IfM Bonn News

Participation in external events | 12.07.2022 Results of IfM research at the Diana Conference

How did the restrictions amid the Covid-19 pandemic influence women's entrepreneurship? Are there any differences compared to male-led businesses?

Podcasts | 21.06.2022 Questions and answers about business succession

The IfM researchers estimate that by 2026, around 38,000 companies will be up for transfer each year because their owners are retiring from management due to age, illness or death.

Participation in external events | 20.06.2022 Focus on the popularity of the Mittelstand

How do narratives affect the popularity of the Mittelstand? Prof Dr Friederike Welter (IfM Bonn/University of Siegen) answered this question in mid-June at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies in Cologne.

Participation in external events | 14.06.2022 Hybrid self-employment is popular among senior workers

The number of people who are self-employed and employed at the same time rose from 2.4 million to 3.4 million between 2001 and 2016. Dr Olivier Butkowski reported in his presentation at the workshop of the Institute of Economic and Social Research Institute of the Hans Böckler Stiftung in Düsseldorf …

Guests at the IfM | 08.06.2022 Resilience of the Mittelstand to crises

Do Mittelstand companies make the German economy more resilient to crises? Prof. Dr. Michael Berlemann (Helmut Schmidt University, Hamburg), Dr. Vera Jahn (Ruhr University Bochum) and Dr. Robert Lehmann (Ifo Institute, Munich) analysed this question based on the example of the economic and financial …

Press release | 02.06.2022 Digitisation in SMEs is progressing very slowly

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 %).

IfM Publications | 01.06.2022 Regional start-up ecosystem does not make the difference in the impact of the Corona pandemic on regional start-up activity

In 2020, the Covid 19-pandemic and the anti-pandemic measures – in addition to the amendment of the Handicrafts Regulation – had a negative impact on start-up activity in the majority of districts. The extent to which start-up activity in a region declined or occasionally increased varies …

Participation in external events | 01.06.2022 Towards more diversity in teams

How can diversity management be further fostered in SMEs? What are the advantages of mixed teams? Dr Teita Bijedić presented the results of various IfM studies in the context of diversity at the panel discussion at the FDP event "Das hat Zukunft – Diversity im Mittelstand". These included also the …

Participation in external events | 30.05.2022 How we will work in the future

According to last year's survey for the Zukunftspanel Mittelstand, companies in Germany see digitalisation as an opportunity to combat the increasing shortage of skilled workers in Germany.

Participation in external events | 25.05.2022 Number of hybrid entrepreneurs rises

There is significantly more hybrid entrepreneurs in Germany than previously assumed. Dr Olivier Butkowski presented data at the expert discussion of the Forschungsnetzwerk Alterssicherung at the end of May. He said that the number of hybrid entrepreneurs rose from 2.4 million (2001) to 3.4 million …

Participation in external events | 24.05.2022 Family business succession – it never happens what they aspect

At some point, every family business owner has to deal with the question of what happens to the business after she or he withdraws.

Press release | 16.05.2022 Der Mittelstand nimmt eine wichtige Rolle bei der Regionalentwicklung ein

Während der Corona-Pandemie wirkte der Mittelstand stabilisierend auf die Gesellschaft und die Wirtschaft: Viele mittelständische Unternehmen suchten ihre Beschäftigten trotz ökonomischer Schwierigkeiten zu halten und entwickelten in kürzester Zeit alternative Geschäftsmodelle.

Press release | 13.05.2022 Staatliche Unterstützungsmaßnahmen können nicht jedes Unternehmensrisiko abfedern

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 berücksichtigen, ob die Notlage der Unternehmen auf einer existenzgefährdenden Ausnahmesituation …

IfM Publications | 11.05.2022 Dependent self-employment

In 2020, the number of solo self-employed members in multi-level marketing (MLM) in Germany continued to rise. Many self-employed micro-entrepreneurs hoped to earn money selling products from home during the Covid 19-pandemic.

Participation in external events | 11.05.2022 The Mittelstand at the University of Siegen

"Research and teaching on Mittelstand enterprises at the University of Siegen was primarily regionally embedded 25 years ago. Topics with and for the region were in the spotlight. Now research on Mittelstand is internationally known and appreciated. Interdisciplinarity has also become more …