Prof. Dr. Ingo Cassack has been teaching business administration at the HSZG for over a year. In this interview, he talks about his international career.
Brazil, France, Poland. For Prof. Dr. rer. pol. Ingo Cassack, the path to Upper Lusatia was long, but fulfilling. He has now been teaching business administration, in particular controlling, at the HSZG for over a year. In an interview with Public Relations, the 45-year-old native of Sauerland talks about the challenges of the pandemic, his passion for controlling and his international career.
Prof. Cassack, an exciting first year at the Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences has come to an end for you. You have been Professor of Business Administration at our university since March 2020. How did you experience the 'pandemic year'?
The first year was different than initially expected. I started in Zittau on March 1. On March 13, we were sent into lockdown, on a Friday the 13th. Of course, I had prepared everything for face-to-face teaching. There were also operational challenges. Many colleagues from the faculty helped with orientation and, over time, the routes gradually became clearer. However, a personal meeting cannot be replaced by a phone call or email. A healthy dose of pragmatism remains necessary. My declared aim is that students should not be at a disadvantage as a result. With three children of my own at home, life is of course also very exciting.
From face-to-face teaching to the digital space. How did that work for you?
If you want to do it well, you have a lot of extra work as a professor. Using learning platforms and many different digital tools was certainly a challenge in part. I teach first-year students and higher semesters at our university as well as IHI students. Studying on the border. I find this internationality particularly exciting and that also appealed to me.
Personal contact with students had to be reduced to a minimum during the lockdown. How do you still manage to keep in touch?
In addition to traditional office hours, I also offer more consultations as required. That can be intensive. After a lecture, in the evening and at weekends, you can sit in a video chat for a while if someone has a problem. For me, the great thing about working with students is clearly the intellectual exchange. You rub shoulders and try to keep up with new topics in order to convey innovative content and themes.
Accounting and controlling are the two focal points of your area of appointment. What do you find so appealing about them?
Accounting sounds a bit dry at first. However, both accounting and controlling have developed a great deal, especially through digitalization. Today, controlling is a management support and guide to achieving goals, a kind of consultant for management. It is not without reason that many controllers go on to become CEOs/CFOs, because you learn corporate management. Project management is an important skill that I am able to teach intensively at IHI.
You did your doctorate in controlling at the University of Stuttgart. What was your thesis about?
It was a thesis in the Rapid Prototyping Collaborative Research Center. This is about rapid product development. 3D printing was already a topic 25 years ago, the question now was how can you plan, manage and control costs and revenues with 3D printing or virtual prototypes, among other things? The classic controlling tools that I learned, such as target costing and activity-based costing, are still used in my teaching today.
In your professional career, you have already worked in countries such as Brazil, France, India, the USA, Mexico and Poland. The world seems to be your home. How did this international career come about?
I spent the first ten years working for a large automotive supplier. After completing my doctorate, I was initially employed there as an international trainee, traveled a lot and also wanted to go abroad. I always found it exciting to get to know different cultures. At the same time, this also accelerated my professional development in management up to CFO (Chief Financial Officer). I then had the opportunity to go to France first to work in the border triangle there. That's where my curiosity about the border triangle of Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic comes from. My next stop was Brazil for two years and then I also held an exciting position in Poland for two years. Then, at the age of 38, I became CFO for a company with a turnover of 700 million euros. This would certainly not have happened so quickly without international experience.
In addition to German, you speak English, French, Polish, Portuguese and Spanish. What came first, the affinity for languages or for finance?
Unfortunately, language skills suffer if you don't use them. I really enjoyed using the respective stations as an opportunity to learn new languages and get to know new cultures. The language learning was situational, but the affinity for controlling, IT and finance prevailed.
After all the international stations, what was your first impression of Zittau and Upper Lusatia?
Zittau itself is beautiful. We have already taken a tour of the town. The city has a lot to offer in terms of tourism. I live in Dresden and commute to my place of work. I find the international proximity exciting. I used to live in Poland myself. The language is difficult, of course, but I also enjoy "torturing" myself a bit and getting better at it.
Most recently, you were Chief Financial Officer at ARTS Holding, an industrial service provider that supports companies from high-tech sectors worldwide. What prompted you to take up a teaching position as a professor at the HSZG?
As CFO at ARTS Holding, I already had parallel teaching assignments at the HTW in Dresden. So teaching was not new territory for me. I knew that I would enjoy working with young people. What attracted me to the job advertisement in Zittau was not only the international environment but also the teaching at the International University Institute (IHI) at TU Dresden. This region should develop the international aspect much more and not think too locally and regionally. That's what I would like to see.
Whether it's Elon Musk or Jeff Bezos, today's business students often look to famous role models. Which celebrity would you have liked to have received advice from in your early academic days?
I was very lucky to have Péter Horváth as my doctoral supervisor, who was also my mentor. He built up a management consultancy with over a thousand employees today and is regarded as a co-founder of the scientific discipline of management accounting. 'Teaching and living entrepreneurship' was his motto. He was also the reason why I did my doctorate in Stuttgart.
When you're not juggling numbers with your students virtually or in the lecture hall, where else can you be found under normal circumstances?
I love playing handball with my children and have a passion for basketball, soccer and cycling. Apart from that, family time is our main focus.
The interview was conducted by Cornelia Rothe M.A.
