The Linde Corporate Center, which was acquired in 1974 on the outskirts of Wiesbaden. |
Meinhardt was convinced that in order to secure its future, a diversified, international company needed not only cutting edge technology but also the same level of organisational and planning expertise. He developed a model of a diversified company with approximately equal-sized business segments that would advance to the top of their respective industries. |
The main points of disagreement were questions regarding the distribution of responsibility, both within the Executive Board and between the Executive Board, and the plant groups, and the extent to which the company management should be centralized. Meinhardt, appointed as a deputy member of the Executive Board in 1970 and as a regular member in 1971, argued for the centralisation of strategic leadership with operational responsibility lying in the business segments. Hermann Linde, speaker of the Executive Board as of 1972,was in favour of even farther-reaching decentralization and believed in technological leadership as a decisive factor for competitive success.
Corporate mission statements
Hans Meinhardt articulated corporate principals which would apply for decades to come under his aegis. They included:
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 | "The company will only operate in areas with demanding technology in which it has a strong market presence or can achieve such with reasonable effort and expense. |
 | The business segments should balance one another out in size or in achievable business volume, should have different economic cycles and different levels of capital and personnel intensity. |
 | The Executive Board manages the company. The individual members of the Executive Board are responsible for business segments and perform functional tasks for the company. |
 | The staff of the Executive Board and the administration department of the company are combined in the central administration. They are led by the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Executive Board." |
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As a visible sign of the new era with a strong central administration, Linde AG acquired new administration buildings on the outskirts of Wiesbaden. The company headquarters are still located here on Abraham-Lincoln-Straße.