One fifth of retail traders sell online 24. December 2007 by Thomas Jannot According to the Federal Statistical Office, about 18% of all retail trade companies sold their products such as books, garment or electronic devices online in 2006. Thus, as compared to the year 2004 online sales increased by 7% in 2006. Retail traders on average generated about 10% of their total turnover online in 2006. Even …
78 percent of high-tech companies expect increased turnover in 2008 24. December 2007 by Thomas Jannot According to the German association for information management, telecommunications and new media (BITKOM), the German high-tech industry looks very optimistically ahead to the year 2008. A recent BITKOM survey revealed that 78% of companies expect more turnover for next year, 16% forecast sales to remain unchanged while just 6% forecast turnover to fall.
Order inflow up by 23.2 percent in main construction trade 21. December 2007 by Thomas Jannot According to the Federal Statistical Office, the number of incoming orders to German companies in the main construction trade (companies with at least 20 employees) increased by 23.2% in October 2007 as compared to October last year. Thus, incoming orders increased by 12.3% in building construction and by 35.5% in underground engineering. The strong overall …
Counseling available to SMEs over the internet 19. December 2007 by Thomas Jannot Quite often there is a lack of knowledge about rating according to Basel II in small and medium-sized entities (SMEs), and the decision making process for taking out a loan is therefore frequently deficient. The so-called rating counselor, which is a joint initiative by several business associations and the KfW Mittelstandsbank, is to provide information …
Profit sharing in one out of four companies 19. December 2007 by Thomas Jannot While policy makers are still discussing complicated models as to how let employees participate in the profits generated, many companies have already found simpler solutions. About one quarter of German industrial companies and industrial service providers couple certain salary components to the business situation of the company in question. This finding was revealed by a …
Quarterly turnover in handicraft business up by 1.2 percent 19. December 2007 by Thomas Jannot According to provisional figures by the Federal Statistical Office, the number of employees in handicraft businesses, which are subject to authorization, increased by 0.2% as of end of September 2007 as compared to September 2006. At the same time turnover generated by handicraft companies in the third quarter this year increased by 1.2% in comparison …
Tribute to Germany´s best trainees 17. December 2007 by Thomas Jannot On Wednesday last week the Association of German Chambers of Industry and Commerce (DIHK) awarded Germany´s 231 best trainees in the Berlin Palais at the foot of the broadcasting tower. All of these trainees past their exams with first-class results.
Turnover in hotel and restaurant industry down by 3.2 percent 17. December 2007 by Thomas Jannot According to the Federal Statistical Office, in October 2007 turnover in the German hotel and restaurant industry combined was 0.7% lower in nominal and 3.2% lower in real terms as compared to October last year. In comparison to September this year, turnover fell by 0.9% in nominal and real terms.
Number of informatics students rising 17. December 2007 by Thomas Jannot According to the Federal Statistical Office, the number of freshmen wishing to study computer sciences is rising again after years of stagnation at a low level. In the winter term 2007/2008 about 30.300 young people took up an informatics study course. After the number of informatics freshmen had peaked in the year 2000 with about …
Germany´s most important export goods 14. December 2007 by Thomas Jannot According to the Federal Statistical Office, seven product groups – motor vehicles, mechanical and chemical products, iron and steel products, foodstuffs, electronic goods and telecommunication devices- accounted for about half of the German foreign trade volume in 2005. The first three above-mentioned product groups alone (motor vehicles, mechanical engineering and chemical products) account for one …