The past year began as a crisis year and ended surprisingly as a very successful year for the automobile trade. Now that the scrappage bonus has expired, the question for 2010 is how to proceed.
The past year began as a crisis year for the German mechanical and plant engineering industry and ended with a conciliatory outlook. After a drop in incoming orders by 50% in some cases, many companies are now seeing light on the horizon again.
The printing industry has been in a state of upheaval for years. Overcapacities, the growing importance of digital media, the shrinking market for print products and the resulting decline in volumes and prices are all signs of the trend of recent years. In addition, some lenders and credit insurers are pushing ahead with their demands on companies in the printing industry, which can lead to gaps in the financing of necessary investments and ongoing liquidity. This results in mergers of printing companies, but also in an increasing number of corporate insolvencies.
After reaching an all-time high at the turn of the millennium, the office furniture industry experienced a recessionary phase which, after a revival between 2005 and 2008, has now bottomed out. In 2010, too, there are still no signs of recovery and companies still have a rocky road ahead of them.
The Bankenforum tried to answer this question on 12 October 2010 in Nuremberg. The speakers, Minister of State Fahrenschon and Jochen H. Ihler, Divisional Board Member Mittelstand of Commerzbank AG, offered suggestions for solutions. In a subsequent panel discussion, representatives of Deutsche Bank AG, Sparkasse Nürnberg and UniCredit Bank AG also pointed out further aspects and perspectives of the future development of SME financing.
Irrespective of the current economic situation, virtually all companies have considerable growth potential if they optimize their sales management logic and processes.
In Diskursen rund um die wirtschaftliche Entwicklung in Deutschland, Europa und weiten Teilen der Welt nimmt das Thema ESG eine immer größere Rolle ein - und nun auch mit formalen und materiellen Auswirkungen für den deutschen Mittelstand: Ab 2026 werden neben großen kapitalmarktorientierten Unternehmen auch mittelständische Unternehmen bezüglich der ESG-Berichterstattungspflicht in den Fokus rücken, was für vorbereitete Unternehmen einige Chancen birgt. Welche, werden in unserem Whitepaper anschaulich dargestellt.