40.000 companies and 140.000 jobs at risk 7. February 2007 by Thomas Jannot In particular small family-owned businesses have problems in finding suitable company successors. This is the result of a survey conducted by the Association of German Chambers of Commerce (DIHK) and Industry among 1100 companies. As a consequence almost 40.000 companies and 140.000 jobs are threatened each year, says the DIHK, the main reason being that …
Opinions divided on yet another EU enlargement 7. February 2007 by Thomas Jannot The opinions of Europeans on yet another EU enlargement are divided. 46% of EU citizens are in favour of further enlargement and 42% against. The Germans, French and the Brits have very serious reservations, whereas Poles, Slovenians and Greeks are in favour of further countries being admitted to the European Union. These are the findings …
Further decrease in company insolvencies 7. February 2007 by Thomas Jannot The Federal Statistical Office today reported another fall in company insolvencies for November 2006. Local courts recorded 2326 company insolvencies, which represent a decrease by 17.6% as compared to November 2005. The number of private insolvencies, however, continued to rise.
Knowledge of regional culture important for business success of outsiders 6. February 2007 by Thomas Jannot What happens if „global players« move to another region or take over local deep-rooted companies with a long tradition? The local workforce, traditional skills, working morale, existing networks of innovation and cultural factors are important factors of success to multinational corporations too. The complexity of this matter is being studied by the Institut Arbeit und …
5. February 2007 by Thomas Jannot The demographic development in Germany is already influencing the economy. And this influence is set to increase strongly over the years to come and affect in particular small and medium-sized entities. A recent demographic report by the Bertelsmann foundation shows that even in economically strong federal states such as Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg there is a …
Wind turbine market grew by 23 percent in 2006 3. February 2007 by Thomas Jannot The wind turbine market which is very much influenced by small and medium-sized entities (SMEs) is booming. The annual statistics presented yesterday by the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA) reveal an enourmous growth rate for the European wind turbine market in 2006. In the course of 2006 wind turbines with a capacitance of 7588 megawatt …
50th anniversary of Treaties of Rome 3. February 2007 by Thomas Jannot A Europe consisting of many national markets would be economically unthinkable today. Yet, the history of the European single market is just half a century old. Not always did everything go smoothly, but besides justified criticism about the administrative insuffiencies achievements and merits are often forgotten. The Treaties of Rome, which are the basis of …
Poor customer service easily goes the round in Germany 3. February 2007 by Thomas Jannot Poor customer service has always and everywhere led to a damaged image. As was demonstrated by a survey conducted by the internet provider Easynet, German customers are particular sensitive in this respect. If there are problems with their service providers, 55% of Germans will inform their colleagues about these problems.
Biggest tender to contract in the history of EU research sponsorship launched 3. February 2007 by Thomas Jannot The EU is looking for research projects in the field of information and communications technologies (ICT). Proposals should be submitted no later than May 8th 2007. This year the projects in question will be sponsored by the EU Commission with 1.2 billion Euros. According to the Commission this year´s tender to contract (TTC) is the …
3.8 billion Euros worth of inheritance and gift tax 1. February 2007 by Thomas Jannot In addition to yesterday´s ruling by the Federal Constitutional Court (we reported on this) there is an interesting figure published by the Federal Statistical Office: the inheritance and gift tax base amounted to 3.8 billion Euros in the year 2006. Almost half of it came from North Rhine-Westphalia (851 million Euros) and Bavaria (838 million …