Press releases

Entrepreneurs sell their family businesses increasingly in high age

In the liberal professions, the average disposal asset profit has risen continuously since 2001. The positive trend in agriculture and forestry began after the global financial and economic crisis in 2010. Whereas in the commercial …

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IfM Bonn: economic consequences of the pandemic mainly affected SMEs and family businesses

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and family businesses – also called German Mittelstand – were economically more affected by the COVID-19 pandemic than large and non-Mittelstand companies. Moreover, …

IfM Bonn: focus has shifted from "innovation and growth" to "energy supply" and "inflation"

Mittelstand company managers have named the increasing shortage of skilled workers as their biggest challenge for the second year running, followed by "climate change and sustainability", "energy supply and …

IfM Bonn's NUI region ranking shows the current commercial relocations

Once again, the district of Munich seems to be the most attractive place to set up a business or move a company there in 2021, according to the current NUI (New Entrepreneurial Initiative) region ranking. The city of Baden-Baden …

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Researchers recommend that policy-makers always consider the idiosyncrasies of SMEs

"Small and medium-sized enterprises play an important part in the ecological transformation. Many of them are already investing in sustainable technologies and in renewable energies," explained Parliamentary State …

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For the first time, IfM Bonn has analysed regional start-up ecosystems in terms of commercial and freelance start-ups

Successful start-up ecosystems are characterised by a good transport and telecommunications infrastructure, a high population density, a high proportion of foreign citizens, and …

Today, the German Federal Government appointed Prof Dr Friederike Welter (IfM Bonn/University of Siegen) and Prof Dr Guido Bünstorf (University of Kassel) to the Commission of Experts for Research and Innovation (EFI). Bünstorf and Welter strengthen EFI's competence, especially in regard to …

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German Mittelstand consists of small, medium-sized, and large family-owned companies.

Calculating based on the European Commission's definition of SMEs, there were around 3.35 million SMEs in Germany in 2020. That makes 99.3% of all companies in the private sector.

Despite the Covid-19 pandemic, …

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IfM Bonn study shows the unique features of this employment form

Both the total number of hybrid self-employed entrepreneurs as well as their share of the workforce increased significantly since 2001. In 2001, there were 2.46 million hybrid self-employed entrepreneurs registered. In 2016, this …

ICT know-how still primarily represented in large companies

The proportion of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with online sales of at least one per cent of total turnover has risen by two percentage points compared to 2020 (2021: 19 %). In comparison to large enterprises, SMEs sell their …

Direkter Austausch zwischen strukturschwachen und mittelstandsstarken Regionen ist hilfreich

Während der Corona-Pandemie wirkte der Mittelstand stabilisierend auf die Gesellschaft und die Wirtschaft: Viele mittelständische Unternehmen suchten ihre Beschäftigten trotz ökonomischer Schwierigkeiten zu …

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IfM Bonn plädiert für eine differenzierte Betrachtung bei der Ausgestaltung möglicher Maßnahmen

Sollten im Zuge des Kriegs in der Ukraine staatliche Unterstützungsprogramme für den Mittelstand erforderlich sein, sollten diese nach Ansicht der Wissenschaftlerinnen und Wissenschaftler des IfM Bonn …

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Every second owner of a business in the construction industry will retire in the next 10 years; that is, 163,000 companies. This is a key finding of the study "Company Succession in the Construction Industry" published today by the Federal Institute for Research on Building, Urban Affairs and …

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In 2021, only every 10th company closure was caused by insolvency

Almost 14,000 companies filed for insolvency in 2021, around 12% fewer than in 2020, the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. Several factors explain this low level. The temporary suspension of the obligation to file for insolvency …

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More women than men start-up in the liberal professions

While the pandemic continued to pose significant challenges to some sectors of the economy in 2021, such as businesses with customer-facing and providers of personal services, the number of start-ups rose by 1.4% to 336,000 in 2021. …