European role model businesses awarded in Brussels 26. February 2008 by Thomas Jannot In Brussels last week three European companies were honoured for their outstanding achievements in the categories „growth“ and „cross-border mergers and acquisitions“ with the “Best of European Business Award”. The winners are AXA, an internationally operating insurance conglomerate, PKN Orlen, who are one of the biggest mineral oil companies in Europe, as well as http://www.galpenergia.com/, …
3.6 percent less orders received by industry in Eurozone 25. February 2008 by Thomas Jannot According to the European Statistical Office (Eurostat), the number of orders received by industry in the Eurozone (EZ13) fell by 3.6% in December 2007 as compared to the previous month. In November 2007 order intake had still increased by 2.0%. In the EU27 incoming orders decreased by 1.2% and 0.2% in December and November 2007 …
In 2006 there were 419 companies generating more than 1 billion in turnover 22. February 2008 by Thomas Jannot 419 companies generated a turnover exceeding 1 billion Euros in the year 2006 which is an increase by 35 businesses in comparison with the year 2005. All together these companies generated a turnover of almost 1.6 trillion Euros which amounts to 32.3% of the total turnover of all taxable companies combined. These figures were published …
20% of Germans read news on the internet 22. February 2008 by Thomas Jannot According to a current analysis carried out by the Association for Information Management, Telecommunications and New Media (BITKOM) print media have lost readers in recent times while the number of readers of news portals increased considerably in the year 2007. Thus, the twenty most frequently used news portals were visited 3.8 billion times which means …
Production costs increased by 3.3% in January 22. February 2008 by Thomas Jannot According to the Federal Statistical Office, the index of production costs for industrial products was 3.3% higher in January 2008 than in January 2007. In comparison with December 2007, this index increased by 0.8%. The most driving force behind this increase were energy prices which increased by 5.9%. Without taking into account the energy price …
German online dating services generate a turnover of 85 million Euros 21. February 2008 by Thomas Jannot A very lucrative business model are partner finding sites on the internet. The operators of such sites were able to increase their turnover by 29% in the year 2007. Germans spent 85 million Euros on finding a partner online. This was revealed by a market study carried out by the Jupiter Research market research institute. …
New initiative to market German vocational system 21. February 2008 by Thomas Jannot The German vocational system is renowned internationally due to its combination of practice-oriented training in companies and high-quality training at vocational schools. Therefore, in many countries all over the world many people want to co-operate with German experts in the field of training and further education. The international market for the export of education is …
German industry increases competitiveness 20. February 2008 by Thomas Jannot A current special survey by the ifo institute in Munich showed that German industry increased its competitiveness more than the EU as a whole. In particular in comparison with France and Italy German companies acquired a competitive edge. The ifo experts believe that one of the main reasons for this development may be the fact …
Reform of study courses should benefit business too 20. February 2008 by Thomas Jannot The Association of German Chambers of Commerce and Industry (DIHK) analysed the role played by universities in qualifying specialists by surveying more than 235 companies. Most important to 71% of all companies is team spirit as the most important skill which university graduates should have developed when applying for a job. Also important is working …
About 421.000 new companies set up in 2006 19. February 2008 by Thomas Jannot According to calculations by the Institut für Mittelstandsforschung in Bonn, about 421.000 new companies were set up in the year 2006 in Germany. In 89.9% of these there were no employees and just 10% employed up to 49 people. Thus, 99.9% of all company founders started with less than 50 employees.