greatly helps in managing more complex situations.

What do you consider the greatest success of your company in these 35 years?

What is the greatest success? Well, the fact that we’ve been here for 35 years, I think that speaks for itself. Throughout our growth, we’ve strived to establish a healthy balance between a corporation and a family business, whose atmosphere I would like to maintain. I see the functioning of an effective structure and quality processes as pivotal. We have a stable brand, stable relationships with partners and employees, and thanks to this, we overcome market fluctuations that affect all companies. Even though our main portfolio has remained almost unchanged for 25 years, we have to look daily for ways to be better than the competition.

What values and principles do you want your company to continue to represent, and how is this reflected in the daily work and relationships with your employees and customers?

A positive attitude, openness, humility, and fairness. Our customers appreciate this. Yes, it sounds like a cliché, but it’s simply the truth. And we treat our employees the same way. Everyone has an open door with me and can come at any time with a work-related or personal problem.

What are your plans for the future? What vision do you have for the company in the next 5, 10, or 20 years?

First and foremost, we want to continue doing what has kept us on the market for 35 years, but as I said, that alone is not enough. We will strive to develop especially the automation segment and look for new products and services to expand our portfolio. Last but not least, we want to strengthen our own production in the field of automation and process control. We don’t plan to look for completely new industries but to improve the quality of our products and services. At the same time, we must also create the conditions for the KUBOUŠEK Group to function even without me. That’s why I’m also trying to transition management to the managers and help them by passing on my experience.

Over 35 years, you’ve certainly experienced a number of ups and downs. How have the tougher times personally affected you, and what motivated you not to give up?

There certainly weren’t any real “downs,” more like tougher periods, such as Covid. But I’m not used to giving up on things. Of course, if something doesn’t make sense, I’ll walk away from it, but if it does, I persistently pursue it. For me personally, it might be easy to give up on something, but I also have a responsibility to my employees, who get their jobs from my company. And I don’t want to disappoint them, so it never occurred to me to give up. Yes, we occasionally lose a deal, but our cooperation with most business partners is long-term and mutually beneficial. Naturally, the market sometimes goes through crises, which also slows us down, but we always try to find solutions to compensate for market fluctuations and grow, perhaps more slowly, but consistently.

Mr. Kuboušek, what led you to found this company 35 years ago? What was your initial vision?

That’s very simple – even though I was successful in my job, I was drawn to standing on my own two feet. I wanted to be independent, to decide for myself what I do and how I do it. I felt an opportunity, and I was also attracted to the adventure of trying something new. And, above all, to import and sell what I worked with daily and was even trained to service as a technician.

What were the biggest challenges you had to face when founding the company, and how did you manage to overcome them?

You know, I already had experience with establishing a state testing facility and managing a calibration laboratory, which I had built at the general directorate of the state-owned Koh-i-noor Hardtmuth conglomerate, as well as experience in communicating with foreign suppliers. So, even though it wasn’t easy, there was something to build upon. From the beginning, I had a vision that if I had perfect products and excellent customer service, it had to succeed. My challenge, therefore, was to fulfill this, and that’s what we continue to do to this day.

How has the market and your business changed over the past 35 years? What changes have you had to implement to remain competitive?

When we started, the legislation was much simpler. It wasn’t a problem to manage without a lawyer, relying on your own experience, even though the laws were imperfect and unprepared for a market environment. Today, the situation is actually much more complex. Legislation is often ambiguous and difficult to understand, and even a lawyer sometimes struggles to navigate it. I don’t think we’ve made fundamental changes to our basic concept. We still try to do things with the same integrity, and most importantly, we are constantly learning. I was an enthusiastic technician, and I had to learn to be a salesman, accountant, HR manager, IT specialist, and a bit of a graphic designer and marketer. Even now, I still have to learn, although I mainly try to be a good general manager and owner. And I encourage my employees to do the same. Everything is developing very quickly, and we have to react to it. Within the group, we are trying to automate processes, which increases efficiency and reduces errors. At the same time, we are constantly expanding our product portfolio. But to be successful, the product itself is not enough; we must primarily support it with services, which are crucial today. Customers today are not just looking for a specific product but a solution, and especially a capable supplier they can trust and rely on. This is the approach I try to teach my colleagues. On the other hand, we also encounter a generational problem, where some colleagues don’t “live” the company and their work as much as we older ones who started from scratch. Often, some don’t want to take on too much responsibility and prefer to be guided by instructions. It’s comfortable, but it doesn’t move them forward. They will hardly become the real managers they want to be.

In what way do you try to maintain long-term relationships with customers, and what values play a role for you in this regard?

By offering high-quality services, often preventative, which ultimately saves the customer money. We strive to be humble and behave in a way that makes the customer understand the benefit of having a partner who will take care of them. And this applies to both pre-sales and after-sales service. Relationships with partners are built when solving problems, and we always face these head-on. The customer must always feel that we will take care of them.

What was the biggest change you brought to the company over the years? And how did this change affect its future direction?

If you want to be successful, you have to react flexibly, and that means changes and investments. But if I had to mention just one, it would be the creation of the holding company. I considered this step for a long time, and the impact was unequivocally positive. The creation of a parent company led to the optimization of processes within the individual companies of the KUBOUŠEK Group, their professionalization, and a focus on specific products and activities in the markets where we operate. This increased their efficiency and made financing more transparent.

What trends in the industry do you see as key for the future?

I think the main trends are similar in most industries – it’s automation, the use of artificial intelligence, and the search for new technologies applicable in our field. We monitor these trends and try to evaluate the benefits and risks for our customers and apply them in practice. And not only for them but also within our internal processes and the management of our group. The worst thing is to succumb to the illusion that everything will work out on its own. That’s comfortable, but short-sighted. That’s why we strive to constantly develop and innovate.

Looking back, what is the biggest work-related or personal lesson you’ve learned in these 35 years?

Everything is a life lesson, but I can’t say I’ve received any one specific “lesson.” Problems are there to be solved. Naturally, we’ve gone through a number of changes that needed to be addressed, but that’s natural. My mission is to take care of everyone – my family, the companies in the group, and all the employees. The key now is to continue preparing the management of the KUBOUŠEK Group for the situation when I eventually decide to step down from leadership. This also constantly brings new challenges, and that’s why we must continue to learn. At school, especially thanks to sports, I didn’t have much time for studying, but I’ve been learning ever since. Although I still haven’t quite learned how to find enough time for myself.

How do you envision the ideal celebration of your company’s 35th anniversary? How do you want to thank your employees, customers, and partners for their support?

35 years – that’s an occasion for a proper party. Just this week, we sent out invitations to our colleagues. So, I hope we’ll all enjoy it in June. I don’t think it’s entirely essential how expensive it will be or what gifts they receive. The important thing is for them to understand that our thanks are sincere and that it’s good to be with us. Naturally, we are also preparing a meeting with our partners, and interesting events related to our anniversary are planned for them as well. I won’t reveal more, but I believe it will be worth it.