Information on Mittelstand enterprises

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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 ...

30.04.2025 IfM Bonn at the Federal-State Committee for the Mittelstand

It is uncertain how start-up activity in Germany will develop given the increased political risks in global trade. But at the same time, the measures taken by the new federal government and changes in international trade relations could give start-up activity a boost.

29.04.2025 Increasing bureaucratic burdens create uncertainty

The Managers at around one in three companies in the mechanical and plant engineering sector are unsure whether all relevant regulations are being implemented and whether their companies are fully compliant with the law.

Economic slowdown affects number of business start-ups

Artificial intelligence in the craft sector in North Rhine-Westphalia

Policy approaches to reduce bureaucratic burdens

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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.

Figure of the months

For nearly

70%

of the industrial companies the EU internal market is the most important foreign procurement market, for more than 75 % it is the most important sales market abroad.

Artificial intelligence in the skilled trades

The digitalisation of the skilled trades in North Rhine-Westphalia has gained considerable momentum in recent years, but the skilled trades still lag behind sectors such as industry, trade and healthcare.