Skip to main content

Information on Mittelstand enterprises

  • practice-oriented
  • interdisciplinary
  • applied research

Dossier Bureaucracy

Bureaucracy per se fulfills important economic functions: It helps to ensure legal certainty, planning security and equal treatment. However, despite several bureaucracy relief laws, entrepreneurs have the feeling that the bureaucratic burden on the part of the state, but also on the part of the self-governing organizations of the economy, standardization institutes and professional associations, is constantly growing.

more

IfM Bonn News

A useful tool for innovation research

Dr Oliver Koppel (Institut der deutschen Wirtschaft) presented the IW patent database at the IfM Forum in the institute in mid-April. He emphasised in particular the opportunities for analysing the Mittelstand.

more

Startups in the liberal professions continue to rise

The number of startups in the liberal professions increased by 1.7% in 2023 compared to the previous year, reaching around 94,670. This means that once again, more freelancers took the path to self-employment than in the previous year.

more

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.

more

Figure of the months

For

75.9 %

of industrial companies, the EU internal market is the most important sales market, and for 69.5 % the most important procurement market.

more

Policy Brief "Entrepreneurship in Focus"

Decarbonisation of medium-sized firms in the manufacturing sector

A reduction of CO2-emissions and a decarbonisation of the manufacturing sector is important to achieve the climate targets of the Paris Agreement. This empirical study examines the decarbonisation of medium-sized firms in the manufacturing sector.

more

Cooperation with University of Siegen

Cooperation with University of Siegen

Zukunftspanel Mittelstand

Zukunftspanel Mittelstand

NUI region ranking

NUI region ranking

Offensive Mittelstand

Offensive Mittelstand

Data of the IfM Bonn

Data of the IfM Bonn

Third party research

Third party research