Guenther Schiundel at APK in Vienna feels that the IPE awards were all about recognition for the work his team have carried out over the year.
“The idea of entering the competition actually came from me and so I am personally delighted that we were able to be nominated at the country winner stage.
“It means recognition not only for the team but for the company as a whole. This is very important for us at company level.”
He believes competition was very strong across Austria, and thinks this makes the award even more important. “There are a number of companies whom I am certain were strong rivals for us, but entering a competition such as this, and I do see it as a competition, we naturally hoped to win. That is not to say we were not pleasantly surprised by the outcome.”
Schiundel says that the fact that his team is a very pro active manager has helped in the winning of the nomination.
“We see ourselves as very active managers. We do not simply hand out global mandates to our managers, rather we try to beat the market wherever possible.
“This nomination is further proof that we have been successful in this area as in other aspects of our work.”
It is this very active management style which the judges had been looking for, and this more than any other special attribute is what has seen APK recognised this year.
So far as the awards themselves are concerned Schiundel believes they are long over due.
“The awards are an excellent initiative from IPE and I am sure that I speak for other teams who submitted work for analysis when I say we have long wanted to see something along these lines.
“It means that not only is our work recognised, but also gives some idea of what the benchmarks for management are both nationally and across Europe.
“It also means that the team as a whole are boosted by the news and they too can reflect that their work has been recognised by their peers,” he says.
“Also our members can see that we have been doing a good job, and that we aim to improve through our management style and general management policy.”

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