Federal Association of SMEs think that no dismissal protection would create more jobs 30. August 2006 by Thomas Jannot The Federal Association of small and medium-sized entities (BVMW) hold the opinion that dismissal protection laws are the major obstacle preventing SMEs from taking on new staff in Germany. According to the association´s chairman, Mr. Mario Ohoven, this fact is confirmed by a survey carried out among 502 of the BVMW´s member companies. Therefore Mr. …
New technology against counterfeits 30. August 2006 by Thomas Jannot The German equivalent of the British MOT (TÜV) has allegedly developed an effective technology for the protection against product piracy. Core piece of the new service package for the protection of intellectual property is the Brand Protection System which generates a fake-proof 13-digits code which is individual for each product. The codification can be combined …
Ebusiness counselling paid for by Federal ministry 30. August 2006 by Thomas Jannot The Federal ministry for economic affairs and technology (BMWI) sponsors counselling on the implementation of e-business for small and medium-sized entities (SMEs). This initiative is to give unbiased and manufacturer-independent advice to SMEs operating in the consumer products industry on the opportunities, obstacles and solutions provided by e-business applications and to provide them with clear …
Innovative TV services could provide opportunities to SMEs 25. August 2006 by Thomas Jannot “Triple-Play”, “mobile TV” and “IP-TV” are slogans which for years have gone the round but apart from initial euphoria and some small-scale market testing to date have only yielded little -if any – convincing services. Is there still a chance for IP-TV and mobile TV, which has just been launched for test reasons, to become …
Entrepreneur calls for equal opportunities of all SMEs 25. August 2006 by Thomas Jannot Mr Rainer Schäffer, owner of a property management company, on his own behalf raises an important question published in a recent press statement. He argues that Germany’s economy is primarily based upon small entities, i.e. very small entities (up to 9 employees) account for approx. 90 percent, small companies (10 to 49 staff) for 8 …
Electronic business network proves its worth 25. August 2006 by Thomas Jannot A new internet site called Network Electronic Business (NEG) is proving its worth as an important information platform for small and medium-sized entities (SMS) and craft businesses. The initiative which is sponsored by the Federal ministry for economic affairs and technology (BMWi) provides for free and in an unbiased manner useful information on several e-business …
Germans feel attracted to working abroad 23. August 2006 by Thomas Jannot According to a press release Germans do not like working in their own country. More than one quarter of all employees would like it best to work abroad. A similar thing can be observed with French people: More than 20 percent would like to leave today rather than tomorrow in order to work in other …
Training for equal-treatment managers 23. August 2006 by Thomas Jannot The new general equal-treatment law (AGG) brings about quite a lot of substantial changes for all companies and administrative bodies. Depending on company size and number of plants all companies have to designate one or more officers in charge of complaints. In order to be prepared for these tasks a profound knowledge of the regulations …
Economic forecasts again less optimistic 23. August 2006 by Thomas Jannot Contrary to the message put forward by the Wirtschaftsjunioren Deutschland association (WJD), a current survey by the Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW) reveals less optimism on the German economy. In August the ZEW´ s economic indicator for Germany clearly fell by 20.7 points to -5.6 points, whereas in July it stood at 15.1 points. …
People with growing confidence in the economy 23. August 2006 by Thomas Jannot German people are optimistic again about the future of the German economy. This was shown by a recent public opinion poll carried out by the Wirtschaftsjunioren Deutschland (WJD). Almost fifty percent of the more than 8.500 people questioned during the survey expect an economic upswing. People have not been that optimistic since the year 2000 …