Yearbook 2006 on research activities of SMEs published 22. August 2006 by Thomas Jannot “Small and medium-sized entities and new markets – start into new spheres of growth” – this is the title of the seventh yearbook on research and practice in small and medium-sized entities (SMEs). The new almanac raises quite a lot of questions with regard to research and daily business of SMEs: Where and what are …
New law on European cooperative came into force 22. August 2006 by Thomas Jannot On Friday August 18th a new law on the introduction of a European cooperative legal form and on the modification of the existing cooperative legislation was put into effect. “There will be quite a lot of changes to existing cooperatives as well as for those to be set up in future, and the cooperative legal …
15-year-high followed by slightly less optimistic economic outlook 21. August 2006 by Thomas Jannot After having reached a 15-year-high last month the opinion of SMEs on the economic outlook has – as expected – been less optimistic in July. This is confirmed by the current findings of the KfW-ifo-barometer survey carried out each month by the KfW banking group in co-operation with the Munich based ifo Institute.
Introduction of benchmark system for SMEs 21. August 2006 by Thomas Jannot There is an ever increasing need on the part of small and medium-sized entities (SMEs) to know all relevant management ratios and to include them into their financial communication. Therefore the German Federal Association of Information Management, Telecommunication and New Media e.V. (BITKOM) in co-operation with the Ernst & Young AG accounting agency has developed …
Guide for SMEs on open source software 19. August 2006 by Thomas Jannot One reason, among others, for which open source software is an interesting thing is its reduced cost. Many open source programmes are even available for free. If such programmes are meant for commercial use, it is advisable to rely on high quality products which are mostly not free of charge. Otherwise downtimes may quickly turn …
Lawyer shows the way to valuable information on the website of Federal Labour Office 19. August 2006 by Thomas Jannot Sometimes it is the inconspicuous news which is of special interest – in particular if provided by insiders. Mr. Henning Wüst, lawyer and specialist in labour law, on his “Arbeitsrechtblog” website has published a guide on how to use in-house instructions published on internal webpages of the German Federal Labour Office. Given that this advice …
Companies fear serious consequences of new EU equal treatment law 19. August 2006 by Thomas Jannot The personnel departments of German companies and administrative bodies are still not well prepared for the entry into force of the general equal treatment law (AGG), the former anti-discrimination law, which took effect on August 18th. This is the finding of a joint survey by LexisNexis Germany and the “World Of Staff” personnel consulting agency …
EU Commission´s equal treatment law in effect 19. August 2006 by Thomas Jannot The general equal treatment law (AGG) was put into force on Friday. “By introducing this law Germany meets its obligation of translating four EU directives on the protection from discrimination into national policy”, says Dr. Gerhard Sabathil, the EU Commission’s chief representative in Germany, who welcomes the entry into force of the new law…
Sales department of high importance for success on the market 17. August 2006 by Thomas Jannot Turnover is generated solely by the sales department! Despite its importance, however, the sales department quite often scrapes a very modest existence within companies. Nevertheless an optimal market absorption is only possible if adequate distribution channels are used. “Benefiting from an optimized sales process and motivated employees using all possible distribution channels any company will …
Economic outlook for Germany not that promising after all? 16. August 2006 by Thomas Jannot The Plansecur financial consulting company has come up with a markedly less optimistic assessment of the prospects of the German economy as compared with those given by other German economic institutes which base their evaluation on the development of the GDP (see our entry from Monday). According to Plansecur the growth reflected by recent GDP …