Information on Mittelstand enterprises

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applied research

Dossier Bureaucracy

Bureaucracy per se fulfills important economic functions: It helps to ensure legal certainty, planning security and equal treatment.

SME Development Barometer

IfM Bonn uses the "Survey on the Access to Finance of Enterprises", to report semiannually on the current ...

15.10.2024 The Enterprises who use artificial intelligence benefit from it

What opportunities does artificial intelligence (AI) offer for the Mittelstand? What framework conditions favor its application in companies? These questions were discussed today in Berlin by international entrepreneurship researchers together with representatives from SME policy and economy.

15.10.2024 Mittelstand and Deindustrialisation

Research conducted by the IfM in Bonn has shown that only a small number of the Mittelstand managers are actually seeking to relocate production sites abroad. Nevertheless, there is a tendency towards setting up additional production facilities in foreign countries.

Local factors for the Mittelstand in Cologne

Best Paper Award Nomination

IfM-research at the G-Forum

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IfM-Position Paper

In need of a paradigm shift – Rethinking bureaucracy reduction and regulation policies

Highly complex economies and societies need regulations to ensure their ability to function. These ensure legal and planning certainty and prevent corruption. However, especially in the view of SMEs, the "optimal" level of bureaucracy – which is difficult to determine empirically – seems to be far exceeded by now.

According to a recent study by IfM Bonn (Holz, Icks & Nielen 2023), the bureaucratic burden on companies goes well beyond the statistically measured time and cost expenditures.