Special website offers innovative know-how 17. May 2006 by Thomas Jannot The innovations-wissen.de expert portal for strategy, innovation and technology know-how provides specific support in the development of business, process and technology strategies to manufacturing companies in German-speaking countries. It offers manuals, process and method descriptions as well as tools such as Excel templates, checklists etc. The target group are experts and executives from the fields …
New Excellent product of the year 2006 distinction to spur inventiveness of SME 17. May 2006 by Thomas Jannot The association Bundesverband Deutscher Mittelstandsberater e.V. (BVDM) as part of the „Du bist deutscher Mittelstand” awareness campaign (MittelstandsBlog.de has already reported on this) has created a new mark of distinction in order to pay tribute to small and medium-sized entities (SME) of merit. This „Excellent product of the year 2006″ mark of distinction will be …
Franchising opens up completely new opportunites for SME and start-ups 16. May 2006 by Thomas Jannot It does not always have to be one´s own ideas which leads to the setting up of a new company. Franchising is one alternative. The famous futurologist John Naisbitt is even convinced that “by the year 2010 franchising will be the most successful way to commercialize a product.” This opinion is shared by the Swiss …
New initiative facilitates work safety in SME 16. May 2006 by Thomas Jannot For small companies it is often difficult to meet important requirements of industrial safety regulations at an acceptable expense. Quite often there just is not enough money, although, using the respective know-how, many costs could be avoided altogether and additional opportunities be seized. Opportunities because safety may also stand for a competitive edge.
Various errors by employees may threaten the IT security of companies 16. May 2006 by Thomas Jannot The common opinion is that the biggest threats to the data processing systems of companies are represented by damaging software from the Internet. However, according to the Computer im Mittelstand expert magazine, there are many errors committed by employees themselves which endanger the reliability of a company´s electronic network.
SME newcomers are mostly lightweights 16. May 2006 by Thomas Jannot As was reported in January 2006 by the Federal Agency for Statistics most companies set up in 2004 started as one-man shows. Thus, in March of 2004 three quarters of the 276.000 full-time founding entrepreneurs (76 percent) started without paid employees. Among the 68.000 founders which set up on their own on a part-time basis, …
USB sticks threaten companies´ electronic data processing systems 16. May 2006 by Thomas Jannot The entrepreneurial magazine Markt und Mittelstand in his January 2006 edition has drawn an alarming conclusion. According to the magazine the potential of USB sticks, MP3 players and mobile phones to damage sensible company data were underestimated.
Family-owned businesses reject new financial reporting standards 16. May 2006 by Thomas Jannot As was reported by the Handelsblatt magazine, some family-owned companies reject the change over to the new financial reporting standards IFRS (International Financial Reporting Standards). This is because they fear that applying these standards they might lose equity capital, given that according to the IFRS provision IAS 32 equity capital will only be considered as …
Without an international corporate identity there is no success on international markets 16. May 2006 by Thomas Jannot Export and other types of international business are of interest to many small and medium-sized entities (SME). Quite often, however, there are many unexpected obstacles to the implementation of a strategic decision. Frequently the local staff is opposed to the decision „from above” due to concerns regarding their own future and external influence. In some …
Entries into the commercial register in future only via Internet 16. May 2006 by Thomas Jannot From the first of January 2007 onwards data which have to be published by companies can be retrieved over the Internet. This is the plan of a draft which has just been agreed by the federal government. This development will render obsolete the conventional disclosure of these data in the daily press. This new electronic …