Information on Mittelstand enterprises

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Dossier Challenge climate change

In Germany, climate neutrality is to be reached by 2045. In this dossier you will find information on the extent to which Mittelstand companies are already aware of the risks of climate change - and how they are tackling the challenge of operating more sustainably.

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25.09.2023 Research-based recommendations for policy at the Bund-Länder Committee on Small and Medium-Sized Businesses

Despite an increase in the number of self-employed women, the gender gap among the self-employed has hardly narrowed. The self-employment rate for women is still only about half that of men. At the Federal-Länder Committee on Small and Medium-Sized Business in Hamburg, Dr Rosemarie Kay presented …

Unternehmen mit Schornsteinen vor blauem Himmel

20.09.2023 Companies in Germany are adapting to the consequences of extreme weather events

In the last 5 years, many entrepreneurs have experienced the consequences of climate change: extreme weather events have already impacted their entrepreneurial business activities. Companies from agriculture, energy and water supply, and the hospitality industry were particularly affected.

Smaller companies in particular hope for EU-wide harmonisation of posting rules

Start-up figures remain constant despite economic challenges in the first half of 2023

What the sustainability reporting requirements mean for the Mittelstand

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IfM-Position Paper

Daring to be more reliable

The recent sale of the Viessmann family-owned Climate Solutions division to the US company Carrier has caused a furore. Prof. Dr Martin Viessmann and his son Maximilian Viessmann have repeatedly emphasised that the sale would be the best way to secure their employees' jobs in the long term.

This move confirms what a survey by the Institut für Mittelstandsforschung (IfM) Bonn already clearly expressed in 2014: In addition to their independence and the safeguarding of their income and assets, the satisfaction of their employees and the preservation or creation of jobs are essential to family entrepreneurs – significantly more than executives in manager-led companies.

Figure of the months

47.4 %

of managers in Germany fear that geopolitical crises and conflicts will threaten everyday business in the next 5 years.

SMEs now play a larger role in trade and FDI relations between Germany and Brazil

Using new statistical data sources, this policy brief highlights a considerable and growing importance of German SMEs for the trade and FDI relations between Brazil and Germany.