A recent study conducted by the Institut für Mittelstandsforschung (IfM) in Bonn on behalf of the New Social Market Economy Initiative (INSM) shows that the burden of bureaucracy has now become a key obstacle to investment. Most companies are investing less in Germany because of bureaucracy.
Nearly 3.4 million companies in Germany are classified as small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) according to the European Commission's definition of SMEs. This is more than 99 % of all companies in the business sector. With more than 2.4 trillion euros, SMEs generated more than 31 % of the total …
"In the current situation, SMEs need good and reliable framework conditions to play to their strengths again in (global) competition – and no sectoral and size-related support measures. The support measures would only cement the obsolete image of SMEs that cannot master economically difficult times …
In the last 5 years, many entrepreneurs have experienced the consequences of climate change: extreme weather events have already impacted their entrepreneurial business activities. Companies from agriculture, energy and water supply, and the hospitality industry were particularly affected.
46,400 companies with a main branch were founded in the first half of 2023. This includes start-ups with an entry in the commercial or craft register – or with one or more employees. These numbers remained largely constant in comparison to the first half of 2022.
According to research by IfM Bonn, economic development in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) initially had a significant impact on access to external capital during the COVID-19 pandemic: In the initial phase of the crisis, access to finance became abruptly more difficult for some of the …
More than one in three small and medium-sized enterprises (37%) in Germany rate their level of digitalisation as "very high" or "high". The share is higher than in the EU, where only 31% state such levels. In contrast, large companies in Germany are at a similar level of digitalisation compared to …
Enterprises in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) have experienced climate change impacts considerably more often within the past five years than enterprises in the other federal states. According to a survey of the Institut für Mittelstandsforschung (IfM) Bonn, extreme weather, heat or flood and low …
Since 2018, the district of Munich has been at the top of those districts and independent cities in which new businesses are most frequently founded or to which commercial enterprises are relocated. The cities of Leverkusen and Rosenheim follow in second and third place, with the district of …
Within the framework of the EU for the freedom to provide services, companies can temporarily post their employees in other EU member states. However, the posting companies must fulfil different bureaucratic requirements and use reporting portals for each EU country.
Skilled worker shortage is becoming a more significant challenge for entrepreneurs. Mittelstand companies named demographic development with all its consequences as the current TOP challenge per the Future Panel of the Mittelstand survey for the third time in a row.
The University of Glasgow Senate awarded Professor Friederike Welter an honorary doctorate for her research on the entrepreneurial Mittelstand and "Everyday Entrepreneurship".
According to estimates by the Institut für Mittelstandsforschung (IfM) Bonn for 2022 to 2026, an average of 38,000 company transfers in Germany per year are currently pending. Owners primarily try to implement an internal family succession plan – but family members are not always willing to take …
Slightly more companies filed for insolvency in 2022 than in the previous year (+4.3%). The increase was much more substantial for companies with 11 to 100 employees (+26.1 %). Most of all insolvency applications in 2022 once again came from micro-enterprises (up to 10 employees).
Underaged founders are between 15 and 17 years old, predominantly male and have above-average academic performance. They often pursue a business idea with digital connections in IT services or online trade.
