The Arvato Group is a global services company headquartered in Gütersloh, Germany.[1] Its services include customer support, information technology, logistics, and finance.[2][3][4][5][6] The history of Arvato goes back to the printing and industry services division of Bertelsmann; the current name was introduced in 1999.[7] Today, Arvato is one of eight divisions of Bertelsmann, the media, services, and education group.[8] In 2016, Arvato had about 68,463 employees and an overall turnover of 3.84 billion euros.[9]
History
Early years of Arvato
Bertelsmann was founded as a publishing house by Carl Bertelsmann in 1835.[10] In the following decades, the company grew steadily. After the Second World War, it developed from a mid-sized business to a large enterprise.[11] To meet the demand from the book club Lesering and the record club Schallplattenring,[12] Bertelsmann massively expanded its warehouse and shipping capacities in the mid-1950s.[13] In 1959, the Kommissionshaus Buch und Ton was established to make the production and service infrastructure available for other publishing and printing companies. Bertelsmann benefited from this due to economies of scale.[14]
Organization
Arvato is one of eight divisions of Bertelsmann.[66] Together with the Bertelsmann Printing Group, founded in 2016, it forms the services divisions of the group.[67][68] Based on sales of 4.8 billion euros in the fiscal year 2015, Arvato was the second-largest division of Bertelsmann after RTL Group.[69][70] Countries outside Germany generated more than half of the revenue, with France and the United States being the most important foreign markets.[71]
Services
Arvato provides services needed after the sale of third-party products to end users, such as the repair and preparation of devices.[80] Since the 2000s, Arvato has helped fixing mobile phones, including devices[81][82] from HTC Corporation.[83]
Arvato provides many services related to the logistics of marketing and sales materials and other documents.[84] The company organizes the production, storage, and distribution of these. In recent years, the connection between digital and printed works has become more important.[85]
Criticism
Human resources and wages
The human resources and compensation policies of Arvato have repeatedly been discussed: In 2005, Arvato Direct Services built a call center in Cottbus, Germany.[104] The company was criticized for seeking more than usual financial support from the local employment agency. The trade union Ver.di and others shared this view.[105] 2007, Ver.di criticized the reintroduction of the 40-hour working week with Arvato Services.[106] In 2012, employees had to accept lower wages because of job cuts at Arvato Entertainment. Arvato rejected criticism in this particular case because decisions have been discussed with Ver.di previously.[107][108]