“Economy in motion – challenges and strategies facing Germany” is the name of a major survey among 4001 German SME which forms part of a recent initiative called UnternehmerPerspektiven launched by the Commerzbank. Martin Blessing, member of the board of director and in charge of the Mittelstandsbank, presented the findings:
According to the survey findings the most important concern for the future of SME with 73 percent of mentions is the education of well-trained employees followed by cost reduction with 64 percent of mentions and innovation which came third with 61 percent. Re-structuring and cost reduction have always been important to SME, but also the reason for the negative image SMS quite often have to struggle with. Thus, 82 percent of SME complain about the lack of knowledge among the population as regards economic matters: The general public is unable to understand the actions of entrepreneurs.
According to Mr. Blessing this situation underlines the necessity to raise public awareness for the needs of entrepreneurs by means of the initiative UnternehmerPerspektiven: “It is necessary to seek an intensive dialogue in order to highlight the importance of entrepreneurial behavior and success for the future of our country.” The initiative is based on representative surveys among companies in Germany with an annual turnover of at least 2.5 million Euros. The next survey is planned for autumn this year. 