Information on Mittelstand enterprises

practice-oriented
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Geopolitical challenges

For many decades, the multilateral dismantling of trade barriers and broad trade policy stability contributed ...

SME Development Barometer

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

17.04.2026 When health and safety becomes a bureaucratic burden

Health and safety is a top priority for companies – not least because fewer workplace accidents and absences due to illness have a positive impact on business productivity.

30.03.2026 Presentation of the succession estimate to the Federal-State Committee for the Mittelstand

"The decline in profitability that many businesses have suffered in recent years has led to the number of business transfers currently stagnating," reported Dr Rosemarie Kay in mid-March at the Federal-State Committee for Small and Medium-Sized Businesses in Wiesbaden.

The green transition is only possible with the right balance

How Artificial intelligence is changing the demand for skilled workers

IfM researchers presented their research

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IfM-Position Paper

The impact of the provisional US-EU trade agreement on Mittelstand enterprises

On 27 July 2025, the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen and US President Donald Trump settled on a preliminary trade agreement. Of particular relevance to Mittelstand enterprises is that US import tariffs on most goods will only rise to 15% instead of the 30% previously anounced.

In other areas, such as the pharmaceutical industry, the level of customs duties remains unclear, while tariffs of 50% will continue to be levied on steel and aluminium imports into the US.

Figure of the Month

277,000

new businesses were established as full-time employment in 2025. With this, the number of new business start-ups exceeded pre-pandemic levels of 2019.